What happened to the ratings?

I realize I was the champion a few months ago about changing the rating system to make it more fair (ie. raise the ratings), but am I the only one to notice how many rides are getting overly high ratings as of late? I think we have had two coasters in the last month that have finished 1 and 2 all time highest ratings on this site. They were great rides, but not the greatest of all time IMO. Have the tougher raters like Tcon and Intaminfan3?? given up on posting? Take this for an example:

http://www.coastercrazy.com/track_exchang ... p?tid=9118

A decent ride, but no way a 9.5 IMO. I realize that this rating may go down, but it still seems there have been a lot of overrate rides as of late. Does anyone else agree? [confused]

[hyyyper]

i do agree, but do you have a better suggestion?

not posting the ratings untill a mod approves them will take low because the mods of this site aren't the quickest, and if they were, we'll be very much like the arrogant guys at cs.com,
and where do you draw the line between an up/down rate and someone opinion?

Actually, I do think Onslaught and The Last Stop deserve to be nr. 1 & 2 of all time, atleast they're better than Orbital imo...

Im actually shocked that cobra has got a 9.67! Seriously for the amount of effort put in i would only give it a 7.


BTW i totally agree with you Pdonahue.

i agree with u (pdonahue) they should stop over rating ride that doesnt make sence cause its just stupid of over rating rides

[Oscar]

Originally posted by jpecool

Im actually shocked that cobra has got a 9.67! Seriously for the amount of effort put in i would only give it a 7.


BTW i totally agree with you Pdonahue.

yet you did not rate it, your rate would certainly bring it down and trust me, there is more that think like you and do like you, now if those that thought liike you, rated these, it'd be a much more balanced ballgame.

when the good raters were giving designers constructive criticism, you all freaked out about the low numbers. Now, when the regular raters have left and a bunch of high rates pop up, you complain that they are too high. TELL US WHAT YOU WANT!!!

And when we still DO give real critisim, our PM boxes get filled up with hate mail. Seriously.

Thanks for taking my comments

My intent was certainly not to start a poop storm, but merely to point out the fact. I agree that there was too much complaining from posters about low scores earlier this year, but too me it seems to have gone from one extreme (pretty harsh low scores) to the other (poorly supported high scores).

I am in no way saying the moderators have responisiblity for this, in reality, we as community memebers should be trying hard to keep rates consistent. An age old problem with no easy solution.[sillyme]

The problem is that only the noobs rate tracks now because they want points, while the more constructive raters such as Tcon, IF, me, Edge, and many others have pretty much given up giving honest rates because when a person receives honest rates that aren't very high they proceeed to whine and complain, a great example of this being Thorazine. Uploading has become an attempt to receive a medal, points, and compliments rather than an attempt to receive constructive criticism to improve in the future. This leaves only the unexperienced raters who rate tracks with exceedingly high one liner rates for people who give out high rates such as Trackwalker (nothing against you I've just noiced many of your recent rides got badly overrated wih one liners), and in reality these people shouldn't even be rating in the first place because they do not know how to rate properly.

i agree with e---man the problem is all these noobs posting tracks then more noobs saying there the best thing in the world man these kids don't get out much do they

IMO i like constructive critisism i mean they tell me what to do better and not just sit there and say thats "Awsome"

tinkaja rrollergod? lol

I think low rates that ahve constructive critism is a good thing. YOu can never help your rides if nobody tells you waht to work on. Just giving good numbers and saying good job is enough IMO. I think people should explain their rates a little bit more.

Originally posted by WeeWeeSlap

Originally posted by jpecool

Im actually shocked that cobra has got a 9.67! Seriously for the amount of effort put in i would only give it a 7.


BTW i totally agree with you Pdonahue.

yet you did not rate it, your rate would certainly bring it down and trust me, there is more that think like you and do like you, now if those that thought liike you, rated these, it'd be a much more balanced ballgame.

I would have rated it to brign the score down, but i have a track up this week and never rate when i have tracks up as i dont want to seem like im spite rating.

[mkingy]

Originally posted by e-man
Uploading has become an attempt to receive a medal, points, and compliments rather than an attempt to receive constructive criticism to improve in the future.

I'll agree with the noob's ratings bit, but you say "Uploading has become an attempt to receive a medal, points, and compliments", and that's what i do, if there wasn't a chance to get points and recieve a medal to say you've got the best coaster /park that week, there's not much point. What's the point in improving if you haven't got gold medals to show that you have improved. People should be accepting constructive critisism, but you should accept that people upload tracks to get nice compliments and such.

