Ratings. They sound good in theory. What better way to know how good content is? Unfortunately, the reality is far, far different:
Trolls - We've all seen them. They rate things a one, just because they can.
Non-Raters - There is a LOT of awesome content on Fanpop that goes unrated.
Friends and Enemies - Friends get high ratings. Enemies get low ratings. It happens.
Rating Unfairly - People dish out 1-star ratings to images and videos containing characters/pairings they don't support.
Rating the Uploading Process - Content gets rated based on HOW it was uploaded instead of the quality of the actual content.
Ultimately, the ratings tell us nothing. A five star image MIGHT be really awesome... or a blurry pic someone's best friend uploaded. A one star image might be awful... or an awesome shot that happened to be keyworded incorrectly.
Fanpop, I propose a NEW system. A Kudos system.
Instead of a 1-5 star rating, users can simply click a single "Kudos" star if they like the content. If they don't like it - they either ignore it or post a comment with their complaints. Content can collect as many or as few Kudos as it's deemed worthy of.
True, we can't do much about non-raters (although this system might be easier and less confusing for some) and people will still Kudo their friends' content. BUT! The trolls, the enemies, the haters - They'll be stopped.
After all, Fanpop is about celebrating the things we like. Fanpop is about the CONTENT.
Let's start celebrating our content in a new way... and forget about dissing it.
Trolls - We've all seen them. They rate things a one, just because they can.
Non-Raters - There is a LOT of awesome content on Fanpop that goes unrated.
Friends and Enemies - Friends get high ratings. Enemies get low ratings. It happens.
Rating Unfairly - People dish out 1-star ratings to images and videos containing characters/pairings they don't support.
Rating the Uploading Process - Content gets rated based on HOW it was uploaded instead of the quality of the actual content.
Ultimately, the ratings tell us nothing. A five star image MIGHT be really awesome... or a blurry pic someone's best friend uploaded. A one star image might be awful... or an awesome shot that happened to be keyworded incorrectly.
Fanpop, I propose a NEW system. A Kudos system.
Instead of a 1-5 star rating, users can simply click a single "Kudos" star if they like the content. If they don't like it - they either ignore it or post a comment with their complaints. Content can collect as many or as few Kudos as it's deemed worthy of.
True, we can't do much about non-raters (although this system might be easier and less confusing for some) and people will still Kudo their friends' content. BUT! The trolls, the enemies, the haters - They'll be stopped.
After all, Fanpop is about celebrating the things we like. Fanpop is about the CONTENT.
Let's start celebrating our content in a new way... and forget about dissing it.
So we, as users, take a lot from Fanpop every day. We watch videos, we take quiz's, share awesome links, etc. We all have gained something from Fanpop, whether it be a funny video, or a cool new website. So I was thinking that perhaps maybe once a month, if even that, a mass majority (as many users we can get) would all add one thing. Whether it be a video, a quiz, a soapbox, or even just a link, we would all be giving back. I was thinking that it could be the first of every month. Maybe even a time could be assigned to that date, which would allow other users to get to know each other and thread the community together. Perhaps at Four PM EST, we would all add something to Fanpop. I know many of you add items everyday but this would let less-contributing users thoughts be heard. These users could become hooked on Fanpop and then that's +1 more dedicated fan. I don't know if this would take off, but if it does, it could be great. Please just leave a comment.