Rating system overhaul

[buddah]

On the file page, above the description, click on the Files tab, select the file you want to download and click on it, if it is a larger file (over2mb), you will get a screed asking you which server, select one and click on it, it should start the download and may ask where you want to save it to, set the path and cclick ok.

 

Wait for it to finish, and follow the installation instructions.

 

Buddah

[LupoTheButcher]

It's been less than three hours since I read the, eh, thinking behind the adjustment to the ratings and comments.

 

So I don't know anything yet. My mind is a blank, totally. It would be unfair to sound off with a binary "good/bad" judgement, unless I spend a long lunch in study and prayer, seeking the path to wisdom.

 

In 181 minutes, though, I'll drop what I'm doing and fire up my browser and come right back to this topic, several pages from the front, and I'll be sure to leave feedback. No, really, I will. Because nothing else will have been posted in the meantime, and I won't have five other things to do, and nothing says "nuance" like "good/bad".

 

I notice the comments have fallen to dead slow and the ratings are practically nonexistent since this upgrade took place. I await further improvements with breathless anticipation.

[buddah]

Ratings are lagging behind what you would expect, due to a bug in the system, if you try to rate early it gives you a warning, like it is designed to do, but is not resetting properly.....you can wait hours and still not be able to rate. I have messaged Dark0ne about this issue and it will be resolved as soon as he is able.

 

Buddah

[AncientSpaceAeon]

Well, first I don't like this new rating system, then I get used to it, and enjoyed this rating system.

 

Now, I don't like it.

 

The categories sorting is nice, but on the old rating system, we just can click on browse categories, select one category, then sort by rating or downloads and make it descending.

 

By only doing that, we can know the Top 100. Well, it's easier with the new rating system, but I don't like it because it's sorted by the highest popularity.

 

Now, I don't know where is the perfomance tweaking mods is. Because people here prefer quality mods, not perfomance mods. Means it's going to be hard to search those mods.

 

P.S : My pc is from 2004 ! No wonder I need them.

[goldenvanquisher]

I think the new rating system is a good step forward. The best aspect of it is splitting the top 100 into adult and non-adult sections

[LupoTheButcher]

I forsee Top # lists aging into irrelevance and eventually becoming useless (out of 50 files, two people bother to rate one and one bothers to rate another one -- make your own punchline; should be interesting to see the results).

 

In the past, people typically used the ratings as an entree to an ongoing discussion about a file. It was typical to see 3-5 pages of comments, with most commenters appearing in a puff of numerical smoke, so to speak. Now even the good old crowd-pleasers are going a week with 0/0 scores, and the comments are few, slim and mostly either complaints about missing elements or outright rating-avoidance: "I like it" or "I don't like it" without the waiting period, in other words.

 

Seriously, I'm interested to see what happens. A couple of regulars turn off ratings as a matter of course, but rather more, I suspect, keep making content because they like seeing those nines -- which is perfectly human and makes everyone happy, frankly.

 

It's really a question of whether mods start showing up here late (or not at all) compared to other TES sites. I like the Nexus. It would be depressing to watch it dry up and blow away like FileFront... hopefully some mechanism I can't possibly imagine will cause a million flowers to bloom as a result of the new changes.

[Dogders]

I tend to go by these steps ...

1. Description of Mod

2. Screenshots (if applicable)

3. Amount of Ratings/Comments

4. Constructive Comments on usage/compatibility (the biggy)

 

I never referred to the Top 50 Mods list for anything, was no need. I didnt care for the endorsement system at first, but it will work mostly the same for me. This is deja vu and I hope things work out for the best whatever the site does.

[TheOzoneHole]

Hum, seems my first comment went to the forum rather than the comment page.

 

1) On the subject of the "3 hour wait." If the mod doesn't work or is broken in some major way, why should I have to wait 3 hours to report that fact? On the other hand, if I'm the idiot who screwed up installation, the time requirement is good because it gives me some time to try and fix the problem. Overall, since I, personally, don't rate much, I don't really see the need for the wait to be three hours. 1 hour is plenty long to test a mod, especially if all it does is add weapons/armor/clothing. Most of those mods (which seem to make up about half of the posted mods) simply add the item to a enemy in a specific location that is given on the mod page, or to somewhere in the Imperial city. That shouldn't take 3 hours to test.

 

2) I have never used the 100 or top whatever, for anything. If I like a mod, I like it for my reasons, not because it is popular. The most popular mod at PES for several years was (and I think still is) Akatosh Mount. I have not use for horse mods. So why the heck should I care if it is popular or not? Sure the new sorting system is nice. But how about you and a second set of sorting lists, one for Morrowind. Morrowind is an older game, and the files for it are going to be less popular due to the fact that only a small to medium percentage of the members still play it. I looked at the Top 100 Adult mods, every last one is for Oblivion. And I'll bet that that holds true over everysingle list.

 

3)If I rate a file, I go by several factors:

Did it work? (6 points)

Does it follow the description? (3 points)

Is this something I want to keep using? / Is there some reason that I feel that this needs to be marked down and what is that reason? (1 point)

That is a basic system. And it works. Sure there are some exceptions, I take 3 points off (or usually don't bother to rate at all) if the author doesn't include a readme file in the download.

 

4)Someone else pointed out that if people don't get 10s they feel insulted or like their mod isn't good enough. The simple reason for that is the way education works; we have dumbed down education so much that simply showing up and doing about half the work should get you a high B or an A.

Modding isn't education, however. Getting a 10 should be based on whether or not the mod works. I have no problem with only allowing people who have downloaded a mod to vote on it.

 

I agree with several other people who, like LupoTheButcher, have expressed the feeling that the Top # lists are going to go bye-bye due to lack of voting. Sorry Dark0ne, but what I'm seeing in your new rating system is an attempt to force feed people your idea of the honor system and constructive commenting. As the owner of the page, you get to do that, however, I think the number of ratin...pardon, endorsements is going to drop drasticly. That is a shame because I've seen plenty of mods both on TESNexus, and FO3Nexus where the modders (myself included) are virtually begging people to remember to vote.

Edited July 13, 2009 by TheOzoneHole

[ghsmith]

Why bother to have a rating system at all if a negative, thumbs down has no effect? This reinforces what I have always believed, that there is a pervasive Pollyanna attitude that so-called "constructive criticism" can only be tolerated if it says good things. The definition of "constructive", is not "good", it's "helpful", and a negative appraisal can be helpful. If a mod is flawed, it serves no purpose to play ostrich or to stick your fingers in your ears and go "LA la la la, I don't hear the bad things so all the mods on my site must be good." It won't make Mr. Scary go away just because you pretend he doesn't exist. Admittedly, a few people abused the old system, but to simply pretend that there are no negative opinions, or to arbitrarily say "We don't care about any negative comments or want to hear anything but warm fuzzy thoughts", makes the entire idea of a rating system pointless. It needs to allow both positive and negative ratings and both good and bad need to count equally or it is worthless. If you can't think of a way to allow both, then just do away with the rating system altogether. Edited July 13, 2009 by ghsmith

[St1gMa]

are you sure you have read what you wrote? Basic idea stays the same good files get many endorsements and bad files don't (would you give your endorsement to bad file?) tumb down gives feedback how to improve the file... not like "this author is idiot let me downrate his file so I feel good for knowing his file goes down cause of me" this new system eliminates this kind of people. rating system is supposed to show how good the file is, not how bad...

 

If you people compare these problems to ones before you should notice at these are minor to ones before.

Edited July 13, 2009 by St1gMa