There are two good reasons why the good raters of old don't rate any more. One, you get bombed with hate mail (plus awful grammer and internet abriviations) and I'm sure no one wants to read crap that a twelve year old puts at you. Second, people don't listen to what you say! Even if you tell them how to make better tracks, they're tracks remain the same, instead of getting better. So everything pretty much turns into a waste of time...

i agree with pdonahue

i will also say some people are gigving awfully low scores for crap reasons like too many attempts at the TTD/KK type-layout; like CK's first coaster a few days back in which one rater (not mentioning names) gave CK a fair score for T and A, but for O, gave it like a 3 because he's seen the design too many times (it's CKs first coaster uploaded, give him a break-- and i dont think if you do a KK design you would be going for being original)

that's my 2 cents

I've gotten bombed with hate mail from a recent rate I've done. In all of my rates I try to give suggestions to help the builder. Heck, my rates are almost as long as TCon's. Jimmy, I also hate all of the net abbreviations, not only does it show you have no understanding of grammar, but it also makes you look like an idiot.

And for one of the tracks I've recently rated, the creator said they were "buiding for fun" as if that is an excuse to have me change a rate. No, the way I see it anyone who puts a track on the exchange is fair game for any reasonable rate that comes at them.

Just a side note: if people put realistic as their track, then I will surely rate that track as being realistic. And if people say realistic and they have ultra undersupporting, they'll be sure to get a lower score.

Thank you for reading and have a very nice day [:)][:)][:)].

Originally posted by mkingy

Originally posted by e-man
Uploading has become an attempt to receive a medal, points, and compliments rather than an attempt to receive constructive criticism to improve in the future.

I'll agree with the noob's ratings bit, but you say "Uploading has become an attempt to receive a medal, points, and compliments", and that's what i do, if there wasn't a chance to get points and recieve a medal to say you've got the best coaster /park that week, there's not much point. What's the point in improving if you haven't got gold medals to show that you have improved. People should be accepting constructive critisism, but you should accept that people upload tracks to get nice compliments and such.

Thank you for proving my point exactly. Attitudes like this are EXACTLY what has caused this issue, because people take it out on others when they feel robbed out of a medal or points. When this site started, there were no medals, no points, only people uploaded tracks to share and get advice on. I remember back in the old days when every rate was a full paragraph at least, everyone gave good constructive criticism, and both overrates and spite rates were nonexistent. Unfortunately, now people get waaay too caught up in trying to get medals or points or who knows what and that causes them to fully miss the point of this and all other coastergaming websites.

On ratings...I think trying to properly rate any coaster is difficult.

1)Everyone has their preference for what kind of ride experience they want. For instance, I usually don't rate steel coasters because I like wooden coasters better. And, I like older rumbly wooden coasters versus smooth ones.

2)Even if the ratings were completely objective, there are varying levels of design knowledge and building technique; people are simply going to rate differently based upon what they know and/or how they feel.

3)The ratings are always going to fluctuate when no consistent panel of raters exist.

4) I also agree, as previously mentioned, sometimes when constructive feedback and fair ratings are given, if the submitter doesn't like the rating, the retaliatory responses and hate mail start. Who wants to be bothered by that crap?

how about weewee slap vote in by the members a panel of,lets say 5,8 or10 people to rate downloaded tracks.and all they can do is rate tracks.these folks will be talented at what they do.once the track is rated the person that downloaded it will have to live with it.maybe wee wee slap could even poll this queston just to get some feed back.this is only a sugeston.but i do agree some rates are to high and some are to low

how about weewee slap vote in by the members a panel of,lets say 5,8 or10 people to rate downloaded tracks.and all they can do is rate tracks.these folks will be talented at what they do.once the track is rated the person that downloaded it will have to live with it.maybe wee wee slap could even poll this queston just to get some feed back.this is only a sugeston.but i do agree some rates are to high and some are to low

Originally posted by ExTraxYz

Actually, I do think Onslaught and The Last Stop deserve to be nr. 1 & 2 of all time, atleast they're better than Orbital imo...

I disagree with those two being 1 and 2 all time but I agree, better than Orbital BUT...remember, things are relative. What was awesome so long ago, may not be now but when it was up, it may have sent larger shockwaves through the community than say, Last Stop or Onslaught have. They are great rides but if you want to compare them evenly, you have to examine what they mean to the community at the exact time they were released.

Originally posted by bm409

how about weewee slap vote in by the members a panel of,lets say 5,8 or10 people to rate downloaded tracks.and all they can do is rate tracks.these folks will be talented at what they do.once the track is rated the person that downloaded it will have to live with it.maybe wee wee slap could even poll this queston just to get some feed back.this is only a sugeston.but i do agree some rates are to high and some are to low

no

that's just plain stupid
i would never want my tracks rated only by a panel of "rating experts"

p.s. you posted it twice

Originally posted by bm409

how about weewee slap vote in by the members a panel of,lets say 5,8 or10 people to rate downloaded tracks.and all they can do is rate tracks.these folks will be talented at what they do.once the track is rated the person that downloaded it will have to live with it.maybe wee wee slap could even poll this queston just to get some feed back.this is only a sugeston.but i do agree some rates are to high and some are to low

That has pretty much always been my standing on ratings, but with more like 50 people. 10 just isn't enough. I also think that other people can rate, but their rate would be weighted to be worth only say 35% instead of 65% for the members of that group.