Add a button to rate postings on waygook! good idea?

[dpsmith]

hello to moderators and anyone reading. i think it would be very beneficial to have a ratings button on peoples postings. either something like youtube has with a thumbs up or thumbs down or a star/bar system to make searching for good material slightly easier.
for example, if someone searches "do you like spring" for lesson plans/ppts/worksheets 18 pages of results appear. Instead of downloading every uploaded material to pick the best one, it would be easier to search through the postings with the highest ratings.

i do understand everyone has different teaching style preferences and material preferences but I believe it would be quite helpful.
if im an idiot for suggesting this please let me know. or if they have added the thumbs up or thumbs down buttons by the time you read this let me know.

Moderators or website designers, not sure if it is possible but if it is, im sure many people would appreciate it. Thank you and i hope you take this into consideration. I appreciate all that this website does and this is just a mere suggestion so please dont take offense.

thanks

[Brian]

Yep, that's a great idea.  Arsalan (the guy who hosts the site and runs the behind-the-scenes stuff) says that's something that can come along after some upgrades. 

On the one hand it's good that some of the threads are 10 or 15+ pages long.  That's 10 or 15+ pages of stuff teachers didn't have a few years ago when they had to go it alone.  But on the other hand a lot of good stuff is getting buried, and it becomes very time-consuming to open dozens of powerpoints and worksheets for each lesson.  Also, some of the newer uploads I've seen don't have much to them, and it's discouraging to have to open tons of stuff with minimal substance, with awkward English, or with material suitable only for one teacher's particular class.

If we do go to a rating system or a "like" button, we just have to make an effort to go through the old posts, too, and rate them so the awesome lessons from a year or two ago---which provided the inspiration or material for a lot of the new ones---don't get forgotten. 

[dpsmith]

i completely agree with everything you said.

[jauntwithjo]

I love this idea. It'll cut down on comments that say simply, "I like this powerpoint. Kudos." if people can simply click "like".

Does this mean there will also be a "dislike" or will we keep is facebook style, "if you don't like it, then don't click at all" kind of thing?

It will also save on downloading because older ppts with fewer "likes" might keep all but the most desperate from downloading it on a whim.

Thanks to Arsalan for all your time and effort!

[Brian]

The dislike button has the potential to get mean-spirited, but I kind of like the idea.  Otherwise if a post has a low rating we won't really know if it's just nobody likes it or nobody has bothered to read it yet. 

[darktoad1]

Yes, that's a GREAT idea.  I eagerly await the day a "like" system gets implemented :-)  It would save SOO much time!

[dpsmith]

im curious to know why the people who said no say no

[duchessrachel]

Rather than a like and dislike button, how about a 5 star ranking system (like youtube)?. That way we can identify the outstanding, mediocre, and poor material.

[heyitslep]

im curious to know why the people who said no say no

Every forum I've been on that utilizes some sort of rating system ends up allowing [mod edit: removed profanity] posts to kind of hang around at the top like the foam on a beer. On Youtube, if you search a song you're fond of, more than likely the top 'thumbs up' comment is akin to 'thumbs up if you think this song is better than [polarizing pop star]. Typically, negative posts, regardless of maturity level or brevity of comment, get voted down in favor of my previous example. In the end, it creates an awful hive-mind and reduces any level of diversity in posters. Check your facebook wall and notice all the top 'liked' comments; I can almost guarantee that they're all bland, anecdotal, and uninformed opinions that just sound catchy.

Furthermore, it opens up waygook.org to SEO firms who'll game this website for hits and ad revenue to their clients. That's exactly what happened to Digg.com and is currently happening to Reddit.com, both of which use a community 'like/dislike' option for suggesting articles.

I suppose what I'm getting at is, if you simplify the content, you increase the effectiveness of bad posting.

Rather than a like and dislike button, how about a 5 star ranking system (like youtube)?. That way we can identify the outstanding, mediocre, and poor material.

I find this idea better than the like/dislike option, but as the mod stated, it'd require substantial backlog starring. If you implemented it tomorrow, an excellent thread from last month may never get noticed and eventually drop off the map. Sure this may happen now, but with a ranking system you can intentionally drop those posts off.

[crantor]

I think this is a great idea, win-win for the users and operators of this site.  Since the operators have been getting larger bandwidth bills, due to a spike in downloads I presume (I recall a large number with TB at the end being posted), this could save them money.  For the users they would could find material they're looking for in less time without downloading tons of files to look at them only using a fraction of that total in the classroom.  There is the downloaded counter but a 5-star rating system would an additional indicator that would be helpful.

