This section of my guide for ফ্যানপপ users details the ratings system and was last edited on 26 May 2008.
As with any web site, ফ্যানপপ is only as good as its content. Some content - what I think of as the soul of the site - is generated দ্বারা users in the fora and in মতামত on the rest of the content and cannot be rated. But the rest of the content - the body of the site - has a ratings system. The whole principle of the ratings system is a democratic one: if enough people vote, the really qualified items rise to the top. That's why everything that can be rated can be sorted in a তালিকা from highest to lowest ratings, so that আপনি অথবা anyone else can see the good stuff first.
The importance of rating
Rating is voluntary. However, there are four reasons to rate content:
1) Rated content makes ফ্যানপপ work. ফ্যানপপ is organized around spots, and spots can contain a lot of content related to the spot's topic. Every spot has the ability to sort its content in a number of ways, including "highest rated". As আরো content is added to a spot, the আরো important it is for someone coming to that spot to be able to perform that "highest rated" sort on the content, particularly for new অনুরাগী just starting out to discover a new topic. If there's no way to distinguish between all the content in a spot without looking at it all piece দ্বারা piece, the site becomes mostly pointless. You'd do as well sticking to a খুঁজুন catalog like গুগুল অথবা Yahoo if আপনি have to sift through a long তালিকা to find the good stuff. Ratings are integral to the value of the site.
2) Bad content get suppressed. This is the flip side of the coin; since good content gets promoted, bad content drops further and further down the lists sorted দ্বারা "highest rated". This saves people from seeing something really awful right off the bat, and reduces the chance that a new user checking out a spot for the first time will turn away from the spot in disgust because of a few experiences with bad content.
3) Users get recognized. As আরো people rate the content on the site, those who post the content that gets good ratings will gradually earn পদক for their contributions. This is Fanpop's way of encouraging good participation in a spot. We, as users, define what is good in that পূর্ববর্তি sentence, simply দ্বারা our ratings. When we rate something highly, not only is the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে it that much closer to getting a medal, but আরো importantly, that user knows that someone on the site appreciated what they've posted.
Similarly, those who post content that gets bad ratings can use those ratings as a guideline for their future submissions: "people didn't like that, so let's try something different with the পরবর্তি submission". Without giving poor content a low rating, the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে the content can't get the message and will have no reason to try something different পরবর্তি time.
4) You get recognized. ফ্যানপপ keeps a tally of how many ratings you've given, listed on your পরিলেখ page. Every time আপনি rate, that number goes up, demonstrating to the ফ্যানপপ community that আপনি are participating in making the site work.
What to rate
So, the প্রশ্ন may come: what should one rate? Well, first of all, there are certain types of content that can be rated on ফ্যানপপ (others cannot). The following types of content can be rated:
* links
* videos
* soapbox articles
* images
The following cannot be rated:
* spots
* picks
* ফোরাম threads
* ফোরাম posts
* news
* fans
পরবর্তি one should consider what sorts of things to rate. Usually, one rates on the quality of the content alone. This is fine as long as the content works in the spot in which it is found. If there is a problem - a non aesthetic problem - with the content, it almost certainly should be reported, and not rated. See the link for my আরো detailed explanation of reporting.
How to rate
So, you've found something that works for the spot in which it is found, আপনি have a reaction to it - positive অথবা negative - then আপনি should rate it. How do আপনি do that?
Each of the types of content আপনি may rate - links, videos, soapbox প্রবন্ধ and প্রতিমূর্তি - have a band of five stars with a legend "You rated:" above it. If you've already rated this particular content item, it will প্রদর্শনী the rating আপনি submitted. If আপনি haven't, it will প্রদর্শনী the circles as grey outlines, with "rate this link" superimposed.
Whether you've rated a link already অথবা not, আপনি can rate it (with one exception - see below). To rate, click on the তারকা that represents the rating you'd like to give the content. The stars rank in increasing order from left to right, so if আপনি wanted to rate the content three stars, you'd click the middle star, while two stars would be the সেকেন্ড তারকা from the left, and four stars would be the fourth তারকা from the left.
What do the ratings mean, though? The five stars are explained in the link, but I'll go into আরো detail here:
One তারকা indicates that আপনি think the content is garbage. It's offensive not because it violates any of the terms of service অথবা is miscategorized, but because আপনি feel it has no intrinsic value.
Two stars indicates that আপনি think the content is blah, uninteresting, sub-standard and/or mediocre.
Three stars indicates that আপনি think that the content is OK. This covers a broad range from "I think it's appropriate to the spot, pretty standard content" to "I think it's pretty good".
Four stars indicates that আপনি think the content is great. It's superior to the usual content আপনি find in the spot, and you're impressed দ্বারা it. You're likely to save this content to your favorites.
