Feedback Ratings Bandwagoning

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M

melty

True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Oct 10, 2014
We all know that stickers are literally the most important issue that has ever faced the Farms. I want to talk about ratings bandwagoning. I think we all do it. You read a post and think "wow, that's a winner post" and you hover your cursor over that little winner sticker but something catches your eye. The post has 7 likes and 1 dumb rating. Was the post really a winner post, you start to think? No one else seems to think so. You hesitate, and, perhaps, ultimately end up rating it something like like or informative or just don't rate it at all.
I'm not just bullshitting, this is a real thing in psychology. It's called crowd psychology and there have been numerous studies showing that people, when shown the ratings of other people, adjust their ratings accordingly. They usually do these studies by showing men womens faces and then showing them the faces with other mens ratings and the men rate them closer to the other guys ratings, or some shit like that.
What do you think? Do you do this?
 
  • Agree
  • Winner
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Reactions: Merchmongler, Aspiring Artist, pork and beans and 3 others
When I post about how much I want to rape and murder a lolcow if I get 2-3 winners right away (because @cat and @Satan are in chat at the time) I end up with like 60 winners, but if they're not there when I first post it I usually end up with only a handful of winners and 60 dumbs.

So I've definitely noticed this and it's real but on the other hand, who the fuck cares.
 
  • Horrifying
  • Informative
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Reactions: Cavalier Cipolla, Ozma (ZeTrannyJanny) and totse
Yes, I completely agree it's real but on the other hand nothing we talk about here matters so might as well.
 
  • Optimistic
Reactions: totse
Null said:
I guess it encourages groupthink but a little groupthink is healthy and creates a sense of community.

What I do care about is negative bandwagoning because it creates a kind of groupthink that is harmful and squelches dissenting ideas.
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You know who else would agree with this?
 
  • Thunk-Provoking
Reactions: totse
Null said:
What I do care about is negative bandwagoning because it creates a kind of groupthink that is harmful and squelches dissenting ideas.
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I wonder if it'd be possible to make it impossible to see ratings on any given post unless you a) rate the post or b) click some separate button that says "Show ratings". I'm sure there's some kind of data to be gleaned from comparing the ratings turnout on posts where people can see the ratings as they rate versus posts where they're rating "blind".

Mostly suggesting it because it'd be an interesting psychological/social experiment, not so much because I think it's the way the ability to rate posts should work. I don't really care about how it works. I'm just always a sucker for psychological shit like this
 
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Reactions: Aspiring Artist and totse
i turned post rating notifications off literally the second i joined, caring about what your posts get rated should be a sign to yourself to get off the internet and go outside
 
  • Winner
Reactions: literategorilla and totse
I don't see how this a problem that actually needs to get addressed. Who cares if it's positive? In the case you present, I would say most would simply rate the post 'like' instead.
Much more interesting is the subject of Negative Rating Bandwagoning.
Null said:
What I do care about is negative bandwagoning because it creates a kind of groupthink that is harmful and squelches dissenting ideas.
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I think most of us here have made posts before that have gotten very few positive or no stickers at all that we thought were really cool and totally winner material wow
The thing is, for those posts- Everyone thinks you're autistic but they don't want to give you a rating that could hurt your feelings. :heart-full:

My opinion is that posts that get massive amounts of negatives, or really most posts that get any negatives at all, are because they cross the threshold of reasonable acceptability.
These kind of ideas deserve to be stopped sooner than later since they are so obviously stupid. It saves a poster from embarrassing themselves by continuing their incredibly stupid idea.
I get it too- Those kinds of things are relative. But if they aren't capable of sticking to their guns and making a persuasive argument in the main forum, they should bring their ideas up in the feedback forum.

Aside from being the place you're actually supposed to bring your important ideas for the community, it's already visibly ratings free.
I think that perhaps the entire Interior section of our forum should be sticker free, and the rest return to what it was before the change.
If we can't do that, bring back a ticker to turn on rating notifications and set it to off by default.
 
