We are slowing turning on Topic Ratings for all forums. Since we have a couple of hundred forums, that may take us awhile. As of this writing, we have turned on ratings for AVSIM specific forums and all of the Microsoft forums. We're working our way down the list, and sooner or later all will be turned on.

 

We have added a feature that allows you to open up the forum category, say MS FSX and in the list of topics, you will rating stars next to each topic. These stars represent your opinion of the topic and your rating of it using 1 through 5 starts, with 5 stars being best. The total numbers of stars displayed in gold are the average of every user's vote. You can only rate a topic once.

 

There are no negative ratings, but a 1 star should be assumed to be "not good".

Gave the Topic Ratings topic a 5-star rating.

Why rate the topics? Is it to discourage or to motivate? One person's ho-hum topic may be just the info that someone else was looking for. I just don'r get it, I guess.

Why rate the topics? Is it to discourage or to motivate? One person's ho-hum topic may be just the info that someone else was looking for. I just don'r get it, I guess.

 

For all kinds of reasons. It isn't as if this is new. A lot of the forums already allow rating. It serves a number purposes such as users scanning of a forum category can quickly see which topics are rated highly for content. Another is as you mentioned, motivation. We all want to see our posts mean something to others, and hopefully this will help motivate posters to improve their "game" so to speak. And, it gives you a means to communicate how you, as a reader, feel about a topic. I think that is all positive. I see no downside to this. Since negative ratings cannot be given, there is no potential for abuse.

Why rate the topics? Is it to discourage or to motivate? One person's ho-hum topic may be just the info that someone else was looking for. I just don'r get it, I guess.

 

Generally speaking, you tend to find that topics can be judged by the number of responses they gather, but in some cases that is not a good guide, since there are occasions where loads of replies can be largely pointless or descend into an argument, and similarly, a topic might garner an instant answer, and thus only one reply, but still be a very useful one to refer to.

 

So the ability to rate a topic beyond merely showing approval or interest by posting on it, makes it a useful function for forum users,because you might see a forum topic that is apparently of little interest to you, but clocking that it has been rated highly means you have a way of noting that it might be worth a look anyway.

 

Al

So the ability to rate a topic beyond merely showing approval or interest by posting on it, makes it a useful function for forum users,because you might see a forum topic that is apparently of little interest to you, but clocking that it has been rated highly means you have a way of noting that it might be worth a look anyway.

 

You said it much better... Thanks.

Tom, wouldn't the same Up arrow be better? I like the starts idea though. Reminds me of YouTube when it was not owned by Google.

Tom, wouldn't the same Up arrow be better? I like the starts idea though. Reminds me of YouTube when it was not owned by Google.

 

Up arrows are for the individual post. Stars are for the entire topic (or that is they way I see them anyway).

Up arrows are for the individual post. Stars are for the entire topic (or that is they way I see them anyway).

Yes, I know, but I was talking about arrows for both. Or, like YouTube now, a Like button.

I like the rating system. If you do a search for a topic and 12 threads pop up on that topic, then you can see the 5 star rated one or the three star rated or no stars, it lets you go straight for the 5 star one that will most likely be of value to you. It lets you get the answer you may be looking for more efficiently.

 

Cheers

Tom and Al,

 

Thanks for your thoughts. You both brought up things I hadn't considered.

This is a good thing. Thanks Tom.