It's true that this often happens. But the thing is, it is not solely ICObenches fault. The platform allows registered users to "apply as advisor", which a lot of people who already have really once helped an ICO do. Most ICOs then accept the application because they think it's good for their reputation if there is a, more or less, known "advisor" (most of the time the so-called advisor doesn't advise anything and is just a face on the website). They get paid by the ICO and then also give the ICO a good rating, not caring if it's a scam or not. How else could there be people who have already "worked" for over 15 ICOs? Because of that I think ICObench is kinda corrupt, but we at ICOchamps want to change that soon, so stay tuned! 

Looks like a big, big pump&dump to me. 135% + today, no: actually in the last hour.

I have created a topic answering exactly your question, along with my own personal statements to the in my opinion top 4 most reliable ICO Rating websites here

Update: I've created a topic with the 4 most reliable ICO rating websites so far. You can find it here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2913032.0

Hello,

I am happy that you like the site. We are still doing a lot of development on the website and most of the functionality should be implemented by the end of the next month.

However, the way we rate is already described in our FAQ section.

Right now, you can't see specific reasons for the rating of a project, though that's coming soon. What you can do though, is take our rating factors from the FAQ section and analyze an ICO that's interesting to you yourself, then decide whether you want to invest or not. It is always recommended by us to do own research too, although we want to provide as much valuable information as possible.

@mrdenis: we have now listed & rated EMMARES, however, your rating isn't bad but probably not exactly as you imagine. Wanted to note that this could drastically improve as soon as there's a working MVP/Prototype and verifiable soft cap. Also, the "hype" score is just about to go to "medium+", not a lot needed there anymore. You can keep us posted & we can eventually adjust it in the future.

Yeah the reason this could happen was that ICObench doesn't rate the factor whether an ICO will probably be able to reach it's target or not: The hype.

hello pinkflower,

I think that the BitConnect ICO happened before any of these sites launched (I'm sure for all except ICORating, maybe this one already existed back then).

I can't imagine that any of the sites would have given BitConnect a good rating though... they didn't even have a public team! These days, I believe an ICO like BitConnect wouldn't even be successful.

To me, it was always pretty clear that BitConnect is a big ponzi scheme, and it going down surprised me less than the fact it worked for so long.

I think you are right with the point that most of the people in crypto are in it for the money, especially after the hype lately.
But I think that exactly because of this fact, most of these sites won't promote any shitty ICO just because they offer them some money. (I for sure will not.)
Because if they do that, users will most likely notice. And if the users notice, no one will use their site anymore - they would make less money in the long-term.
I do see a problem here for ICObench though, as most of their rating comes from independent "experts". And well, those experts indeed have nothing to lose. I also believe that most of them would give a shitty ICO an excellent rating for money.

Dear fellow bitcointalkers,

As the name says, I'll be listing the in my opinion top 4 most reliable ICO rating websites here, along with a small description and personal opinion on each of them. I'll be happy to also hear your opinions on 'em and discuss.

1. ICO Champs

Uh oh, some self-promo coming here: ICO Champs would be my ICO Rating website of choice.

We rate ICOs based on factors that do really matter in this industry — such as the hype, the risk and the profit potential, which is determined based on other criteria than you might think . Thanks to our "Quick Notes" feature, you can also always see why we have rated ICOs the way we did.

Also, you will find a feature for investors to participate in the site. Not only can you ask the ICO Team questions, you can even rate the profit potential of an ICO yourself and give your opinion about it.

Not to forget, we have really kicked in and created an extensive course teaching you all the knowledge we have about ICOs and how to best evaluate them. Give it a look, it really won't hurt, as it's absolutely free!   I will guarantee you will have a different approach to evaluating ICOs than before after learning how this market really works.

2. ICObench

ICObench is a social ICO Rating platform supported by their very own bot named benchy. Anyone can register, fill out some information about himself and apply as an expert. In case you get approved, you are now able to publicly rate ICOs based on three factors: Team, Vision, and Product.

In order for these ratings to be as accurate as possible, ICObench has published a strict rating methodology, which everyone has to follow. However, based on my knowledge there isn’t any kind of control whether people are really following their rating methodology.

In addition to those rather subjective ratings, ICObench uses the already named bot benchy to give an automated “ICO Profile” rating, looking if enough information is provided on the official ICO website. Again, I am not really sure how this bot works and if it really is able to find all necessary information, even if it is there. Or the other way around, if there’s some way to trick it.

3. ICORating

ICORating is one of the, if not the, first ICO Rating platform out there. The website acts as an agency and focuses on evaluating ICOs based on their hype and risk score. Both of these factors are extremely important for the short term investment potential of an ICO.

The agency also provides thoroughly researched analysis of ICOs, not rarely almost as long as reading the ICOs whitepaper itself. What should be mentioned is that this service is a paid one which ICOs have requested themselves. Personally I think that ICORating’s target group are professional ICO Investors who are most probably investing in a dozen ICOs per month and just looking for short term profit, not caring a lot about the future development of a project.

A problem I see here is that ICOs have to pay a (quite large) amount of money to be thoroughly rated, but from my experience I don’t really think ICORating is biased or corrupt in any way.


4. CrushCrypto

I really like CrushCrypto.

It is a cryptocurrency analysis website not focusing solely on ICOs, but they have their own section for it. You won’t find a real ICO List with ratings here but rather written analyzes of projects they find interesting. What I find really comfortable is that they have their own YouTube Channel and are creating an extra YouTube Video for every analysis, presented by a young woman named Victoria.

However, looking at their analysis approach I think their ratings are more longterm based and should not be taken too seriously from people looking for short term investments.


So, that's it. Let me hear your opinion. What websites do you personally use in order to find good ICOs? Is there maybe anything I've missed here?

Although we are a still really new website and therefore have not yet implemented most of our ideas, you can check out our ICO List at https://www.icochamps.com

really wise and truthful words. Especially "Those of us actively making our own way are already elite."

I watched the screenshot. I think this spot at coinmarketcap is reserved for google or other third party ads, therefore it's not coinmarketcap's fault this ad appears on their site. They just have the right target group.
Might also be a direct ad though..

Those people don't really affect the market a lot anymore these times.. It's just a normal correction I think. Some big gainers are taking their profit now and most of the people selling are just panicing, it's a horrible time to sell BTC. Would make absolutely no sense to me to sell Bitcoins *now* just to buy gold. If you need some money fast, okay, but not to buy gold..

BitConnect is officially down, they stated it on their own website. Fortunately I did not invest a penny in this ponzi, was stupid enough with another one (only lost 100 bucks there though, learned my lesson from it)

BTC is just a currency, like USD is too. I think it is pretty ineffective to participate in signature campaigns, online games etc. like suggested with the only reason to make some BTC, if you could just work for USD and then buy BTC.

Guys what ya think, market's about to recover or not? BTC back at 11.5k$.

I actually think prices are still a bit too high. All the prices have been increasing a lot lately.. but the real value? I don't see a real value change in most cryptos (like, more use cases). I would buy in if btc falls to 11-12k$ though.

Now that's what I call a visionary  hope you've kept most of your btc.

My biggest mistake was participating in a HYIP/ponzi scheme when I was still new to bitcoin.. lost around 500$ back then, which would nowadays be way more..