Those 5 Golden stars ...

[Smiles]

... just wondering, what are they? What do they represent?
There seems to be no rhyme nor reason when they pop up. They seem to be given out willy nilly for no discernable reason. A member starts a thread ... gets 5 golden stars. The same member starts another thread ... but no golden stars. Rather strange.

https://image.ibb.co/hKAfrT/golden_stars.jpg

[Loki]

Check out link below.
Others have had the same question concerning vbulletin software.

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/vbulletin-legacy-versions-products/legacy-vbulletin-versions/vbulletin-2-how-do-i-and-troubleshooting/29152-5-gold-stars-vb-s-thread-rating-system-is-rather-inaccurate

[Loki]

Extracted from forum faq section "ratings":

What are ratings?

The forums allow you to rate threads between 1 star (terrible) and 5 stars (excellent). Once enough votes are cast for a thread, stars will appear next to its name in the listings. These show the average vote, and can be an easy way to see which threads are worth reading if you are on a busy forum.

On the forum viewing page you can also arrange threads by rating, with either the highest or lowest at the top.

It therefore makes sense to rate threads because it helps all users. To do this, click on the 'rate thread' link at the top of the thread viewing page. Choose the number of stars you feel best represents the quality of the thread. You may or may not be able to change your choice of rating at a later date.

[Loki]

By the way, just rated this thread 5 stars by clicking "rate this thread" and submitting one vote for 5 stars.
The threshold for bestowing 5 stars with one vote seems low IMHO.
No wonder this process seems so random!!
:bye:

[scottish-guy]

... They seem to be given out willy nilly for no discernable reason.

That's the story of my life - a lot of nilly and very little willy

:p

[Moses]

Check out link below.
Others have had the same question concerning vbulletin software.

https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/forum/vbulletin-legacy-versions-products/legacy-vbulletin-versions/vbulletin-2-how-do-i-and-troubleshooting/29152-5-gold-stars-vb-s-thread-rating-system-is-rather-inaccurate

do you think rating system in vB is still the same as it was 17 years ago? check date of the thread :)

To all: ratings are then more accurate than more members participate in voting... any member may vote for any thread (voting point is at top-menu above each thread) when you are reading it...

[Loki]

Moses, I don't need to check the thread date, the mechanics of rating are still the same today.
Today, I just bestowed 5 stars to this thread with one vote.
Am sure most people don't rate, so on this basis one person can have an overriding opinion on thread rating.
This is a fact !!!
I believe the rating system should be disabled, this is within your power.

[Moses]

This is a fact !!!

You know already the fact:


ratings are then more accurate than more members participate in voting...

[Loki]

You have an altruistic view of the forum software.
Monkeys will fly out my ass before all posters take time to rate.
Therefore a very small population can dictate ratings, rendering them questionable at best.

[Moses]

You have an altruistic view of the forum software.
Monkeys will fly out my ass before all posters take time to rate.
Therefore a very small population can dictate ratings, rendering them questionable at best.

I see only one problem with that rating - some forums sort threads by rating, and with slow voting it is "hole" for manipulations... SGT doesn't sort threads by rating, so it is just "a rating of popularity of threads from readers who voted for rating"...

[Smiles]

Loki, would you please give me 5 Golden Showers for my 'Night of the Long Knives' post. Moses won't do it, that's for certain. :eek:

[Loki]

Now we're in the weeds of obfuscation by talking about SGT thread sorting.
You claim SGT ratings become more accurate with more participation. (a technically correct argument, that makes no allowance for real world human behavior)
I claim the average poster won't take the time to rate, thereby allowing a small population to exert control over ratings.
As a suggestion, why not conduct a poll of forum members to see if they derive any value from the rating system as deployed on SGT?

[Loki]

Done !

[Loki]

I suspect the ratings system discussion has caused some experimenting, as the golden shower tally for this thread is now down to three.
Did I mention if the thread is rated 5 golden showers, and you vote one golden shower, the overall golden shower total goes down?
The question is who will bother with this?

[Smiles]

The question is who will bother with this?
Donald Trump.

[Loki]

It's all about the ratings for him, no?

[Smiles]

No, it's all about 'One Night In A Moscow Hotel'.

