How about a 1-to-10 poll option in the W.D.Y.T. forum?

[stefanb]

just a simple thought I had....

In the What Did You Think? section, why not make each and every thread a "poll" where the available options are (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10) and then people can not only post what they think, but also give it their own 1-to-10 grade that will make it easier for lazy asses (like me) to gauge whether people liked or disliked a movie in general without reading through pages of amateur reviews that will more then likely contain at least one or more major spoilers.

Being a old-timer around here, I know the site used to have the schmoe's rankings like that for every film but it was dropped due to the massive overhead. This would be a super-easy way to bring back a great feature without bringing back the massive overhead.

Don't bother changing all the ones that already exist, but just do it for movies "from now on".

I think people here would love to see the overall results of ~everyone~ submitting a 1-to-10 rank as such.

Again, it's just a thought. Feel free to ignore it and I won't feel hurt.

-S

[JoBlo]

Wow, great minds must think alike... ;)

I swear I was thinking about this very same thing last night. How strange. I thought it would also be a great idea, but the truth is that I don't think it would work all that great "in practice" (sounds great "in theory").

Two issues that I would worry about if we implemented this.

1) It might lead many people to STOP POSTING their full reviews, since it would be easier just to click on a button and provide the thread with their basic point of view, without having to sit and think and write out all of their thoughts about the film... ;)

2) I think it would lead to more useless posts in the thread, since many people tend to include their "two bits" when voting in polls anyway, so a thread about UNDERWORLD might end up including 3 "real reviews' and a bunch of replies like "Great flick....8/10" or "This movie blows shit.....2/10" and the link.

Am I being overly pessimistic? Well, maybe a little, but I also speak from experience, so those are my thoughts. Anyone with anything constructive to add should also add their thoughts to this thread as well. I will read them all.

Actually, even though the ranking POLL is a decent way to gauge overall reaction, a POLL that would actually AVERAGE OUT the ratings would be even better...i.e. instead of showing how many people voted for each rating, it would give you the # of people that voted and the overall average, like 6.5/10.

[stefanb]

Originally posted by JoBlo
Am I being overly pessimistic?

You're probably not being overly pessimistic at all. After the number of year's you've been doing this, you have a good nose for these things... That said, Is it possible to vote in the poll while posting NOTHING at all to the discussion? If so, I don't think you'd see an increase in "this movie rocked/sucked" type postings. People would vote and type nothing if they have nothing important to add.

As for cutting down the over-all reviews I tend to think that (if it's true) wouldn't really matter (to me, anyway). Personally I never make it through reading more than 3 or 4 of them anyway. After that it's basically all the same stuff being said over and over, ad nauseam. Has anyone ever actually read EVERYONE's review of a film? And I NEVER read ANY of them (except the 'joblo' ones) before seeing the movie for myself (due to potential spoilers from the 'amateur' reviews).

I also suspect many people who NEVER post their own reviews might start because they like participating in the polls. Maybe those new folks will "balance out" with those who start posting less because of it. Who knows?


Originally posted by JoBlo
Actually, even though the ranking POLL is a decent way to gauge overall reaction, a POLL that would actually AVERAGE OUT the ratings would be even better...i.e. instead of showing how many people voted for each rating, it would give you the # of people that voted and the overall average, like 6.5/10.

Oddly enough, I tend to disagree... Maybe it's that damn stats class coming back to bite me in the ass, but I tend to think the median score is more important than the average score. I get annoyed by all the perminant "1 or 10" voters from people not orginal enough to use numbers from 2-to-9, so being able to ignore them and really see the "score spread" is something I'd rather have... but that's just me. For anyone who wants the average, go ahead and grab a calculator. :)


Possible Suggestions:

- Maybe try a test run and drop it if it turns out to be a lame duck idea.

- You could always create another new forum called "Rank the Movies" (or something like that) where only you can start a new poll, and then schmoes are welcome to vote a score without feeling obligated to also write a constructive review of the movie.

-S

[RicochetShaw]

Originally posted by JoBlo
I thought it would also be a great idea, but the truth is that I don't think it would work all that great "in practice" (sounds great "in theory").




JoBlo, I agree with you-- in theory. In theory, Communism works. In theory.

[stefanb]

Originally posted by RicochetShaw
JoBlo, I agree with you-- in theory. In theory, Communism works. In theory.

QUIET Homer! ;)

[darkface]

I remember i e-mailed you a while ago about this idea Jo ;), but that's okay.
Some things to add would be it would be worth it to wait till we can get a ranking device to average out the scale, and what can we do to stop people from just clicking a button numerous times?
Cause someone that thought the film was horrible, might click it tons and tons of times just to stop people from seeing it.

It's a great idea, and i would definitely use it for my sake of when looking for a movie to view. If i'm ever between what movie to see, i can take a quick look to see what the schmoes might think which is better, and go off that.

So it has it's ups and downs. I guess it could come down ironically, by having a poll to see if we should have one?

[APzombie]

Originally posted by JoBlo
1) It might lead many people to STOP POSTING their full reviews, since it would be easier just to click on a button and provide the thread with their basic point of view, without having to sit and think and write out all of their thoughts about the film

Good point, I love the What do you think forum because everyone posts full out reviews. I would hate to see theat tarnish.

[FeverDog420]

Originally posted by darkface
What can we do to stop people from just clicking a button numerous times? 'Cause someone that thought the film was horrible might click it tons of times just to stop people from seeing it.

Perhaps this could be prevented by using a system like IMDb's, where only registered users are permitted to vote and vote only once. I don't think Schmoes would repeatedly create new accounts just to vote, and if they do, maybe Jo can make it so that only Senior Schmoes and up can vote.

[JoBlo]

Originally posted by darkface
Some things to add would be it would be worth it to wait till we can get a ranking device to average out the scale, and what can we do to stop people from just clicking a button numerous times? Cause someone that thought the film was horrible, might click it tons and tons of times just to stop people from seeing it.


I'm pretty sure that you're only allowed to vote once on our polls. Go to the BEST/WORST/FAVORITES forum and try to vote twice in the same poll. I'm quite sure that you are not allowed to do so.

[dh1989]

Originally posted by JoBlo
I'm pretty sure that you're only allowed to vote once on our polls. Go to the BEST/WORST/FAVORITES forum and try to vote twice in the same poll. I'm quite sure that you are not allowed to do so.

You're right, unless someone chooses to allow users to vote twice, but that's just an option.

[darkface]

Originally posted by JoBlo
I'm pretty sure that you're only allowed to vote once on our polls. Go to the BEST/WORST/FAVORITES forum and try to vote twice in the same poll. I'm quite sure that you are not allowed to do so.

yea, i knew about those, i was thinking about that if you were to use a new type of poll.

[CyclicNightmare]

Originally posted by stefanb
Possible Suggestions:

- Maybe try a test run and drop it if it turns out to be a lame duck idea.

- You could always create another new forum called "Rank the Movies" (or something like that) where only you can start a new poll, and then schmoes are welcome to vote a score without feeling obligated to also write a constructive review of the movie.

-S
This is still a good idea. Is it dead?