Regarding the Stars Rating...

[JoshuaTheJames]

I've heard whispers of concern regarding the Star Rating and there is a simple way to address it.


If our work is weak, even if you do not like our work please do submit your Rating but, have some common respect. Tell us what aspect of our work is weak, what we may be blind to, what we should work on and how we can fix it.

Don't just hit and run like a child...This is a professional community not a fool's playground.


thanks you,

-Joshua James


Now go draw then play some Halo2... :coke:

[JoshuaTheJames]

What are your thoughts?

-JtJ

[Xpose]

You're right! That is what makes this community so diffrent from all the others of this genre (eat poo blows)

[Crunch]

well said man...we should all be here to help...not to hit and run or degrade eachothers work. if something is weak or lacks in some way it doesnt help to just say it sucks and run off or just give it a one star....tell the person why it is weak and then give them helpful suggestions on how to make it better...yes it takes time but you cant expect to just take all the time without giving a little. thats why i liked the beatdown idea...be critical but do all you can to help at the same time...thats what this place is all about. ok now im gonna go post some comments that are hopefully helpful and then get back to drawing. peace.

-crunch

[Helium Macaroni]

My thoughts?

SO dissapointed with Halo 2's single player campaign!! ARG!

[Dennal Floss]

There is something uneven with the rating system on CA.

I'ts nice to have some threads rated with 4 or 5 stars because these get my attention right away and as a newbie here, I went to check those out first. So it's a great system to show off all the hotshit on this site. And 5 stars never kept anyone from getting good crits.

On the other hand, ( correct me if I'm wrong) I've never seen any 3 or lower star rating ( *1* star meaning that it's just TERRIBLE). Does anybody deserve such a rating ???
So what does NO star mean ??
Personally I'd rather have no stars and good crits than 3 stars that lingers on my thread like a bad omen. If I am to improve with my art I need to know other people's thoughts on it, that's what important to me and a bad rating would just be discouraging.
That said, I think the star system should be exclusively positive and encouraging so's to attract weel deserved attention and critisism.
So here is my suggestion;

***** hotshit
**** runner up
*** lotsa potential
** working hard
* getting there

[arghmisfit]

i totally agree with everything dennal floss said :confident good thinkin

[S.C. Watson]

Actually, I like the idea of revamping the star rating system a little, and like Dennalfloss said, I've never seen anything below a 4 star rating, which seems kind of whacked.

I would suggest this rating system for the stars:

*****Master
****Journeyman
***Apprentice
**Novice
*Amature/Beginner

This way, we have a solid ranking system for the stars. This way, people with the lower ratings have something to work towards, and the ones who've hit master can sit back on their laurels and let their skills degrade until they're at the bottom of the heap and have to work their way up again... wait... :wink:

It would be nice if the star system could serve a purpose beyond ego boost, but if that's all we can do with it, I guess I'll live with it :bashful:

Cheers,
~Oreg.

edit: I just literally saw my first 3 star rated threads...

[Xpose]

I've never took the time to rate threads but I'll start. I think it's a great idea!

edit: Oh and I'm doing it by Oregeno's idea of what the stars should be.

[Phuzion]

Yeah, I never saw 1 star as meaning someone sucked.... but of course, as was said, we've never seen a 1 star thread. BUT! If I were to give someone a star, it would mean that they deserved it! C'mon, it's a gold star! In preschool you were stoked sensless to get a gold star, let alone five. So I agree with Dennal Floss, maybe make a set system, a reference key of sorts so that people know 1 star is not bad, it means that they have much work to do, but that they're making good progress. I was at a 5 star rating, and then all of a sudden dropped to 4.2... whatever, I didn't really care cause I'll always hold myself at 1 or 2 stars, cause I always need to improve. Anyway, yeah, set system! 1 not being a bad thing!

-Daniel

[t.m0]

dito

I had just the same thoughts (only wasn't fast enough to post them here first... damn ;)).

Anyways... There are loads of good threads in here, but there is a huge difference between good and breathtaking kick ass.. more than can be expressed with the step between 4 and 5 stars. I totally agree with the rating systems of oregano and dennal floss... If you think someone's not good, just don't give him any stars, but good advice. I never thought of one star as bad anyways. However... maybe something for you mods to consider ;)

cheers.t

[Joeslucher]

I could be wrong but I believe a couple of people have appeared on the forum and have gone rating mad. Lots of sketchbooks suddenly had stars and it sounds like maybe you can rate a thread more than once. I don't think you should be able to rate a thread more than once in say two months. Perhaps everyone should start with one start and has to have their thread bumped higher by rating. I think this would call attention to the idea of rating threads. I know the ones I've rated were often the ones with ratings I felt were wrong.

[Marie]

I like the idea by dennal floss. I see star, wether 1 or 5, I think thats a kudos in some sort of way. As is mentioned, tons of threads have no stars whatsoever, and I don't deny them my time to look because of that.

And I miss those little foil stars from preschool :sadcheerleader:

**who am I kidding, I don't remember preschool... but those stars...**

[jetpack42]

stars are played out.

[one2hit]

everything is played out. only once you can ignore what is or is not in, can you lead...uh...a happy monotonous life...or something like that.

[Sok N. Wett]

HOLY SMACK, I've just notice I got 4 stars on my thread.....and I thought I had none all this time. Anywho yeah the stars are overated time to switch over to coins.

[PeggyChung]

hmm why dont we just make it easy and equal for all and have no stars at all?

[GriNGo]

:uzi: kill the star rate system. It distracts lots of attention from novice sketches. Or maybe mods should be the ones giving stars, not normal members. maybe you can also limit the star numbers to 3 or something like that.

And no matter what, if a see 1-2-3 stars I say it sucks. why bother posting then? in the end i think the best solution is eliminating it for ever. KILL IT!

greetings!
GRiNGoLOCo

[jetpack42]

yeah, either everyone gets stars, or no one gets them....maybe not the same amount...but it needs to be evened some.

if it were me, id just trash the whole thing. more drawing, less rating.

[buzzz3d]

I wouldn't mind if the star-system would be thrown away.
Really good threads should go to Best of CA anyway.

The problem with the current system is that you don't have to be logged in to give a rating so it's possible for 1 person to give a *-rating to the same thread a zillion times.
If we would keep the rating system it may be an idea that you can only give a vote if you reply to a thread (and hopefully leave some useful info), if you're able to change your vote to a thread later on (some threads really improve in say 1 month) and if we all start at 1 star.

[mentler]

This was not my idea ~~~ but I think it is a very good one!

