All new super magic

Written 05:48:51 08/02/2007 by captainpete
7 comments
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There is a new RSS feed for experiences. Caching is working on the feeds now which makes life easier. The old URLs for the RSS feeds will continue to work but the new URLs are recommended (they’re a little faster). A few people are joining up! Sweet! I look forward to seeing what new places will appear over the next few months. There have been some interesting experiences appearing already.

I haven’t finished the site yet. There are still things to fix. I’ll keep you updated via the news as always. If you have any suggestions about the design or function of the site then send me an email :) Thanks to those who have already.

  • Warlust (about 1 year ago) 
    Hey Captain, just an idea to run past you about the five-star rating system.
I’ve been a long time member on other boards that have this system and
almost all of them changed it to include a ‘5+’ rating. This is
because most things are pretty damn good, for example I would rate the Hanmer
Hospital at five stars, but what to do when I find that rumored underground
mental asylum in Hawkes Bay? I think that would defiantly be a 5+ –
what’s your take on this?
    reply
    • Captainpete (about 1 year ago) 
      That’d be a 7 star location :)
      

      It’s a tricky one. Star rating systems sort of work but everyone has
their own opinions about what the stars mean. Some never give a 5 and some
always. The other issue is people giving 3 stars for average. When votes happen
this way it appears to be “on the fence” but 3 is greater than
2.5.
      

      I’m thinking of moving to a six star system. Because people are used to
5 star systems and would most likely only give a 6 for something supreme. This
will also mean people have to decide either side of the fence if they want to
vote.
      

      The sixth star would be the 5+. What do you think?
      

      So far, all the rating system does it take the average vote. The other issue
we have to solve is how to calculate the true rating of content. There are all
sorts of theories out there about conservation of opinion, normalized sums and
and even using the power method to assign a VoteRank. Most of these approaches
seem a little excessive. The one we end up using depends on how we feel about
the following issues:
      

      Is there voting equality?
Do we adjust for users vote distributions?
Should we apply a final transform to ratings?
Should this transform be scaled based on the number of votes?
      

      In the mean time I think we should change to the 5+/six star system.
What do you think of these issues?
      reply
  • Warlust (about 1 year ago) 
    Cheers man! Sorry, I don’t understand the question ‘Is there
voting equality?’ what does that mean? As for changing to the
six-star/five-plus system, I’m defiantly pro. you think twice about
dishing out a 5+ but could easily be liberal with the 5. If it’s
technically possible, I think a 5+ is better than a six because it doesn’t
just mean one more than five it means ‘put your socks on and get the fuck
to this place now!’
    reply
    • Captainpete (about 1 year ago) 
      Haha, yea was chatting about that with Dirtyfilthy before. At the moment
there are no labels or numbers, just the stars, but I think we could have the
six star being a 5+ or some modified graphic. We’ll have to screw round
until we find something that fits.
      

      Voting equality is where everyone gets the same voting privileges and their
votes count for equal say in a matter. I think we equality in the rating system
is best. On one of Dirtyfilthy’s old projects he weighted a rating towards
average. So enough people have to care to vote in order to sway the rating.
I’m going to figure out some way to have this happen in addition to the 5+
system proposed.
      reply
    • Captainpete (about 1 year ago) 
      Have made a change. What do you think of the new stars system?
      reply
  • Warlust (about 1 year ago) 
    Wicked! I think it’s much easier to give a fair rating now. Cheeers
man!
    reply
    • Captainpete (about 1 year ago) 
      No worries bro :)
      reply