5 ms·

I'm not sure that's a "critical issue". 99% of Google users don't care that PageRank is complicated; they just marvel at how good the results are. Just like m

by raldi 15y ago

I'm not sure that's a "critical issue". 99% of Google users don't care that PageRank is complicated; they just marvel at how good the results are. Just like most redditors simply talk about how great the comments are, and not the math that makes them so.

bri3d 15y ago
Amusingly the proposed solution in this blog post is almost line-for-line exactly the method Reddit uses to rank comments - proof, I think, that the method isn't "too complicated." When you're working with a system managing orders, where there's a direct human interaction with the algorithm (like the top-level poster is), simplicity is somewhat important. When you're working with a system that's designed to look like magic to the end user, making the system more magical is often better, because it makes it less intuitive to game.
trebor 15y ago
The math doesn't make the comments good. The math makes good comments easier to find, and buries comments with inadequate favor or confidence. Besides, the math made no effort to write the sentences. ;)
true_religion 15y ago
I think you're overlooking a critical component of the Google equation: the supply. Webmasters * constantly* complain about the impenetrability of the 'algorithm' and how it constantly changes for secret reasons. So you're right in a way---the demand side doesn't care how you manage to curate supply, but supply is intimately aware of your curation and worries about being unfairly demerited.
dailyllama 15y ago
I used the wilson score method to generate star ratings off of individual user up/down reviews on a commerce site thirteen years ago. You can do something very similar with plaintext reviews by doing sentiment analysis to mark them as a yay, a nay, or a no opinion, and generate a similar score. There are other, more complicated, ways of doing things, but this is fine for somebody who only has a modest knowledge of stat.
walexander 15y ago
I actually find issues with the "best" comment sorting, in some cases. I think it generally is the "best" sort, but in very popular posts it tends to break down.I often find comments with 5x or more upvotes buried down below the top few comments. I think as comments get higher to the top, people start voting them down more, which might not be the cases for comments which are rising (theory: people reading further down in the comment section are possibly more thoughtful and more likely to upvote, while at the top the ADHD crowd might be more likely to knee jerk downvote?). In any case, i've recently changed my default sort to "top" and feel it's an improvement.

by raldi 15y ago

bri3d 15y ago

Amusingly the proposed solution in this blog post is almost line-for-line exactly the method Reddit uses to rank comments - proof, I think, that the method isn't "too complicated." When you're working with a system managing orders, where there's a direct human interaction with the algorithm (like the top-level poster is), simplicity is somewhat important. When you're working with a system that's designed to look like magic to the end user, making the system more magical is often better, because it makes it less intuitive to game.

trebor 15y ago

The math doesn't make the comments good. The math makes good comments easier to find, and buries comments with inadequate favor or confidence. Besides, the math made no effort to write the sentences. ;)

true_religion 15y ago

I think you're overlooking a critical component of the Google equation: the supply. Webmasters * constantly* complain about the impenetrability of the 'algorithm' and how it constantly changes for secret reasons. So you're right in a way---the demand side doesn't care how you manage to curate supply, but supply is intimately aware of your curation and worries about being unfairly demerited.

dailyllama 15y ago

I used the wilson score method to generate star ratings off of individual user up/down reviews on a commerce site thirteen years ago. You can do something very similar with plaintext reviews by doing sentiment analysis to mark them as a yay, a nay, or a no opinion, and generate a similar score. There are other, more complicated, ways of doing things, but this is fine for somebody who only has a modest knowledge of stat.

walexander 15y ago

I actually find issues with the "best" comment sorting, in some cases. I think it generally is the "best" sort, but in very popular posts it tends to break down.I often find comments with 5x or more upvotes buried down below the top few comments. I think as comments get higher to the top, people start voting them down more, which might not be the cases for comments which are rising (theory: people reading further down in the comment section are possibly more thoughtful and more likely to upvote, while at the top the ADHD crowd might be more likely to knee jerk downvote?). In any case, i've recently changed my default sort to "top" and feel it's an improvement.