4 ms·

The star requirements make total sense if you've ever worked on a review/recommendation system before. The reality is most people don't give accurate ratings. A

The star requirements make total sense if you've ever worked on a review/recommendation system before. The reality is most people don't give accurate ratings. Any sub-5 star score from a rider usually means something went wrong, because otherwise why would you bother putting anything less than 5? The way it ends up working out, barely any but the most egregious drivers will have a sub-4.5 rating or so because the majority of passengers just mindlessly rate 5 stars. Therefore, the difference between someone rated 4.2 and 4.7 is enormous in practice.

autarch 10y ago
Which is why I don't understand why Uber & Lyft bother with stars. Why not just thumbs up/down instead?
- Groxx 10y ago
  People seem to understand stars roughly as well as thumbs up / down (except for some people who review "best ever. 1 star." which does happen). But if you drop it to up/down you lose any signal in the 3-5 stars range, which make up a ton of review rankings.
CydeWeys 10y ago
When I see a five star system, my default rating is a 3, unless there's something that sways it in some other direction. Why would the default rating be the very top of the scale?! Then you can't reward excellence. The median trip certainly is not "excellent". YouTube recognized this awhile ago and went to the better "thumbs up/thumbs down" system.
- ikt 10y ago
  As you mentioned: https://youtube.googleblog.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-ratings.html https://youtube.googleblog.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-r... Seems like when it comes to ratings it's pretty much all or nothing. Great videos prompt action; anything less prompts indifference. > Why would the default rating be the very top of the scale?! Because most people don't care about an average meal, but they do care when it's bad or great.
  - CydeWeys 10y ago
    Yeah, but you are forced to rate every Uber ride. If I'm being forced to rate something I'm indifferent about, I'll go with the indifferent option every time, namely, the middle of the scale. Most restaurants I'd never bother rating (they'd implicitly be getting ~3s); it's only the ones that I really loved or hated that I'd bother rating, and then likely with a 1 or a 5. The only Uber rating I actually ever cared about was a terrible unsafe driver who got into a yelling match with another driver who I gave a 1 and then wrote a lengthy report about. Every other rating has been mostly indifferent, just a ride from one place to another.

autarch 10y ago

Which is why I don't understand why Uber & Lyft bother with stars. Why not just thumbs up/down instead?

Groxx 10y ago
People seem to understand stars roughly as well as thumbs up / down (except for some people who review "best ever. 1 star." which does happen). But if you drop it to up/down you lose any signal in the 3-5 stars range, which make up a ton of review rankings.

CydeWeys 10y ago

When I see a five star system, my default rating is a 3, unless there's something that sways it in some other direction. Why would the default rating be the very top of the scale?! Then you can't reward excellence. The median trip certainly is not "excellent". YouTube recognized this awhile ago and went to the better "thumbs up/thumbs down" system.

ikt 10y ago
As you mentioned: https://youtube.googleblog.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-ratings.html https://youtube.googleblog.com/2009/09/five-stars-dominate-r... Seems like when it comes to ratings it's pretty much all or nothing. Great videos prompt action; anything less prompts indifference. > Why would the default rating be the very top of the scale?! Because most people don't care about an average meal, but they do care when it's bad or great.
- CydeWeys 10y ago
  Yeah, but you are forced to rate every Uber ride. If I'm being forced to rate something I'm indifferent about, I'll go with the indifferent option every time, namely, the middle of the scale. Most restaurants I'd never bother rating (they'd implicitly be getting ~3s); it's only the ones that I really loved or hated that I'd bother rating, and then likely with a 1 or a 5. The only Uber rating I actually ever cared about was a terrible unsafe driver who got into a yelling match with another driver who I gave a 1 and then wrote a lengthy report about. Every other rating has been mostly indifferent, just a ride from one place to another.