dsource and ranking vs. rating

[Brad Anderson]

Knud Soerensen wrote:
> In the tread DSSS, Dsource and cpan it have been suggested that dsource should
> implement a rating system like on the matlab site and the firefox extension site. 
> 
> I would like to suggest a ranking system instead of the rating system.
> 
> In a ranking system every user have a list with rankings,
> when ranking a new project the user add it into the ranking between 
> two other projects.
> 
> Some of the problem i see with a rating system is:
> 
>   * Different users might use different bases.
>   One user might examine code quality, user interface, documentation etc.
>   and give 3 points on basis on this analyses.
>   Another might just give 5 point to every project he likes.
>   That a ranking system compare the project with each other help make a
>   common basis for reference.  
> 
> 
>   * It difficult for a user to change his base.
>   Imagine a user discover a new brilliant project 
>   that is much better than the project he already
>   have rated with max points. 
>   To rate the new project fairly he would have 
>   to go back and re-rate all his rated projects. 
>   With ranking he can just put it at the top.
> 
>   * Low differentiation between top projects.
>   Given most users only rating the projects they like.
>   As a result,an extremely good and a very good project will have almost the same average score and 
>   the total sum will tell more about the popularity than how good it is.   
>    
> 
> A advantages of the ranking system is that it provide 
> much more data for data mining.
> 
> Your can extract a value and make a simple average like with a ranking.
> Your can run most voting system on the data, but you also have data which can 
> tell you that n users think that project x is better than project y. etc.

Interesting... How does this handle the differences in projects' goals?   i.e.
rating Tango higher than Derelict - because they're two different categories,
or goals for end-user use?

BA