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Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer
I'm unsure what value ratings have. There's already a measure I find useful - number of views. In less frequented forums that may not work so well but then neither would ratings IMHO.
Thread ratings also have a significant shortcoming (in my eyes) that no-one has mentioned. You can only vote once, but the "value" of the thread may change after you've voted. Eg a thread may initially be full of rubbish, but then later some valuable info or comments may well change the tone & usefulness completely - or vice versa. |
Originally Posted by Kiwi Flyer
I'm unsure what value ratings have. There's already a measure I find useful - number of views. In less frequented forums that may not work so well but then neither would ratings IMHO.
Thread ratings also have a significant shortcoming (in my eyes) that no-one has mentioned. You can only vote once, but the "value" of the thread may change after you've voted. Eg a thread may initially be full of rubbish, but then later some valuable info or comments may well change the tone & usefulness completely - or vice versa. I somewhat agree with you about the single vote theory, but if you think a thread may change in value, you can simply wait to rate it. |
Number of views is a horrid metric: if I posted a thread entitled "New US Airways to offer Free Beer inflight" in the US forum, I can almost guarantee that the number of views would be huge, even if the content of the actual post was "Gotcha!"
FWIW, I have rated this thread 2 stars. |
I say we turn on all the features of FT
Reputation Thread ratings Referrals Turn on a feature, and we are like monkeys, we will find a way to abuse it ;) |
Originally Posted by ClueByFour
Number of views is a horrid metric: if I posted a thread entitled "New US Airways to offer Free Beer inflight" in the US forum, I can almost guarantee that the number of views would be huge, even if the content of the actual post was "Gotcha!"
FWIW, I have rated this thread 2 stars. CB4, You may want to factor the response to view ratio. If I see lots of views with limited responses, it's a blowoff . Maybe you should post your thread idea; just for testing of course. :p Now can we close this down?? :D |
Why the rush to close down the discussion?
The purpose of the TB forum is for dialog between the members and the TB. How on earth are the TB members supposed to receive feedback if threads are constantly being locked? |
Camera Guy
Just for the record you are completely wrong in the fiction you keep peddling over and over here in this thread, viz:
Originally Posted by CameraGuy
There was NO abuse. There were NO troublemakers! Just to refresh your memory and others - of FACTS not fiction, might I remind you of these pertinent posts:
Originally Posted by Dovster
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=359978 :td: Some Very Sick FlyerTalkers We have some very sick FlyerTalkers -- in fact, I would call them emotional cripples. I doubt there are very many of them -- the evidence indicates that it is about 5 or 6 -- but the high point of their pathetic little lives is to strike out, anonymously, to bring a little rain upon somebody else's parade. Apparently working in concert (very possibly the only time they have managed to make contact with other human beings), and deprived of the anonymous reputation feature, they get their virtual jollies by rushing to give one-star ratings to threads started by people they don't like. It doesn't matter how harmless the thread or what its subject matter is, these sickies rush to click to demonstrate their unhappiness. Recently, this has extended even further -- now they are not only giving one-star ratings to threads started by these folks but also to threads wishing them happy birthdays! I can not for the life of me imagine being so desperate for a feeling of accomplishment in your life as to be satisfied by this kind of petty achievement. Ever since the thread ratings began, I have been aware of this sick little group's actions but never said anything. Today, I learned about the birthday threads. A F/Te who has quite a bit more decency than these sickies could possibly envision, wrote to a number of people, including me, urging them to give high marks to one person's birthday thread to balance out the insult this group had inflicted. I then discovered a second birthday thread that had gotten the same treatment. Fortunately, it, too, was balanced out by high ratings given by more mature individuals. (In neither case, incidentally, did a single member of this group express his/her displeasure by posting on the thread. Obviously, that would have required identifying themselves and deprived them of the ability to hide in the dark -- a favorite activity of all cockroaches.) This was Randy's response to that comment - less than a year back.
Originally Posted by Randy Petersen
Let me see who posted a one-star and see if it is a true common fault among certain members. I'm really not one to play Big Brother on FlyerTalk, but if called to investigate something like this, then play that role temporarily I can. Frankly, I'd rather get rid of a few of these members than get rid of the ratings feature. It can serve a purpose, hopefully a positive one. Thanks for the heads up. Have things changed in recent weeks with disruptive actions in pre-planned unison from these EXACT same people? I suggest you ask Randy. Better still, I'd suggest TalkBoard asks Randy - before they vote. This was his thoughts only yesterday on the "Thread Rating" feature - and TB members might well dwell on his final wise 2 paragraphs before voting:
Originally Posted by Randy Petersen
What I found out is that the energy, time and patience to follow every single thread rating was an impossible aspiration. It could not be accomplished just listening to a few "report post" type complaints but a through and fair review, of which I simply did not have the time then and possibly not now. At the end of the day, I think I decided it wasn't worthy the goals of FT to try and satisfy the barrage of "you missed a thread markdown by XXXX" or the "I truly thought it was only a one star thread ..." I think you all get the picture. Who knows, we may see it's revival one day, though I'd feel comfortable it being something that the TalkBoard decides on. As I recall, and I could be wrong, we simply went with the feature because it was a default in vBulletin when we moved from UBB. We didn't think or put into place any guidelines and as a result were unprepared for the actions of any member to use the feature for anything other than apparently what it was intended for in development from VBulletin. We lived quite well without it in the early days of FT and it seems than we can live peacefully without it right now - except for the dialog about why it doesn't work on FT. We have an 'ignore user' feature than functions the very same way. Guess what - most of the antagonizers do not use the feature. Leaving this un-necessary feature turned OFF gives Randy and Admin and moderators one less thing to chew up their valuable time I'd suggest. |
NOWHERE in the very LONG thread above mine is there any evidence that Randy disabled Thread Rating due to "abuse". In fact, this quote:
Originally Posted by Randy Petersen
What I found out is that the energy, time and patience to follow every single thread rating was an impossible aspiration. It could not be accomplished just listening to a few "report post" type complaints but a through and fair review, of which I simply did not have the time then and possibly not now.
