Adding comments to homescreen ratings??

[Guest drblow]

Just a thought ... it would be of great benefit to me as a homescreen designer (& I would imagine to anyone looking at the homesreen ratings when choosing themes) to have comments added to the ratings. For example, if someone rates a homescreen at less than 5/10, a few comments as to why. Obviously not all themes will appeal to all tastes, but it is slightly disappointing to see themes getting a poor rating with no indication of why the rater feels that way - you know, is there a problem with compatibility, do all the screens work properly, or is it just personal preference. You know what I mean??

It would just make the ratings system more informative for both users & developers. If someone rates one of my designs badly, I'd like to know why, and what I can do to improve in the future.

At least that way, if someone rates a screen badly just through personal preference, then other users can see that & not be influenced by it, and the developer knows that everything works OK.

Or does that all just sound like me crying because I can't take criticism very well!!?? :lol:

[Guest Vector]

I agree, would be a cool and helpful new feature :lol:

[Guest drblow]

Hmm ... :? I've just had another look through the homescreen download forum, and looked at the ratings on any of the screens there that were currently scored below 5. On EVERY one, there is a score of 1 posted by this guy nuckelhamster (or something). Now, while of course it seems fair enough to pass a rating on anything in your own personal objective opinion ( :shock: ), it does seem a little strange for someone with a zero post count, to decide that many homescreens deserve to be rated 1. & even if they do, I feel that it's a bit unfair on someone who is maybe posting their homescreen for the first time, to get this bad rating with no constructive comment, which can be very disheartening - I remember my first poor rating ... it took me a long time to get over that one! :lol: No, but seriously, you know what I mean? :D

I know this may seem really childish, and seems as if I'm just crying about being criticised, but really ... I'm not. I am not ... OK!!?? :D There are other people's skins in there too, who I feel have been treated unfairly. I have done my share of themes that people like, if somebdoy doesn't like one, then fine ... be that way!! ;) :D No seriously, but you know what I mean eh? There's homescreens in that list that have been people's first post, putting something back into the forums, and it just seems wrong to me that the ratings system can be abused this way! :evil: It would be different if the ratings were accompanied by some critical comments or whatever, but this just seems a bit more malicious than that.

I raised the issue in the first place because of things like this. Somebody comes along and simply dishes out a load of really bad ratings for peoples stuff, and posts no constructive comments. At least if you release a rubbish app and people start slagging you, you get a chance to respond in the thread. But anybody can come along and rate something badly, with no feedback at all - which could be done purely for badness, as it seems in this case. I am well up for people criticising me, if it means I can make something better, or provide a better service next time or whatever. But I do take exception to people just running things down for the sake of it. @nuckelhamster - if you are reading this & thinking that you have been portrayed in an unfair or unseemly manner, then by all means respond! :twisted: Or if anybody else thinks I'm being childish and unreasonable ... :D

[Guest drblow]

Ah, come on like! :D If nobody backs me up then it really does look like I'm just crying! :lol:

[Guest drblow]

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[Guest pwest13]

Dr. B's right, it aint very fair that homescreen designers get such negative marks with no comments to justify the ratings, maybe you should be forced 2 make a comment in your are rating 9 / 10 or 1 / 2 ?

bearing in mind there are alot of people on this forum who don't / can't design homescreens (e.g. me) then its unfair they can say summits crap if they cant even do it themselves.

[Guest drblow]

:evil: Have another look through the homescreen ratings. Nuckelhamster just appears to log in every few days & dish out a bunch of 1 ratings on homescreens, again without any comments. Not just mine, but the most recent 3 or 4 screens available. Again, these homescreens have been made by people putting time & effort into putting something back into the forums for the benefit of other users. I can't stress enough that I am fully supportive of anyone expressing opinions - but to just keep rating screens with a 1, and no comments, over this much time, has to be malicious.

I think this is ridiculous. Again, I publicly call on nuckelhamster to justify what you are doing here. I have PMed the user, with no response, so they are obvioulsy not interested in discussing the reason why they are doing this.

Am I the only one that thinks this is not on?

[Guest chucky.egg]

No, you're not the only one... Dr Cry Baby :)

But having lots of "free text" feedback wouldn't really get read by anyone other than the designer would it?

I just look at the new stuff, and (if I'm looking for a new skin) the rating, I doubt I would read loads of opinions. Maybe that's just me though.

How about only allowing feedback for screens you've downloaded? Is there a way to do that?

Or having to submit a reason (from a defined list) for the rating? Like "Loved it", "Failed to load", "Missing components" and so on, and then on the forum list you could have a few colums for the most common reasons... do you see what I mean?

I've just checked some of my Homescreen posts, and Mr Nucklehead has given me a 1 rating too.

Cheers fella!

