Thread rating in listing

[connorhawke]

I don't see any thread ratings in thread listings. Were they removed? Beans and marmalade, whatever for? To save minimal additional loading time? Why not at least provide it as an option?

This is a very useful feature, particularly if the thread details a product, project or something else where a rating would be highly sought. It is far from practical to open each thread to view the corresponding rating, compared to a quick glance in the listing. I suggest re-adding this if it has been removed, and provide the option of displaying an average rating numerical value and/or number of votes alongside the rating, or at least (although less convenient) when the mouse hovers over it.

The removals of this feature and the option for users to have remotely hosted avatars seem highly nonsensical.

[connorhawke]

If you vote yes or no, it would also be great to hear your reasons.

[FlipFlops]

Hi there,

I think this feature is really important to get a quick idea about the quality of a thread. Having a lot of replies to a thread doesnt really tell something about its quality.
I think this is key to make the voting feature really makes sense.

And of course then you should be able to sort a forum by ratings + use it for the search as well.

Regards

[Jυra]

I see the feature useless for the majority of forums. I can understand a use, but it should be a modification.

[mmalacarne]

remove all the rating system, inside the topic view too.

[connorhawke]

remove all the rating system, inside the topic view too.

lol why?

[mmalacarne]

Because rating a topic from 1 to 5 is perfect for flame-wars. Never seen a vote from 2 to 4, user always rate 5 when agree with topic starter and 1 when disagree.
Then, what means the rating of a topic? The QUALITY? The quality of what?

"Oh, i never posted but it's a good topic".
"ah, posters are my friends but this is only a two star topic, they are not motivating enough".
"I'm posting 300 messages in this topic but this is only a 3 stars topic".

Topic rating must be somithing automatic. If a topic was open two weeks ago, has 20 user posting a total of 20 messages a day, no moderator action and other 40 user reading, maybe it's a GOOD topic, no?
Other topic open two weeks ago, nobody replies, maybe it's a stupid topic.
You don't need a 5 star system to understand this.

(the only way to use this feature, i think, is in a forum where a single topic is a specific content: a review, a shot story, a picture. In this case the system can be used as is.)

Another thing: there is no need of 5 stars. Or a topic it's good, or it's no good. But again, if it's good, you read or post, so topic value is still given by reads or replies.

On the contrary, i think it's good to rate a post.
A topic can be good but a reply can be stupid. Or there can be a vote for the best opinion.
I already posted about this, and i will like a more powerfull content rating system which not sum + and - but expose separatly.
The rate of the topic can be the sum of post rating and statistic data.

So, if the rating does not reflect in any way in the forum use, it will be better to simply remove it.

[connorhawke]

Topic rating must be somithing automatic. If a topic was open two weeks ago, has 20 user posting a total of 20 messages a day, no moderator action and other 40 user reading, maybe it's a GOOD topic, no?

Other topic open two weeks ago, nobody replies, maybe it's a stupid topic.

You don't need a 5 star system to understand this.

(the only way to use this feature, i think, is in a forum where a single topic is a specific content: a review, a shot story, a picture. In this case the system can be used as is.)

Your last sentence in the quote above sums it up.

There is not much point in having thread ratings to rate the topic itself, since in that case most users would probably vote either the maximum or the minimum, so the "Like" or "Reputation" feature is better suited for that. BUT if the topic details a specific thing that would make more sense to rate, the ratings could be used to gauge users' opinions of said thing, such as a product (e.g. in the context of IPS, an IPB skin), etc.

I think it would make sense to implement settings on a dual-level system: on a per-forum and per-thread basis. First, set which forums allow for thread starters to decide whether to apply ratings to their thread. Then, in said forums, when creating a thread, the thread starter can decide whether or not to enable ratings for the thread. For a thread where it would make sense to enable ratings, enable them (e.g. a product). Otherwise, disable them (e.g. a discussion in general chat).

[bfarber]

You can turn topic ratings on/off per-forum already, which I think is fine. You would generally have a "Review" forum for instance anyways if you allowed reviews, so only allow them in that forum.

As for showing the ratings in the listing, I have no strong feelings about it, but it's another set of icons that most casual users won't *really* care about. If the topic sounds interesting, they're going to read it, regardless of the number of stars next to it. I never (ever) pay attention to ratings when I'm online, personally. That said, if you want ratings back in forum view, you can already add them back with some HTML logic by editing the skin.

[connorhawke]

As for showing the ratings in the listing, I have no strong feelings about it, but it's another set of icons that most casual users won't *really* care about. If the topic sounds interesting, they're going to read it, regardless of the number of stars next to it. I never (ever) pay attention to ratings when I'm online, personally. That said, if you want ratings back in forum view, you can already add them back with some HTML logic by editing the skin.

Lol true, true, I could probably add it back in easily with some minor template editing.

It just seems kind of pointless to enable ratings in the first place if they're only going to be shown within the thread, as they're generally a lot less useful this way when they do get used. Normally, certain non-casuals would intend to use ratings to allow users to quickly gauge opinions on something described in the thread, but if ratings are only displayed within a thread, then that's not facilitated very well.

