Forum Ratings: Give More Than Just a Like

[AlgerWaterlow]

So I was on a highly ranked faction server that will remain unnamed for the porpoises of not advertising. I came across a very unique-looking Xenforo post rating system. Perhaps this is a newer version of Xenforo than MCGamer is running or perhaps this was self-coded by said faction server's paid web dev, but I thought this would be a really cool edition for ANY Xenforo site really.

The screenshots are below:

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((The above screenshot is listed below a user's post.))

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((The ratings from left to right being "Like, Agree, Funny, Winner, Informative, Friendly, Useful, Optimistic, and Creative". Optimistic is apparently considered neutral *giggles*)).

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((The above screenshot is listed on the left-hand side of a user's profile right above their followers/people followed.))

And yes there is a section in banned suggestion topics of "forum functions" but this is indeed a feasible addition to a Xenforo forum as it's already ON another Xenforo forum for a different MC server (if an appropriate senior+ staff member wants the link to this other Xenforo forum, then by all means they can PM me but I won't publicly release the link). Thereby I reserve my right to credit this as a valid suggestion for due consideration and discussion.

 

[Mooclan]

(oh gosh i just made a sandwich so my hands are cold and typing is difficult. am i the_real_huahwi?1?1?1/!?1/1/1/!??!)


It's a neat system, but I think it could raise the question, "What purpose does this serve?"

Currently, we have a Like system. This has served fairly well for two years, but there is one major flaw - Like-spamming.
In order for this to be a suitable replacement for the current system, there would have to be some sort of solution to that one major flaw... and there is!

Like-spams mostly come from statuses. For example, I've gained about ~1,250 likes from two people who have liked a ton of my statuses alone, even though I asked them not to. I did a tiny bit of research into the website where this system is in place, and found out that statuses are not ratable. (It's an unusual word, but "ratable" = able to be rated.)
And so, with that my #1 concern is completely washed away. Three cheers, because the majority of easy like-spamming would be gone!


Now, onto my second evaluator of whether a feature suggestion is viable:
"Is it needed?"

I think it's fairly self-explanatory, but no - this isn't needed. In fact, the forums don't even need a Like system at all. But without it, the forums would be a less supportive place, because people would have to go to greater lengths in order to show their support of a post, such as quoting it with the simple, spammy message of "+1" or something.
So while it's not entirely necessary, it is a defining and contributive factor towards the forums, and we should have some sort of system like this... but why not keep it the same?


Let's move on to my third evaluator, to find the answer to that question:
"What makes it better than the current system?"

As already stated, less like-spams!
But aside from that, what else does this new system bring to the table?
The ability to be more specific when showing your support for a post.

A question that is sometimes tossed around is, "Who's the best forumer of MCSG of all time?"
Sometimes, people might respond by saying HalfSquirrel because of his large post count, or they might say Mamiamato24 because he has the most likes. Other people might use trumpets to herald Darkrai202 as the funniest forumer, or some might claim that it's myself, BitoBain, or Miner9823 because we're all detailed, helpful, and informative.
This question is all based upon many different factors, and to be honest there is no single answer to that question. It really depends on what you're evaluating when finding the answer to that.
This system, however, would provide a more specific answer to that question. There would be a way to evaluate and differentiate the funny, informative, helpful, and friendly posts, along with several other criteria!


However, a personal concern...
Would this require current forum statistics to be reset? D:
As it is right now, we've had the Like system in place for over two years, just like the current MCSG Leaderboards.

Let's use this whole "Statistics Reset" thing as an example:
MCGamer wants to be able to track more information from the games, but that is requiring a reset of the entire Leaderboards system, otherwise the statistics will look quirky.
If they wanted to track more information on XenForo, the forums, then would that require a reset of the current Likes that people have...? o.o Or even all of the posts?

I shudder at the thought.



Alger, does this count? c:

 

[Miner9823]

(oh gosh i just made a sandwich so my hands are cold and typing is difficult. am i the_real_huahwi?1?1?1/!?1/1/1/!??!)


It's a neat system, but I think it could raise the question, "What purpose does this serve?"

Currently, we have a Like system. This has served fairly well for two years, but there is one major flaw - Like-spamming.
In order for this to be a suitable replacement for the current system, there would have to be some sort of solution to that one major flaw... and there is!

Like-spams mostly come from statuses. For example, I've gained about ~1,250 likes from two people who have liked a ton of my statuses alone, even though I asked them not to. I did a tiny bit of research into the website where this system is in place, and found out that statuses are not ratable. (It's an unusual word, but "ratable" = able to be rated.)
And so, with that my #1 concern is completely washed away. Three cheers, because the majority of easy like-spamming would be gone!


Now, onto my second evaluator of whether a feature suggestion is viable:
"Is it needed?"

I think it's fairly self-explanatory, but no - this isn't needed. In fact, the forums don't even need a Like system at all. But without it, the forums would be a less supportive place, because people would have to go to greater lengths in order to show their support of a post, such as quoting it with the simple, spammy message of "+1" or something.
So while it's not entirely necessary, it is a defining and contributive factor towards the forums, and we should have some sort of system like this... but why not keep it the same?


