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Another New Feature: User Ratings


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We've now added User Ratings... represented by the "stars" under a user name. These Ratings are based on a weighted formula which only involves:

 

the number of posts a user has made overall, and the number of recent posts they have made

the number of new topics they have started

the quality of the posts a user has made, based on the "rank this post" thumbs up and thumbs down system

User Ratings are designed to encourage participation and the genesis of quality topics and discussion.

 

TERRY HOWERTON

(This message has been edited by a staff member.)

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Terry, The following is what shows up when one clicks User Rating:

 - How many new quality threads has the user started in the past 60 days?

 - How many quality replies has the user made to existing threads in the past 60 days?

 - The ratio or positive to negative votes the user has received on posts they have made. Only other registered users may vote.

 

Who defines quality?

 

Does a user have the ability to see who voted on their post & whether it is positive or negative?

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

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SR540Beaver,

Neither am I. Just curious what the criteria is & if each have equal weight.

 

Just as a test, I'm gonna give your last post here a thumbs down just to see what happens. It is in no way a reflection on your post.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

 

(After voting)

Interesting, huh?(This message has been edited by evmori)

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Who defines "quality"? Every other registered user of the Forums who votes either thumbs up or thumbs down on a post. And yes, you can see who has voted up or down on a post by following the instructions above. We'll continue to improve the ease of use of that system, too. One thing I should state very clearly: there is not more prejudice built into the system than has already been explained. In other words, I don't have any more control over a user rating than any other user of the Forums. The formula is weighted (the wieghting we'll keep to ourselves) to favor some of the criteria over others, and we'll tweak it some as it grows.

 

In the beginning, user ratings will fluctuate significantly as people start voting on posts.... after the system has a chance to gather a good amount of data, it will be more and more difficult for a single Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down vote to have a significant effect on your User Ratings.

 

 

 

TERRY HOWERTON

 

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I'm not sure I'm following this. Do the stars rate the poster overall or do they reflect the thumbs up/down voting on each post? This morning I had 4.5 stars on one post and 2.5 on another. Now I seem to have 1.5 stars on all post.

 

Unrelated to the stars, but an improvement I would find helpful is some means of tracking which threads have been added to since I viewed them last. Somewhat of an upgrade to the read/not read color coding on the hyperlinks. It would also be helpful if the "Today's Active Topics" menu had little links to specific pages like the main forums page does.

 

Thank you for your continued efforts to upgrade the site. The formatting and spel cheker is an especially welcome improvement. Thanks!

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Don't get too discouraged (or too much ego) over these User Ratings. :) It's a system we'll keep tweaking, as we learn. And as I said, your User Ratings will fluctuate significantly until a good history is built up.

 

User Ratings are in fact an overall rating. So the reason you saw different ratings for yourself this morning was based on the system "learning" from votes and other criteria (and us tweaking the weighting of criteria a bit, which we'll continue to do until we find the right settings).

 

I will tell you this much about the ratings: the most valuable criteria is the number of quality new topics a user has started recently.

 

TERRY HOWERTON

 

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And yes, you can see who has voted up or down on a post by following the instructions above.

 

Meaning, you can see who has voted EITHER up or down... meaning, you can see whether they have voted... but you can't see which way they voted. Right? At least, that's what I could see when I tried it on one post. It seems to be a "secret ballot" (which unlike many things with the word "secret" in them, is a good thing, not a bad thing.)

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This is funny.

 

As if to demonstrate what Terry said about the "volatility" of the rankings at the beginning, Terry's own user rating was at 5 stars less than an hour ago, now it is 2.5. Even the boss gets no break in this system. :)

 

When I first saw BobWhite's rating it was also 5 stars, and at the same time mine was 3.5 (at least I think that's what it was.) SRBeaver had 5 when he made his first post in this thread. Well, all three of us now have the same rating Terry does, 2.5.

 

Unless that has changed by the time I finish writing this, which is possible...

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Doubtless by the time you read this my stock and stars will have plummeted much like Howard Dean's bank account...

 

But regardless, I shall remain humble, humility is an admirable trait not often seen today and if there is anything I am proud of, its got to be my humility...(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

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Well, OGE, remember that old Mac Davis song,

 

"Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble,

when you're perfect in every way..."

 

I just scrolled through a few threads and you and KoreaScouter are now the only ones at 5 stars, everybody else has either 2.5 or 1.5 and in one case, 0.5

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Maybe the stars should come with a diclaimer: "For entertainment purposes only." Hey at least I'm rated.

 

I find the whole issue of the stars ironic given our recent discussion regarding the recognition or lack there of of academic performance and honor roles.

 

I havn't seen all the ratings yet, but yes OGE seems to consistently score high. What's the secret?

 

SA

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