Have you ever found yourself mired in a situation where you’ve been misled, screwed over, lied to, deceived, ripped off, taken advantage of or otherwise misinformed? It’s part of life, really. Communication is difficult, and sometimes misunderstandings occur. But sometimes, it’s not enough to shrug your shoulders and say “C’est la vie.” Sometimes, something needs to be done. Let’s say you’re at that point right now. What are your existing options?

Option 1: You could take the offending party to court. However, after spending about $5000 and 6 months trying to defend yourself, you’ll soon become overwhelmed by the pettiness, formality and debt that seems to be piling up around you, and forget about the whole thing.

Option 2: You could speak with the other person to sort it out. Great idea, but the last few times you’ve tried that, you wrote an email in ALL CAPS (out of pure fury), she blocked your address, and every time you call, she just hangs up on you.

Option 3: You could take it peacedeals.

Peacedeals.org is a brand new web service, launching today, specializing in online mediation. It’s the much-needed “Option 3” for conflicts that aren’t going anywhere. You sign up for an account, open a case, and send an invitation to the person you’re having a dispute with. Once both of you have carefully explained your sides of the story, a mediator will ask each of you any questions that need to be asked, and then render a fair, objective decision.

Here’s an example case, straight from the site:

As you can see, this is a great way to get both parties talking to in a non-hostile environment, and get the objective insight of a neutral third-party mediator.

In the case of peacedeals, mediators are accepted by application only. The mediators are selected based on their communication skills, understanding of human interaction, and their general education and life experience. The result is a batch of well-adjusted, intuitive and friendly folks available to help anybody out with their troubles. (Disclosure: yes, I am a mediator. And mediators get paid, too. :) )

As for those wishing to open cases, virtually anybody can do so. Cases run from $5 to $75, and fit into a few different categories, from “Settle a Bet” to “Bad Business.” If you’re wondering what type of cases might work for the site, here are a few ideas:

If you’ve got an idea for a case you’d like to open up on peacdeals.org, just read through the Services and Pricing guide (or check out the 10 Keys to Good Case Submission) to figure out what goes and what won’t.

So that’s peacedeals.org. I’ve been peripherally part of the team that’s been developing this for the past 9 months, and I’m excited to see it launch. Today would be a great day to check out peacedeals, since they’re offering 50 free cases on a first come, first serve basis, and also accepting applications for mediators. You can acquaint yourself with the site, meet the mediators, watch some welcome videos from the founder, and if you get there in time, even open up a free case! Sign up while you can still brag about being the first to the site, because peacedeals is about to trigger a revolution in online problem solving. Or something like that.