Do we need these ratings?

[Sexytimes 5]

I feel the 1-5 rating system is counterproductive. It seems that only a very small percentage of viewers rate the teases anyway. All teases shouldn't be rated with the 1 size fits all button. I would like to see several categories of quality ratings. Visual, Storyline, Originality, Overall, Most etc..etc...! However, since ratings are just opinions, maybe we should just scrap the ratings system and upgrade the search features so authors aren't discouraged by low rated teases. I'm guilty of scrapping teases if they start dropping below 4.0. I mean come on, who wants to get a grade below a B? Right, 5=A 4=B 3=C 2=D 1=F When you see the rating is a 3 with 75 votes, well that means the tease sucks right? You see a rating of 4.5 that automatically means the tease is fantastic, right! In my opinion the ratings system is seriously flawed now and should be scrapped and replaced with upgraded search options, like not having every tease be found with 15 different search tags. Narrow the search to 2 primary tags per tease! Have the authors list the rest of the tags in the forum or something! Forum discussions could prove more reliable than a click rating anyway! I released a tease the other day and before it was 2 minutes old it had 5 ratings? It is literally impossible to rate that tease in less than 2 minutes! Ratings are turning out to be couterproductive, at least for me!

[rbtheservant]

Hey Sexytimes,

Allow this Milovana old timer to give you a little advice...do not create a tease for ratings. I enjoy writing teases and write teases for me. Out of all of my teases, only once was I up for a TOTM. Does it hurt that I spend countless hours on what I think will be an awesome tease only to have it shot down, because a few people only care if the models are gorgeous? Not at all, I have my loyal fan base that message me to tell me they enjoy what I am doing. I do not and never have written a tease for ratings...it is a futile effort. However with that said, if you want to get an "A" every time, just be sure to use extremely hot chicks and don't worry about the content...that is the recipe for high marks with the masses.

Good luck to you and please keep up the great teases.

Sincerely,

[diddums]

Last tease I wrote got terrible ratings, and got greyed out, so I took it down.
Get rid of the ratings system. I for one won't contribute new material while it's on.

[jonatan40]

I for one, as a user, am quite happy with the current rating system. It is pretty simple and mostly I find the best rated teases pretty good, and the worst pretty bad.
There are definitely more factors than the attractiveness of the model which make a tease good rated.
A minor flaw is that the less popular kinks are a little discriminated, but that is what the tags are for. One think I would appreciate in development of the search system, is to make the search of different tags combination possible.
In the main idea I agree with rbtheservant: do the teases for yourself. And do not be afraid to learn from the feedback, no matter if it comes from the ratings, forums or messages,

[les]

There have always been moans about the ratings.
Flash to easy to vote
Web-teases too hard.

Everybody is at the same disadvantage.

The only thing I suggest is that you make the tease start with a "Bang" to get the readers attention,
Then you the author pay attention to detail.

That should help the votes from the very few that do vote.
Only those with a strong opinion vote normally.

[Sexytimes 5]

Thanks for the opinions, and advice. Can I at least have a clicky button added in here somewhere so I can blank out the ratings for myself so I can gradually become less obsessed about the things! LOL

[iluvcbt]

When I rate a tease, I do it based on whether or not I enjoyed it due to content, not the model. The model helps, but if the instructions are boring, I won't give a good mark. Also, I am one of those people who can't get past poor grammar and spelling. If a tease's writing jarrs me out of the mood, I can't give it a good rating. I actually greatly appreciate the function that grays out teases with a less than 2 rating, because many of them, by one author in particular whom I won't name, I just can't read. I get a page or two in, and have to close it.

My advice? Write teases you like, post them, and don't worry so much about the ratings. Ratings are nice, but not always an indication of how good a tease is to everyone. There are several in my favorites list that rank between 2.8 and 3.9, and I do them when the mood strikes.

And as a side note, I have seen at least a few flash teases that didn't offer the option to rate the tease. Not sure if that was an oversight, but if you're worried about low ratings, maybe that's an option.

