$kinner gives a few cake crumbs to the masses: A better way to rate discussion

[asdf2231]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4070591&mesg_id=4070591

Skinner ADMIN  (1000+ posts)       Tue Sep-23-08 06:05 PM
Original message
You asked for it -- you got it! A better way to rate discussion threads on Democratic Underground!
 Advertisements [?]For years, DU members have been asking for a better way to recommend discussion threads. Our old system was moderately useful, but it had some glaring problems. The biggest problem was that it did not give an accurate representation of how the community as a whole viewed a particular discussion thread -- you could express your approval by recommending a thread, but there wasn't any way to express disapproval. It was an imprecise and unreliable way of picking the (supposedly) best discussion threads, and the time has come for something better.

So after much consideration, we have decided to retire our old recommend function, and replace it with a new thread rating system. The new thread rating system is essentially a modified "five-star" rating, except without the stars. We decided not to use stars for a few reasons:

First, we thought it would be confusing or inappropriate to use a star-rating system when trying to rate threads about bad news. Imagine, God forbid, that there is a terrorist attack or natural disaster. That is important news that members should read about, but it seems somehow inappropriate to rate something like that as "five stars," as some may interpret such a rating as being tantamount to approval.

Second, we wanted to give some actual meaning to the ratings, so there is a general understanding of what they are supposed to mean. A number of stars is meaningless -- what constitutes five stars or one star is completely arbitrary. That might be fine for rating movies, but for rating news and political opinion, it seems inadequate. Instead of using the system simply to express "I agree!/I disagree!" or "I like it!/I don't like it!" our hope is that these ratings will be more useful than that. Instead, we hope that people will rate threads based on whether they are worth reading or a waste of time. So our five "stars" are these:


 


As anyone who has spent time on a discussion board would know, whether a post is a Must read or Disruptive is sometimes completely unrelated to whether you agree with it or not. Our hope is that this system will recognize that distinction.

Further explanations follow.

PLEASE TEST THE NEW SYSTEM. PLEASE POST QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, AND BUGS IN THIS THREAD.

We're going to monitor the system closely to see if any tweaks are necessary. So please use it and give us your (constructive) feedback.

You can start by rating this thread. Just click the "Select" button below to begin...

DJ13  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-23-08 06:10 PM
Response to Original message
9. Ive never found this kind of rating system to be a good idea
 Whether its 5 stars or "must read", it lends itself to abuse eventually.

djmaddox1  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-23-08 07:26 PM
Response to Reply #67
99. I second your quibble, but for me it's more of a 'major' - 
 it's distracting as all hell & if your eyesight is bad enough (like me) to need large fonts, it means having to constantly scroll side-to-side to see the thread titles. (and buying a huuuuge monitor isn't an option!)

Besides, lately there's been much raved @ here that would get mucho 'must reads' - I think I'd rather not rely on the hyper-raters opinions of just what is a 'must read'!

Your idea of the dots are a better compromise. Or an opt-out button ... !

renate  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-23-08 06:16 PM
Response to Original message
19. please forgive the dumbness of this question
 Like you said, a post about terrorism etc should be differentiated from a post about good news... I'm just not sure which rating to use for good news and which for bad news. I'm guessing "must read" for bad news and "recommended" for good? But sometimes good news is a must read, too.... I just don't want to screw up. 

Well you messed up that goal at least 999 posts ago LiteBrite.

sfexpat2000  (1000+ posts)       Tue Sep-23-08 06:25 PM
Response to Original message
34. One small thought -- will this sort of propel the internet mob thing?
 I can't imagine trying to manage the traffic you are managing. But, doesn't this system sort of weigh the majority opinion very heavily at the expense of the minority? Sometimes there are terrific posts to DU that get only a small number of views and a smaller number of recs if any.

It will be harder for people to express a contrary opinion in the face of all this stuff? Maybe I'm just missing the point and need to watch for a few days

Doug's Ex finds an Acorn!!!

Ghost in the Machine  (1000+ posts)       Tue Sep-23-08 06:47 PM
Response to Original message
63. Where's the choice for "This Blows Goats"?
 I don't like having to scroll my page back & forth to read something... just more graphics for us people on dialup to have to wait for to load, too...

LiberalHeart  (1000+ posts)     Tue Sep-23-08 06:48 PM
Response to Original message
64. At least this will help me stay off DU & help cure my computer addiction.
 You can expect posts that express ideas/views we should consider (but which aren't expressing popular points of view) to get "skip it" or "distraction" ratings early on -- nipping in the bud what might have been a lively discussion. You can expect the kinds of topics that are always a hit to keep on being a hit. The lowest rated posts will probably get lots of clicks just so folks can find out what's so awful about them, and the potential for flaming goes up. Much is wrong with this idea, but for me the most annoying thing is the color coding (very distracting out of the corner of my eye) and seeing the left column turned into so much wasted space. I wish this would just go away.

This is gonna be FUN to watch!!!!!!   

[franksolich]

I see my fellow alum Skins hasn't learned his lesson yet, about unanticipated or unforeseen consequences.

That's the usual problem with Democrats, liberals, and primitives--they think things will have only the consequences they wish them to have.

It's going to be fun to watch.

[BlueStateSaint]

I see my fellow alum Skins hasn't learned his lesson yet, about unanticipated or unforeseen consequences.

That's the usual problem with Democrats, liberals, and primitives--they think things will have only the consequences they wish them to have.

It's going to be fun to watch.

A phrase that comes to mind, sir, is this:

Be very careful what you ask for--sometimes, you get it.

[USA4ME]

Just one more thing to confuse them.

.

[franksolich]

Just one more thing to confuse them.

It's going to mess things up good.

Sit back and enjoy the show.

[asdf2231]

Just one more thing to confuse them.

It's going to mess things up good.

Sit back and enjoy the show.

I lost count of the whiny threads that started last night.

Part of me wonders if he did this to pacify the masses due to all of the "REVOLUTION!!!!!" threads that were overloading Agent Mike.