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It's tough to capture subjective features of data - like what a user means by rating something 4 stars - since the interpretation of each star value could mean

by ssalka 9y ago

It's tough to capture subjective features of data - like what a user means by rating something 4 stars - since the interpretation of each star value could mean something different to each user. But there is a (somewhat) simple solution - instead of presuming to know how to map stars to thumbs up/down for every user, let each user specify how the mapping would occur. The easiest way to go about this would be to just put 5 stars on the screen, and a toggle below each to indicate what values should map to what (eg 1,2 = thumb down; 3 = no rating; 4,5 = thumb up), and then apply the thumb ratings to everything the user has previously rated with stars. Maybe have the above settings as the default, and let the user tweak to their liking (eg, make 3 = thumb up). Boom, everyone gets their ratings migrated with little to no hassle.

BoiledCabbage 9y ago
Which again doesn't solve the problem of people being more likely to rate high-brow oscar type things with more stars even if they didn't really enjoy watching them, and more hesitant to rate light or slapstick things the same way. It's the same reason why so many people's to watch queue is filled with documentaries and profound movies they feel they should watch, but most of the time when they turn it on they flip on a simple TV show. Whether we want it to or not, like in hotels 5 stars implies a level of quality, not just a level of like. In a scenario, someone was looking for a silly light-hearted movie and I got a silly light-hearted movie. They don't think it deserved "5-stars" so they give it 3 or 4, but in truth it was exactly what they wanted. They want to ensure their data is a pure a signal as possible: did you enjoy it - and having people map things to star ratings adds in noise.
- overcast 9y ago
  That only spoils their experience. If they want to rate like dummies, then that is their tailored experience. With five stars, the thumbs up / thumbs down people can continue to vote either a 1 or 5. For the rest of us civilized viewers, we can more accurately categorize stuff.

by ssalka 9y ago

BoiledCabbage 9y ago

Which again doesn't solve the problem of people being more likely to rate high-brow oscar type things with more stars even if they didn't really enjoy watching them, and more hesitant to rate light or slapstick things the same way. It's the same reason why so many people's to watch queue is filled with documentaries and profound movies they feel they should watch, but most of the time when they turn it on they flip on a simple TV show. Whether we want it to or not, like in hotels 5 stars implies a level of quality, not just a level of like. In a scenario, someone was looking for a silly light-hearted movie and I got a silly light-hearted movie. They don't think it deserved "5-stars" so they give it 3 or 4, but in truth it was exactly what they wanted. They want to ensure their data is a pure a signal as possible: did you enjoy it - and having people map things to star ratings adds in noise.

overcast 9y ago
That only spoils their experience. If they want to rate like dummies, then that is their tailored experience. With five stars, the thumbs up / thumbs down people can continue to vote either a 1 or 5. For the rest of us civilized viewers, we can more accurately categorize stuff.