Five stars indicates that আপনি think the content is EXCELLENT. It's the best content it could possibly be. Not only do আপনি save this content to your favorites, but আপনি মতামত favorably on the content, give শ্রদ্ধার্ঘ্য to the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে the content, and share the link with all your friends, all because আপনি can't help it - it's that good.
Note: The only kind of link আপনি cannot rate (of the four types that are possible to rate) are লিঙ্ক that আপনি দাখিল হয়েছে to the site yourself. Such content will still প্রদর্শনী আপনি the aggregated ratings from all the other users who've rated it, but where আপনি would normally be able to rate, the five circles are grey.
Common ratings etiquette
While আপনি are not required to do anything with regards to rating, there are a couple of basic etiquette points to consider when rating.
First, be consistent. Determine how আপনি are going to approach ratings and apply those criteria consistently across the site.
Second, explain ratings of a 1 অথবা a 5. If আপনি rate content a 1 অথবা a 5, etiquette insists that আপনি should always provide মতামত explaining why it's garbage অথবা why it's awesome, respectively. Without such feedback, the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে it (as well as other ফ্যানপপ users looking at the same content) won't know what it is about the content that they should avoid অথবা try to recreate in future postings. Then they have to guess, and when users have to guess what to do to please you, they're very likely to get it wrong. It becomes like rolling the dice and hoping for double sixes: extreme ratings result in blind gambling if আপনি don't provide comments.
Recommendations for ratings
As I said, আপনি may rate however আপনি like. In addition to the common etiquette considerations above, I offer the following for consideration when আপনি go to rate some content on Fanpop:
The one তারকা and five তারকা ratings represent extremes: the stuff আপনি really despise, and stuff আপনি প্রণয় so much আপনি want to take it প্রথমপাতা to meet your mom and dad prior to taking your relationship to the পরবর্তি level. As such, I recommend that আপনি use either of these ratings sparingly. If everything আপনি rate is at the extremes, it makes your ratings much less meaningful than if আপনি were to rate only a few items at the extreme. Worse still, if many users rate at the extremes (not just you), there can be a situation where most content is either absurdly highly rated অথবা absurdly lowly rated. In such situations, the primary purpose of ratings (#1, at the শীর্ষ of this article) is defeated. Ratings aren't worth spit if crap content, so-so content, and pretty fair content are all rated one star, nor are they worth much if good content, really great content, and the absolute best content ever are all rated five stars.
I encourage you, when rating, to consider ratings as part of a curve, like so:
This is a graph that represents how many of each type of rating is given. Simply stated, most content is likely to deserve three stars. Some content will be significantly better অথবা worse than that, and those rare cases would deserve four অথবা two stars, respectively. One তারকা and five তারকা ratings for content should be really exceptional. Rating with such an approach increases the likelihood that the really, really good content will have the higher ratings, and the really, really bad content will drop to the bottom of the ratings rankings.
How to read ratings
Each type of content that can have a rating shows আপনি the aggregate rating, combining all the ratings of all the ফ্যানপপ users who've দাখিল হয়েছে a rating for that content. This number is shown in the green circle, ranging from 1.0 (all raters think it's garbage) to 5.0 (all raters think it's the best thing they've seen). If no one has rated the content, it will appear as a grey বৃত্ত পাঠ করা 0.0.
But the other thing to keep in mind is the number of users who have rated the content. While a 1.0 may indicate the dross of the site and a 5.0 may mean something that আপনি just have to see, they mean little if only one user has rated it. Ratings become আরো meaningful the আরো people have rated the content. So content rated 5.0 দ্বারা 3 fans, while it may be fantastic, isn't necessarily so. It could easily be that the user has বন্ধু who rate the content artificially high. Certainly such content is likely to be less impressive than a 4.3 rated দ্বারা 120 fans, which is almost certain to be very, very good. Similarly, content rated a 1.7 দ্বারা 3 অনুরাগী could be low quality, but it's less certain to be bad than content rated 2.3 দ্বারা 67 fans.
*******************************
Here's লিঙ্ক to other parts of the guide for your quick reference:
* link
* 1: link
* 2: link.
* 3: link
* 4: Picks: this is the generic name both for the মতামত প্রশ্ন that আপনি see on the site and for the উত্তর আপনি can pick to that question. Papa has created a link.
* 5: link
* 6: link
* 7: link
আপনি may also want to see:
* link feature
* link
As with any web site, ফ্যানপপ is only as good as its content. Some content - what I think of as the soul of the site - is generated দ্বারা users in the fora and in মতামত on the rest of the content and cannot be rated. But the rest of the content - the body of the site - has a ratings system. The whole principle of the ratings system is a democratic one: if enough people vote, the really qualified items rise to the top. That's why everything that can be rated can be sorted in a তালিকা from highest to lowest ratings, so that আপনি অথবা anyone else can see the good stuff first.
