Season 2011 - Site suggestions

[winneratlife]

Maybe for study events you could post percentages? Nearly all tests have a different amount of points; it would just take some simple mental math by the user and we're all on even ground. I like starpug's idea of linking the score tracker to the test exchange.

Ye...except... all tests are variable in difficulty and content.

Example: Dynamic Planet. At states, there were around 5 parts to the test. 1 gave you seismic data of an unknown planet and asked you to find things like radius of the inner layer. 1 asked you to plot magnetic anomalies. etc. Overall, that was a very tough test. The average score was probably around 20%. Now, at regionals, the test was your run-of-the-mill multiple choice test. Average was probably around 80%. How is that even ground?

[amerikestrel]

Maybe for study events you could post percentages? Nearly all tests have a different amount of points; it would just take some simple mental math by the user and we're all on even ground. I like starpug's idea of linking the score tracker to the test exchange.

Ye...except... all tests are variable in difficulty and content.

Example: Dynamic Planet. At states, there were around 5 parts to the test. 1 gave you seismic data of an unknown planet and asked you to find things like radius of the inner layer. 1 asked you to plot magnetic anomalies. etc. Overall, that was a very tough test. The average score was probably around 20%. Now, at regionals, the test was your run-of-the-mill multiple choice test. Average was probably around 80%. How is that even ground?

I agree. The only real way to measure achievement in study events is by how well you place compared to other teams, and that usually can be found on the state/regional websites.

I do like the idea of a karma system, or something similar. A lot of the posts in the event threads are useless, such as exclaiming how much you love the event.

[tmanneo]

Like was said earlier, the study portion of the score tracker isn't helpful because I didn't get back any of my tests, raw scores, percentages, etc. I have no way to contribute, which annoys me. I'm sure no one at states for MA got theirs either. So there's a whole state that can't contribute.

[winneratlife]

I don't like the idea of karma

It's hard for us to address your concerns if you don't explain why

Seconded. I personally really support the idea of karma, including in General Chat, for one main purpose. It basically shuts down spam. The karma system would probably have to work like this:

Anybody can rate any given post. These are put into pool A. This is 30% of any user's rating.
Mods also rate. These are put into pool B. This is 35% of any user's rating.
Admins rate. These are pool C. The last 35% is here.

Mods and Admins have a much larger say (despite that it only appears to be 5% more) because there are so few of them.

The karma would be -7 to 7 (I think that that's standard?)

Anybody with a rating of (these numbers are now speculation and are left to DS and the other admins/mods) -5 in the combined rating (visible to all), -4 in the mod rating, and -4 in the admin rating would be reviewed by the admins. If they were judged to be generally negative on the community, they would be warned/punished as the admins saw fit.

[blue cobra]

I doubt the effectiveness of karma against spammers. As well, if used to differentiate between good information and bad information- which is not a problem at all on this site, in my opinion- you are having random users, the ones mistakenly posting bad information, deciding what is good and bad. Also since you could vote for karma without cause, that leaves it open to abuse by these spammers and others it is trying to work against. In the end, I can't see a system that would be of any use and would be simple.

[winneratlife]

I doubt the effectiveness of karma against spammers. As well, if used to differentiate between good information and bad information- which is not a problem at all on this site, in my opinion- you are having random users, the ones mistakenly posting bad information, deciding what is good and bad. Also since you could vote for karma without cause, that leaves it open to abuse by these spammers and others it is trying to work against. In the end, I can't see a system that would be of any use and would be simple.

Hence the requirement to have a low score in the admins and mods views too...

[zyzzyva980]

I agree with blue cobra in this case. I've seen many websites where the karma system just doesn't seem to work, and besides, if someone is truly spamming or doing something they shouldn't, there's always the option to report the post. Here's a hypothetical situation: A few days ago I posted something on the Dynamic Planet thread, which turned out not to be true (It wasn't something I'd studied much). I was making an effort to be helpful, but if the karma system was in place I probably would have gotten slammed with a bunch of negative ratings. I've seen it happen elsewhere, and I don't want scioly.org to turn into "elsewhere." I see where you are going with the mods/admins thing, winneratlife, but it won't stop regular users from abusing the system.

[starpug]

I doubt the effectiveness of karma against spammers. As well, if used to differentiate between good information and bad information- which is not a problem at all on this site, in my opinion- you are having random users, the ones mistakenly posting bad information, deciding what is good and bad. Also since you could vote for karma without cause, that leaves it open to abuse by these spammers and others it is trying to work against. In the end, I can't see a system that would be of any use and would be simple.

The main point of the karma system would be to reward those who contribute useful information, such as those who answer questions or people like fleet who put a lot of effort into their posts. A lot of the alumni who are very knowledgeable have low post counts, so a karma system would help show that despite the low post count they are still well respected members of scioly. IT WOULD NOT BE USED to punish spammers as DS has said he would disable negative karma. It's is like a doggy biscuit, not a shock collar.

For further reference Site features? [3] has a lot of useful info and discussion on the subject.

[blue cobra]

Only positive karma does sound a lot better than having negative karma. If the mods believe they have a system that will work, then try it.

[amerikestrel]

Perhaps karma could determine your number of stars, so GC could be included in your post count?