[stadoug]

a 1-10 scale would be better,
it is only a guide, and hopefully we all vote as responsible grown ups with a hint of inteligence , and a spell checker, happy milovana

[dubble]

Take the ratings with a grain of salt. Write what turns you on or what you hope to convey to other readers. As in the real world, real movie ratings are rarely believable, right? A critic rates a movie as crap but then you see it and like it, right (or vice-versa)? So just write what you like & view what you like, then laugh at the ratings/critics.

On a side note, if you hope to make a change, ask for/hope for a "hide" button on each tease (only viewable/operable when the user is logged in, similar to the "favorites" button) so each user can customize the site to their liking. For example, each user could hide teases in which they have no interest. I believe each user would have a more fulfilling/enjoyable experience here. I like going through old teases, but occasionally I run across one I don't like. Sometimes the words/thoughts/pix are not to my liking, are too small, have models I dont care for, have subjects/content I don't care for, language I can't read, etc. It is SUCH a turn-off to start a tease & to come across (excuse the pun) some things like those or subjects that are a personal limit/taboo! It would make browsing a TON easier, but I do not know the dynamics of adding such a button. Individual tease ratings might be a bit more realistic since the only votes those teases would get would be people who view them. I'd hide teases I don't care for (especially if tagged correctly) and not rate them. Sounds pretty simple. Just my humble op..

[mae0314]

I would like to see several categories of quality ratings. Visual, Storyline, Originality, Overall, Most etc..etc...!

That won't work. Even offering 5 graduations is actually too much. People tend to gravitate to the highest and lowest scores. The options could probably be cut down to "like/dislike" and we would get ratings of similar quality. They are mainly useful to filter out single page crap anyway.

However, since ratings are just opinions, maybe we should just scrap the ratings system and upgrade the search features so authors aren't discouraged by low rated teases. I'm guilty of scrapping teases if they start dropping below 4.0. I mean come on, who wants to get a grade below a B?

Scrapping as in deleting published teases? Sometimes I don't have time to read through a new tease right away and then it disappears before get a chance to look at it. I hate it when that happens. Please don't do it! Anyway, you can't make everybody happy, and there'll always be people who rate stuff with the worst possible rating just because they can. If you can't live with bad ratings, you'll have to heavily optimize, go for most popular themes and make sure your work is well written. Well, you should do the last one anyway. Still, if everybody just writes what is popular, things will get boring. Just don't take the ratings so much to heart.

On a side note, if you hope to make a change, ask for/hope for a "hide" button on each tease (only viewable/operable when the user is logged in, similar to the "favorites" button) so each user can customize the site to their liking. For example, each user could hide teases in which they have no interest. I believe each user would have a more fulfilling/enjoyable experience here. I like going through old teases, but occasionally I run across one I don't like. Sometimes the words/thoughts/pix are not to my liking, are too small, have models I dont care for, have subjects/content I don't care for, language I can't read, etc. It is SUCH a turn-off to start a tease & to come across (excuse the pun) some things like those or subjects that are a personal limit/taboo! It would make browsing a TON easier, but I do not know the dynamics of adding such a button.

First, I'd like to point to an ancient suggestion I made. It depends on proper tagging of teases, though. Another interesting approach might be to implement a collaborative filtering algorithm to recommend/recommend against teases, going by your past ratings.

Individual tease ratings might be a bit more realistic since the only votes those teases would get would be people who view them. I'd hide teases I don't care for (especially if tagged correctly) and not rate them.

Isn't that already how it is? Except for flash teases, to rate a tease, you have to reach the last page.

Thanks for the opinions, and advice. Can I at least have a clicky button added in here somewhere so I can blank out the ratings for myself so I can gradually become less obsessed about the things! LOL

If you can use a Greasemonkey or UserJS script, try this: http://pastebin.com/HdnNNjPe

[sweden123]

I agree that web-teases are at an advantage by being much more difficult to rate. But I don't think I have never found a tease I liked with a rating below 3.5, so I feel the system works well enough.

Maybe somehow incorporating the number of times a tease have be favorited in the rating would give a better indication?

[MomentInTime]

Yes, I believe the ratings make a difference. I also find myself in agreement with iluvcbt...grammar and spelling make a tremendous difference. I am fairly new here as a registered user. I do rate teases as a general rule. I give a rating of one out of five to teases that are poorly crafted.