The importance of rating
Rating is voluntary. However, there are four reasons to rate content:
1) Rated content makes ফ্যানপপ work. ফ্যানপপ is organized around spots, and spots can contain a lot of content related to the spot's topic. Every spot has the ability to sort its content in a number of ways, including "highest rated". As আরো content is added to a spot, the আরো important it is for someone coming to that spot to be able to perform that "highest rated" sort on the content, particularly for new অনুরাগী just starting out to discover a new topic. If there's no way to distinguish between all the content in a spot without looking at it all piece দ্বারা piece, the site becomes mostly pointless. You'd do as well sticking to a খুঁজুন catalog like গুগুল অথবা Yahoo if আপনি have to sift through a long তালিকা to find the good stuff. Ratings are integral to the value of the site.
2) Bad content get suppressed. This is the flip side of the coin; since good content gets promoted, bad content drops further and further down the lists sorted দ্বারা "highest rated". This saves people from seeing something really awful right off the bat, and reduces the chance that a new user checking out a spot for the first time will turn away from the spot in disgust because of a few experiences with bad content.
3) Users get recognized. As আরো people rate the content on the site, those who post the content that gets good ratings will gradually earn পদক for their contributions. This is Fanpop's way of encouraging good participation in a spot. We, as users, define what is good in that পূর্ববর্তি sentence, simply দ্বারা our ratings. When we rate something highly, not only is the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে it that much closer to getting a medal, but আরো importantly, that user knows that someone on the site appreciated what they've posted.
Similarly, those who post content that gets bad ratings can use those ratings as a guideline for their future submissions: "people didn't like that, so let's try something different with the পরবর্তি submission". Without giving poor content a low rating, the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে the content can't get the message and will have no reason to try something different পরবর্তি time.
4) You get recognized. ফ্যানপপ keeps a tally of how many ratings you've given, listed on your পরিলেখ page. Every time আপনি rate, that number goes up, demonstrating to the ফ্যানপপ community that আপনি are participating in making the site work.
What to rate
So, the প্রশ্ন may come: what should one rate? Well, first of all, there are certain types of content that can be rated on ফ্যানপপ (others cannot). The following types of content can be rated:
* links
* videos
* soapbox articles
* images
The following cannot be rated:
* spots
* picks
* ফোরাম threads
* ফোরাম posts
* news
* fans
পরবর্তি one should consider what sorts of things to rate. Usually, one rates on the quality of the content alone. This is fine as long as the content works in the spot in which it is found. If there is a problem - a non aesthetic problem - with the content, it almost certainly should be reported, and not rated. See the link for my আরো detailed explanation of reporting.
How to rate
So, you've found something that works for the spot in which it is found, আপনি have a reaction to it - positive অথবা negative - then আপনি should rate it. How do আপনি do that?
Each of the types of content আপনি may rate - links, videos, soapbox প্রবন্ধ and প্রতিমূর্তি - have a band of five stars with a legend "You rated:" above it. If you've already rated this particular content item, it will প্রদর্শনী the rating আপনি submitted. If আপনি haven't, it will প্রদর্শনী the circles as grey outlines, with "rate this link" superimposed.
Whether you've rated a link already অথবা not, আপনি can rate it (with one exception - see below). To rate, click on the তারকা that represents the rating you'd like to give the content. The stars rank in increasing order from left to right, so if আপনি wanted to rate the content three stars, you'd click the middle star, while two stars would be the সেকেন্ড তারকা from the left, and four stars would be the fourth তারকা from the left.
What do the ratings mean, though? The five stars are explained in the link, but I'll go into আরো detail here:
One তারকা indicates that আপনি think the content is garbage. It's offensive not because it violates any of the terms of service অথবা is miscategorized, but because আপনি feel it has no intrinsic value.
Two stars indicates that আপনি think the content is blah, uninteresting, sub-standard and/or mediocre.
Three stars indicates that আপনি think that the content is OK. This covers a broad range from "I think it's appropriate to the spot, pretty standard content" to "I think it's pretty good".
Four stars indicates that আপনি think the content is great. It's superior to the usual content আপনি find in the spot, and you're impressed দ্বারা it. You're likely to save this content to your favorites.
Five stars indicates that আপনি think the content is EXCELLENT. It's the best content it could possibly be. Not only do আপনি save this content to your favorites, but আপনি মতামত favorably on the content, give শ্রদ্ধার্ঘ্য to the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে the content, and share the link with all your friends, all because আপনি can't help it - it's that good.
Note: The only kind of link আপনি cannot rate (of the four types that are possible to rate) are লিঙ্ক that আপনি দাখিল হয়েছে to the site yourself. Such content will still প্রদর্শনী আপনি the aggregated ratings from all the other users who've rated it, but where আপনি would normally be able to rate, the five circles are grey.