Dump the star system ~~~ If you like a thread (vote) ~~~ all votes would be the same ~~~ a thread that has 5 or 10 votes (whatever the mods think is enough) would get a recommended thread symbol of some kind.
Only one symbol no other levels ~~~ also I think that the moderators should determine who can vote. I have noticed far to many people, who have never posted one piece of work in these forums, going around and giving very negative comments. I think we should all think in terms of constructive feedback. Critic is a nasty word in the art world. The is a difference between being honest and being critical. These forums should be a place to learn our craft ~~ to get feedback and guidance from people with similar interests.

The star system does 2 other things that I feel hurt this forum.
(1) If inhibits honesty ~~~ I think people are being to careful with there
feedback at times because they are afraid it will be taken the wrong way.
I made a commit one time about Hogarth not being in the same league with Michelangelo and someone posted on that thread after me and told me I was full of shit and that Hogarth was a modern master and most definitely on a par with Mike. That's fine, I respect that opinion, some of my threads took a big hit shortly thereafter. Of course I could have retaliated, I it might not have even been the same person (see the problem)
(2) The second thing the star system does that is bad, is that it keeps some people from posting a lot of their work because they think it will hurt their rating. So they only post their very best stuff. We learn more from our mistakes and we should not be afraid to post them and get positive feedback on how to fix the problems in our work.


Finally, we all know that when some rude MF gives a 5 star thread a zero
it takes a whole bunch of 5 star votes to get it back up. This gives the bad guys more power than the good guys :::: this is just way wrong ~~~~~~ THE STARS GOT TO GO!

THANKS JOSHUA for opening this thread ~~~ I think to response speaks for itself!

BTW ::: I gave this thread a 5 star rating lol teeth

[jetpack42]

lol, i gave it 1 star and it bumped it down to 3 stars (from 4).

[liam.c]

hehe i give 1 star her eand goes from 3.67 to ....3.29
ehhe then i give it 5 stars and it goes to 3.86 verry strange lol ..

over all its a nice idea and probly helps to motivate<its really nice to get some kind of recognition of effort of corse > ,or unmotivate<we artests are a sensitive lot for sure > in the case of a downward turn >cant stop the trolls so not such big deal i dont quite understand why its easer to lower then raise <verry little troll buffer :P>

only other thing i can see is the word value placed on the stars thing .. seems a bit silly that 1 is worse then 0 <word wise > geeze imagion 1 star is worse then 0 stars lol :[ :nohope:

but for the fourms and all its peoples i give you all 10 stars !!!!!! <3 <3 /cheer CA

[mentler]

I am one bad dude gave it a 1 dropped it from 4.00 to 3.50
One more evil doer with a 1 star vote can knock a star right off ::: down to 3 how exciting!!!

[artkitty]

I agree with folks that the stars are unnecessary and sometimes discouraging. The very best threads should get featured in Best of CA, and the rest you can usually tell who's serious by the number of posts and comments. The folks who keep posting are the ones, in my opinion, who can best use the feedback provided.

BTW I rated this thread '1' for TERRIBLE but it still has 3 stars... hrm...

[NoUseFrAName]

I think a simple easy way to fix the problem would be to make it so you need at leat 10 votes or something to have your rating appear. That way a single stupid voter wouldn't have such a great pull....and well...it'd have to be a thread that's popular with more than 3 people.

Also, I was sorta bummed when I went down from 4 stars to 3....but then I thought about it....there's at the very least, 2 or 3brackets of awesomeness between where I am now, and the skill level of the guys who are unable to produce stuff that's less than 5 star quality.....probably more than that come to think. Anyways...it's no biggeh.

...but yeah....minimum 10 votes or something to have a thread rating, and boom, good shizzle once again.

-Rob

[artkitty]

There is some minimum number of votes required, but I'm not sure what that number is.

[mentler]

Increasing the number is not the answer :::: the problem is that it takes way to long to get back up to 5 when someone gives you a one.

Do the math 5x5=25 divided x 5=5.00 5 stars

Put (1) 1 star vote into the mix 5x5+1=26 divided x 6=4.33 4 stars

Put up another 5 star vote 6x5+1=31 divided x 7=4.44 still 4 stars

put up another 5 star vote 7x5+1=43 divided x 8=4.65 back to 5 stars

The problem here is that its takes (7) 5 star votes to offset the 1 star vote


So basically this system gives 7 times as much power to someone who just likes being rude and going around giving everybody 1 star ratings.

I hope this shows the problems with the star system.

I have juried dozens of competitions in my career and it is was always the same problem ~~~~ if someone really wanted something to win all they had to do was to give a very low score to anything else that might have had a chance to win. What happens of course is that a lot of works that should of won medals didn't even get enough votes for an honorable mention :::::: I know it makes you want to go right out and enter a bunch of competitions :::: sorry but unless I am involved that is the way most of them operate ~~~~ especially if you have an experienced judge.

[Dan.v.D.]

make mentler the star admin.
he knows that stuff very very very well.

[NoUseFrAName]

but with 10 votes minimum, 50/10 = 5 star rating

46/10(9 votes 5, one vote 1) = 4.6 = still a 5 star rating.

true, that single vote brings the rating down quite a lot, but the fact that getting a 5 star rating is so much harder makes it less likely that people will feel the need to lower the thread ratings.
If (insert the meany that's been giving 1 star ratings) sees a 4 star thread that's of a significantly lower quality than other 4 star threads, he feels the need to assign it a 1 or 2 because he knows the pull of that vote will likely give the thread a more accurate rating.
Requiring more for the minimum votes means that the initial rating will be a reflection of the opinions of a larger number of people, possibly even a reflection of the opinion of (meany dude).
There'll be fewer people trying to police the rating system with low votes since ratings will be a stronger reflection of how popular/good a thread actually is.
Having 3 fans give you 4 or 5 stars just cuz they think you're cool can give the wrong impression.

...but yeah, it is kind of a silly system. Maybe it could be switched to be more like the way a poll thread is. If the largest number of votes for a thread is 5, then it gets a 5 star rating....no averaging the scores out. If it's 10 votes for 1 and 9 votes for 4, it gets a one star rating.

that could be a more effective system methinks. The naysayers don't have as much pull unless there's a bunch that agree.


I dunno...Mentler as Star Admin is cool by me!

-Rob

[lowpolymatt]

I just think the whole rating a thread thing is wrong really. Should you not rate images? I know this is difficult to do....but a thread can contain great stuff and crap stuff. Also...rating is only on what is good and bad...there's no rating for 'improvement' so do I give him 1 star because s/he's a long way to go...or 5 stars because of the massive will and determination s/he has to improve? If ratings were image based at least you could see why one image was 'better' than another....at least within your own thread.

Another way is to force people to give a comment on their rating....that way you can at least see why someone gave you 1 star or five...

Anyway, as it stands it really means nowt.. it's mainly a 'I've commented and rated your thread...go do mine' kinda mentality...which is fine, but it doesn't help people improve...just gives them an ego boost.

ok...im babbling now...