[Moses]

As a suggestion, why not conduct a poll of forum members to see if they derive any value from the rating system as deployed on SGT?

Because "who pays the piper calls the tune".

[Loki]

Oh my, I've been cut to the quick !!
Not to put too fine a point on it Moses, our relationship is more symbiotic.
We need you, and you need us...for without us (forum members), SGT goes down the drain.
Not a threat, just fact.
Capiche?

[scottish-guy]

Guys - why do you even bother trying to have any discourse with Moses?

He's never wrong, he can't take criticism, he doesn't give a shit what any of us think, and his stock answer to everything is "I pay the bills"

If it was possible to put him on ignore (alongside his ex-henchman), I would.

[Loki]

With respect to 'One Night In A Moscow Hotel', wasn't Trump technically Golden Shower adjacent?
Does he even rate a single Golden Shower Award?

[Loki]

Scottish-guy, I fully agree. It's like pissing into the wind.
(No Trumpian Golden Shower pun intended)

[Nirish guy]

Because "who pays the piper calls the tune".

And another master class in “how to win friends and influence people” from our very own Moses ....... you really don’t help yourself in this regard Moses with your continual “fuck the lot of you I don’t care what any of you think” messages ( in case you’re not aware that’s how your posts like the above are perceived by most people - IMHO ( just for clarity)

[Moses]

And another master class in “how to win friends and influence people” from our very own Moses ....... you really don’t help yourself in this regard Moses with your continual “fuck the lot of you I don’t care what any of you think” messages ( in case you’re not aware that’s how your posts like the above are perceived by most people - IMHO ( just for clarity)

do I really need to "win friends" who's main hobby is to put nose into my business?

it is master class "how most effectively to scary people who likes to spy for mother's dates"...

[Loki]

do I really need to "win friends" who's main hobby is to put nose into my business?

it is master class "how most effectively to scary people who likes to spy for mother's dates"...

WTF?

[Loki]

Started a new thread today, and was able to grant myself a 5 "Golden Shower" rating.
Great to be able to rate my own thread !! (just kidding)

[bkkguy]

You claim SGT ratings become more accurate with more participation. (a technically correct argument, that makes no allowance for real world human behavior)
I claim the average poster won't take the time to rate, thereby allowing a small population to exert control over ratings.?

this highlights a typical problem with vBulletin software and many of its "features" and "add-ons", many forum master who use it and many of the communities it is foisted upon

many of the developers of vBulletin functions and add-ons don't necessarily understand the problem they are trying to address and/or how to implement a useful solution or they have a particular need that they address and then publish the result as a general solution

similarly many forum masters install or enable functions or add-ons they think are "sexy" or "must have" without making the effort, or perhaps lacking the skill, to evaluate the feature's implementation or its appropriateness for the community the forum serves. of course the worst case scenario is where the forum master does not see his role as "serving" the community using the forum but rather playing god because he pays the bills

but also it cuts both ways - for a toxic community such as you describe a half-assed implementation of a rating system is never going to work and the forum master either needs to find a better option, remove the option or target a more co-operative community

as for "real world human behavior", I am an active member of two very large forums with significant numbers who post and rate, these forum also have decent software, eg posts are rated rather than threads, you can't rate posts on threads you are posting on, and you can read at a rating level (eg only see posts rated 2+) - provided you agree with the "community consensus" you can easily ignore most of the crap, but this is dependent o a large active community which you are never going to achieve with such a narrow market like SGT

of course such communities are obviously the exception - reddit, twitter, "Boaty McBoatFace" and SGT are more typical examples of why we can't have nice things on the Internet :-)

bkkguy

[Loki]

Thanks for your perspective, in this insightful and reasoned post.

[scottish-guy]

...it is master class "how most effectively to scary people who likes to spy for mother's dates"...

Total gibberish - and that's being kind

[Loki]

An incomprehensible melange of words !

[scottish-guy]

A cocktail of crap!

:D

[Loki]

A cocktail of crap!

:D

Indeed !

[gerefan2]

Do I detect lot of "star play" going on now? :)

[Loki]

Do I detect lot of "star play" going on now? :)

Maybe Star Wars ??
:yes: