Not planned star ratings, likes, and positive reinforcement

Jake Bunce

Well-known member
The best thing about the like system is that it functions as positive reinforcement. You can "like" something but not "dislike" it. This contributes to a positive atmosphere on all XF forums that I visit. Analogous systems on other forums don't have the same effect. For example, when I implemented the reputation system on my vB forum it caused a lot of drama whenever a post was rated down. The existence of negative reputation on my forum changed the atmosphere for the worse. Having experienced the effects of both positive and negative reinforcement I know that positive is better.

While I doubt this was the intention, the star rating system in the RM is functioning as negative reinforcement and the atmosphere is changing because of it. Anything less than 5 stars implies that something is wrong. Some of the devs are taking it personally. I can't say I blame them. Addon development requires a lot of time and effort which is not met well with negative ratings. Negative feedback is one thing, but the star system doesn't facilitate feedback, it's just one click.

My suggestion is to replace stars with likes.
 
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I remember that on the vb forum one coder (Maria), dropped an addon because of down-votes by 2 members (that down-voted without download the addon maded by her). I'm also think that the like system is sufficient for rating the addons...
 
Negative feedback is one thing, but the star system doesn't facilitate feedback, it's just one click.

That is not to say that adding feedback to accompany a low rating will fix the problem. You still have a system of negative reinforcement. The resource is still penalized for the low rating. On my forum it didn't matter if negative reputation was accompanied by a constructive comment. The user was still penalized in their reputation. It's like the difference between teacher feedback and a letter grade. The letter grade hurts, not the feedback. And if the feedback hurts it is usually out of fear of the letter grade.
 
Whats sad, I expected more from the people here than to have a few trolling the ratings. LN Blog is at 4 stars, and it is probably one of the few add-ons that hasn't needed additional support (All the back from 1.03 to 1.1.1).

Then there are the obvious people who have been giving things 1-2 stars for reason.

I really think that a feedback comment should be forced to go with a rating to keep rating trolls to a minimum. Take away their anonymity and they're less likely to leave crappy feedback as it'll just out them to the community.
 
Excellent suggestion Jake.
Don't forget ... Xenforo hasn't abandoned Likes for Addons .... they've just devalued it with a horrible location.
Here is the Like button:
resource.manager.has.likes.webp
Many people predicted the star ratings wouldn't "work" / be useful.
They were correct.
Worse, I think it's causing distress amongst the addon makers ... as they feel it's unfair.

Suggestion for Xenforo.com
- Disable Star Ratings until it is made more robust.
- Use Likes !

bring.back.the.likes.webp
 
Don't forget ... Xenforo hasn't abandoned Likes for Addons .... they've just devalued it with a horrible location.

You mean they kept it in the same location as they ALWAYS have. I sure with more updates to the RM we will see placements move and things updated. I don't think they devalued anything. The look is similar to what we are already used to with threads/posts.
 
BTW, abandoning the star ratings isn't a good move. It should be optional. Some communities will have memberships that are closed or otherwise usergroups that are "trusted" and would like such functionality. That doesn't mean it can't be improved, but lets not remove functionality just because it doesn't fit what you want.
 
I was speaking generally. =) With all the clamoring about various things to do with the RM, I've noticed people trying to push it into a specific mold and from what Mike has said, that's not what they want to do. So mostly I was just saying lets not crucify an option because it doesn't fit for some of us, it might others. =)
 
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