As I really (really!) think feedback on modules is needed I have started writing a bunch of reviews, (available on Module Reviews).

Need I mention that you should write about your favourite module? Especially if it isn't CGI.pm, which everybody knows and worships already.

In order to increase the usefulness of those reviews, I think they should include a word from the author, but also some kind of list of users, with their opinion on the quality and usefulness of the module.

I hope we can add this feature to the site, and here is a first proposal of what it could look like:

Cool::Module

 
User Usage Quality Documentation Support Comments
Read docs Tested Rejected Used Used a lot -- - + ++ -- - + ++ na -- - + ++
mirod     X   X  X        X I like it, some quirks but the developer is very helpful. I would have liked a tutorial though.
mirlyn X     X    X      X    It sucks! Bill could do better. I told the author but he never answered. This code is dangerous!
KM   X      X  X   X     The module works fine but lacks some important features I need. I found that Super::Cool::Module is more appropriate for me.
Summary 1 1 1 1 11 21   1 1 1  
  Read docs Tested Rejected Used Used a lot -- - + ++ -- - + ++ na -- - + ++  
  Usage Quality Documentation Support  

Adding comments would be possible through a simple form, and voting guidelines available of course.

I am sure this could be improved, so what did I forget or what did I get completely wrong?

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
RE: Module Reviews (again!)
by vroom (His Eminence) on Sep 08, 2000 at 00:11 UTC
    I like the idea. One of the hardest things to do is categorizing user contributed content well. I was giving the reviews section some thought yesterday. If users could create a revieweditem node for instance with some sort of unique identifier then people could attach notes, ratings, reviews, and maybe tutorials as well to this item. The unique identifier for a book would probably be the ISBN number and module name would probably suffice for modules.
    I also like the idea of having rating criteria for modules and probably a different set for books.

    vroom | Tim Vroom | vroom@cs.hope.edu
[reply]

      Cool! The new reviews now show up!

      An additional idea might be to let reviewers add a short statement on what the module does (probably from the module description) and maybe another short sentence to summarize the review, which would show up on the reviews node, so people have an idea about what a module does before clicking on the link

      Something like (I like tables!):

      Module Description Comment
      CPAN.pm query, download and build perl modules from CPAN sites the Mother of all modules, indispensable
      Roman count with Roman numbers robust and convenient, count only up to 4000
      XML::Twig process XML efficiently product placement
[reply]
RE: Module Reviews (again!)
by stefp (Vicar) on Sep 14, 2000 at 20:26 UTC
    It would be nice to extend the perlmonk voting system to vote for modules. A monk would have modules votes in addition to the current "classical" votes. A monks would have to identify himself as such in his module README to make possible to know whose monks has written which module. A monk writing CPAN module could win mega-XP if its module is popular. Other people would know what modules are the most potentially useful
[reply]

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