Common ratings etiquette
While আপনি are not required to do anything with regards to rating, there are a couple of basic etiquette points to consider when rating.
First, be consistent. Determine how আপনি are going to approach ratings and apply those criteria consistently across the site.
Second, explain ratings of a 1 অথবা a 5. If আপনি rate content a 1 অথবা a 5, etiquette insists that আপনি should always provide মতামত explaining why it's garbage অথবা why it's awesome, respectively. Without such feedback, the user who পোষ্ট হয়েছে it (as well as other ফ্যানপপ users looking at the same content) won't know what it is about the content that they should avoid অথবা try to recreate in future postings. Then they have to guess, and when users have to guess what to do to please you, they're very likely to get it wrong. It becomes like rolling the dice and hoping for double sixes: extreme ratings result in blind gambling if আপনি don't provide comments.
Recommendations for ratings
As I said, আপনি may rate however আপনি like. In addition to the common etiquette considerations above, I offer the following for consideration when আপনি go to rate some content on Fanpop:
The one তারকা and five তারকা ratings represent extremes: the stuff আপনি really despise, and stuff আপনি প্রণয় so much আপনি want to take it প্রথমপাতা to meet your mom and dad prior to taking your relationship to the পরবর্তি level. As such, I recommend that আপনি use either of these ratings sparingly. If everything আপনি rate is at the extremes, it makes your ratings much less meaningful than if আপনি were to rate only a few items at the extreme. Worse still, if many users rate at the extremes (not just you), there can be a situation where most content is either absurdly highly rated অথবা absurdly lowly rated. In such situations, the primary purpose of ratings (#1, at the শীর্ষ of this article) is defeated. Ratings aren't worth spit if crap content, so-so content, and pretty fair content are all rated one star, nor are they worth much if good content, really great content, and the absolute best content ever are all rated five stars.
I encourage you, when rating, to consider ratings as part of a curve, like so:
This is a graph that represents how many of each type of rating is given. Simply stated, most content is likely to deserve three stars. Some content will be significantly better অথবা worse than that, and those rare cases would deserve four অথবা two stars, respectively. One তারকা and five তারকা ratings for content should be really exceptional. Rating with such an approach increases the likelihood that the really, really good content will have the higher ratings, and the really, really bad content will drop to the bottom of the ratings rankings.
How to read ratings
Each type of content that can have a rating shows আপনি the aggregate rating, combining all the ratings of all the ফ্যানপপ users who've দাখিল হয়েছে a rating for that content. This number is shown in the green circle, ranging from 1.0 (all raters think it's garbage) to 5.0 (all raters think it's the best thing they've seen). If no one has rated the content, it will appear as a grey বৃত্ত পাঠ করা 0.0.
But the other thing to keep in mind is the number of users who have rated the content. While a 1.0 may indicate the dross of the site and a 5.0 may mean something that আপনি just have to see, they mean little if only one user has rated it. Ratings become আরো meaningful the আরো people have rated the content. So content rated 5.0 দ্বারা 3 fans, while it may be fantastic, isn't necessarily so. It could easily be that the user has বন্ধু who rate the content artificially high. Certainly such content is likely to be less impressive than a 4.3 rated দ্বারা 120 fans, which is almost certain to be very, very good. Similarly, content rated a 1.7 দ্বারা 3 অনুরাগী could be low quality, but it's less certain to be bad than content rated 2.3 দ্বারা 67 fans.
*******************************
Here's লিঙ্ক to other parts of the guide for your quick reference:
* link
* 1: link
* 2: link.
* 3: link
* 4: Picks: this is the generic name both for the মতামত প্রশ্ন that আপনি see on the site and for the উত্তর আপনি can pick to that question. Papa has created a link.
* 5: link
* 6: link
* 7: link
আপনি may also want to see:
* link feature
* link
So we, as users, take a lot from ফ্যানপপ every day. We watch videos, we take quiz's, share awesome links, etc. We all have gained something from Fanpop, whether it be a funny video, অথবা a cool new website. So I was thinking that perhaps maybe once a month, if even that, a mass majority (as many users we can get) would all add one thing. Whether it be a video, a quiz, a soapbox, অথবা even just a link, we would all be giving back. I was thinking that it could be the first of every month. Maybe even a time could be assigned to that date, which would allow other users to get to know each other and thread the community together. Perhaps at Four PM EST, we would all add something to Fanpop. I know many of আপনি add items everyday but this would let less-contributing users thoughts be heard. These users could become hooked on ফ্যানপপ and then that's +1 আরো dedicated fan. I don't know if this would take off, but if it does, it could be great. Please just leave a comment.