Again...
Tuesday, July 2, 2002 by adni18 | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
I don't know if this action is for laugh or cry, but someone (maybe you Pat
), must have a look at this phenomenon
The intentions for the rating system are good, but some people are not! I am sorry to say that, but it is a fact.
So many kind and interesting people in WinCustomize, I wonder why they are permitting some brainless minority, (maybe 5 people at most), to spoil the image of the site.
Reply #82 Thursday, July 4, 2002 6:01 PM
One thing to Migellito, If you thought I would ask people what they think of my work on exhibitions, I don't do that
I hear the comments and smile. To some of my close friends comments are very important, again, in order to improve. Ratings do not give an incentive to improve. It's just one big question mark. And indeed comments are a better way to go forward. 
Reply #83 Thursday, July 4, 2002 6:44 PM
It is not a case of....the education system, where you 'HOPE' your teacher is using the same criteria as a teacher in the next school would be, therefore having 'equality' across the Ed system.
ALL that is needed in respect to an individual's ratings on a skin or wall here is that HIS OWN criteria, whatever they may be [that part is irrelevant] are followed equally on each submission.
If it's just 'how' the rating works...then for me a '10' would be "so good, I cannot imagine a way to improve it", and a '1' is "so bad I cannot think of a way to make it worse"......all the ratings in between are merely relative to that....the 'gooder' and 'badder' being determined by my personal experience and understanding and opinionated emotion. Would I be likely to mark something down because it wasn't my favourite colour [grey]? Possibly. Would that cause a major shift in my singular rating of that item? No. Would that prejudice towards Grey be in some way detrimental to another similarly non-grey item? Only if my prejudice was flaky and inconsistent.
This is not the same drama relating to the 'adverse' grading of a school student by dissimilar teacher's criteria.....with the potential to make one student fail and another pass some arbitrary 'test'.
All it is is that if any work rated by Jafo gets a '1' then in Jafo's opinion it is pretty darn awful. If another gets a '10' then it's pretty darn good...IN JAFO'S OPINION.
All that is 'demanded' of this system of 'evaluation' is, unlike the education system, as many people as possible applies therir OWN criteria and actually RATES the works.
Ultimately...you get a '3' from me....'not grey enough'...an '8' from BoXXi...'good, but I make these too and I see faults'....a '10' from Johnny-New-Guy....'wow, never seen one like this before'...etc....Average?....'7'.
[This of course is just an example]....

The only time this 'system' can go 'wrong' is when a pattern can be seen to emerge of pre-meditated, deliberate abuse of the privilege to further one's own standings in 'most popular download' or whatever. That would be the equivalent of the teacher passing all his pupils with honours just so he can be lauded as a great teacher. It's self-serving, and definitely WRONG.
But, after all this, 2 things remain true...the ratings are very likely to remain, and Paxx will still not like them [a stand that I respect immensely, just don't quite agree with]....

Reply #84 Thursday, July 4, 2002 6:52 PM
Just something to think about....And by typing this, it is bedtime 
Reply #85 Thursday, July 4, 2002 7:11 PM
But doesn't this make the ratings somewhat meaningless because there's nothing, no even a comment to back them up with why it warrented such a rating? You might as well pull the numbers out of a hat.
As Paxx and Lecrayon say, statistically, the only way this could pan out is if the rating data is large enough to even out such idiosyncacies.
I'm not trying to be arugmentative, I'm just really bored sweating in this July 4th heat and I need something to distract me

Reply #86 Thursday, July 4, 2002 7:25 PM

Reply #87 Thursday, July 4, 2002 8:16 PM
None of those 3 'ratings' were pulled from a hat, they each were justifyable in the mind of the reviewer and therefore entirely valid.
But, yes, the more ratings you get the more 'generally' accurate the result to 'Joe Average without a clue'...all he sees is a '7', and thinks....'hmmm....above average in the opinion of the raters....can't be too bad...maybe worth a DL'.
Using poor ol' treetog again as an example [sorry, Renato....just throw things at me instead]...I look at all his skins. They are all of extreme high quality....very well done. [that's a given] BUT, and I stress 'BUT' are they equally 'excellent' or are some better than others in your opinion? Do you just say, 'wow,10....wow,10.....wow,10' ad nauseum, or do you perhaps think 'this one is fantastic, but not 'quite' as fantastic as this other one....better make it a '9''.
Suddenly that skin, which only has ONE rating, yours....is a '9'. Is that wrong? No. It's a valid judgement. Should it be a '10'? To you, no. To others, maybe. Does it 'require' an accompanying comment? No. Does treetog 'need' a reason for the '9'? Probably not.....he'd see it as just 'not quite as appreciated' as one with '10'. Does he expect assistance via comments to better his work? Probably not.....Wincustomize isn't a learning institution for skill advancement so I doubt he'd be looking for it...

