Beefy Boxes and Bandwidth Generously Provided by pair Networks
"be consistent"
 
PerlMonks  

Voting and Displaying Node Reputation

by monkfish (Pilgrim)
on Oct 15, 2001 at 18:31 UTC ( [id://118881]=monkdiscuss: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??

Alright, from reading some old posts, I know I am walking into a mine field of opinions, but I am gonna add mine and hope I don't step on anything that takes off my leg...

In general, I like the practice of not disclosing node scores before voting, particularly with respect to recent posts (say within the last month). This makes people think for themselves and not just follow the hurd.

However, as a relative newbie here it would be nice to be able to find gems from the past without having to read every node ever posted.

With that goal in mind, and without advocating a specific solution, here are some thoughts on some ways this might be handled...

  • Reputations could be displayed only after some period since posting, a month or 90 days.
  • Maybe voting should cease after some time period and then node reps should be visible
  • Search for nodes more than n points or n std above the mean. Maybe limited to nodes older than sometime period.
  • Create a hall of fame for all nodes that exceed some threshold.
All in all it seems that node reputation is an incredibly valuable piece of information for a prospective node reader and it is never available, even for nodes which have had their merits established long ago.

The closest proxy one has at the moment is reading all the posts by people with lots of XPs, presumably gathered in large part by posting. Sometimes this is great, sometimes you have to wade through tons of Q and A to find the gold. You also miss the really high rep posts by non saints...

Just MHO.

-monkfish
The fishy monk.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Voting and Displaying Node Reputation
by footpad (Abbot) on Oct 15, 2001 at 19:21 UTC

    You're right; this is something that has been discussed many times before.

    You are aware that there are ways to find these nodes already, aren't you? You can:

    • Start by looking at Best Nodes, which lists the top nodes in the Monastery.

    • Go to a given monk's home node and sort their write-ups by Highest Reputation first.

    • Browse home nodes for nodes recommended by monks who's opinions you respect.

    • Check out the Most Visited Nodes. Or, simply bounce around.</P

    • And so on. Poke about in the corners, fiddle with the Snippets, etc.

    Sure, it requires a little bit of work on your part, but isn't that what learning to master Perl--or programming in general--generally requires? Sure, someone could hand you the best nodes on a platter, but it's up to you to determine how to use that information to your advantage. All the best technique in the world won't help you improve unless you learn how to incorporate those ideas into your own work.

    Also, keep in mind that highly reputed nodes aren't necessarily the most useful ones. Yes, we have some highly rated nodes containing wonderfully technical wisdom, however, we also have OT nodes with high reputations (including some of mine).

    Reputation is a darkly-reflected idea of how the community at large liked a node at the time. It's not a measure of its accuracy, utility, or usefulness in any real-world situation. In fact, some of the most useful nodes have reasonably low reputations. I believe it's better to make your own decisions regarding a node's excellence. Vote that opinion, certainly, but take Reputation with a grain of salt. Finally, remember that some nodes have low reputations not because they were inaccurate, but because they were unpopular or controversial. Again, only you can judge a node's true worth.

    As someone has pointed out repeatedly, 1_000_000 XP and $1.79 will buy you a cup of coffee.

    It may be more fruitful to pick an area you wish you knew more about and then look for threads covering that area. I think you'll find as many gems buried at the bottom of threads as you will perusing any given monk's most well received works.

    --f

      Another place to look is on people homenodes. Many of the monks include lists of worthy posts, some of which are really good. I tend to routinely look at monks homenodes and have found them to be a mine of excellent information, if perhaps a little hard to search and unorganized.

      Update
      I heartily recommend Turnsteps home node. Kick ass!

      Yves
      --
      You are not ready to use symrefs unless you already know why they are bad. -- tadmc (CLPM)

Re: Voting and Displaying Node Reputation
by scain (Curate) on Oct 15, 2001 at 19:01 UTC
    Probably the easiest way to do some of this would be to find some way to extend the depth of best nodes so that the best nodes of all time could be made a longer list (perhaps via something like "read more").

    The other obvious thing to point out is that plenty of gems will still be missed, because there are plenty of times that the good stuff is overlooked by the masses. The only real way to find the good stuff on a given topic is to look for it, ie, ask in the chatterbox or super search.

    Just my US$0.02
    Scott

Re: Voting and Displaying Node Reputation
by converter (Priest) on Oct 15, 2001 at 20:22 UTC

    It would be useful when searching to be able to sort results based on nodes' ratings, even if the ratings are not actually visible in the results.

    A high reputation is no guarantee that a given node is going to provide a better answer to one's question, but the rep is usually a good inidicator of the value of the information included.

    conv

Re: Voting and Displaying Node Reputation
by drinkd (Pilgrim) on Oct 15, 2001 at 18:49 UTC
    As a (complete) newbie, perhaps I might suggest somebody like me with no votes anyway, or somebody who has already spent the day's allotment, could see the scores. That way no following the herd, but us newbies can get a better lay of the land, as it were. drinkd

Log In?
Username:
Password:

What's my password?
Create A New User
Domain Nodelet?
Node Status?
node history
Node Type: monkdiscuss [id://118881]
Approved by root
help
Chatterbox?
and the web crawler heard nothing...

How do I use this?Last hourOther CB clients
Other Users?
Others sharing their wisdom with the Monastery: (6)
As of 2024-03-28 22:57 GMT
Sections?
Information?
Find Nodes?
Leftovers?
    Voting Booth?

    No recent polls found