Ratings: Six Months Later

Last November, we introduced a simple, although controversial, ratings system for sites. It hasn't gotten much lovin' in terms of development time since then, but my question to you all is, how is the rating system working out?

I ask because I just did a search for "rubberslug" in Google and found a heated discussion on site ratings. I had no idea it would make people angry, but I made sure it was an optional opt-in thing anyway. Phew.

The sentiment that made me smile was the people who said something to the effect of "I may only get medium grades from other people, but I really like my collection." Maybe, in a roundabout way, it's a reality check -- proving that you are indeed in the right business when your own personal taste overrides any compliments or criticism at the end of the day.

Your thoughts? Do you see it as overly competitive or just silly fun? How would you improve the simple system we have?

Well...there is one thing I would do - figure out a way to either reduce the weight or throw out what I'd call "torpedo" ratings. I know my own gallery has at least two "all ones" ratings, and I'm sure many others have the same. Or at least require some kind of feedback for such a low rating that would explain why the that individual doesn't like your gallery. I try to adjust my gallery based on feedbacks and such to make it easier to visit, but all ones isn't telling me anything.

I would've loved to see each individual rating I've received. I assume there's no way to show the ratings sans ID? In which case you can view each rating you've received without getting the possible voter into trouble. Though I guess if you actually could view them, there'd be a lot more anger on the board, people demanding to know who scored them all 1's, etc..

I guess the drawback I see to the rating system is that people are constantly changing their galleries. I try my best to keep my votes up to date with each gallery scheme, but that can be really hard. If someone's majorly revamped their gallery, their votes can become outdated. The votes are not cast in stone, I would hope if someone's just spent hours changing their gallery that some people would consider changing their vote. Again though, that would be hard to determine without visiting every single gallery.

Is there any way to add a "last updated" date to the rated list? Maybe that would help.

I'm going in circles @_@

I really don't like the rating system all that much, I would prefer feedback instead and honestly it seems to have become much less since the ratings thing started. I really don't feel comfortable rating others galleries, who am I to say? plus rating galleries is so impersonal I'd rather drop a note to say, wow great new banner or congrats on the new cel. It is so much more fun.

I agree with Foechadan, in that, I never got into the ratings game. I've never turned my ratings on, because I don't care about adjusting my site, cels, or comments based on points online from annoymous viewers-- fandom or haters.

I also feel strange rating others sites with points and have only rated a few(3 or 4?) that I know just and that was just for practice sake; and even then it seemed kinda superficial marking that was being averaged into other superficial scores... so I stopped doing it.

Besides I can admit to myself that I have a bias for certain type of cels that I like and the type of color schemes that I prefer, so my own bias would get slapped onto someone elses site. If I like something, I usually just send an email.

It is just fun I guess for others. Maybe it sparks interest or actually helps provide a source of objective approval or rejection concerning and thinking about gallery cels, content and design selection.

So my points for participation will remain low by default =)

But one thing is that I remember a long time ago on Animanga Forum, there was a rating game that took place that was very interesting. Participants would agree to vote on all sites that joined (or at least 5 sites). They would point out the top 5 cels in another persons gallery and explain why. Then they would point out 1 cel that they thought they disliked the most, and again explain why. If someone rated your site it was common to give feedback on their site and provide links and comments to their cels as well.

It was a very constructive game and it opened my eyes to what people really thought about my cels (the most important thing in all of this). I found out of course that some people loved and hated the same cels. It was cool to read the comments and remarks.

If such a "game" or format could be constructed here it would be very interesting. The only thing though is that there are so many galleries here it might be practical to break up galleries by some criteria or rule before getting started. Maybe the moderators could have "teams" and members could join a team of collectors by signing up, etc. etc..

Just food for thought...

E