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If Uber has anyone statistically competent on staff, they'll normalize your scores and compute an individualized scale for you. I.e., let i = individual rider,

If Uber has anyone statistically competent on staff, they'll normalize your scores and compute an individualized scale for you. I.e., let i = individual rider, j = individual driver. Then they'll use a model like: score[i,j] = a[i]z[j]+b[i] + noise Then they store the z[j] for each driver. So if I consistently rate drivers between 2 and 4, while you consistently rate drivers between 4 and 5, then a[me] = 3, b[me] = 2 while for you a[you]=4 and b[you]=5. If you rate a driver as 4 (i.e. z[j] = 0), then Uber will tell me the driver is rated a[me]0 + b[me] = 2. Uber can then rate their drivers internally based on z[driver], not the individual ratings. It is of course possible that Uber is completely statistically incompetent, but I doubt that.

morgante 12y ago
Exactly. I really don't understand all the hubbub that people raise over Uber's rating system somehow being broken because: 1. Many people, like the writer, only give our 5 stars. (Simple: their votes don't really count much.) 2. People have different scales. (These can easily be rescaled.)
- icebraining 12y ago
  Yeap. For example, Criticker (movie ratings site) simply ranks everyone on a 10-tier scale, so if you only rate movies up to 30%, a movie with a 29% rating with be on the 9th or 10th tier.
makomk 12y ago
Uber aren't incompetent, they just don't care, much like any other marketplace with a huge market share. Most of the time the variance in how customers rate drivers will average out. Even though they'll accidentally fire and ban a few good drivers due to random bad luck it doesn't affect Uber much since they still have plenty of other drivers. Same reason why companies like Amazon are willing to ban reliable Marketplace sellers on spurious grounds like moving into an address that someone once scammed them from years ago.
- yummyfajitas 12y ago
  Why do you believe Uber (with hundreds of employees, and in vicious competition for drivers [1]) doesn't care enough have one employee devote a week to doing textbook linear regression? [1] Uber is willing to pay Lyft for the privilege of having their recruiter sit in the car with the driver.

morgante 12y ago

Exactly. I really don't understand all the hubbub that people raise over Uber's rating system somehow being broken because: 1. Many people, like the writer, only give our 5 stars. (Simple: their votes don't really count much.) 2. People have different scales. (These can easily be rescaled.)

icebraining 12y ago
Yeap. For example, Criticker (movie ratings site) simply ranks everyone on a 10-tier scale, so if you only rate movies up to 30%, a movie with a 29% rating with be on the 9th or 10th tier.

makomk 12y ago

Uber aren't incompetent, they just don't care, much like any other marketplace with a huge market share. Most of the time the variance in how customers rate drivers will average out. Even though they'll accidentally fire and ban a few good drivers due to random bad luck it doesn't affect Uber much since they still have plenty of other drivers. Same reason why companies like Amazon are willing to ban reliable Marketplace sellers on spurious grounds like moving into an address that someone once scammed them from years ago.

yummyfajitas 12y ago
Why do you believe Uber (with hundreds of employees, and in vicious competition for drivers [1]) doesn't care enough have one employee devote a week to doing textbook linear regression? [1] Uber is willing to pay Lyft for the privilege of having their recruiter sit in the car with the driver.