Product of the week competition

jesi · Number of posts: 127 Age: 102 Registration date: 2006-02-13

Ciao's Favourite Member wrote:

... So in the end, any weighting of rates is ultimately flawed ...

l am not denying that weighting of ratings will almost ALWAYS be flawed ~ even by definition ~ l was merely stating that Ciao! have always admitted that there IS weighting of ratings, and that WHATEVER their weighting system, and HOWEVER flawed, it exists, thus making the overall ratings not merely a pure 'mates-rates' contest

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koshkha · Subject: Re: Product of the week competition Wed 12 Mar 2008, 18:24

My assumption was that if a user always rates HIGH (you know the ones that 'run out' of E's every day) then the system gives less weight to an E from them than it would from someone who uses them more sparingly. Conversely, someone like the member I found recently who'd given 82% H might carry less of an H-power than one that handed them out less often.

jesi · Number of posts: 127 Age: 102 Registration date: 2006-02-13

You could be right, Barbara.

. . . after all . . . it's just a website . . .

Actually, l like your theory.

flower

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Ciao's Favourite Member · Number of posts: 1075 Registration date: 2006-12-20

jesi wrote:

l'm not silver yet, but then, l've only written 88 reviews and 2 QR; l don't leave sheep ratings, and few 'E's. l also leave few negative ratings, preferring to make suggestions first, and rate when the review has been revised.

l also try to avoid controversy and confrontation wherever l can.

l don't think being a good rater is consistent with trying to bully others to accept your point of view; however, l also think people need to understand differing needs of different websites when they are writing reviews for those websites.

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with my post.

Jessie wrote:

l think, on the whole, Product of the Week has been counter-productive, as far as encouraging and rewarding excellence is concerned.

So then the PoW falls into the same category as Diamonds because the best reviews each month generally speaking aren't the ones being given the big payouts and you can get a diamond should you wish to write a 2500 word review of a mobile phone, complete with techncial specifications in list form and a detailed descriptiuon of what the phone does and not the important bits like the whys and your opinion. If you want to whore yourself for the money, it's possible to do.

Jessie wrote:

But it HAS encouraged some writers to improve their research and writing skills, and, where people are not afraid to explain ratings and accept other opinions, it can build community.

Has it really done this over and above the normal rate of people who take advice on board or is the rate of reviewers who do the PoW and go on to improve their work bigger than those that simply post in general around the site?

The hard part is still getting people to accept ratesand as long as the majority don't (which I believe to be the case), then the community will always be an evil entity and a negative, not positive, influence on the site.

jesi wrote:

l am not denying that weighting of ratings will almost ALWAYS be flawed ~ even by definition ~ l was merely stating that Ciao! have always admitted that there IS weighting of ratings, and that WHATEVER their weighting system, and HOWEVER flawed, it exists, thus making the overall ratings not merely a pure 'mates-rates' contest

I don't see any hard evidence to suggest that rate weighting goes on. Ciao have never acted in such a way to let me believe they even care about rates, often siding with those that complain even when there's no evidence of wrong-doing. They might say that the is weighting going on, but they also say that the best reviews each month get diamonds which is not right.

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plipplop · Number of posts: 210 Registration date: 2006-04-25

jesi wrote:

l am not denying that weighting of ratings will almost ALWAYS be flawed ~ even by definition ~ l was merely stating that Ciao! have always admitted that there IS weighting of ratings, and that WHATEVER their weighting system, and HOWEVER flawed, it exists, thus making the overall ratings not merely a pure 'mates-rates' contest

Not true. The weighting is based on the community-point status of the rater. Community points are easily accumulated through mate-rating. Not necessarily a problem for the metallics who may (or may not) be a little wiser to it, but certainly your reds and oranges carry more clout than those below them.

I think, therefore, that the weighting based on dots just accentuates the mates-rates contest.

CareBear · Number of posts: 135 Registration date: 2006-03-01

Whilst I like Barbara's idea for how the weighting works I very much doubt that it is the case and I would concur with Phil that, at least in the past, that was how ratings were explained to me when I asked.

Having said that, like Aaron, I've yet to see any concrete evidence that it really is in play.

What I do know is that I'm feeling less free to rate as I see fit on the site and, as a result, am actually more likely to post and run (or actually read but not rate) than I ever was. Sad really.

SaschaT · Subject: Re: Product of the week competition Thu 13 Mar 2008, 18:03

CareBear wrote:

Having said that, like Aaron, I've yet to see any concrete evidence that it really is in play.

I agree.

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duskmaiden · Subject: Re: Product of the week competition Sun 16 Mar 2008, 23:50

jesi wrote:

l'
But it HAS encouraged some writers to improve their research and writing skills, and, where people are not afraid to explain ratings and accept other opinions, it can build community.

Do you actually need research skills for product reviews especially something like product of the week? A lot of the research done is as already said is padding and irrelevant.

atticusuk · Subject: Re: Product of the week competition Mon 17 Mar 2008, 19:35

duskmaiden wrote:

jesi wrote:

l'
But it HAS encouraged some writers to improve their research and writing skills, and, where people are not afraid to explain ratings and accept other opinions, it can build community.

Do you actually need research skills for product reviews especially something like product of the week? A lot of the research done is as already said is padding and irrelevant.

Actually research is very important if you have no personal experience of the product and need to pad out a review. Twisted Evil

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