[dpsmith]

Every forum I've been on that utilizes some sort of rating system ends up allowing shit posts to kind of hang around at the top like the foam on a beer. On Youtube, if you search a song you're fond of, more than likely the top 'thumbs up' comment is akin to 'thumbs up if you think this song is better than [polarizing pop star]. Typically, negative posts, regardless of maturity level or brevity of comment, get voted down in favor of my previous example. In the end, it creates an awful hive-mind and reduces any level of diversity in posters. Check your facebook wall and notice all the top 'liked' comments; I can almost guarantee that they're all bland, anecdotal, and uninformed opinions that just sound catchy.

I suppose what I'm getting at is, if you simplify the content, you increase the effectiveness of bad posting.

how about you just ignore the rating system and download as you would normally do then? if you dont like it then ignore it. what difference would it make? for the people who do like it, it would help us out. the rating system would be used more for downloading ppts, worksheets, and lesson plans not necessarily to "like" or "dislike" someones irrational witty comments.

[JamericanTeacher]

Completely agree.  Many I times I've read a great posting and thought, "where's the 'like' button when you need one?"

[birdsandvines]

I would really love a rating system. It would really help to get the good materials, lessons, and teachers the attention that they deserve

 

[heyitslep]

Every forum I've been on that utilizes some sort of rating system ends up allowing shit posts to kind of hang around at the top like the foam on a beer. On Youtube, if you search a song you're fond of, more than likely the top 'thumbs up' comment is akin to 'thumbs up if you think this song is better than [polarizing pop star]. Typically, negative posts, regardless of maturity level or brevity of comment, get voted down in favor of my previous example. In the end, it creates an awful hive-mind and reduces any level of diversity in posters. Check your facebook wall and notice all the top 'liked' comments; I can almost guarantee that they're all bland, anecdotal, and uninformed opinions that just sound catchy.

I suppose what I'm getting at is, if you simplify the content, you increase the effectiveness of bad posting.

how about you just ignore the rating system and download as you would normally do then? if you dont like it then ignore it. what difference would it make? for the people who do like it, it would help us out. the rating system would be used more for downloading ppts, worksheets, and lesson plans not necessarily to "like" or "dislike" someones irrational witty comments.

But that's not how these ranking systems usually work. They push higher rated content to the top, and low rating content to the bottom. You can't ignore what's thrown in your face like that. Furthermore, you're assuming the system would work in it's best interest, wouldn't be gamed, and would seemingly just apply to the lesson plans. If a starred system were implemented, it would probably be board-wide and you need to seriously consider the total implications of it, not just for some worksheets.

[dpsmith]

Maybe just a 'Stop Moaning and Get Over It' button then.

haha waygook definitely needs one of those. one thing ive learned is that westerners are good at complaining.

[jgroh]

how about you just ignore the rating system and download as you would normally do then? if you dont like it then ignore it. what difference would it make? for the people who do like it, it would help us out. the rating system would be used more for downloading ppts, worksheets, and lesson plans not necessarily to "like" or "dislike" someones irrational witty comments.

What difference would it make? Well, it would prevent people from hogging bandwith by only downloading 5 powerpoints rather than 30.

[Paul]

Is it possible to restrict upvotes to posts with attachments and a rule added somewhere that the ratings are for resources not posts? I say this because I feel it'd be good to kinda promote pro-quality practical materials (cough, Daejeon's) that get a lot of views but also those oft-missed intermediate quality gems up. I can't see much good coming out of promoting or slamming each other's opinions is all.

On a similar thread, is it possible to split the most recently updated topics list into those from General and those from the various Education boards? I find the latter tend to get knocked off the page header by the former very, very quickly.

[dpsmith]

jgroh,
i think you misunderstood me. i want a rating system. i was saying, the people who dont want one sghould just ignore the rating system and go about it the way they normally do. i agree with you, thats why i think it should be implemented.

[sheila]

I think the five star rating is also an excellent idea for each individual post but that the posts should stay in the same order.  That way, people can get feed back on their work by getting two or three stars instead of thinking, "I'm awesome because I got 300 downloads on that contribution." People will be able to sort out the good materials from the garbage that has three sentences.  I think it will definitely decrease the downloads and increase the quality of contributions that are available here.

*However, please no notifications about something you liked being liked by a bajillion other people.  That gets really annoying on facebook.

[Daejeon]

Very good idea.  I am always curious as to what people think about what I contribute. 

I prefer the idea of 5 stars over a simple 'like'  the stars rating will definitely help with bandwidth issues.

@Paul, thanks for the mention.