5 Gold Stars?? vB's Thread Rating system is rather inaccurate...

[theflow]

A gross miscommunication occurs daily on this and most any vB site: The presence of gold stars in Ratings column merely suggests one or more people chose to rate the thread in question. Yet the system gives the impression that when 5 gold stars appears, it is differentiating the quality of that thread from that of the vast majority of unrated threads ( or no stars showing). Very faulty logic system at work, which vB would do well to address.

My question is: How does a thread like this get 5-stars?

http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28342

Is it the one person who started the thread voting and voting and voting again? Aren't there checks for IP address? If not, the ratings system results in meaningless data, imho.

[Ruth]

i agree, thats why i rated your thread with 5 stars

[Wayne Luke]

Actually each rating is written to a table (threadrating) and it cross references with the users id. Each person can then only rate a thread once. Though it can be set up to allow a user to change their vote at a later time.

By default only registered members can rate threads and it takes two ratings for it to show in forumdisplay.

[Ruth]

to be fair, a user should not be able to rate his own thread.

[Chen]

Good idea Ruth.

[theflow]

Originally posted by Ruth
to be fair, a user should not be able to rate his own thread.

So how does vB work currently? A user can or cannot rate his/her own thread? How are the checks accomplished -- by username, or by IP check, or both?

[Ruth]

Originally posted by theflow
So how does vB work currently? A user can or cannot rate his/her own thread? How are the checks accomplished -- by username, or by IP check, or both?

apparently with the user's_ID, which is better than if it was based on username or IP_adress, because these might change.

but restiction to the user_ID from voting its own thread is the best choice.

drag your pointer over the stars and you can see how many people voted, when you see 1 vote-5 stars, it is most likely the user has voted for his thread. at least thats what i do to attract attention

[theflow]

Originally posted by Ruth
drag your pointer over the stars and you can see how many people voted,

Wow! thank you. I'm sure it's in the documentation somewhere, but I never knew this til now. Yay Ruth!

[Chen]

I also didn't know that!

[theflow]

Originally posted by FireFly
I also didn't know that!

So what exactly is your new avatar? Is that a blue apple with a stem made of some skinny circus animal on hind legs spinning a ball atop his head??

[Chen]

*me thinks* No it's an alien.

[theflow]

Originally posted by FireFly
*me thinks* No it's an alien.

are you sure it's not a dancing hyena on its hind legs tapping a volleyball on its nose, while onstage at circus, with a spotlight on it and a big blue apple as a stage? Surely that is what you mean by an alien. I give this thread 5 stars --- just for this ludicrous observation.

[theflow]

This is an outrage! This high quality thread is only getting 4 out of 5 stars, and only 7 votes. It is clear to me that this is one of the better threads I have seen in any forum on vB. I find it unacceptable that this thread be rated anything less than 5 gold stars. Psshhh.... only a mere 7 votes to date! (including my 5 votes -- no not really -- just checking to see if anyone reads this)

[Hooper]

I vote that this thread sucks.... Lol....just kidding.

[theflow]

Originally posted by Hooper
I vote that this thread sucks.... Lol....just kidding.

My dear friend, Hooper. It is clearly evidenced by your response that you are an imbicile, for it is impossible for anyone in their right mind to not see how remarkable this thread is. It surely must be the highlight of anyone's day visiting vB forums. I urge my world colleagues to vote on this thread and make it clear for all those who would mock me and this great VB Institution that we shall not stand for such abuse, and that we hereby vote this thread a 5-gold star rating! Anything less than five is a travesty. I urge you to reconsider your vote.