Star Rating System

[theone]

I think I have posted this thread in the right place.

I recently wonder if the five star rating system for posts is realistic in practice. I can see the merits of such a system in giving reward points for appreciation of posts but does it realistically serve any real purpose?

If the system simply gave reward stars as an extra bonus for good posts then that is one thing, but the way the system works it goes into negative territory of “bad” and “terrible.”

Most posts don’t receive points at all but the ones that do receive so little votes that the average may be nonsensical. If star points are used in blogs where an opinion is being expressed. One person may give a high score and another low simply on the grounds of agreement with the point made or ideas expressed and not as a reflection of the post quality. Or it could be abused or simply misunderstood.

It’s probably not feasible to change the system due to historical continuity and I think it’s not a major issue for most posters or the site in general.

I just wondered if anybody else has views or opinions on this system, mainly just out of curiosity.

[timetoshine]

I would have to say i agree. One person could vote 5, and then automatically that thread would be viewed more, because it is rated 5, even though it only has one vote.

[SubMissChievous]

Originally Posted by timetoshine

I would have to say i agree. One person could vote 5, and then automatically that thread would be viewed more, because it is rated 5, even though it only has one vote.

As far as I know, it takes actually at least 2 votes for the rating to appear. Depp or other mods could confirm that but that's how it used to be before my hiatus.

I have to say that I've had some slight concerns about the star rating system and honestly hope we won't have such problems as we have had with other features before... It seems that every time we have an extra feature on the site some people find a way to abuse it while some others get "obsessed" with it. That's exactly what happened with the old rep system and with dare points (ask MBP about them, he loves talking about dare points LOL)

Personally, I don't see a big deal with the star system... Some users apparently haven't even noticed about it. I normally like rewarding excellent posts with it, especially ads in the S/M area as it brings a bit of attention on those when users browse that forum where it can be frustrating for some to skim through all the one-liner ones

Let's just hope that members just remember that this is only an extra feature and are mature enough to use it wisely this time

[Slenderman - Doctor]

I think the blog rating system should be banished.

Blogs are for the people who write them, primarily, and then for others. Why should people get to rate an opinion? That's why we have comments. Also, blogs are a lot more personal than threads so it can lead to people abusing the system purely because they dislike someone. Lately, it seems people have gone mad with blog ratings and it's become someone's secret competition.

That, or I believe people who have blogs should have the option to turn the ratings off.

I understand it's good in allowing new people to find the best quality blogs, but every blog is different with different content anyway so finding something for you should be done in other ways such as the tags/search.

I think the ratings for threads are fine and I find a lot of ratings reflect the quality/threads quite decently.

[444]

Meh. Blog rating. Thread rating....

I'm never for any type of voting system. Makes everything seem like a popularity contest. If you get what I mean.

[BettyBoop]

Though I think with the recent blog rating thing, if people didn't make such a big deal then maybe whoever is rating down wouldn't care enough to do it. I'm guessing they want a reaction.

[andrew_b]

I actually just noticed that two of my stories are now rated as 2 stars and since the comments for both were nice, I'm guessing someone rated down. It just annoys me cause I put so much time into them. It would probably be better if it wasn't their cause so little people rate on threads and also so little check the rating of threads, for god sake even youtube got rid of rating threads. I suggest we have a like or dislike button at the bottom of every thread. Just a suggestion.

[BettyBoop]

I think the rating system is a good thing, especially in the s/M section. I've noticed when those are rated it must make it considerably easier to find a good ad, and that works with stories and most threads.

[Redx000x]

I really don't care one way or another about the rating system. But I do hope Night-1991 comes across this (aka I'm posting the link on his profile) because someone has been 1 staring all his blogs.

[Night-1991]

Originally Posted by Redx000x

I really don't care one way or another about the rating system. But I do hope Night-1991 comes across this (aka I'm posting the link on his profile) because someone has been 1 staring all his blogs.

I just want to know who it is. The rating system is useful for posts in the M/s area, but at times it can be abused by some idiot who wants to attack a certain user but not get caught.

Lets say...user1 starts a thread, but user3 is friends of user1, but HATES user2 and wants to attack them and not be seen. So when user2 starts a thread or blog...user3 rates that one star but rates user1 five star.