[Sok N. Wett]

LOL....sorry guys I gave the thread a 5 star, that's probably why it's going up and down.

I like the idea of taking out the star ratings as well, I usually look for people who had posted the most, so I can see how well they are progressing, maybe we should have a progressing meter of some sort but only admin can control, just throwing ideas unto the ground. But yeah most people tend to overlook people below a certain star, I know I do, but I also look for people who've I've at leasted chatted with as well to see if they started any sketchbook.

Damn I just notice I can give myself stars now I got 5 stars...I'm such a cheater.

[Soja]

Hey I like lowpolymatts and Soks idea!!

How about a combination of those two ideas?
At first u have to rate the images the someone posted in his threat
and the result of the rated images will be the whole rating of the threat.
Sorry my english is so bad (please dont rate it). but maybe u guys understand it.

[Form]

when something like 800 people view a thread or an update... what, 20 of those people vote??

I vote to scrap the star system. Art is so subjective to each individual, and quite a few times ive come across threads or sketchbooks with top notch stuff and no stars, they would never get those stars because they dont appeal to the popular vote.

My suggestion is to scrap the star system (because people will have differing understandings of what the stars mean and also because there will always be new members on the site), and have the mins and mods (we will do a run thru the different forums and see where we need new mods on board) control the "Thread Icons" (the little exclamation marks etc). It would be great if we could get a custom one for hot threads (a little flame would be good enough). So instead of trying to rank every thread on the forum we simply tag those which we believe members should be looking at regularly. Its simply an extension of the "work harder get props" mentality the new ca is embracing with the featured artist section et lal.

Sorry i didnt have time to read the whole thread right now hope i didnt double up on a suggestion or conflict somehtin thats been said :)

[mentler]

Form is definitely on the right track____Now we are getting somewhere ___ like I said earlier____ dump the star system____let the administrators come up with a symbol for recommended threads____if you want to let the general population vote_____then 1 vote would mean I recommend(thats it no other options)_______ten recommends and the administrators review the thread and if they agree that thread would get some sort of recommended symbol____ there would be no way to tell how many recommends someone has_____ only the administrators would have access to that information. Something like this will work____lets do it!!!!

[Yiako]

I vote Mentler -well, I recommend him actually :) -.

[auden100]

I see everyone's point in this. The star system does harm some inherent flaws, but I don't think it should be done away with. I like the first idea that we just switch the definition of stars, so even if you get a *, its not a bad thing. I would very much like to know in some rough sense how people think I rate with the pros. Yeah, it can be brutally and viciously abused, but that's just an inevitable attribute of public voting. More than anything I'm just curious, plus I think just changing the definitions will be a lot less work than anything else.

[N D Hill]

rating systems are pretty lame anyway. It seams that people only go out their way to rate something if it's one of those awesome, multipage threads. People shouldn't be concerned with how they stack up to everyone else anyway. They should be concerned about working their hardest and refining their technique.

[jetpack42]

i remember when this forum was all about drawing daily.

why did it get renamed to "Ca.org sketchbooks"? We already know this is conceptart...we dont need a "CA.org Finished Section!" or the "CA.org Lounge!"


bring back daily sketchbooks, get rid of the stars, everybody get your draw on.

[obid619]

i remember when this forum was all about drawing daily.

why did it get renamed to "Ca.org sketchbooks"? We already know this is conceptart...we dont need a "CA.org Finished Section!" or the "CA.org Lounge!"


bring back daily sketchbooks, get rid of the stars, everybody get your draw on.


I like his idea >:|

[eliWolff]

I agree with jetpack, less typing more drawing. ;)

[darth massacre]

I didn't even know how the stars work until I saw this thread. I thought the more people reply to the thread or the more times it was viewed...the more stars someone gets.



I think most folks here are right. Dump the star system....but if there's a need for rating, have a "yay or nay" system. If more people vote "yay" then have a little tag at the thread to show its highly recommended. Like say....if a thread gets over 100 "yay" votes then it should be tagged for easy reference.

Either way I guess its pretty hard. Coz like someone mentioned, a thread may have good and bad stuff....or, if a beginner started out really bad, and by the end of the year improved so much but still posts on the same thread....how do we vote then? Because in this case I'd say its a 5 star thread but it took a year to develop from beginner's to seasoned vet.

Maybe we should just...err....draw instead! :bashful:

[Phuzion]

yeah, maybe once the thread reaches a certain size... 3 pages or whatever, it could receive stars or something... but overall, I'm gonna agree and just say they're really pretty pointless. With all the compliments, and hardly ant crits going around, we don't really need another ego booster :wink: So kill 'em.

-Daniel

[Form]

so the kerry vs bush threads all get 5 stars? uck, ph that! ;)

i think mentler, that we should try to implement that. ill try have a talk to davi about it.

in my opinion there are lots of changes needed on the site but i dont really have that big a say in it all...

this however i think would benefit all involved. lets see what we can do bone doctor

[Blind]

I could do without the stars completely. They can be handy to point out threads that have hidden gems, yes... but I've seen plenty of misrepresentation with those stars, both good and bad. I say keep the focus on sharing art and discussing it... and have fun doing it. If you want stars, you've got amihotornot.com :wink:

[Steven]

What mentler said would be just perfect I think. When I first came to ca.org those star-threads catched my attention 'cause I thought those threads must have some astonishing artwork in it. I never thought about how many stars a thread got, as long as it got a star, it was worth extra attention.
Besides that, there are so many star rated threads now, if I'm going to visit all those threads I won't have any more time to visit "normal" sketchbookthreads. Even my thread got 3 or 4 stars right from the start, and that doesn't make it any easier for me to find it when I want to read or post something in it.
So I vote for mentler's suggestion.

[Dennal Floss]

It's great to see people working together and I think that Mentler and Form got somethin' going, just as long as it's kept simple... because I entirely agree with Jetpack ( even though I haven't been here since the begining ).
All in all, the star system is superfluous.... it doesn't mean a thing!!! It's a tool that gives and gets attention, well deserved or not and obviously the people who have 5*'s get the most attention.
( but do they need it the most?? )
Then again, how about turning things around ???
***** in dire need of constructive crits and comments
**** is learning something and listening to previous crits made
*** deserves tlc
** doing fine on his own
* maybe I should just shut up
************************************************** ****
This may be an unrelated event, but I recently received an e-mail that denounced a " grave injustice " because someone received a 1* rating when that person is obviously very talented and had 5*.......what's the point??
That person should know what he's worth by the crits he gets and the work he puts out, not by the amount of stars dangling from his thread. I didn't feel it concerned me at all but I got involved nonetheless ( see previous post )
I would most definitely appreciate never getting e-mails like that again... so if it means dumping the star system then yeah... let's draw.
Top five reasons I post in CA
***** to keep track of my progress
**** to receive crits that will help me grow as an artist
*** To help others with good crits and LEARN HOW to crit well ('cuz it's damn hard to say something intelligent sometimes )
** to be inspired by the awesome talent here at CA
* to be part of a community that wants to see more of what I do and encourages me to keep working hard

I never gave anybody any stars and I just didn't agree with the rating system, even though I used it to my advantage to check out the monster talent out here.

