Thread Quality Ratings

[Badger3920]

I've participated on other large forums in the past, and some of them had thread ratings enabled (sort of like the star system here) where you could vote a thread as a 1 (terrible) through a 5 (excellent).

These ratings would show up on the forum page as you're browsing topics.

I've noticed that you can vote for 1-5 stars here, but you dont see the ranking anywhere.

I'd like to see how many stars each thread received, and I think it would be a great tool for this community to start using.

In smackdown, a lot of people post and run, or try to spread "fud". On other forums, instead of using ad hominem attacks to vent anger, people would simply feel that they "got back" at the OP by voting the thread as a "1". People would even post in threads "Terrible. Voted 1"

On a forum that largely lives off of smackdown with heavy self-policing, it would be nice to see this tool added more visably - and the awareness of it raised

[nyg]

I personally hate seeing thread ratings in forums. They're pretty meaningless IMO. Say for example someone doesn't like a particular movie that's being discussed so they rate the thread a 1. There may be a quality discussion going on but thanks to that person the rating takes a nick. What's the point? Are you really going to make decisions on which threads to read based on the rating of said thread?

[Badger3920]

No it's not so much about which threads I choose to read. It's a way of showing which threads I appreciate and which ones I don't.

For strict examples, we had 20+ redundant threads come out for GTA4 in the 2 weeks up until its release. The first couple were excellent, and fun to participate in (5's). The next 15 could have all received low scores - showing posters that MORE of such threads were unnecessary.

Another example could relate to hd media smackdown. If you're at all sick of seeing the same "Blu-ray only sold 2 discs last month!" article 5 times a day, you can simply give them a terrible vote - as can others. It's a system for praise AND retribution that doesn't hijack a thread.

I'm a big fan of this

[melodywhore]

since there are far more blu-ray fanboys than anti-blu members, this would put a degree of power in their hands if the thread rating system carried any weight. i think the mods do a well enough job as it is even if you disagree with it.

[Badger3920]

What? I'm not talking about moderating anything. Simply a benign rating system that has little effect on anything. To my knowledge, a low rating doesn't vote the thread off the front page - although that would be deservedly awesome for some posters.

You're implying in your post that I'm being fanboyish in suggesting this etc. What's so wrong with an hd-dvd'rs thread getting a low rating? If there are WAY more blu-ray fans on here and only a handful of people that always want to slander blu-ray, why shouldn't those posters get a low rating? It's everyones vote. If you make a legitimate and logical thread, I doubt your rating would be that terrible.

If you post fud, or do a hit and run slandering thread, THEN YOU DESERVE A 1