The Art of Whore (dooyoo - Members' Opinions On How to Rate And Comment)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	dooyoo - Members' Opinions On How to Rate And Comment
Date:	08/11/01 (292 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Honest rates mean site prospers, The good information is easily available

Disadvantages: Whores are wrecking the site, Ratings become meaningless

-= The Introduction =-

This opinion was originally written a few years ago when it seemed that there was a lot of over-rating going on around the site with people giving their friends automatic high ratings and rating on matters which did not include information content. It's been updated a few times since then to keep it up to date, and this has been done once more, although a lot of the opinion is still in its original form.

-= The Actual Opinion =-

Do you think it's strange that dooyoo have a category for writing advice on how to rate and comment? You've seen other categories on providing feedback for Dooyoo, advice for new members and advice on how to write. These all seem like sensible things to have categories on, especially with us members having the experience to show other people where we went wrong ourselves, and provide a one stop information centre for dooyoo and ourselves to point newer members towards for reference.

So, you think that if dooyoo have a category on "How to rate and comment" that they take this aspect of the site seriously, and perhaps they feel that some members actually need advice on this? Well, I suppose it's true, and we all need a kick up the bum sooner or later.

But the whole way dooyoo works is through peer review. This is a "poncey" term that basically means the whole site is organised (i.e. opinions are listed) in order of helpfulness/usefulness as dictated by us the members and our ratings. Good opinions go to the top of the list, average opinions to the middle and (to be blunt) crap opinions sink to the bottom. In theory, that is.

So, you've all read the dooyoo advice on participating around the site? No, I thought not. For your information, it's on the community pages. The exact URL is http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/community/_page/advice_par ticipate/

It's Dooyoo's advice to the members regarding writing and rating.
To save you all going there (because I know you'll just flock there now and leave my opinion unread!), I'll give you the gist of what it says.

-= Dooyoo Ethos on Rating =-

OK, after the bits about writing and reading, which are still important, but not as far as this opinion is concerned, there's a section called "Rating", as if you couldn't guess. Interestingly, near the start of this section there's a big bit in bold that states: "The level of 'usefulness' should reflect your view of an opinion's ability to inform the next user about the product or service."

This is obvious, but in order to rate an opinion honestly, you also have to read it carefully, and take note of what's said. It also helps if you make a note of the category you're reading it in (if you're reading from the Latest opinions lists, and you haven't browsed manually to it).

It then goes on to give advice on what ratings to use when you've read an opinion.

Very Useful (VU): covers every aspect of the subject in considerable depth, and makes both the positive and negative aspects perfectly clear. You would make a purchasing decision based on this opinion.

Useful (U): a good opinion which states the case clearly but perhaps focuses too much on a single aspect of the topic. You might make a purchasing decision based on this opinion, but you'd look for more information first.

Somewhat Useful (SU): an opinion that would have been better with more depth or a more balanced coverage.

Not Useful (NU): the opinion is very one-sided and lacks sufficient depth to really do justice to the topic.


Can I ask you a question? You've obviously read the above bits from the Dooyoo Ethos now that I've quoted them to you. Well, what's so hard to understand in there? Well, the answer should be "nothing", shouldn't it? But sadly,
judging from what I've seen, a lot of people are unaware of how to rate properly. Now, a lot of people have already written on this topic, and to be honest, they've done a far better job than I eventually will. So, all I can do is point you towards some of the other opinions in this category (especially the crowned ones) for a less "ranty" opinion (but not until you've read and rated the rest of this, ok?).

There are some other things that dooyoo ask you to do. The first one is quite obvious: rate honestly. They go on to say "Remember always to rate opinions. Rating is crucial to the effectiveness of Dooyoo".

They also ask you specifically NOT to do certain things: reciprocal rating. This is naughty, and considered abuse of the rating system. Disciplinary action from Dooyoo should follow if you are caught. The crime known as "revenge rating" (where you rate other users NU simply because they rated you as NU) is also frowned upon by Dooyoo. Also, if you go around rating people exactly what they rated you is naughty. If someone reads five of your opinions and finds them all to be "Useful", you shouldn't read five of theirs, and rate in exactly the same way (unless, of course, they are "Useful"). If you feel you are a victim, inform Dooyoo via the dooyooteam@dooyoo.co.uk email link and they will take action if necessary. Do not take the law into your own hands because, chances are, you'll be reported yourself. Tactical rating by rating other people's opinions low so that your opinion in the same category gets higher in the list and therefore, hopefully more reads is yet another thing that Dooyoo are not fond of.