Whew !!! Glad I got that off my chest :bashful:

[Undertow]

I'm in accord with the consensus, ditch the stars. Doing a "Hey check this guys work out" would be more appropriate, and doing so by a yeah or neigh vote in each thread and the thread having to reach a certain number of updates and posts should be a pre-requisite.
-Mike

[Jonny]

I believe the stars are stupid really. It really is just kind of a popularity contest. But honestly tho, I do believe that if somebody has a really great sketchbook, they should be able to have something next to their book to show it. Honestly I think a great idea would be to have some sort of new icons that say "cool robots" or "cool environments" or "cool creatures" or "great figure studies" or "cool characters." Let's face it, everybody here kind of specializes in their own thing. But really, different strokes for different folks...If somebody wanted to look through the sketchbooks and find a sketchbook with a lot of great anatomy studies, then maybe it should say so on the outside. Hmm, don't know if I'm making sense.

[bwkeough]

I vote to not pay so much attention to stars. I'm here to learn and give some meager advice, not collect kudos.

If you want a visual display of how much effort and quality work a thread contains, look at the number of pages and posts. No one can build a 5+ page thread if they're not sincere about bettering themselves.

my two cents.

[S.C. Watson]

No one can build a 5+ page thread if they're not sincere about bettering themselves

I think if you go and look at some of Marko's work, Rich's (Insane Visions), Foster's, etc. you'll find they rack pages with hardly any posts at all. That's not to say that they aren't serious about their work. My point being is that these guys *sneeze* and they've got more replys than they know what to do with.

All that's been said here, I still think the star system is a good idea. I just don't think that it is being implemented as effectively as it could be.

One thing that could be done is limit the times a person could vote in the thread. This used to be done - I recall quite clearly getting a "our records show you have already voted..." when I went to rate a thread I had forgotten I had already rated.

If someone can only vote once in a thread, I think that will bring things a little more into perspective. I also think that the star rating should have some sort of meaning other than Kudos. It should be a goal of some sort.

~Oreg. >:|

[NoUseFrAName]

I was under the impression that you couldn't vote more than once on a thread already...but you could update what your vote was.....like if you gave a thread a 4 earlier, you could go change your vote to a 5.

I still think doing it poll-style could work.

--------------------------
6 votes for 5
5 votes for 4
4 votes for 3
::
with the current system, the average would be 4.1 stars. But doing the poll system, it's like an election....the 5s may not have a majority, but they still have more votes than any other number, so the thread is a 5.

I think that could be a good system....based on what the largest group thinks about your thread.....can't be swung by a single bad vote either. People have to agree.

-Rob

[bwkeough]

I think if you go and look at some of Marko's work, Rich's (Insane Visions), Foster's, etc. you'll find they rack pages with hardly any posts at all. That's not to say that they aren't serious about their work. My point being is that these guys *sneeze* and they've got more replys than they know what to do with.~Oreg. >:|

Rock Stars aside, if you look at folks like MCM, Prostate Sunrise, Lung_Bug, etc. they have threads that are many months old and they earned multiple pages through frequent updates. That's what I'm talking about. When I'm seeing at an unfamiliar name keep popping to the top of this forum regularly, that's when I start looking. I could spend all day looking at "unknown" artists, but then I wouldn't do any art myself. If you think that the star system helps people spread the word about talent, then yeah, maybe we need to revise the way it works. Myself, I don't pay much attention to it.

[S.C. Watson]

Rock Stars aside, if you look at folks like MCM, Prostate Sunrise, Lung_Bug, etc. they have threads that are many months old and they earned multiple pages through frequent updates. That's what I'm talking about. When I'm seeing at an unfamiliar name keep popping to the top of this forum regularly, that's when I start looking. I could spend all day looking at "unknown" artists, but then I wouldn't do any art myself. If you think that the star system helps people spread the word about talent, then yeah, maybe we need to revise the way it works. Myself, I don't pay much attention to it.

Hey bwkeough,

I can see your point, and understand what you are talking about, and what's more pretty well agree. However, my thought regarding the star rating thingy is largely tied into some discussions that were held a while back concerning CA being a learning forum. A concept that I embrace.

In college, there's nothing demeaning about being a Freshman, or a Junior, etc. Eventually you get to Grad Student, and Post Grad, then you get your Ph.D.

With this in mind, I think that the star system could have it's uses, like mentioned above, if revamped.

At present, with the way it is currently being utilized, I agree. It's a total popularity contest, and therefore useless in terms of the greater good of the community.

Cheers,
~Oreg.

[character]

I'm digging the idea of the whole "novice, amature, journeyman" thing. It really makes sense and would put the star system to good use AND JESUS CHRIST A CD JUST STOPPED BURNING AND EJECTED AND SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME! omg. anyways, yeah. the star thing is kinda useful but kinda pointless right now the way it works. especially since it can be so easily exploited, as mentioned by Buzz. Besides, I think it'll make our forums different as well. Hrmm, a point just hit me, luckily it was dull. But I just got an idea too. If the star system is changed to a ranking of sorts with "amature and journeyman, etc", wouldn't that affect the rest of the forum like the general chat areas and the classroom threads? hrmm, maybe a seperate star system for them? is this possible?

[Xen]

there are a lot of great ideas in this thread, but it seems so far nobody that can do something about it is paying any attention to them.

[mentler]

I thin Xen is correct :::: you should have enough input at this point :::: I realize now all attention is probably on SF and I know what a monster it is to put something like that together!

If I can be of any help in moving forward with an alternative to the current "Star" system let me know :::: I would be more than happy to donate a little of my time.

[Form]

well its not so much about us being bothered to or having the time, its more about finding someone with the knowhow - the technical side of the forums isnt that flexible as far as i can tell, its kind of like making a map for a video game - you have ot work within their engine and find ways to adapt it to what you need.

its not really a critical matter at this point hence many of the guys arent really looking at it. Since im not going to san fran any more, and im running a small project forum myself, i may invest a bit of time in learning some of the back-end stuff, if time allows.

Cheers

[Blind]

It really makes sense and would put the star system to good use AND JESUS CHRIST A CD JUST STOPPED BURNING AND EJECTED AND SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME! omg.Time to decaffeinate? ;)

[killing.people]

i do not care either way. i have never used it. i do feel it would do more good to remove the feature.

