Quote rating system

[admin2]

Hi folks -

It's no secret the old rating system for quotes (the 1-10 scale determining whether they were funny, thought-provoking, clever, offensive, etc.) was clunky and confusing to just about everyone. So I've ditched the old method in favor of a new, and hopefully simpler, one.

I've settled on 8 categories for now: funny, sad, inspirational, thought-provoking, clever, confusing, stupid and offensive. If there are other categories you feel are frequently seen on the site but not represented here, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Some others that are under consideration include "Suggestive" (for R-rated quotes), and "Political" (I know some users would prefer to skip categories like these). But I also don't want to overload the system with so many options that it becomes just as confusing as it was before.

Thanks!
Stephen

[imported_Lurker]

How about Frustrating? Doesn't necessarily mean difficult. Mainly for Alexander Pope quotes and that one with 'st at the end of one word. There are also some that don't really make sense, even after you've read them a few times.

[gryhnd51]

I love, love, LOVE all the great changes you've made Stephen! Kudos to you

[ddph]

I'm not a fan of emoticons, but I can see how a lot of people will like them.

[Roxanne]

I vote against adding Suggestive and Political. Political is different from Funny or Clever. Anything that has to do with how nations, for instance, operate is political. A quote that extols the innate common sense of the working class and a quote that claims the masses are ignorant boors are both political, so there is not much point in labeling them as such. It's more meaningful to label them inspiring or offensive if you want to capture people's reactions.
Suggestive is similar. Off-color jokes can be either offensive or funny depending on your personal attitude and reaction. Labeling something Suggestive doesn't tell me what other people thought of the quote; labeling it Funny or Offensive does.

[Roxanne]

In answer to Lurker, one might click on Confusing for a quote that doesn't make sense after it's solved, and an Alexander Pope quote could be rated high on the difficulty rating without having a Frustrating category. Although I can definitely see your point!

[wvwoman]

?

are we going to see results (totals) of the emoticons categories? i haven't seen any yet.

[imported_alina]

I suggest another category - "Bad grammar". I've seen many quotes that look like the output of "Google translate". I find them very difficult to solve, because while solving I rely on a certain structure that the quote must follow according to the rules of grammar.

[ddph]

I'd like to see one to report an error in the quote.

[admin2]

are we going to see results (totals) of the emoticons categories? i haven't seen any yet.

Yes! I'm working on a way to display the votes in a meaningful/unobtrusive way, but it will take a while before there's enough votes to make it possible. In the two days since the feature was launched we've received votes on only about 1.6% of our puzzle database - so it will take a good couple of months before we have enough data to play around with.

[fishbum]

I would be interested in seeing the source numbers for the "SUCCESS RATE" calc.

[LLapp]

Low player feedback is likely due to no ranking system, but that's ok

Stephen, I think the players' low feedback rate is a natural result of eliminating the 1-to-10 ranking system. It's normal that most quotes fall into the "same old same old" category (per NotTooOld's comment in Chat) -- i.e., most quotes are fine but not particularly inspiring, clever, stupid, or whatever. When you're maintaining a huge variety of quotes, most of them are going to be just average.

For myself, I've been rating the quotes whenever I hit one that strongly fits one of the categories offered. But I don't choose any rating when the quote is only slightly thought-provoking, clever, or whatever. I'm guessing that's how other players respond as well.

Maybe you could restore a simpler ranking system in order to increase the feedback rate, or maybe we just live with it -- depends on how important the feedback is for your own Puzzle Baron needs. As for the player side of the experience, my vote is that "huge variety of quotes" is more important than ensuring that most quotes are remarkable in some way. I play mainly for the challenge of decrypting, and then the wit or inspiration is the occasional surprise at the bottom of the box.

As for maintaining a minimal quality standard, I think the "Stupid" rating is a a good tool. If a quote gets a deluge of "stupid" votes, you would consider removing it, right? That might take care of a lot of the quality control in quote selection.

[gryhnd51]

I would just add my "ditto" to pretty much all that LLapp wrote.

[wvwoman]

thoughts on ratings

i don't think "stupid" quotes should necessarily be removed; i'm sometimes a fan of what others call stupid in their comments.

"funny" is a welcome addition.

i sometimes would like to rate a quote as being "sweet," or "kind," but there's no category for that. "inspirational" usually just doesn't fit.

i always thought the ratings were for us solvers to see how others feel--was i wrong? do you use them for something, stephen?

[letfreedomring]

I've had the pleasure of hitting the stupid rating on every Brault quote I've had so far with this new rating system. In addition to the challenge of solving, I appreciate those quote that give me pause to consider how it might apply to me or the world in which I live.