Thread ratings

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Moderators, move this if you want...

Do the thread ratings annoy anybody else? They are useless in my opinion, and seem to be abused. Threads that have nothing wrong with them will get a one star because apparently nobody but people who dislike things take the time to rate. Look at the thread about 1800 cfm dust collection in the workshop for example.

Thoughts?

[Carl Beckett]

You know, I read it differently. Any time there is ANY rating I took that as a positive. So the fact that someone took the time to give it one star, made it rank higher (to me) than if no rating at all.

I dont know if that is how it is supposed to work, but thats how I was interpreting it.

Of course if it gets 4 or 5 stars I took that as a LOT of people giving it high marks. So worthwhile to take a look and likely learn something.

[Peter Kelly]

I rate this thread 249239http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/rating/rating-trans-15_5.pnghttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/rating/rating-trans-15_5.png

[Stephen Cherry]

I rated it one star, just to see what happens.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't see any ratings. Where do you find them?

Mike

[John Coloccia]

I don't see any ratings. Where do you find them?

Mike

Exactly what I was wondering. I have no idea what we're talking about.

[Stephen Cherry]

at the top of the page, "rate this thread"

[Rick Potter]

I never looked at it before. I always thought a star was like a +1. Maybe if 5 people give a thread one star, it becomes a 5 star:o.

Rick Potter

[Peter Quinn]

I had no idea this feature existed, I've ignored it successfully for years and will continue to ignore the stars much as I ignore ratings on restaurants from the local paper. I see most threads as a kind of conversation, can you imagine being in a conversation with some one or a group and having to stop and "rate" that conversation. Maybe there should be a "No thread left behind" act so some of the more marginal threads can improve their standing? Perhaps rather than threads tiling based on activity they should pop up randomly based on some more complex algorithm, perhaps based on star ratings inversely, recent activity, date originally posted, and the age of the blue cheese in my fridge......or maybe not?:rolleyes:

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I think it is a fairly new feature?? Guess I didn't notice it either until a couple days ago when I saw a good thread in the neaderthal with a one star, and did a bit of investigation. Since it seems like all that have a rating are a 1 star, except for this one, lol!

Seriously though, the thread that got the one star on the neanderthal side was the discussion of metallurgy in chisels. Some true experts were opining, and it had no rating. The next day a guy posted a something nasty about the intellect of the participants, which promptly got removed by the mods, but it soon got a one star, which I doubt was a coincidence. I doubt anybody here noticed or cared, but if someone not familiar with the creek was googling for the info that thread contained, and caught its one star, they may write it off for no good reason.

Peter, I love that algorithm you proposed!!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Steve,

I was curious so I set up to view all the threads that have ever been generated the "General Woodworking and Power Tools" forum. I looked at threads with last response dates as early as August 2011. There were thread ratings back at least as far as that. It is important to note that so few threads get rated they have little meaning. I had to go sometimes for pages before seeing a thread with a rating.

Personally, I place little value in such a rating system.

[John Coloccia]

I never looked at it before. I always thought a star was like a +1. Maybe if 5 people give a thread one star, it becomes a 5 star:o.

Rick Potter

Is THAT what those stars mean? LOL. I figured it was just some VBulletin algorithm that started adding stars when it got to a certain number of views. Steve, I don't think you have anything to worry about with the stars. I'm nearly certain that all of us ignore them.

[Jeff Monson]

Thread ratings can be nice if you are doing a search for a particular thing. If there is a large database, its easy to weed out the good threads from the bad by the ratings. I'm a member of a technical resource forum that uses thread rating, the database is very large with a ton of useless threads. In that system the rating works well, dont see it having that much impact here on SMC.

[Rick Christopherson]

There were thread ratings back at least as far as that.

Personally, I place little value in such a rating system.It has been in vBulletin for a long time. For most forums it is rather useless, especially since it rarely gets used properly. If it were being used consistently, then it would have a benefit. Since it rarely gets used, it has little benefit.

It can be disabled in the Admin Control Panel, but it has to be done for each forum.

Admin CP -> Forums & Moderators -> Forum Manager -> Edit Forum -> Allow Thread Ratings in this Forum

[Jeff Duncan]

Yup, another guy that never noticed the thread ratings and now that I know....will still not notice the thread ratings;)

FWIW I think Peter captured my feeling so I'll leave it at that.

JeffD

[David G Baker]

I gave this thread 5 stars because it let me know that there was a place on the screen that I could rate threads. Now that I know, if I remember, I will rate threads. Thanks for letting us know abut it.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Steve,

I was curious so I set up to view all the threads that have ever been generated the "General Woodworking and Power Tools" forum. I looked at threads with last response dates as early as August 2011. There were thread ratings back at least as far as that. It is important to note that so few threads get rated they have little meaning. I had to go sometimes for pages before seeing a thread with a rating.

Personally, I place little value in such a rating system.

August 2011, wow, I really don't pay attention very well!!