[Gaussian3d]

Yeah... I feel conflicted. On one hand, I feel stars may motivate some people trying to get better and better responses from an "audience"
On the other hand, some people may actually feel disheartened and hopeless if they go too long without getting acknowledge.
Also starts guide some to what others have found most interesting if somebody's looking for that.
I personally think it could be removed.

[mentler]

You need to get rid of damn thing or revise it ::: this forum should be about constructive feedback ::: it should not open the doors to negative activities in any form ::: being a part of these forums should be a positive experience, one that brings people up not down ::: now that everybody who has read this thread knows you don't even have to be logged in to vote ::: the nay sayers are running amuck :::

[arghmisfit]

i think we should delete all the stars off the threads then start it over with a better rating system like suggested b4 something where all value of stars are positive.

[killing.people]

if it were my way, i'd get rid of the public display of views of a thread as well. :dead:

[mentler]

All the reasons for posting anything less than 5 stars or some other positive symbol are counter productive ::: if you don't like something don't vote ::: we have way more than enough critics outside of the art community ::: the last thing we need are critics within ::: One of my threads just took several negative hits and dropped it down to 4 stars ::: this is a figure structure thread I am doing to help others ::: exactly the same people who will pass over it when they see 4 stars instead of 5.

Here is the thread ::: it may not be of interest to everyone ::: but I really don't think it is terrible ::: I agree with killing people ::: if you are not registered or logged in you have no right to vote!!

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?p=360388#post360388

[Maginnis]

seems i'm chasing you everywhere tonite mentler. i think perhaps if there was a way for people to earn the right to use the stars. real contributors who get in and critique, encourage and all the other fun things about this sweet mother of a forum. or maybe, just maybe it could be a can of anchovies system, where an empty can is = 5 star, and a full can is = 3 or needs work . that way you the mean people with obviously smaller brains get confused and just click on the empty can cause they have simple numerical reactions and no sense of abstract thought:) ok maybe i'm gettin a little whacky..man i love bein an artist!

[I_am]

I say get rid of the damn thing. I've never once clicked on a thread because it had a certain amount of stars. And the fact of the matter is, those that have tons of stars aren't the ones that need the replies anyway. And poor Mentler is going to have a heart attack if his thread drops another star (you know you're good, so why do you even care?).

I just don't see the point in it. Those that are really good will always shine, whether there are stars next to their thread or not, and maybe people would be more inclined to stop into the tons of threads on here that truly need the help, but aren't considered 'star-worthy'.

[Dirty C]

I say ditch it entirely. Before I read through people's arguments, I thought it was ok. To be honest though, I've never even used it - and thought it would just rank what i thought of it and nobody else would see it.

The problem with this kind of system, whether it's done by common consensus or by the mods is that it will always, always ALWAYS favour the people who have made themselves known to a particular group. This doesn't always mean those that deserve recognition, those who are trying hard, those who are improving, or those who have just shown up but would do so much better with just a bit more crit.

If we have to stick with them, I like the first idea, where it's 'needs improvement' or 'great'. I really dislike the idea of 'amateur' and 'master'. That means if Foster posts a piece of shit (it could happen) then he'll still get five stars, and I'll still get two or whatever. Then nobody will ever look at their stuff and nobody will ever improve.

I make a conscious effort whenever I look in the finished thread (ok, not as much as I should these days, I've been diverted) to look at those threads with zero comments, or one or two. Just because a lot of people have looked at it doesn't make it good. I think our primary responsibility is to make fame and fortune available to as many as possible. So dump the stars and dump the views. Comments and crits are all that count and all that will help you improve.

Could we have a poll about this, please?

[JoshuaTheJames]

Sorry guys.

Nothing can really be done until davi comes back from the dead. Even then I'm not sure what kind of options the board engine offers.


-Joshua James

[max-cant]

id keep the view number counter and reply counter (theyre impartial at least)
they help you navigate down through threads easier i find if your looking for someones and you cant be bothered title checking for 4 pages...........
also it lets the person who starts it see how things are going,
as far as the stars go id make them a postive only feature to encourage, i agree though that sometimes the voting means they can get higher or lower ratings than they may desreve,
perhaps the star rating could be displayed inside the thread - like at the top of each page - and therefor less obtrusive in a list of others threads with no ratings,that would seem like a happy medium and satisfy those who want it off the main thread list ,and give the people who want to get a good idea of how theyre recieved an idicator (all be it a limited one).
also people who are new visitors to a site like this will need something to navigate to the pro/master grade stuff because lets face it eveyones wants to see that most beacuse its what your either aiming at or in the industry with and its just plain cool either way.
scrap em/keep em - either way - make em summin nice and encouraging.

max-cant

[BlueMech]

I say just remove the whol thing, I never bother to look at stars. I couldn't even tell you hopw many stars any of my threads have ever gotten. I think it's retarded if someone just doesn't visit a thread b/c it has low stars. We're here to help eachother anyway right, not just suck eachothers' dicks.

[ExeCute]

i'm one of those people, new i guess, but i haven't ever rated a thread. There's so much stuff..so much different stuff out there, that i dont even feel right to judge.

The way i pick out threads to read is that i will first click on the few most recent posts, usually anything posted "today". then i'll scan down and if there are stars it'll catch my eye, or if there is some thread title that makes it seem like something i'd be interested in. Something with a lot of replies will also get me to take a look.

I recieve my satisfaction by the responses i get in my thread, the crits and comments, and not the starts (considering i've never recieved one).

but then again it's tricky in the way that you'd probably get more responses if people see that you've got stars.. which is a shame. the people with stars are probably not the ones that need to be looked at and helped/critiqued. the people with stars are only walking away with ego boosts (but then again we all need that to help us keep moving)


......
I see that the stars system is still in effect today, much later than this thread was ever started.. I just suggest that if you're gonna have them, then change the meaning to something more constructive, like the others said before. giving 1 star should be a positive thing, you're getting a star, that's good! it shouldn't say "terrible" there.

[Isric]

do what you feel you have to, but there MUST be a way to tell which threads are exceptional.

some people have developed reputations. You see names like foster, marko, etc. and you know "I have to see this". But sometimes you don't always recognize the names, and the current star system shows you which are amazing wether you know them or not, thus helping good artists build a reputation.

ditch it if you must, but PLEASE keep some sort of quality stamp or something. It's one of the features that makes this place awesome.

---------------------
edit - ALSO, there should be less concern about making people feel inadequit, and far far far far MORE concern giving the young and aspiring a lofty goal to aspire to. The day they realize they've worked hard enough and get a CA seal of approval on their thread, that'll be a big day.

no more talk about "making people feel bad". It's not about that and never should be. If unskilled artists start to feel sorry for themselves, rather than make that daunting goal into fuel to work harder, then that's their own fault.

