"your mark out of 9" - has reminded me, somewhat inductively, of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unexpected_hanging_paradox - you could have chucked that back at her and watched her explode in a cloud of logic
boy have I had a good stats revision course on this thread... -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Francis Davey Sent: 08 April 2009 11:09 To: mySociety public,general purpose discussion list Subject: Re: [mySociety:public] New project: ScenicOrNot 2009/4/8 Harry Metcalfe <[email protected]>: > Well spotted :) > > That is distinctly possible. There is a strange set of votes which are > (very probably) all from the same person: > > +--------+---------------+ > | rating | count(rating) | > +--------+---------------+ > | 1 | 2523 | > | 2 | 2061 | > | 3 | 765 | > | 4 | 315 | > | 5 | 124 | > | 6 | 42 | > | 7 | 27 | > | 8 | 11 | > +--------+---------------+ > > I figure this is either an very keen player or a bot -- but if it is a > bot, I don't know what its strategy or purpose is. What would it achieve > by spamming the system with low ratings? > It might be a keen player with a non-linear preference function. I note that apart from rank 1 there's a near exponential decline. Someone who thought there were only half as many rank 8 places as rank 7 places might so respond. You have to *earn* your rating. Who said the scale had to be linear? For most people I suspect it isn't, though in different ways. One of the two most completely unpleasant schoolteachers I ever had to deal with (both called Barbara as it happens - obviously a name of ill-omen) was my biology teacher for O-level. She famously used to remark "I never give 10/10" (on the basis that no work is perfect). "You mark out of 9 then miss?" did not appear to make her happy. -- Francis Davey _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public _______________________________________________ Mailing list [email protected] Archive, settings, or unsubscribe: https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