How does all this equate with a 'lesser' skilled skinner?
Do we mere mortals upload here to specifically garner input to better our work specifically or do we just accept any suggestions if and when they 'may' be forthcoming?
Perhaps a specific locale is needed to promote constructive criticism.....somewhere where stuff is uploaded prior to formal 'release' and people can be as critical as they like....PURELY for betterment.
You upload in the clear understanding that the 'education' process may be painful...

There's a bit of reluctance to be 'honest' with what is perceived as a 'finished' work...

Reply #88 Thursday, July 4, 2002 8:24 PM

Reply #90 Thursday, July 4, 2002 10:50 PM
I am ready to bet that if you could go back and rate them again without seeing the rate you gave them before, probably 50% of those would switch rates: some 7's would become 8's and vice-versa.
And about the difference in criterias between you and Joe for example, you say it's not relevant. I say it may not be if you both rated ALL the skins on the site, then he would (hopefully) consistantly rate all the skins with his criterias and you would in turn rate all the skins with your criterias. In the end it would be fine since you both rated all the skins, so no skins would be penalised. But nobody rates all the skins.
You will rate skin A with a 8 and Joe will rate skin B with a 6. But maybe skin B is actually superior to skin A, and maybe both you and Joe would think so, but you didn't actually rate both skins so it now seems to everybody that skin B is better than skin A while it's probably the opposite...
Err. Not sure I'm being clear... Am I?
Reply #91 Thursday, July 4, 2002 11:23 PM

Reply #92 Friday, July 5, 2002 12:30 AM
i think i actually detected paxx and jafo coming close [close, not meeting] to a neighboring opinion on this.. their points, though not meeting, are seeming to converge a bit. i think this fortells a new golden age of harmony and.. well, maybe not

all kidding aside, i have the utmost respect for you both, and relish the opportunity to hear both your views. that said, i'm spot-on with jafo.
as far as the difference between a 7 and an 8, it's quite clear in my mind. hard to explain, but quite clear. hmmm.. i want to test your hypothesis though, paxx. i'll go look through some skins and see if i rate them the same now.
Reply #93 Friday, July 5, 2002 2:12 AM
A valid 'norm' would be reached.
If, however, only one person rated each and every skin [the same person, that is] then all you'd get is a balanced appraisal, just prejudiced by one person's opinion. That isn't ever likely to happen, though I guess _Shoggot_ came 'close' with walls at skinz mk.1, so we're relatively 'stuck' with as many people as possible rating as many as they can, which, if done even-handedly can work.
Rating can never be an arithmetic test....score by counting the correct answers....but it can still be a matter of how many of the 'right buttons' are being pushed in your brain when you view the work.
Like Mercedes being the 'car by which all others are judged' [supposedly], it's a bit corny to then declare...'well, my VW has more black bits than a Merc has, so it MUST be better'. Obviously a little more credit must be bestowed upon the observer for being capable of an 'informed' understanding of sensible comparative criteria...

Now I'm probably not being clear...so I'll stop...

Reply #95 Friday, July 5, 2002 4:24 AM
So...maybe the conclusion could be: the more a work is rated the more accurate the opinion about that specific work will be...Now it is to think about how many rates have to be given to be accurate
2 rates per work..hmmm bit subjective...the more rates, the less subjective?Oh and Jafo...I don't understand why commenting on work to give people hints or people me for that matter should be compared with school. Even though lots of contemporary artists follow classes during their career, and indeed great ones did that too, comments are always highly appreciated IF it comes from people with at least some art background. If you refuse the willingness to learn, you will get stuck and eventually become less than you were.
Reply #96 Friday, July 5, 2002 5:18 AM
Reply #97 Friday, July 5, 2002 7:38 AM

Specifically the 'school' reference was for paxx's benefit....but prhaps you can liken things to a teaching hospital.....some 'doctors' would rather just get on with healing people rather than interminably instructing/guiding others in how to heal.
Suggestions of ways to improve a person's work can be likened to that, and not necessarily everyone's 'cup of tea'. It can't be something expected of, or forced upon people who happen to look at your works. Comments should be viewed as a privilege, not a right, and similar can be said for ratings, too...

Reply #98 Friday, July 5, 2002 9:49 AM

Let me say in this thread then that all comments are welcome when reviewing what has been accepted by the moderators/admins...

The more the better...When I started to upload some cursors Paxx was there
still grateful for his comment 
(but beside the discussion here in this thread, however wanted to say it though) 
Reply #99 Friday, July 5, 2002 9:57 AM

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Reply #81 Thursday, July 4, 2002 4:01 PM
I like to release skins
I like that there's 95% of people that likes my skins
I don't like that it predominates the opinion of the 5% restant people
I don't care why this