Problems with Consumer Ratings
from the most-people-have-bad-taste dept
A somewhat amusing article from Salon about all of the new consumer rating and review sites that claim they'll help you find the best of something, based on other consumer's ratings. The problem with that is that the ratings often seem suspect, such as Rolling Rock being named the second best beer. Worth reading.
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What, no "Hank, the angry, drunken dwarf?"
Another problem lies in determining which choices to include in the voting. People are always griping that the choice they wanted to vote for wasn't included (especially on Slashdot). You could have a two-stage voting process, nominations then the real vote, but there's no instant gratification there, and it doesn't capture the people who were just passing through well: they might vote on one stage or the other, but probably not both. You can let people add their own choices, but then you get the votes being split between "Alan Keyes" and "Allen Keys."
And anyway, I like Alan Keyes...
Jon Acheson.
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