[Wolfie]

Yeah, no one's work should ever be referred to as "bad" or "terrible". So keep the stars but change the definition.

[L. Scott Knight]

Well, I wasn't stressed about stars until I read this thread...

Ah heck, I still won't.

CA is a very nice place. Most forums I've seen are ridiculous and I wouldn't be apart of them. This truly is a positive place for all sorts of artists.

That said I have seen art work called bad here but after reading the history of the artist in various threads and posts I came to believe it was well deserved. They guy begged for such judgments. I speak of the now legendary Insect Battle threads. Last I looked the Insect Battle Fan Art thread had a four star rating! LOL.

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on Stars but when I'm in the mood for a quickie and want to see the good stuff the Stars help keep me satisfied.

[feeb]

I vote keep the stars. If a person rates low, they knew there was a risk of getting their feelings hurt when they first started their thread. If they're looking to get unprecedented support of delusion, then by all means- take the rating system down.

If someone is young/new to art- they can hardly expect to achieve a high rating. However if they see their stars go from 2 to 3, then they know they are making an improvement. I fail to see where an honest assessment of one's art is a bad thing?

FUN STORY!! : I knew a guy in college who went through a laborious school career- devoting the better part of a decade, and about $100K of debt for a respectible art degree. He got his master's degree from the Art Center in Pasadena. He came back, showed me his terrible portfolio, and wondered why he couldn't find work. After realizing he couldn't earn a living- he went back to one of his professors and asked him why he was never told he didn't have the talent. He would have gone through some pain, sure- but now he had to deal with that pain, combined with lost years of his life, and serious debt. He had to go back to school to get another non-art related degree.

Sure, that's an extreme example, but I feel very strongly about it because of this guy. PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW WHERE THEY STAND. All the coddling that goes on around here is unhealthy IMO. Of course crit's should always be delivered with tact and respect. If I were to vote a 1 star on a thread, I would let the artist know that I voted that star, and why. I would either state that, "I know you can get my vote for 3 stars, but you gotta try harder," or say, "I voted 1 star, because to show you respect via honesty, I personally advise you rethink your ambitions." <-- of course if someone is posting merely as a hobby, and asks for no star rating, that's something else entirely.

I would think, that if there were going to be a change undertaken regarding the star rating system, that you at least write code that allows the person who starts the thread, to employ the star rating system, or simply disarm it with a radio button. If you want to see what people honestly think of your art, then keep the option on. People are almost always going to post, to offer support, constructive criticism, etc, so I don't see why someone is a coward, if they cast their vote and decide not to enter comment. That should be their prerrogative (sp?)... and I don't think it means they "hit and run like a child," mister James, sir, if you please (respectfully). :P Just my opinion, but I'm always right, so that should count for something. ;)

-- $0.02

[waronmars]

i used to look forward to the day when my sb would have stars, butnow every man and his dog has them...well, i feel a recommended type thing would be alot better. maybe if recommendations had to be approved by an admin or something

[feeb]

That's kinda cool too.

[davi]

davi is back and is now paying attention

i'll see what i can do and hit you guys back up with a reply in a few

[a_]

i agree with isric wholeheartedly.

getting less than five stars is sort of a subtle insult, so that's not so nice, but there should still be a way to mark the exceptional threads.

[davi]

i agree that having the rating can discourage people, but on the other hand users enjoy finding "uber" threads to either help inspire them or to just gock at.

i'm looking into alternitives

[geezer87]

the only problem i see with the stars is when people start rating based on popularity rather than quality. it's probably not a big issue, but it is pretty common in any online community.

i say keep the stars.

[Ra Havok]

You know, the stars rating system just seems too much of a hassle. I wouldn't have a problem with it disappearing.

[feeb]

Funny- I post here with my opinion, and immediately get a lowered star rating on my thread (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35591). LOL ... Well, I think I got a bad vote via spite- which is, I guess, a lesson I've just learned, that a bad vote might not be honesty. Then again, maybe I'm deluded. Either way, no worries. All I care about are the comments I get. However, I'll get less traffic with 4 stars. *shrug* say-la-vee (no way am I gonna try to spell that correctly). :S

[mentler]

Here is the way this system should work!

Four types of recognition :::: we have to come up with different names
(there is no negative vote of any kind in this system)

!) THE MEMBERS CHOICE AWARDS
(could have several levels of colors}
First you have to be a member of this forum and logged on to vote.
Each member only gets one vote.
AND YOU HAVE TO POST TO VOTE WHICH WILL MOVE THE THREAD BACK TO THE TOP WHICH IS PART OF THE REWARD SYSTEM AND THIS WAY U CAN NOT VOTE FOR YOURSELF!
A thread that gets 10 votes gets a colored star
A thread that gets 25 votes gets a different colored star
50, 100.
OR BETTER YET ::: KEEP THIS ONE SIMPLE 10 VOTES AND YOU GET THE STAR

2) THE GOLDEN PENCILS (golden globes)
Once someone has reached the level of members choice they receive a special right to vote. This would constitute an elite group of members and be a very important symbol to tell the quality of a thread.

3) The CA (the oscars)
This would be awarded by the administrators and perhaps the moderators.

Lastly I would have special tags for special interest.
Education Award
Layout Award
Character Award
Ass Kisser Award
Power Poster Award
Power Drinker Award
Best New Talent of the Year
Most Improved

You guys come up with as many of these as you want!

This covers everybody as well as can be done.
The Members Get a Vote ::::: Peoples Choice
The Power Members Get a Vote ::::: Golden Globes or Critics Choice
The Administrators Get a Vote ::::: The Academy Awards

Then Miss Photogenic, Best New Talent< etc etc etc

[t.m0]

so what's with the stars rating? :nohope:

[feeb]

mentler, genius!

t.m0... way to post without reading the rest of the thread.

[Abra]

Great Ideas mentler! I'd love to see that system go into effect. At first was
kinda bumbed to see my stars go away (only had some for a couple of days),
but i feel the system does need a bit of revising. Have noticed many great
threads going unoticed because of the lack of stars (most people seem to
only look at stared threads) And have also seen many great threads go from
having 5 stars to 3. So yeah.. do what mentler said! :yayca:

-Abra

[t.m0]

feeb ;) I do admit I haven't read ALL of the posts... but 80% of them and probably most of the "thought through" ones. I was referring to the sudden appearance of thousands of stars - couple of them not really matching the threads. Just after I had posted, all stars were gone :dead: so that kinda settled the matter ;)

anyways... I whole heartedly agree with mentler... there should be some kind of rating system and his really does sound pretty good to me.

cheers.t

[-sideshowbob-]

stars gone now ... O_o


will they come back ?! new rating system ?