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  • Winner
Reactions: totse
If the community is deciding that ratings should be universally considered unimportant I'm not sure what the need for them is. It almost seems like what people want is a rating system that just goes into a black hole and has no real meaning besides giving people a button to click instead of saying "I agree and have nothing more to add."
 
  • Agree
Reactions: totse
Null said:
If the community is deciding that ratings should be universally considered unimportant I'm not sure what the need for them is. It almost seems like what people want is a rating system that just goes into a black hole and has no real meaning besides giving people a button to click instead of saying "I agree and have nothing more to add."
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Bro you ever play cookie clicker? Clicking shit is addictive.
 
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Reactions: totse
Almost everybody cares about ratings, it's just cool to pretend like you don't care.
 
  • Winner
Reactions: totse
Null said:
If the community is deciding that ratings should be universally considered unimportant I'm not sure what the need for them is. It almost seems like what people want is a rating system that just goes into a black hole and has no real meaning besides giving people a button to click instead of saying "I agree and have nothing more to add."
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The community does deem them to be important. It's why the post ratings thread blew up once everybody figured out they weren't getting notifications anymore.
The very ability to click on a button to show the forum that you agree with an idea holds quite a bit of meaning. If you don't have anything to add, but want to show solidarity, why clog up the thread?

I think the entire thing is a non issue. Not because ratings are worthless, but because there was never really a problem to begin with. Not every post someone makes is going to be popular, none of us are exceptions.
Ratings just made it obvious when we had an opinion that not many other people agree with.

If a person get's tons of negative feedback, I would simply advise them to instropect and think a about what they said a bit.
Then they can decide that maybe they were wrong, or that everyone else is autistic- And let's face it, we're all autistic on here.
 
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Reactions: totse
I agree that ratings are important.
I also agree that there is some sort of bandwagoning.

Personally I try to first read the post and usually rate it (unless I have a lot to catch up in the topic) based on my own decision, rather than what rating it has.
The only exception are negative ratings - if there already is late or dumb on it, and I don't feel it's that late or dumb, I don't rate at all.
I was also given few negative ratings, but those weren't constructive, while the same posts gained a lot of positives. I never asked those who gave A-Log or dumb rating why either, considering they had all the rights to do so.
But that's my own experience and I cannot say for anybody else.

As for the current state of affairs - we're all (ok, most of us) either adult or at least want to be treated like one. And in all seriousness, I don't see the extreme bandwagoning on the Farms. And believe me, I've seen some weird shit.
Of course even here I did see a large serg-out, but that wasn't as much of a heard behaviour, as sperging to the extreme.

Also, while I'm here, what happened to the list of given/received ratings on the profile page?
 
  • Winner
Reactions: totse
IMHO the best solution is to make ratings invisible until someone rates a post. On the other hand, I also think the rating system is fine as-is. I know some people cause drama about it but I honestly think that's going to happen with any rating system that has a "dislike" or "disagree" option.

melty said:
Almost everybody cares about ratings, it's just cool to pretend like you don't care.
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I think it's important to pretend you don't care, too. As a community we should bitch slap people who can't take a negative rating with grace and humor. Ratings are important but they shouldn't be used as an excuse for whiny drama.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: totse
Johnny Bravo said:
IMHO the best solution is to make ratings invisible until someone rates a post. On the other hand, I also think the rating system is fine as-is. I know some people cause drama about it but I honestly think that's going to happen with any rating system that has a "dislike" or "disagree" option.
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If we must address the supposed detrimental bandwagoning, this is probably the best way.

I also have to agree with Johnny Bravo on the importance ratings hold as a Darwinistic filter on our community.
Only those fit to survive the harsh reality that not everyone is going to agree with their posts, and by proxy the kind of people I at least want on the farms, survive.
 
  • Agree
Reactions: totse
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