On Dec 13, 2007, at 11:03 PM, Jeffrey D. Gimzek ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> I am working on a rating site now and let me tell you this is a tough > nut to crack ! > > 1 - 5 stars are ubiquitous for a reason. The only reason 1-5 stars is ubiquitous is because it's ubiquitous. Anyone remember when hotels and such only went to 4 stars? And now I've seen ones touted as "7 stars". Sounds like "starflation" to me: when "everyone" is a 4-star, you have to go to a 5-star system just to differentiate yourself from the crowd. But why is everyone a 4-star? Answer: not because they are all top of the line, but because no one wants to be below the top. (And doubly so when Motel 6 and its peers show up as 2-star, leaving the question of what fleabag is only a 1- star? Eew? The problem of a 1-5 star system is that there is typically no definition of what the various ratings mean. Is 3-star "average"? (What is "average"?) Is 1-star "avoid even if they pay you to stay there and it's the middle of a blizzard and there is no other place at all within 100 miles"? Does no stars mean "hasn't been rated" or "less than 1 star"; does it mean both? A number of systems have gone to a 7-star system: 5 stars, no stars, and "don't like". (Adobe Bridge, Rhapsody, many others.) Even then, it may do a good job of capturing levels of dislike which may be valuable in some settings -- movies, for example. For that, an 8-star system is probably better: -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 (and unrated). Then you could decide that (picking two movies I saw from the Rotten Tomatoes "worst" list from last year) than while DaVinci Code and Eragon were both "bad", that Eragon was a -2 (Tivo it and maybe remember to watch it later, or not) but DaVinci was only a -1 (might be worth Netflixing some day), while Dreamgirls was a +2 (might be worth buying a copy for your personal library). (Such a positive/negative balance also makes rolling up group averages more accurate.) -- Jim Drew [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.soundskinky.com/blog/ ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help