New PDD Feature: Rating Posts
By Paul Lundgren on May 18, 2009 in Advice, PDD Shop Talk
As some of you have already figured out, we added a tool on PDD in which readers can rate how useful or enjoyable they find particular posts.
[UPDATE: Ratings were taken down 15 days after this post went up, so don't look for them and feel stupid.]
See that row of stars at the bottom of this (and every other) post? That’s where the rating happens. All you have to do is click on the appropriate star to gauge your appreciation. The meaning behind the stars is basically this:
1 star – Lame
2 stars – Somewhat appreciated, but still kind of lame
3 stars – Above average
4 stars – Mint
5 stars – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A NOTE ABOUT RATING THIS PARTICULAR POST: Rather than rating the quality of this post, please rate the whole idea of having ratings at all, as that will be useful to know. And feel free to comment about it as well.
Why would you want to rate a post and why would you care how well a post rates? Well, that’s up to you to decide.
From the standpoint of PDD administration, we think it will be interesting to see which posts are the most popular. From time to time people complain about posts they don’t like, but that doesn’t mean other people don’t like those posts. This will be a more democratic way of finding out what’s hot and what’s not.
You might still ask what the point is. Once we know what posts are liked and disliked, will administration start deleting unpopular posts? Probably not. But we might decide to highlight popular posts in the future.
The ratings will also allow people who are too shy to leave comments to feel that they are participating. And the overly vocal amongst us will have a way to express disapproval without being argumentative and also express approval without writing lame comments such as “Me too!”
Having the post rating appear in my RSS reader would mean I’d vote a lot more often.
Me too!
I feel the need to put in a qualitative thought, instead of merely a rating of 1 star about this one.
I dislike the idea of rating posts because it’s seems to merely be another way of “grading” things with irrelevant or unclear criteria--our lives (and the Internet) are already saturated with this kind of thing--I’ll be the PDD lead lobbyist against having yet another arena of our lives displaying “stars upon thars!” (c.f. Dr. Seuss)--feels like kindergarten in a public school, gold stars and all.
PDD Admin,
Thanks for the time and efforts y’all put in on this blog!
I like the star/rating option.
To davids -- but it does give a voice to those who may not comment (for whatever reason).
Look, 4 comments and 38 votes. Someone else is liking the stars!
I think I’m with DavidS. It somehow just seems unnecessary, and has the potential to dissuade people from posting, fearing they might get a low rating. Maybe I’m over-thinking it.
I guess I just don’t see the point. But of course, if the PDD body-politic likes and adopts it, I will sheepishly follow along.
What Vicarious said — or rather, wrote.
yeah, but vicarious…your posts stink anyway. yet you keep posting.
no, wait, that’s me.
Like I said in my last post’s comments: I’m just getting started, Z.
be afraid.
really.
I don’t necessarily care for the post rating, as it feels somewhat junior high-ish, although hypocritically, I do like the “like” option on Facebook, although I wish they’d create a “dislike” option.
So, my thought is that go ahead, do the post rating and as soon as I work through my hypocrisy, I will sheepishly join in with the crowd.
The purpose for ratings is along the lines of what heysme is talking about — giving voice to the majority of PDD readers who for whatever reason prefer not to comment.
It is also a way to show approval without being mundane (commenting, “Nice!” or something similar) and to show disapproval without being rude or getting into a flame war.
Of course, commenting is still there for those who prefer to articulate their ideas, which is vital to this community.
Of course I just left that comment without realizing that Paul had explained the same thing after the jump, or that there even was a jump after which to explain things. Good thing there’s no rating system on comments.
Seriously, though, this service (to me) is largely about drawing out the silent majority and broadening PDD’s community.
I’m starting to likey. And I don’t know why.
Come to think of it, I really do like that “like” option on Facebook. OK.
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whoops
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sorry ascii ack!
We’ll just assume baci was attempting an ASCII “thumbs up”.
This rating thing sucks. Let those who want to comment do so.