Let's move on to my third evaluator, to find the answer to that question:
"What makes it better than the current system?"

As already stated, less like-spams!
But aside from that, what else does this new system bring to the table?
The ability to be more specific when showing your support for a post.

A question that is sometimes tossed around is, "Who's the best forumer of MCSG of all time?"
Sometimes, people might respond by saying HalfSquirrel because of his large post count, or they might say Mamiamato24 because he has the most likes. Other people might use trumpets to herald Darkrai202 as the funniest forumer, or some might claim that it's myself, BitoBain, or Miner9823 because we're all detailed, helpful, and informative.
This question is all based upon many different factors, and to be honest there is no single answer to that question. It really depends on what you're evaluating when finding the answer to that.
This system, however, would provide a more specific answer to that question. There would be a way to evaluate and differentiate the funny, informative, helpful, and friendly posts, along with several other criteria!


However, a personal concern...
Would this require current forum statistics to be reset? D:
As it is right now, we've had the Like system in place for over two years, just like the current MCSG Leaderboards.

Let's use this whole "Statistics Reset" thing as an example:
MCGamer wants to be able to track more information from the games, but that is requiring a reset of the entire Leaderboards system, otherwise the statistics will look quirky.
If they wanted to track more information on XenForo, the forums, then would that require a reset of the current Likes that people have...? o.o Or even all of the posts?

I shudder at the thought.



Alger, does this count? c:

To be honest, I feel as if there shouldn't necessarily be a statistics reset within the forums, because if that were the case, it could probably conclude to literally wipe out ALL of the information and all the posts made due to adding a slightly bigger function of rating. Because since this is about rating posts and liking people's posts, then I would think that they could instead use all of the information made in the like section and maybe tweak it a little bit, maybe they can rename it to 'most rated members', otherwise all they could go for is simply reset the likes, although that's not the best of ideas... But overall, I would have high doubts that the forums should be reset due to simply implementing a little bit more of an interesting rating system, and I doubt the forums will be reset in a long, long time.


Aaanyways, this idea in a manner would seem somewhat interesting to add, however it could be a little bit of a hassle for the forum administrators to actually doing it. Also, has there been any issues towards the ratings system within those forums? Maybe rating spamming or changing it too often? It is good to mention any issues towards this idea so we know what's being dealt with, and if it does ever come to the case of further development for this sort of system, I could suggest maybe doing some sort of demo kind of forums and see what people think about it.

Overall, despite this idea having been suggested before, as you stated, I think it could possibly work, however I don't fully see any greater use for it, it gives more detailed information towards what people think of a specific post made from a specific individual, otherwise it serves not much else. In a way, I think it is best to keep to the forum rating system we have today, it keeps things pretty simple, you could either like it, or you could disagree, and that's when quoting comes in, to portray your perspective and your opinion, or maybe add to someone else's opinions.
But I do believe we should give this a go.

 

[AlgerWaterlow]

Everyone would keep the same number of likes they acquired. They'd just be able to gain new kinds of ratings. I'll gladly start work on a spreadsheet of every forum member's like counts and tabulate all of them in case any sort of a reset was needed. You can, I believe, manually set that sort of setting (at least you could with Proboards and Forumotion so I assume Xenforo is the same)/ At absolute worst, even if likes were reset, we'd have two options:

A). Use my soon-to-be-tabulated spreadsheet of two million plus users to give out the proper number of likes. A spreadsheet of over two million users would be difficult but I type quickly and have way too much damn time on my hands.

Or B)/ Would it really be so bad to coincide this with the release of MCGamer V2 and give the forum a fresh start as well? For starters, this website needs updated art to actually reflect the rebranding away from MCSG-specifics.

 

[AGFire2013]

porpoises

PORPOISES

 

[Col_StaR]

I suggested this after I saw how much fun it was to have on Facepunch's forums. I still like the idea, and one most fond FP memory was of a guy on FP who had people rate him "Dumb" (which had an icon of a box), and he used the number of Dumb boxes he was rated to build a fort out of wooden boxes in FP. I rated him Optimistic (which has the rainbow), and he colored his box fort various colors.

The suggestion was pushed off, as we're still waiting for the big changes to come. No point in adding something now when it'll likely be revamped/removed when the big one comes.

 

[Kris | Kriszy]

You should add a "dislike" button c: (I feel evil now >:3)

 

[AlgerWaterlow]

I suggested this after I saw how much fun it was to have on Facepunch's forums. I still like the idea, and one most fond FP memory was of a guy on FP who had people rate him "Dumb" (which had an icon of a box), and he used the number of Dumb boxes he was rated to build a fort out of wooden boxes in FP. I rated him Optimistic (which has the rainbow), and he colored his box fort various colors.

The suggestion was pushed off, as we're still waiting for the big changes to come. No point in adding something now when it'll likely be revamped/removed when the big one comes.

Well the system I've shown here only has "optimistic" as a neutral rating and everything else is positive.