forum rating system?
Discussion
It seems to me that the tone of PH has deteriorated somewhat over the last year or so. I used to look forward to the friendly banter and long-running jokes, and they're still there, but there are too many posts these days that descend into tit-for-tat slanging matches.
I don't think there are many people involved, and sometimes I think they just need to be taken outside and have a bucket of water tipped over them. It isn't necessarily abuse as such (although it sometimes is) it's just negative and unconstructive and lowers the whole tone that PH sets.
Ideally it would be great to have somebody giving every single post an 'attitude check', but realistically this isn't going to happen. Is it possible to set up a system to do this automatically? What I have in mind is some scheme that lets us 'score' posts, and hence posters. If lots of other people rate a post highly then it's probably worth me taking the time to read it; conversely, if you repeatedly post stuff that that gets people riled up then it may be worth a moderator having a friendly chat about your attitude. I'm not sure whether it might be counter-productive to show how many brownie points individuals have, but it would be nice to have somewhere to record a FFS :rolleyes: without joining in the thread.
Or is it just me?
I don't think there are many people involved, and sometimes I think they just need to be taken outside and have a bucket of water tipped over them. It isn't necessarily abuse as such (although it sometimes is) it's just negative and unconstructive and lowers the whole tone that PH sets.
Ideally it would be great to have somebody giving every single post an 'attitude check', but realistically this isn't going to happen. Is it possible to set up a system to do this automatically? What I have in mind is some scheme that lets us 'score' posts, and hence posters. If lots of other people rate a post highly then it's probably worth me taking the time to read it; conversely, if you repeatedly post stuff that that gets people riled up then it may be worth a moderator having a friendly chat about your attitude. I'm not sure whether it might be counter-productive to show how many brownie points individuals have, but it would be nice to have somewhere to record a FFS :rolleyes: without joining in the thread.
Or is it just me?
Not just you Peter there seems to be more bitchyness on PH lately,how its stopped im not to sure.All i can thik of is heavier moderation but that might be counter productive for the site
I must admit id like to hide some members posts at times,like you can select which forum id like to deselect certain Phers
I must admit id like to hide some members posts at times,like you can select which forum id like to deselect certain Phers
thinking of how a better system might work. My favorite would be to let people rate each post. It's quite possible to have a really good threat soured by a couple of snipers. I also think it would be best for it to be relatively inconspicuous, so it doesn't necessarily encourage everyone to rate every post but just gives PH a warning bell if any individual thread or contributor is causing lots of negative vibes.
Edited to add: sort of one level down from the 'report abuse' option, and something that doesn't imply a need for immediate moderator action.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 30th September 18:05
Edited to add: sort of one level down from the 'report abuse' option, and something that doesn't imply a need for immediate moderator action.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 30th September 18:05
It's a good idea. If you were to incorporate the length of time/number of posts made by a member, you could have a system that is more sensitive to what people think of new members. Trolls would be weeded out quickly and it would allow some leeway to long established members.
Might take some thinking about to get working well though.
Might take some thinking about to get working well though.
Colin, you make a good point about the respect thing being public - that was its failing.
Anyway, as an experiment I've just implemented a thread rating system. You can flag a thread as good or bad using the thumb up or thumb down next to the 'bookmark' icon.
I'll monitor the results and see if they're worth making public as a guide to how good/bad a thread is or whether it's just a tool that we can use to bin bad threads automatically etc, etc.
Anyway, as an experiment I've just implemented a thread rating system. You can flag a thread as good or bad using the thumb up or thumb down next to the 'bookmark' icon.
I'll monitor the results and see if they're worth making public as a guide to how good/bad a thread is or whether it's just a tool that we can use to bin bad threads automatically etc, etc.
GreenV8S said:The difficulty is that it's impossible to do body language with a post. For example, a post I made on the subject of cyclist was read by one person as being loaded with vitriol but it wasn't intended in that way at all. Someone feeling defensive can read a post and associate with it and the author an entirely incorrect mood and I think that that's often how arguments get started. In a pub you'd see what the other person was feeling by their body language and respond accordingly, here we have no such luxury.
My favorite would be to let people rate each post. It's quite possible to have a really good threat soured by a couple of snipers. I also think it would be best for it to be relatively inconspicuous, so it doesn't necessarily encourage everyone to rate every post but just gives PH a warning bell if any individual thread or contributor is causing lots of negative vibes.
Mark
dern said:
My favorite would be to let people rate each post. It's quite possible to have a really good threat soured by a couple of snipers. I also think it would be best for it to be relatively inconspicuous, so it doesn't necessarily encourage everyone to rate every post but just gives PH a warning bell if any individual thread or contributor is causing lots of negative vibes.
The difficulty is that it's impossible to do body language with a post. For example, a post I made on the subject of cyclist was read by one person as being loaded with vitriol but it wasn't intended in that way at all. Someone feeling defensive can read a post and associate with it and the author an entirely incorrect mood and I think that that's often how arguments get started. In a pub you'd see what the other person was feeling by their body language and respond accordingly, here we have no such luxury.
Mark
Surely correct use of smileys avoids most misunderstandings on this score?
AlexH said:
Ted - I can see how the thumbs up or down system will work for people starting threads, but how will it work (if at all) for those posting unwelcome remarks in others threads?
It's not about the person starting the thread, it's just a measure of whether the thread is good or not.
If a load of people suddenly mark a thread as bad then it's likely that it's offensive to many people etc and can be excluded/deleted/action taken of some kind.
Equally if you wanted to only read the creme-de-la-creme of threads then we could look at providing a 'good threads only' view.
Perhaps that's a classic example, if the poster of a light-hearted post realized that it was being taken the wrong way it might prompt them to go back and add a few smileys?
Edited to add: my feeling is still that rating threads doesn't give fine enough resolution, it needs to be applied to individual posts.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 30th September 19:11
Edited to add: my feeling is still that rating threads doesn't give fine enough resolution, it needs to be applied to individual posts.
>> Edited by GreenV8S on Friday 30th September 19:11
Surely the thumbs up/down system would work better for individual posts. That way, over time, you can see if there are particular users consistently causing the upset?
And those users can, once told, adjust their attitude, or find somewhere they'll be more popular!
It may be that the writing style of a given user comes across as stroppy - whereas it is meant as satirical - and they may not realise others aren't taking it the way it was intended.
Often there are long threads which are fine, but only with the odd disruptive post.
And those users can, once told, adjust their attitude, or find somewhere they'll be more popular!
It may be that the writing style of a given user comes across as stroppy - whereas it is meant as satirical - and they may not realise others aren't taking it the way it was intended.
Often there are long threads which are fine, but only with the odd disruptive post.
Rating threads is simple and can weed out silly threads quickly.
Rating individual posts is less clear. What do you do when a post is voted as being crap? Do you not display it? If you did that then messages could disappear leaving other messages there and the thread making no sense.
In future abuse reports will be linked to individual comments so there's scope for us to deal with individuals.
I think a scheme whereby nonsense/waste of space threads can be eliminated quickly by concensus and good threads highlighted by the same method could have some merit.
Anyway, the thread thumbs are an experiment. If it works then good. If not then I'll try some of the other ideas suggested here.
Rating individual posts is less clear. What do you do when a post is voted as being crap? Do you not display it? If you did that then messages could disappear leaving other messages there and the thread making no sense.
In future abuse reports will be linked to individual comments so there's scope for us to deal with individuals.
I think a scheme whereby nonsense/waste of space threads can be eliminated quickly by concensus and good threads highlighted by the same method could have some merit.
Anyway, the thread thumbs are an experiment. If it works then good. If not then I'll try some of the other ideas suggested here.
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