app voting

Message

linuxamp · #1 Post by **linuxamp** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 2:30 am

Andrew, great job on the site. I check this feed daily.

I'm sure you get tons of suggestions for the site but here's another. The comments system is a good way for users to determine the quality of an application before downloading but what about adding a rating system? For instance, I'm looking for a file explorer but there are so many to choose from and it takes a while to go through all the comments. It would be great to just check the ratings.

Also, have you given thought to also posting the most recent changelog for updated programs?

Thanks and keep up the great work.

#2 Post by **Andrew Lee** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 6:22 am

Thanks for your suggestions. I have some ideas regarding ratings, but it will take some time for me to work on them due to lack of time.

I am not too interested in recent changelog though 'cos that will be replicating information on the app website. Plus due to the lack of standardization of changelog for different apps (missing for some apps even), it won't be easy to implement it consistently.

portackager · #3 Post by **portackager** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 6:23 pm

Holy cow, those buttons are huge.. lol.

#4 Post by **Andrew Lee** » Sun Jul 01, 2007 10:33 pm

Now that you mention it, they do appear to be too large...

I have made them smaller now (20x20). Hopefully they are not too small now!

Checker · #5 Post by **Checker** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 7:51 am

Better place the voting-buttons in the comments-section.

#6 Post by **Andrew Lee** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 6:43 am

Checker · #7 Post by **Checker** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:59 am

Because the Comments-section is the area where you can read what other users think about the application/program.
And where you can place your meening ... so why not place also a vote there?

Mostly I check up the comments to find out wether a program is good (or working correctly).

So if you place a good (or bad) comment about the programm at this section, why not tick a good/bad-vote button?

#8 Post by **Andrew Lee** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 6:25 am

Hmm, I will wait more feedback on this.

I am not convinced that the two should be linked i.e. people who vote will want to leave a comment, and vice versa.

Ennovy · #9 Post by **Ennovy** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 10:38 am

Well, I don´t want to leave a comment when voting for an application or vice versa.
Besides, the list of comments will grow.
It will be harder to find the information yoy need when reading the list of comments

Checker · #10 Post by **Checker** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:36 am

Please don't misunderstand me.
I didn't say you have to vote and write a comment.
This will make the list of comments unneccessary longer ... that's not what I want.
But the comments-section is the place where you find pro and cons about an application.
And this is what the buttons stand for ... don't they?

Firewrath · #11 Post by **Firewrath** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 2:49 pm

being the lazy S.o.B. i am,
i like them where i dont have to goto another page to vote for the apps,

linuxamp · #12 Post by **linuxamp** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:09 am

First of all thanks Andrew for taking my initial suggestion.

The new voting and sorting features are great. As for location, I think the current location is just fine. Most people are more likely to rate an application than to comment on it since rating is so much easier. Placing the rating interface right on the summary area is a good place.

One suggestion. Having to enter a captcha for a vote seems excessive but I understand that you need some protection. What some sites do is use sessions or cookies to prevent users from voting on something more than once. This will also deter application writers/submitters from abusing the voting system since they could just keep filling in the captchas and voting (not that they would).

Keep up the good work.

linuxamp · #13 Post by **linuxamp** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 7:20 am

Checker wrote: But the comments-section is the place where you find pro and cons about an application.
And this is what the buttons stand for ... don't they?

Ah but so many downloaders are too lazy to read all the comments. They just want to download what most people think is the best. I'm guilty of this which is why I made the request in the first place.

Also, since voting is easier than commenting, you should see a much larger sample of votes (in time) than comments so it's actually a better scale.

Lastly, it's well known that most people are far more likely to take the extra effort to write complaints about something than to praise it so comments will typically be negatively skewed.