Thread rating

[frogbeastegg]

We have enabled a new thread rating system. It's very simple. Rate a thread using the little interface on the right-hand section at the top a thread. Ratings are averaged out across the number of votes. You can see how many people have rated a topic on this same interface. Any thread with a minimum of one user rating will display a star icon on the forum index.

Feedback would be appreciated. We can tweak the system, change the icons, or disable it again as requested.

Please note: if people start spamming 1 and 10 star ratings all over the place we will probably disable the system again. We want it to be useful. By all means, rate threads as 1 or 10, just not every single thread you see.

[Maltz]

I can see the rating option in some threads but not others (like this thread). I wonder whether the author or the moderator can designate a thread to be subject to rating?

[frogbeastegg]

Oops! I was interrupted whilst writing that post and forgot to include something very important. It's enabled in all fora except the staff section, attic, and watchtower.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

I don't think it'll work in the backroom...there aren't many threads to begin with and it's not clear what the rating means to any individual person...

[a completely inoffensive name]

I don't want to be insulting here, but the size of the stars seems a little....obnoxious. They could be tweaked a bit to make them pop out but not the center of attention.

[Kralizec]

What are we supposed to rate? The original post, or the entire thread?

Some backroom topics start out as very mundane or silly yet develop into pages-long worthile discussions.

[Kadagar_AV]

I am torn.

I'd say it's good for strategies and stuff, threads in those parts of the forum.

In the backroom and other parts it only fill a negative function.

Can you disable it on some parts on the forum? If so, have the stars on the guides and strategy parts, but not front/backroom/watchtower and so on.

Edit: I am slow, you can disable in some forums.

So please only use this in strategy forums - ie - all forums about the TW series, but disable in community forums.

[Maltz]

I just rated a bunch of my own threads (not all 10s so hopefully I can escape below the radar).
I also wonder whether we can disable the rating function for the thread starter. But I think it is OK if we leave it like this as most ratings are provided by other users anyway.

[Peasant Phill]

I don't want to be insulting here, but the size of the stars seems a little....obnoxious. They could be tweaked a bit to make them pop out but not the center of attention.

I agree. The big in-your-face star is clashing with our style. Something more toned down would be more preferable.

So please only use this in strategy forums - ie - all forums about the TW series, but disable in community forums.

Again I agree. The rating system should be something to promote content and reward members who add content. Which is great in sections where there are guides and people offer and ask for help.
I fear that when this system is applied to off topic area's it will become a popularity contest, something we've been trying to avoid for a long time.


In short: An excellent way to promote content but not for off-topic subfora.

[TinCow]

Thanks for the feedback. I have disabled the system on all forums except those under the individual TW game categories.

Regarding the icon, is it just the size that is off or is the icon itself the issue (or both)? If it's the icon itself, what should go in its place? Almost anything can be stuck there, as long as the object isn't so dark that the number doesn't display on top of it. If you have a suggestion, please post it or, even better, provide a link to what you think would be a better alternative.

[Ishmael]

Personally I feel it's both the size and the icon - it's a bit too big to my mind, and the bright colour and prominent number draw the eye away from the thread title. As to a substitute, I would have sworn I'd seen a star rating on some threads here whereby there was a number of duller yellow stars (out of 5) beneath the thread title, however now that I go to look I can't find any examples .

[TinCow]

Personally I feel it's both the size and the icon - it's a bit too big to my mind, and the bright colour and prominent number draw the eye away from the thread title. As to a substitute, I would have sworn I'd seen a star rating on some threads here whereby there was a number of duller yellow stars (out of 5) beneath the thread title, however now that I go to look I can't find any examples .

That was the icon system used by the default vbulletin rating system. That system is, quite frankly, . There's no ability to control where it can be used, and moderation of the system is essentially impossible, as there is no way to determine who has rated a thread, and the only way to modify an existing rating is to manually edit the database. As such, we decided that if we were going to give thread ratings a try, we'd start with a system that was far more thorough. However, this system only uses single icons for the thread rating. I can change the icon, its size, and the formating of the number, but I can't restore the 'star gradient' icons from the old system, as they work in completely different ways.

[Maltz]

On a 1680 x 1050 monitor I find the yellow star just about the right size.

If we wish to avoid abuse of the rating system, maybe we can change that to a counter of stars/thanks.
If people like something, they can give it a star or thanks.
Then the total number of thanks received in the thread is displayed on the thread index.
Not sure whether this is possible, just an idea.

[drone]

I can change the icon, its size, and the formating of the number, but I can't restore the 'star gradient' icons from the old system, as they work in completely different ways.

Can the icon differ based on what the current rating is?

[TinCow]

If we wish to avoid abuse of the rating system, maybe we can change that to a counter of stars/thanks.
If people like something, they can give it a star or thanks.
Then the total number of thanks received in the thread is displayed on the thread index.
Not sure whether this is possible, just an idea.

That would require extensive custom coding which I am not capable of doing.

Can the icon differ based on what the current rating is?

Not in this system. In the vanilla system, yes.

[Kadagar_AV]

I must say, I am still against this at large, come to think of it.

I will let one occasion stand as an example:

AskThePizzaGuy in the Medieval II forum wrote about how he set a record in beating the game fast, IE, conquer the world in [insert amazingly now number here] turns...

He then got heavily flamed for it, as so many of the people posting at that time was all for immersion and stuff.


With this ranking system, a member who not only excels at the game series, but also bother to write about it here, would be deeply put off. I know of a lot of people who read his threads and took motivation from it, hey, he beat a computer game record fast. But these very same people possibly wouldn't even have opened the thread had it had a rating of 2,3 or whatever.

So, really, what is the point of having it?

Bad topics soon end up on page XXX anyway... And we already have bumps and stickies to deal with the good posts.

[Maltz]

AskThePizzaGuy in the Medieval II forum wrote about how ...

You would think people playing for immersion should be mature enough to tolerate different styles of play.
I think that's when the moderator(s) should come in and encourage a worthy thread (like an official endorsement) and probably ask for a dedicated guide/move the thread in the guide forum.

[Axalon]

I would like to request a total removal/exemption of this feature in "my" sub-forum (that is the MTW-Redux fora). I don't want it there. If you please.


EDIT:
---------------------------
This "feature" screws up the first-post-formatting of all my threads. I really don't like
that at all, it just looks like crap. If other people must have it elsewhere, I guess that
can't be helped but PLEASE keep it the hell out of my sub-forum at least... Alright? :)

- A

[TinCow]

Done.

[Axalon]

You have my thanks, and I appreciate the speed on this as well.

- A