This is where we all have to be honest. You must rate each opinion honestly on how useful it is. Nowhere in the dooyoo ethos does it ask you to rate an opinion VU because it's written by your friend. Granted, it may be difficult to rate someone you know a
nd like anything other than VU, but it has to be done. Again, it may be the greatest piece of comedy ever written, but if it doesn't tell you anything about the subject at hand, then it can't be VU, can it?

What I'm trying to say, albeit in a clumsy fashion, is that ratings should be all about information in the opinion, not about the author, or how funny it was or the sentiment behind it. It's not difficult, and is in fact just some good old-fashioned common sense. Ratings shouldn't really be about whether or not you agree with someone else's point of view, unless they quote a lot of facts which are wrong. If they argue their point well, it shouldn't matter if they like Busted or Linkin Park and you don't.

If you find an opinion to be very funny or entertaining, but it doesn't answer any questions you have regarding the product or service, then rate it low - you can say that you found it funny, but uninformative in your comment.

Obviously, we're all different. What some people will find VU, others will find only U. This will happen every now and again, but you should be wary when an opinion will barely contain enough relevant information to be Useful or even Somewhat Useful, and yet a lot of members have rated their opinions as VU, vastly over-rating the opinion. This is bad. Not only does it mean that poorer opinions are getting to the top of the list (which are not based on 'reads', but Usefulness), but that good writers are being overlooked because people are cheating the site.

Rating honestly also applies to the other end of the scale. As members, it's up to us to post out opinions in the best place for them so that non-members can easily find the information they require. For example, posting an opinion about Dooyoo in the Ciao section because they're similar is not good, and obviously, NU. If you see things like this happening, it is imperative that you rate honest
ly. Until the opinion is moved to a more relevant category, it remains NU.

Information is Dooyoo's selling point. If all the crud rises to the top of the pile because the members are not rating honestly, then Dooyoo will not survive. New members will see that crap opinions can rise to the top because of people being afraid to rate their friends fairly, and will pick up these bad habits. Reciprocal and revenge raters will continue to operate on site, and the "Whores", as another member puts it, will rule Dooyoo.

The other member I mentioned above defines a whore to be someone who consistently rates opinions as being more useful than they actually are, and I would agree with this.

My advice is to take what Dooyoo say in their ethos, and couple it with your own common sense. From this you should get a good rating mechanism that will work, but only if you are fair. Some people use the Useful rating as basis when reading opinions, and let the opinion decide whether this is to be higher or lower. Others start off using NU as the basis, and base their rating on how much information is given.

Starting with NU, and working up, the following is what I use as the basis of my rating.

In my opinion, Not Useful ratings are for off topic opinions, abuse, stolen (plagiarised) opinions or those containing no useful info.

Somewhat Useful - I award SU ratings if an opinion contains at least 1 relevant fact. Yes, that makes it fairly difficult to get a NU rating if you've put any sort of effort into your opinion, but that's me. The SU rating is mostly used by me when people post rants about a particular product of service without giving off a balanced point of view.

Useful - These opinions contain most of the information you will need to make a decision regarding whatever it is, plus some personal experience. You'll still be left with a few questions that need answered though.

Very
Useful - Opinions that deserve VU bunged full of information, over and above what you would need to make a decision, with lots of personal experience and leaves you with practically no questions about the topic.

My advice if you are ever in any doubt regarding a rating, is to err on the side of caution and rate lower. You can leave a comment explaining what you've done on the comments section then, if necessary, you can go back and change your rating at a later date. (More on commenting later)

OK, so you've read this far and maybe you're guilty of what I've described. You don't care, do you? You're getting your 3p per read, so the rest can all go jump. Now, members are not blind to rating habits. If you are seen to be over-rating substandard opinions on a regular basis, you could end up losing readers. The same could also be said for revenge and reciprocal raters.