At the end of the day, I think I decided it wasn't worthy the goals of FT to try and satisfy the barrage of "you missed a thread markdown by XXXX" or the "I truly thought it was only a one star thread ..." I think you all get the picture. Who knows, we may see it's revival one day, though I'd feel comfortable it being something that the TalkBoard decides on. There was NO abuse. Only whining. |
Originally Posted by ozstamps
Re-introducing this feature will only cause constant food fights on FT. Those that showed they could not use it like adults a year back still actively pre-plan disruption in some areas on FT I think you'll find if you ask Randy.
Leaving this un-necessary feature turned OFF gives Randy and Admin and moderators one less thing to chew up their valuable time I'd suggest. And maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that since ratings and reputation were disabled, things have been VERY, VERY calm in comparison to earlier times. Maybe it would be better just to leave it off? |
Originally Posted by anonplz
And maybe it's just me, but it seems to me that since ratings and reputation were disabled, things have been VERY, VERY calm in comparison to earlier times. Maybe it would be better just to leave it off? (Go Yankees!!! :p ) |
Ok, we've run the course.
The TalkBoard will return to this thread if it seeks more comments. ;) |
Final Vote Tally
On 20 October 2005, the TalkBoard passed 7-0 a motion that 'Thread Ratings' and "Reputation' features remain disabled on Flyertalk.
Voting for: attorney28, gleff, missydarlin, ScottC, Spiff, Starwood Lurker, wharvey Voting against: none Abstaining: Dovster Did not vote: kempis I have re-opened this thread to permit comments of the TalkBoard's vote. Keep it civil, please. :) |
Originally Posted by Spiff
On 20 October 2005, the TalkBoard passed 7-0 a motion that 'Thread Ratings' and "Reputation' features remain disabled on Flyertalk. Voting for: attorney28, gleff, missydarlin, ScottC, Spiff, Starwood Lurker, wharvey Voting against: none Abstaining: Dovster Did not vote: kempis I have re-opened this thread to permit comments of the TalkBoard's vote. Keep it civil, please. :) An excellent decision IMHO by this Talk Board. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ |
The TB has spoken.
FWIW, and not much I can tell you, I also would've voted to retain the status quo. Benefit risk analysis ya' know! ;) Thanks for the update! :) Mark |
Hopefully the next TB will reconsider.
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There is no reason for any thread to be rated. Most last only a short while and then disappear into electrons.
What purpose does a thread rating serve?? |
Originally Posted by CameraGuy
Hopefully the next TB will reconsider.
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Originally Posted by ozstamps
I'll keep it civil. :p
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Originally Posted by CameraGuy
Hopefully the next TB will reconsider.
We are always open to revisiting an issue when there is a community desire for us to do so. |
Originally Posted by mikey1003
There is no reason for any thread to be rated. Most last only a short while and then disappear into electrons.
What purpose does a thread rating serve?? |
Originally Posted by CameraGuy
Indicates that Thread Rating was turned off due to the whining and hurt e-feelings. Randy STATED in the quote above and in a recent thread that he would like feedback from the TB on this issue. If he disabled the feature due to "abuse", why would he ever consider enabling it? There was NO abuse. Only whining. Perhaps you are referring to this post which was made by AlanW: I "one-starred" one of the birthday threads. Go ahead, call me morally reprehensible, an *******, cluck your tongues and wag your fingers (or is that the other way around?) but while you do so, consider this: The thread I rated with one star was a birthday thread. Those suck. Why? Because they aren't fair. Some people get tons of birthday wishes, some get a few, and they aren't based at all on the value of a person's contribution to FT. I got like half a dozen posts on my last birthday after I had to prompt somebody to post it in the first place. Is that what you were referring to as "whining"? Somebody complaining that only six people wished him a happy birthday and he had to ask someone to start the thread? |
I often took it upon myself to cast a "counter-balancing vote" when I observed a thread with an inordinately high or low thread rating on (what I considered to be) its merits. Upon casting such a vote, I would often learn -- through the mathematical calculation -- that the particular thread rating had been based on a handful of votes.
The "inappropriately" rated threads seemed to fall into a pattern, of an "unpopular" topic originator, of an "unpopular" contributor, or an "unpopular" point of view predominating on the thread. While I appreciated the reputation feature while we had it, and the thread-rating corollary, the reduction in inflammatory actions and clique-based behavior has justified, and continues to justify, in my view, the original decision of Randy to dispense with these features. |
Well, this civility went south in a hurry. :(
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