I mean, if the general view is that ratings are so rarely used that they should be rendered very much "out of the way" in terms of visibility that they're pretty much pointless unless template edits are made, why did the developer(s) not just remove them altogether and leave it as a mod? (LOL but please don't, because I'm going to endeavor to make the template changes and actually put them to use.) :rofl:

[dacho]

If we can do this with some editing, can someone tell us exactly how?

[Niteblade]

There is not much point in having thread ratings to rate the topic itself, since in that case most users would probably vote either the maximum or the minimum, so the "Like" or "Reputation" feature is better suited for that. BUT if the topic details a specific thing that would make more sense to rate, the ratings could be used to gauge users' opinions of said thing, such as a product (e.g. in the context of IPS, an IPB skin), etc.

I think it would make sense to implement settings on a dual-level system: on a per-forum and per-thread basis. First, set which forums allow for thread starters to decide whether to apply ratings to their thread. Then, in said forums, when creating a thread, the thread starter can decide whether or not to enable ratings for the thread. For a thread where it would make sense to enable ratings, enable them (e.g. a product). Otherwise, disable them (e.g. a discussion in general chat).

In my post in the pre-sales forum, I talked about the need for ratings as one of the factors that will measure the quality of a particular member's over all contribution to their community. Forum post counts alone do not indicate the quality of a member's interaction with their community (because a post consisting of one or two words doesn't always add to the discussion at hand). The time that has passed since the member's registration is not a good indicator alone either because some will sign up and will post a couple of times and then will disappear forever. Even a rating system isn't the best indicator of quality because members can give each other "all good" or "all bad" feedback based upon other factors not relating to the quality of their content, such as personal vengeance and the desire to manipulate the system.

I suppose what I'm talking about here is an algorithmic approach to determining the quality of a post, thread, or reply. The most weight of the equation, in my opinion, ought to be given to the "rating" that one member gives to the post, thread, or reply itself -- however, those doing the reviewing should themselves be determined to be quality reviewers first. Those who have been seen to give all good, all bad, or all random feedback aren't likely to pass judgement in a constructive manner. The next question is: "how do we determine that? how are we going to know which people give quality reviews versus those who give all good, all bad, or all random reviews?" The answer to this question resides in the arena of social statistics, I believe. We could compare the individual review score of a particular member to the review scores from the rest of the forum user base. Assuming that a community is active (where feedback is both given and received), then it becomes easier to identify when an individual's reviews sharply differ from that of the community at large.

The second part of the algorithm deal with the content length of the post, thread, or reply. Since Google has always placed emphasis on unique content and has designed its killer Panda to drop "thin-content" sites from its search engine results, it makes sense to place an emphasis on the length of a post. The assumption here is that the longer a post is, and the more words that are used therein, the more unique (to Google) it will be. Granted, there are scenarios where this will not always be the case -- a duplicated post, no matter how long, will always be duplicate content.

Well, in any case, I'm thinking about the possibilities for coming up with some kinda of means of determining the quality of a thread, post, or reply. Most users who disapprove of a rating system are doing so based upon how unreliable or how invalid such a simplistic rating system is: it doesn't accurately describe the reality of the content contained therein.

I'm sure that if methods were developed to increase the validity and the reliability of the rating system, more members would use it more often.

[bfarber]

What you are describing is MUCH more suited to the reputation system in IP.Board, rather than the rating system. On our site we use a 'like'-style reputation system, however IP.Board also supports a +1/-1 style reputation system to vote posts up or down. The reputation is then aggregated and stored to the poster's profile, and you can filter posts within a topic based on the reputation.



http://community.invisionpower.com/user/46197-bfarber/


The ability to filter posts in a topic is only available when you use the traditional up/down reputation system, rather than the like system.

[Logan]

Just noticed this was missing also, I would like to see rating stars in forum view again. We have a forum where users post a photo, and it is rated. The highest rated one at the end of the month gets showcased at the top of the board. It was great to be able to see the ratings from a glance instead of entering each topic.

[irfan5911]

not gonna lie... kinda want my money back.

if i want a feature it should be my choice, especially when im paying for it

[ladyofdragons]

fyi, add this to the Topic template to show ratings only on forums that allow ratings.

<if test="$forum_data['forum_allow_rating'] == 1">

<span class='mini_rate'>

<foreach loop="ratings:array(1,2,3,4,5) as $int">

<if test="$data['topic_rating_total'] >= $int">

{parse replacement="mini_rate_on"}

<else />

{parse replacement="mini_rate_off"}

</if>

</foreach>

[mmalacarne]

if i want a feature it should be my choice, especially when im paying for it

nonsense

[RafaelT]

I hate to bring up an old thread but could anyone help me out and tell me exactly where that would need to be added in the template? (Like between this and that).

We have a forum that asks for feature suggestions and this would be great to show what features are wanted most.

Thanks

fyi, add this to the Topic template to show ratings only on forums that allow ratings.

<if test="$forum_data['forum_allow_rating'] == 1">

<span class='mini_rate'>

<foreach loop="ratings:array(1,2,3,4,5) as $int">

<if test="$data['topic_rating_total'] >= $int">

{parse replacement="mini_rate_on"}

<else />

{parse replacement="mini_rate_off"}

</if>

</foreach>

[Marcher Technologies]

Doesn't get any easier than a free hook.

[RafaelT]

I even searched.. not sure how I missed that.

Thank you!