That, however, is the least of your worries. The Dooyoo staff members have access to all your rates, and if they ever get suspicious, they can see whom you've rated, and what. If you're found to be guilty of abusing the rating system, then you could be in for some disciplinary action. This might be having your membership deleted, your miles removed or any other punishment that they deem appropriate.

Remember what I said before about peer review? Well, if people around the site are not rating honestly, the peer review is not working. If peer review is not working, Dooyoo are probably not making as much money as they should be. If they are not making the money, we are not getting the money. Who do we blame? No, not Dooyoo, you numpty, blame the Whores.

-= Dooyoo Ethos on Commenting =-

Going back to the Dooyoo Ethos, it's perhaps not surprising that Dooyoo don't say very much about commenting. In fact, they only really make three clear points about commenting.

Number 1: Explain your rating.
Numbe
r 2: Make your comments relevant.
Number 3: Abusive comments will lead to members being deleted from Dooyoo.

OK, so, it's only really necessary to explain your rating if you've radically gone against what everyone else has rated. I admit, that I rarely pay attention to what other people have rated, unless the opinion that I'm rating is quite obviously a lot poorer than the rating suggests, and so I probably don't leave as many comments as I should. If someone has rated you lower than you think is fair, then email them asking to give advice, don't revenge rate them, and don't post a comment on one of their opinions asking for an explanation.

If you've rated NU, it's also best to explain exactly why you've rated NU, so that other people who follow afterwards are aware of why you have taken the point of view you have. In my opinion it should be made compulsory for people to comment after leaving a Not Useful rating.

You should also make your comments relevant. Refer to the opinion, or your experiences on the topic. Suggesting ways to improve the opinion if you have rated it as SU or NU is another good idea.

When I say relevant, I mean relevant. As far as I'm aware, you need an email address to sign up to Dooyoo and my opinion used to be that everyone should display theirs, although with other sites now on offer (see below), this isn't the case. It doesn't have to be your private email address - I use a Hotmail account run through Outlook Express which is as fast as a "proper" ISP email account, as well as free.

This means you shouldn't have people using the comments section on opinions for "social" activities and chat. If it's not about the opinion, it shouldn't be in the comments section. Unlike Ciao, Dooyoo do not have a "guest book". That does not mean that you should be using the comments section as a guest book until such
time as Dooyoo give us members one. How many times have you visited a comments section, only to see two or three members conduct a "conversation" in the thread? Too many! Then you have to scroll through many irrelevant and rubbish comments to find the good ones which are relevant to the topic under discussion.

All social activities should be conducted away from opinions. There are a few Dooyoo related community sites around that you can join, if that's what you're looking for. You can meet other members, exchange ideas, discuss the site and provide suggestions for Dooyoo. The one I'm a member of is at http://www.chatterweb.co.uk/board/, but there are others out there. If you have made friends on the site, then email them. There's no need to write in comments that you're going to email them - just do it! Do we really need to know that you're heading out to the shops? Is there any need to answer that? This is all a moot point anyway as there is now a site which can offer you guestbook facilities and it's at: http://www.hotshotsdesigns.co.uk/tooyoo/ which has been created by Dooyoo member ILoveJackDaniels and is an excellent place to converse with other members rather than polluting the comments threads.

Is there any need to tell people you've nominated their opinion for a crown? Well, no, not really. How many people have told you they've nominated your opinion for a crown in a comment? How many of these people are telling the truth, and how many are just sucking up to you for a few reads? I suspect there are more people say they've nominated for a crown than those who actually do press the button.

Now, I'm not saying that social activity has to stop. Dooyoo is a better place for some community activity, after all. But Dooyoo's idea of community spirit is reading then rating honestly and leaving relevant comments. My idea of community activity include the above, plus participation i
n forums, clubs etc. as well as doing your bit in reporting abusers and cheaters to Dooyoo and recommending the good opinions for rewards.

Ok, I think I've ranted on for long enough, and I shall leave it here. Thanks for reading all the way through. At least, I hope you read all the way through, and didn't just scroll to the bottom to rate! I also hope you've paid attention to what has been said in this category because, at the end of the day, it's very important to the success or failure of this site.

07/11/2001
04/04/2002
07/03/2004

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