Maybe we should just rate our own screens as 10 to counteract that, and then any other ratings would balance out.. i think

[Guest drblow]

Thats exactly what I'm talking about! I bet quite a few people come here, and don't bother to read through a bunch of comments - so just look at the ratings to decide which homescreens to even look at, let alone download. The idea of having to put in comments if you are rating a screen below 5, might put off potential spoilers like nuckelhead! He hasn't actually made a single post on the forums at all, and it definately looks like he is just doing this out of badness. Either that, or it's another homescreen author, loggin in under a different name, and trying to bring other people's ratings down. Hey, maybe it's me!! :)

I dunno if there is anything realistic that can be done to stop some prat from doing what this prat is doing. I just wanted to bring it to the attention of the forum, so I'm not crying alone! :(

Tell you what chucky.egg - I'll rate yours at 10, how's that!? :(

[Guest chucky.egg]

Just a random thought...

Why are people allowed to rate Homescreens when they have 0 posts, but they're not allowed to PM?

Maybe the same minimum-post limit as with PMs should apply.

[Guest chucky.egg]

Tell you what chucky.egg - I'll rate yours at 10, how's that!?  :(

Too late fella! I already rated it myself to balance out the 1! :) :oops:

I'm not overly bothered for myself TBH, but I agree that it's unfair to Newbie's and fledgling designers (not that I'm a seasoned pro or anything).

Dale1313, for example, has made several Homescreens lately, and whilst they're not all to my taste, I like the fact that he's making them. He's putting something back in, but will he continue if he thinks people are slagging his work off?

How about just banning Nuckelhead and his IP? He's not contributing anything he's just slagging, and I don't believe for one second that he's actually tried all those skins and they're ALL a '1' in his opinion

[edit]Or just remove his 1 ratings, that's probably very quick and easy to do[/edit]

[Guest drblow]

I agree 110%!

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

I will look into this and also have a chat with Nuckelhamster

as posting a rating without any form of comment is pointless and not helpful to the author in any way.

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

All ratings by Nuckelhamster have now been removed.

[Guest drblow]

Cheers Ash! :)

[Guest Confucious]

It is very difficult to stop someone abusing the system, posting a 1 for everything is stupid and pointless. it's nice to see something can and has been done about it, thanks ash.

There are lot's of good homescrreens there and your work is appreciated.

Now i've finnished sucking up, could one of you guys have a look at the lo simpsons homescreen - the author has got himself a P800 and so doesn't support it any more. but has posted all his files. On the homescreen when you get to the settings page the top bar is missing so the front pic of Santa's little Helper apperars 20 pixels higher than the background image - apart from that it's a great homescreen and not having a clue about xml I wondered if one of you geniuses could have a look at it for me?

Thanks.

[Guest chucky.egg]

All ratings by Nuckelhamster have now been removed.

Good job that man

Thanks

I'd better go back and remove my '20' ratings that I posted to balance the 1s then! :oops:

[Guest drblow]

:shock: Now, in a seemingly bizarre twist - mr nuckelhead seems to have visited the homescreen download forum again this morning, and dished out a round of 2's for ratings for chucky & me! Still no comments or response from him! :shock:

So, that would kind of lead me to believe that he has indeed seen/read some of the objections raised ( :( ), and has adopted a new strategy!! :)

This is just silly now.

[Guest Confucious]

Gosh! 2's - you're going up in the world :)

I wonder what sort of a sad person feels the need to do this?

[Guest chucky.egg]

:) Right, this is war! :(

Hey, but you got a 4 for one of yours, so maybe he's trying to make it harder to prove that he's just spoiling (or maybe he really does think they all kinda suck :( )

Any other ideas?

What about a screenshot thumbnail in the Forum list, that way people could get a rough idea what the thing looks like without having to open each topic. I generally choose a Homescreen on looks, and ditch it based on functionality (if you see what I mean).

How about only allowing voting it you've uploaded a Homescreen?

[Guest Confucious]

How about only allowing voting it you've uploaded a Homescreen?

That wouldn't really work as I assume most people who download homescreens are like me and totally incapable of making one ourselves but still, I believe, should be allowed to have our say. Otherwise, if it's just you developers, won't it just disintigrate into who can do the "trickest" bit of coding and not what real users actually think of them?

Just my 2d's worth.

[Guest drblow]

I didn't even notice that 4!! :shock:

Well, makes no difference anyway, it's obvious that nuckelhead is just here on a spoiler. It's a shame that some prat wants to do that, but I don't really see that we can avoid it by doing anything. The ratings system has not been abused previously, so I guess we shouldn't totally over react to an isolated act of terrorism!! :)

What else can we do except publicly ridicule the offender. I sent him a PM with some rather stronger words than I would use in the public forum ( :( ), but got no response obviously. The guy doesn't even have the balls to post anywhere, and I would imagine if he does post in the future, he'll not get the most warm of welcomes. So, I suppose he's shot himself in the foot as far as using the forums is concerned. Lets hope his phone breaks down in an unexplained manner, and he posts here looking for help!! :(

We can all carry on as usual, saying that it's not our own ratings we're worried about, but everyone else's! :(

[Guest Confucious]

drblow - you are assuming he actually owns a smartphone. it seems to me that he is probably a Nokia owner :shock: !

[Guest awarner [MVP]]

Ok how about if I add a sticky to the Homescreen Download section stating that to vote you must also leave a comment ?

Obviously Nuckelhamster has ignored my PM.

[Guest Paul [MVP]]

His ratings have been removed (again), and he's now left the building ;-)

P