:dur:

[Summer Pudding]

Stars gone?

Why now keep them, but remove the annonymity? ie talentless123 gave you 1 star? That might keep make any malicious, unemployable cocksuckers think twice before denting someone's confidence.

[Ilja Murometz]

I totally like mentlers idea, but actually the old rating system was ok too.

[Blind]

I like Mentler's idea a lot, but it sounds like a lot of programming! ;)

[p4b10]

Need something to know what are you going to see, there are too many sketchbooks to see without rating system. :nohope:

[O D T]

great...i just get a totally undeserved 5 star rating, which makes my replienumbers sore, and you guys FRIGGIN REMOVE IT!! hahaha
oh well...back to bumping... :rendered:

[Dirty C]

Why now keep them, but remove the annonymity? ie talentless123 gave you 1 star? That might keep make any malicious, unemployable cocksuckers think twice before denting someone's confidence.

Hm, dunno - the ensuing flame wars could damage the atmosphere of the site. If you look at other sites around the place, like digital webbing or other arenas like slashdot, this place is pretty clean and friendly. I can't see that lasting long if people start retaliating to each others' bad ratings.

[maxetormer]

I agree wiht dirty_c, and I like the idea for the raitings that
mentler posted, (now all we need is some programers to code
all this) I think ill be interesting to see this system at works
:uzi: :star: :uzi2:

[auden100]

hmm. Stars came back. Am I missing it or is there no longer any way to rate threads, but people are still getting stars.

Is it a moderator-only privilege to rate now?

I think p4b10 was right. Without the stars this treasury of sketchbooks looked completely unnavigable. I'm definitely glad that some rating system is in place, but how does it work now?

[dusty imp]

It seems that threads winth number of votes greater then 10 kept their ratings. That's a ctually a good idea, to display the rating only after the thread receives a cartain number of votes.

[IanE]

I had no problem with the stars, but when certain awesome artists on here get 4 low ratings in a row, that sucks.

I liked the star system, but Mentler's new system is friggin' sweet. I think we should implement that into action ASAP.

My 2 cents.

[-sideshowbob-]

yaaaa stars are back :D

is it possible to add mentlers rating sys here?

how can i rate other stuff ? or can only admins rate ?



thx

:yayca: :yayca: :yayca:

[feeesh]

How do we vote now though? I'm not seeing the option at the top anymore for threads.

-feeesh

[Ra Havok]

I'm confoozled. First stars, then no more stars, now they're back again??

[feeesh]

are they ALL back though? I used to have 4 stars but now they are gone from my thread.

[mentler]

I think they dropped all the stars under 10 votes ~~~~ they still to go around and make some adjustments ~~~ feeb should be a 5 star thread etc.

[feeesh]

WEll darnit, how can I get more damn votes if there's no option to vote on the threads?!?!? huh? HUH?!?!?!? heheh just kidding. I guess its probly still being worked out and implemented. I shall be patient and see how things work out. :bashful:

[PHATandy]

There gone again... meh?

[fukifino]

Just like real stars...they twinkle! ;)

[Burning Eyes]

I dunno, puttin in my opinion, I liked stars... They motivated me to draw, so maybe one day I too could have some... I never did but it didnt bother me at all. This place is here to help, not to make you feel good about yourself, although that helps, heh. Well, just my 2 cents.

[Madman!]

I felt the same as Burning Eyes it motivated me to try to get them and I actaully finally got 3 stars, funny thing too I finally got them a day before they went away :\ but oh well If they aren't brought back or a whole new system is put in and I have to start over that's cool I won't whine about. I'll just have to motivate myself to get whatever the new rating system is.

[HEROIC]

When the star rating was on, if sn like me that is kindda new to the site and people want to see some great work, i wouldnt check it out, cause i will see the boaring page of the forum like other forum,, Its not boaring, its really cool, but when the star rating is not there,, i've got to put so much time find a good thread.

like Burning Eyes said, i didnt have any starts but when i see others got star it forced me to do more drawings.

i think, make something else, like have the star rating back, but add something else, LIke start rating would be :

****- Best of CA
*** - Excelent
** - great passion
* - Nice progress

And out some other icon, the seperate some forums from other, like :

Informaion Thread
Reference
Helpig thread
and so on..

ALi,

[HEROIC]

So many people are joining CA everyday. DOnt u guys want to decide about the Star rating. I dont have the feeling to check out some great people's works anymore. Casue i dunno who are they, and whats their forums. I mean i know, but new people dont..

think that way, that if a guest come, he/she would jsut see threads with stars.


Plz take it to consideration. :)

[Dirty C]

Herioc - to me, what you're saying is the bset argument *against* the star rating. Though to be honest, I kinda like your rating scale.

I'd be more than happy to see that scale instituted, but still not rate anything with less than ten votes. Personally I never even rate any threads..

[NoUseFrAName]

instead of using stars for the icons couldn't we just use li'l icons with the actual titles that we want associated with each number of stars?

10 point rating = "Best of CA" icon
9 point rating = "Rising Star"
8 point rating = "Excellent"
7 point rating = "Keep your eye on this one"
6 point rating = "Eager Beaver"
5 point rating = no icon
4 point rating = no icon
3 point rating = no icon
2 point rating = no icon
1 point rating = no icon

that way there'd be no confusion as to what the ratings mean, and if anyone started going downhill, they wouldn't get an icon that meant they were sub-par...they just wouldn't have an icon at all.
When everyone knows exactly what the ratings mean, it'll work better.

-Rob

[feeesh]

NoUseFrAName - I second that. I think that'd be a pretty good system.

:swepimp: feeeeeesh

[koshime]

A useful league table/ rating system of more than 10 votes makes for some sense. Just over the past few days, it was hard to see which sketchbooks besides the regulars were worth visiting....I mean there are hundreds of sketchbooks to view at any one glance....

Maybe one could use the military style badges of promotion. or special icons as badges of honour/valour in recognition of a unique art style in their field
Heck, a CA awards woudl be useful. Appointed by a web wide poll on a yearly basis.. would be good promotion/incentive


eg. Specialist in charcoal - Ebony Wand icon
eg. Specialist in Digital - Platinum Brush icon/trophy

eg. Specialist in character drawing - Special CA figurine award icon
etc, etc....

[Form]

the question i think we need to ask is do we want every sketchbook to be viewed equally just because theres no rating, or do we want the fact that they ARENT to be an incentive for more novice artists to improve so they do get looked at thru word of mouth?

[HEROIC]

the question i think we need to ask is do we want every sketchbook to be viewed equally just because theres no rating, or do we want the fact that they ARENT to be an incentive for more novice artists to improve so they do get looked at thru word of mouth?

