Exhange Rating is Down the Gutter

I have noticed over the last few months that an absurd number of tracks are being incredibly overrated. Seriously guys, a rating under a "9" isn't bad! Yet you guys act like it is! As a result, people seem to rate each others tracks really high when they don't deserve that high of a rate, just so they will receive a high rating as well. A 5 is an average score, and just about every coaster on the exchange is about average in all honesty...yet every track is rated on a 7 to 9 scale.

There surely are tracks that deserve 8s and 9s, but all of them? No. I hope some other people have been noticing this problem too...there is seriously a lack of rating going on now and it kinda ruins the flow of the exchange. It really has become sorta boring now. I remember like 2 years ago when everyone would rate and the site was just SO much more fun because of the activity. More people will make more quality rides if there is quality rating going on. Right now the rating going on is pretty trashy for the most part...its not worth working on a track for nothing to come out of it (or at least nobody verbalizes such!)

I don't know if y'all can catch my drift from that, but I hope the point somehow gets across. We need to make our exchange more active and productive by rating each other! It makes it much more fun and worthwhile.

[Oscar]

yeah, staff should get out there and start rating tracks, but seeing how we are operating, that doesn't look likely. We as staff could download and ride and remove rates we feel are not deservice of said rating even if they are well explained or not.

I couldn't agree more.

On a practical side, the current rating trends are killing off the ability to discern good rides from average rides. Rating from 7-9 has way less sensitivity than rating from, say, 2-8, even if it makes you look like a jerk. I would rate most of my rides at least 2 points lower than the average rater does.

I'm not a good rater and I don't rate much but I don't usually get any rates, I wouldn't care if they were low even 2s but I don't get anything

^^Nice use of ethos there, lol. I agree though, I know some of my rides are overrated...pretty much every track is.

^That's the thing, every single person needs to get more involved. If you post rides on the exchange, and expect rates, maybe it would be nice for you to rate as well!

Dude u are so right... Now that i think of it, i really need to start rating lower than i have. If we keep rating really high it gives peoples creations less of a stand out...

I agree, we all (including me) should start thinking about how we rate.

[jayman]

actually i dont know, it's a funny thing, there's rides these days that are pretty crummy, but they get higher rates than much better rides from a few years ago. BUT i do have to say that these new rides, well, they do rate well in tech because the tools and technology and information has become more accessible. if you know how to use things available to make the ride superior technically you deserve every bit of your rate in tech, on the other hand this can lead to tracks that might ride so well in the sim that many may not notice a lack of adrenaline or especially originality, and rides like these have become a trend over the last two years
personally i've been hesitant to participating much in rating lately. i want to be honest in my rates, but the last time i gave one that i considered even a little high for the quality of the ride i was whined at over less than .2 descrepancy between a rate on this and another site..

[Turbo]

I completely agree.

Here's a porposal: make it manditory for people to read the "Rating Guide" before they can access the exchange...

I've noticed that a s******d of people on this site are looking at a coaster and saying "Cool Awesome Ride Cool." Then gives them FULL 10's. Just because a ride looks cool doesnt mean it is cool. Thats right, i just said that.

Originally posted by Turbo

I completely agree.

Here's a porposal: make it manditory for people to read the "Rating Guide" before they can access the exchange...

lol. Then people just scroll through it and click the button at the bottom...

I don't think the over rates would be as obtrusive if more people that actually know how to rate, rated.

Hmmm, all of this seems oddly familiar ...

How about instead of posting in this topic, go out and rate some rides my fellow members!

I'd like to say that I have only up loaded a few tracks since joining the site. Non of my tracks have ever been rated to high because I'm not really that good at building. I've never taken the time to try to learn any of the formulas used in some of the available programs other than AHG. I really enjoy downloading coasters from others although I don't rate a lot based on the reasons given above. If I can't build as well as most people on here I don't feel I can give a good rate either. That said, it does seem as though there is a "click" on the site and those people only rate each others rides and if your not part of that click you don't get rates. I've also noticed the give me a good rate and I'll give you a good rate mentality not sure it's fair but it seems like it's what goes on more often than not. I do enjoy the exchange though and will leave comments rather than rates until I feel I'm "qualified".

[Turbo]

Originally posted by Lewis13

How about instead of posting in this topic, go out and rate some rides my fellow members!

Agreed.

The thing about this is that people will have different opinions on rides. My roller coaster tastes are....very different than some others. Rides that maybe given 9s or higher may be boring for me (so I don't rate them). I rate them how I feel they should be rated.

Some amazing intamin accelerator ride that everyone here loves may get a lower score. I may give a 9 for technical, but a 6 for adrenaline. So, for me at least, my ratings are not like "hay neat coaster 10" but how I feel they should be rated.

[Coasterkidmwm]

It's because all of the emos rate each others tracks and test them and uprate everything to hell.

Emo Raters Club needs to raise their standards.

I have to agree, though I think this is NoLimits-Community wide, not just this site. I have been saying for years that when using a 10 point scale, for some reason most people forget the first 6 or so numbers. It's not just in the quality of ratings though, it's the fact that an ok ride gets a 7, an average ride gets an 8, and a "good" ride gets a 9. That's not to say I don't think people go way too easy in their rates, though.

I generally don't rate over here for the fact that I think it's more strict here than Coastersims (GASP). I myself like very much to use the full rating scale and try to go far into detail explaining things, not just saying that I like or dislike a ride. That doesn't seem to be how it goes over here, as it seems like when someone gets a rate with 6s on it, despite how in-depth it is explaining itself, it gets deleted or the numbers get removed. If that's going to be the case, I feel like it's not worth typing up a long detailed rate just for it to be removed because I didn't give the person 9s across the board.

I really hope this improves at some point, because I would like to rate here. I like to think that as much of a dick as I am, I can give some decent advice to help someone better their rides once in a while.

[Oscar]

If it gets deleted, send me a private message so that I can find out why. A well explained rate shouldn't be deleted.

[hyyyper]

Ah..the good old days.

I guess there is very little we can do about it. One option would be to get rid of the rating system and people just leave comments.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Also when people get bitchy at you for pointing out flaws (pay attention here emos!) it makes you not want to rate anything they've made.

I say leave ratings in hyyyper. Yes, the rates are often inflated...but that's happening for a lot of tracks, so while the average may be higher, one can still somewhat compare tracks rated a decent number of times amongst themselves. No, you can't really compare as much inter-site, because the standards and averages are different. However, I still like that there are ratings for many reasons, and I think high averages takes a backseat to the other helpful aspects of numbers.

I also don't think people should rate X points lower for every track just because of the high averages, but instead take each design on a track-by-track basis and really think about what it deserves by itself and relative to other rides released, keeping in mind the scale that others have mentioned.

Originally posted by Coasterkidmwm

Also when people get bitchy at you for pointing out flaws (pay attention here emos!) it makes you not want to rate anything they've made.

[Coasterkidmwm]

I don't know if anyone has noticed but I don't leave numbers anymore for that reason...

Also ya'll are doing a GREAT job of reinforcing negative stereotypes about gay people.

I personally try to detail my rates, explaining what is improvable, and what is already good.

I have too noticed several BS rates. They seem to be paragraphs, and explain [i]maybee[/]i one thing that is flawed with the track, and the rest is all glory for the builder, causing the builder to slack off, and get careless with areas, thinking they can still get a 9 or a 10. I think the staff here needs to tighten the knot about rating, maybee recruit some people specifically to review rates.. [:)]

Just my $0.02..