FarFarNorth Thu, 04/28/2011 - 02:38

The collation of tshirtslayer voting pattern with youtube pattern on the chart is something remarkable that really does make ya wonder... Do you still have the site stats from a few years back, when voting was still a drop-down option instead of the instant flames as they are now? Wonder if there is any difference in voting patterns based on how easy it is to hover a cursor over the amount of flames and instantly select by single click, versus, say, having to engage a drop-down menu that lists possible choices and reminds ppl of the descriptors associated with each flame. Maybe some folks tend to forget that in the current settings, 3 stars = good, 4 stars = great. Those are pretty solid rating terms, but it seems that the visual impact of the flames not filling up all 5 slots seems to express less enthusiasm/approval than filling all 5.
A virtual pattern which wouldn't coincide with a live environment, say, at a show. If you wanna express your approval of something that someone is wearing in real life, you'd probably reserve the ultimate awesome-of-the-awesome enthusiastic remark (aka 5 flames) for something that is truly out of the ballpark, but if you simply like or approve the item you'd probably use a different phrase or term - one that's less than five flames but of course verbally would still sound solid enough, unless it's an outright diss.

That all being said, the current 5 flames works well enough for me... I think many folks here, like myself, more often choose to insert a comment along with a top rating whereas average ratings tend to have less comments due to there being not much to say perhaps, if an item is only "ok" or "good."

To answer the question you put forward at the bottom of the linked page, I think the wording is clear enough. Perhaps this voting pattern stems from the fact that today's mass media (reviews, ratings, etc) makes anything less than 5 perfect stars look defective or somehow lacking.
But I think that changing 5 flexible flames to a binary like/hate, youtube-style, leaves out the grey area in between that may allow for better comparison of what is more "liked" in terms of voting average it receives.

You were asking if 5 stars is too many - but maybe it's not enough? If rating was out of, say, 10 stars, I wonder if as many users would choose to give 10 as often as they now give 5. 3/5 seems mediocre, but 8/10 already looks solid.
Or if rating was out of 100 percentage, I doubt if more than a handful of items on the site would ever get a perfect 100%.
Just food for thought. It's a complex issue to resolve, but then again I'm rather conservative when it comes to big site changes in general - yet in the end have no choice but to get used to it and move on. It's hard to imagine tshirtslayer without the flames though! (edit: shit, that was a long one)

 CryptKeeper Thu, 04/28/2011 - 20:46

If you want to reduce it, I'd say reduce it to three choices: Either you just dislike it, you think it's okay, or you really like it. That would make sense IMHO, more sense at least than just a 'like it'-button.

 bayernpirat Fri, 04/29/2011 - 05:45

IMO the actually system works good

 DoctorDeath Fri, 04/29/2011 - 21:15

Thanks for the feedback... yeah I'm not inclined to change anything hmmm

 megadeth1818 Tue, 05/03/2011 - 14:59

either way we should definitely be able to like/dislike comments :)

 Seany Genovese Wed, 05/04/2011 - 12:35

Liking and disliking comments is a great idea. It'd show assholes who say "gay" and nothing more who's boss! But that's just my vision of a perfect world.

As for the rating system, the flames are awesome imo. I'm still kinda new to the site, but I like it, because "hotness" followed by "Average of x number votes" is a pretty good system. Shows diversity as opposed to the straight "like/dislike" system that's taking over the internet now. Rating out of 5 or 10 is a dying art, so I say keep it!

You should be able to see who downvotes your stuff, or they should be forced to give some reason for it that's not just "gay" or "I hate this poser band", but "The design sucks imo" or something. Expand your vocabulary! Cheers, fuckers!

 classicthrashBR Sat, 05/14/2011 - 03:34

Hi DoctorDeath. I like the idea of Improving the site. You Gave good options. I saw some sites with forums That give scores of users, well ... I to not know if it would be nice to see it here.

Many times I spent here just to vote (i had not registered yet) and I like this system with vote with flames. Maybe I'm a nostalgic when I say keep the flames for this reason.

But because of a motherfucker, some pay. I do not like YouTube's system (shit, not like many things, haha) but you have statistics, I think it helps to really know which shirt or patch is really amazing.

I'm here cause now logged I have the option to comment on that I liked, it seems that those who vote 0 flames or prefer say "is gay" do not think like this.

Anyway ... Better wait another's comments than to create a poll now.

I have helped with all this talking.

 ultmetal Tue, 05/17/2011 - 05:44

I like the 5 flames voting system. I do use a lot of 5's, but I have used 1 - 4 as well at times.