Form is right. How can we figure out the good and bad. we cant view every thread 100 times. Everybody should be respected equally, on the other hand the star rating will motivate so many people.


THis is endless,i think if we continue talking about it, we wont get to anything.

Make a poll, and say, DO u want start rating or not?


Then, if its YES, choose 1 or 2 of the ratings, or give some more ideas for rating or icons. And poll again.

That will be the best u can do, and everybody has participated for CA. :^^:

[S.C. Watson]

I think the answer is to establish something along the lines of what CGTalk does.You can rate threads, but the thread is usuallly for one picture there, but then members also get a rating.

I understand the reasoning behind removing the ratings, but on the other hand, I do think they serve a valuable purpose and was dissappointed to see them removed.

So, what I'm thinking is that threads could be rated for popularity if people like, because face it, there's going to be popular threads regardless of stars, I think the more important rating would be for the Master and skilled members. A rating that would be displayed below their avatar. This way, when someone comments in a thread, you *know* that they have the background to say what they are.

Right now, the "Professional" tagline operates in this manner, but I think that it could be expanded upon greatly.

Just a thought.

Cheers,
~Shane

[mentler]

I Still think this is the best plan :::: it may not be programmable but it is a plan which covers all the bases!
Hopefully this is in the works and will be unveiled soon?

Here is the way this system should work!

Four types of recognition :::: we have to come up with different names
(there is no negative vote of any kind in this system)

!) THE MEMBERS CHOICE AWARDS
(could have several levels of colors}
First you have to be a member of this forum and logged on to vote.
Each member only gets one vote.
AND YOU HAVE TO POST TO VOTE WHICH WILL MOVE THE THREAD BACK TO THE TOP WHICH IS PART OF THE REWARD SYSTEM AND THIS WAY U CAN NOT VOTE FOR YOURSELF!
A thread that gets 10 votes gets a colored star
A thread that gets 25 votes gets a different colored star
50, 100.
Like on ebay

2) THE GOLDEN PENCILS (golden globes)
Once someone has reached the level of members choice they receive a special right to vote. This would constitute an elite group of members and be a very important symbol to tell the quality of a thread.

3) The CA (the oscars)
This would be awarded by the administrators and perhaps the moderators.

Lastly I would have special tags for special interest.
Education Award
Layout Award
Character Award
Ass Kisser Award
Power Poster Award
Power Drinker Award
Best New Talent of the Year
Most Improved

You guys come up with as many of these as you want!

This covers everybody as well as can be done.
The Members Get a Vote ::::: Peoples Choice
The Power Members Get a Vote ::::: Golden Globes or Critics Choice
The Administrators Get a Vote ::::: The Academy Awards

Then Miss Photogenic, Best New Talent< etc etc etc

[HEROIC]

A rating that would be displayed below their avatar. This way, when someone comments in a thread, you *know* that they have the background to say what they are.

Ya, i saw the same thing in CGtalk,, and its great.

Mr Mentler- Your idea is great. Great thinking, last time i didnt read it, thought it was long.

SO, how about adding Oregano's idea with Mr.Mentler.

That would be great. And alot work for the moderators.

[feeesh]

So are we actually helping decide the outcome on this anyway? Are the moderators and those running this site reading this and goign by what we say or are we just babbling while they already have a plan set in place that they will unveil soon? :bounce:

:swepimp: feeeesh

[one2hit]

personally I didn't mind the stars. I think the rating system was flawed a little bit though, and some kind of editing is in need. I do think it is very useful, and beneficial to have a rating system though. One problem with the stars is that not enough people recieved them. I've never seen a one star thread or a two star thread. I think that no one would vote those stars because of their meaning. You'd see threads with no stars or just 4 and 5 star threads usually. A better way to encourage personal developement is to have better ratings...probably not stars, I mean one star just doesn't sound the same as another kind of marking. I wouldn't go into a one star restaraunt. There should be the same type of thing...like as an example. 1 pencil = good start 2 pencils = not shabby 3 pencils = solid progression ect ect... or something like that *shrug*

[USER777]

i want the stars back!!!!
:nohope:
my gosh, can no body help us here? i hope they'll be back up soon... they were one of the things that really made these forums unique and great.

[Ilja Murometz]

i want the stars back :yayca: :yayca: :yayca:

[t.m0]

hmmm.... how about at least some sort of rating system for yourself, meaning that you can rate a thread just for yourself, so that you can easily see, which one you liked and which one you haven't had a look at yet... maybe that way people would start rating what they really think of a thread and later those votes could still be made public or whatever.

Without it's just too many threads for too little time...

cheers.t

[Abra]

t.mo, I can see where that might seem like a nice system, though people do progress, which personally i love to see. So if u rated something a 2star, because the person hadn't fully developed as an artist yet, i don't think it'd be right to neglect their thread forever. Just subscribe to the threads you do like... it's the same thing.

-Abra

[liam.c]

seems to me the main problum with the stars <other then trolls ofcorse> was that the value for them was attached to some thing where 1 star said awfull 2 was sucky 3 was soso 4 was avrage and 5 was good

so you see thats a strange way to have thease things go .. pesonaly i think that was the only really thing wong with it .. makeing some one have one star feel worse <accourding to the title of the starts meaning > then haveing no stars 2 and 3 stars were also negitive and 4 was jsut middle of the road

it seems to me it would be a fine system if maby a little more care was given to the discription of the rateing

heroics suggestion up there seems like the most sensable and least work for the people spending the time to keep the site runnign

[Dan.v.D.]

yay for communication between admins and folks!
yay for excellent solutions!

:zzz:

[one2hit]

stars are showin'
wonder if there are any changes.

[maxetormer]

ill add my self to the
wondering of why the stars
re-apeared.. :^^:

[Ilja]

Hmmm, has anything changed?

[Burning Eyes]

I dunno why but Im glad theyre back.. made me post again

[Eew]

isnt the most easiest thing for everybody is that only mods keep the option of rating and the rest just chill .. :rolleyes: ... so the pro's among us just decide what worth the stars and what not ? (probably been said before ...just droping my thoughts on it )

[maxetormer]

Just posting to bump the thread back to the front,
so now that voting is closed, are the admis the ones
giving the stars-rating? just wondering, Eew said it and
Im beging to think that, that is the way its gonna be;
its the easiest way to go no doubt about that :^^:

[JackalAnubis]

if I was to change the star system I think it could be done with just 3 stars. I don't think I ever see any 1 or 2 star threads anyways. With 3 stars, 1 star could mean that this thread is definately worth a look, 2 stars could mean this person is really fcukin good, and 3 would be like a master sketchbook, a professional's work. just a random thought