Hey Sev, site ideas! Quality List!

[End Master]

List seems pretty set now.

[severenz]

I think we are talking about two separate issues:

1. Promoting quality stories
2. Dealing with bad seeds in ratings

They are related in the sense that every author wants their story to be read and be rated well.

I think having a rotating "quality story list" for new readers would be a good thing, but I'll have to think about the fairest way to do this.

In regards to ratings, there will always be the bad seeds that come and rate a bunch of stories with a "1." I think the best way to approach this is to require a comment and to have a "post abuse" button in which I will moderate. If I see a user posting a flurry of 1's on stories, then his ratings can be removed.

Other than that, if your story has a reasonable amount of ratings, the occasional idiot that posts a "1" shouldn't affect it.

I'll have more later on this when I get to ratings in the new code.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

Sev is right. It really is two separate issues. Thanks for your consideration in the matter, Sev.

We all truly appreciate it.

[Vesnic]

Thanks, Sev!

We'll all be thrilled with the new changes!

[Usoki]

I think having a rotating "quality story list" for new readers would be a good thing, but I'll have to think about the fairest way to do this.

Take your time. Once it is implemented, it will be awesome.

In regards to ratings, there will always be the bad seeds that come and rate a bunch of stories with a "1." I think the best way to approach this is to require a comment and to have a "post abuse" button in which I will moderate. If I see a user posting a flurry of 1's on stories, then his ratings can be removed.

A solution! Huzzah!

Other than that, if your story has a reasonable amount of ratings, the occasional idiot that posts a "1" shouldn't affect it.

Well, I would argue that most stories don't have a reasonable amount of ratings to absorb a low rating... Teatime had ten high ratings, and that random "1" still dropped the ranking -0.8 points. Most stories barely even have half that number of ratings...

But what can you do about it? Not much, in the end. So there's not too much of a point in complaining about it, other than the sheer joy of venting.

We can only do the best we can, and go from there. Which is why both of your proposed changes rock. Whoo Sev!

[ChubbyTeletubby]

That avatar of Sev's has turned me into a complete 'yes man'.

It's working, Sev. It's working GREAT!

Great job, sir!

[Usoki]

At least I offered up more responses than "yay!" I just happen to agree with his position. I'm too lazy to take full advantage of a weighted ranking system, and I've never been too keen on the thought of a moderator.

I've always been partial to a flagging system, but as I recall, it was shot down due to the fact that there aren't enough people actively viewing story ratings to flag anything in a timely manner. Which is true, but at least it's something.

Besides- IS is free. In the end, complaining about Sev can only go so far- its his site...what are you gonna do about it? How dare he not offer a free service in the way we want him to?

[donteatpoop]

I still like the idea of a moderator council better, but any solution is an improvement and I'm satisfied with this one. Thanks for looking into it, severenz.

[ChubbyTeletubby]

At least I offered up more responses than "yay!" I just happen to agree with his position. I'm too lazy to take full advantage of a weighted ranking system, and I've never been too keen on the thought of a moderator.

I've always been partial to a flagging system, but as I recall, it was shot down due to the fact that there aren't enough people actively viewing story ratings to flag anything in a timely manner. Which is true, but at least it's something.

Besides- IS is free. In the end, complaining about Sev can only go so far- its his site...what are you gonna do about it? How dare he not offer a free service in the way we want him to?

Shut up. 'At least I...at least I...at least I...'

Just shut up, you.

[Leblanc4prez]

If I get around to finishing "Mayhem on Mobius" , "Knuckles adventure" or the new one I'm writing "Eternal Sphere" could they get on? This mignt not happen for a while as I'm easily distr... look that dog has a puffy tail!

Psy: Well LeBlanc has gone chasing a poodle I'll take over this post. For a sample of "Eternal sphere" Please view the thread in off topic named "The many sides of LeBlanc."

[Usoki]

As far as the "Best of" list goes, I just had an idea... Remember that "eligible for voting" feature you took away years ago? I don't remember what it did, but between talking of nixing bookmarks and ratings... What if, alongside the story rating options, there was a checkbox for "Nominate for 'Best of' list" command? And, if a certain number of people nominate the story, it will automatically star appearing in the "Best of" list. To prevent abuse, it might not hurt to have a "Condemn for 'Best of' list" to make sure a swarm of idiots don't come through and crap up the list, but... How feasible is that? It makes the list totally democratic, and therefore pretty damn fair, as far as it goes. That way it's not totally dependent on the forums. But we'd still have an advantage on input as far as "Everyone go nominate 'x' story" goes.

[Vesnic]

The point of the list wasn't to be democratic. It was to allow the people who are regular contributors to the site to make a list of what they determined to be good stories, voted on every few months or once a year or whatever. It's what we, as the most active members of the site, are choosing to b put forth as the best representations of IS. It's also much more easy to implement. If someone really wants to have a voice in adding a certain story to this list, then they are by all means welcome to become a part of the forums. And it's not like we're just creating a good-old-boys (and girls) club here. We are all big enough to recognize quality when we see it and nominate accordingly, regardless of the person's current activity level on the site.

[Usoki]

Since we're the most likely to use such a feature, it's still mostly ours to control. But Sev mentioned something about ease of implementation and fairness 'n stuff.

If anything, it would let new stuff get added instantaneously, rather than once per year.

[Locke]

That's true, as far as it goes, but that also makes it very similar to the rating feature in that the most popular get on the list, and renders the "best of" function vulnerable to the same abuses. In fact, if everyone is permitted to vote, most stories will probably eventually attain the minimum required number for inclusion - that or HOID, Legend and those others will just stay there and not change if it's a list limited to a certain number of stories which receive the most votes. Like it or not, this is going to be somewhat elitest - but it will allow us to put IS's best face forward, and hopefully retain/satisfy more visitors. As long as we're all objective, the pros seem to outweigh the cons significantly.

[Usoki]

Personally, I'm indifferent. But it is democratic. If that's the only way we can have such a list, it wouldn't be a bad way of setting it up.