A Dumb Poll on Ratings

[TheMonotonePuppet]

So, on a scale of perfection, 1 ? to 5????? (i.e. perfection), the scale starting at 1 and not 0, and no fractions of stars or ratings outside of this scale being possible, what is the rating of 3 ????

• Is it in the middle of the rating scale for you?
• Or is it 3/5ths of the way to perfect?

What is the rating of 1 ??

• Is it the lowest possible?
• Or is it simply better than 0, which is not a possibility in a rating in your philosophy of rating, because not even trash has zero value and is perfectly terrible.

As I was rating powers, I struggled, because I found myself flipflopping between which value I designated them in my mind.

You'll have four votes, and what will you do with them?! That's right! VOTE EVERYONE!!! *ding-ding-ding-ding* Make your choices, create rifts between friends, and duke it out for this all-important poll!!!*bass drum roll in the background* One for each of the four pairs of options, but obviously, you can easily choose the options that are completely contrary to each other to be an amusing contrarian!!! *cheers, whistles, applause*

 

[HelloHound]

I think my brain is too addled to make proper sense of anything, here's an emoji: ??

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

If the scale is from 1 to 5, I don't see 0 as valid unless the rating is not applicable. Not rated
3 is average to me.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

I think my brain is too addled to make proper sense of anything, here's an emoji: ??

HelloHound's brain is as fried as the hell she comes from! Thanks for the emojis!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

If the scale is from 1 to 5, I don't see 0 as valid unless the rating is not applicable. Not rated
3 is average to me.

@Prince_Azmiran_Myrian I find 3 being the average to be really weird. Rating choices that are skewed to the middle weird me out... Why is that the case for you?! It's weird!!!

 

[georgelee5786]

genius

 

[TsumiHokiro]

Why are we answering questions with questions? This has confused this chick...

 

[J_Chemist]

1-5 is a sort of bell curve for me in that higher/lower scores require more justification than say a 3 star. 0 stars, as previously mentioned, means that you have no opinion or have not come to a conclusion thus far.

In order to give a higher or lower score on the range, you need to have justifications beyond "I like this" or "I dislike this". Both ends of the spectrum require an actual balance of emotion and evidence to back up your rating. Whether you provide evidence of poor characterization, poor grammar, or plot holes in the case of a low rating, or excellent versions of both for a higher rating. Hence why a 1 Star may weigh more heavily on a writer than a 5 star: a 1 Star rating (or similarly anything below a 3 star in general) means there is something fundamentally wrong with their story. It doesn't just suck but it's downright egregious.

As for a 5 Star, it's a perfect book. Good characters, pacing, plot, grammar, style, etc. Everything lines up and their book flows. It doesn't actually need to be perfect but needs to at least be close to it. Less actually perfect and more that any issues would just be nitpicking.

3 Stars are baseline opinions, if I'm being honest. It's kind of like selecting the "neutral" box on a questionnaire. You felt that the story was good but not terrible and you'll probably keep reading it, or you may not. Dunno. Up in the air. Depends on how the chapters roll. You're interested enough to give an opinion, but not interested enough to sway to either direction.

However, while a 3 star is a baseline opinion that doesn't take to either side: such opinions are the most important if not the only important ones because these individuals haven't been swayed to either side. They see the good parts of your book but also the shitty parts, yet they continue to read. They provide feedback that is accurate on both ends and will fully point out flaws in some chapters while also pointing out great spots. The 3 Stars are your balance beams. They center the scale and give you equal balance in a form of even feedback.

Edit: No, I'm not voting. Voting means you play the puppet's game and the puppet is like a card dealer in a casino.

 

[2wordsperminute]

Mid is a terrible word because it has ceased to mean average and now means something more like "not worth the time". However it is for a reason that happened, as since there is just too much to consume, one has been essentially forced to only consume the highest quality product. But I've drifted off topic, 3 is average. Not bad but not good. Something you couldn't really say had any good parts and didn't have anything you disliked, or maybe just something that stayed close enough to the middle that what you may have liked and disliked equaled out to leave not much of an impression.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

@Prince_Azmiran_Myrian I find 3 being the average to be really weird. Rating choices that are skewed to the middle weird me out... Why is that the case for you?! It's weird!!!

First, i think your post merged so I didn't get a notification.

To answer your question...
I dont understand why average is weird to you. I want to be able to say something is better or worse than average/ok. I don't like 1-10 scale because neither 5 nor 6 is average.

I appraise your poll as a 303oz t gold coin. ?

 

[Kureous]

I see 3 as gud, 4 as very gud, and 5 as perfect...

 

[Shard]

I've seen a real zero-star worthy story. The user got banned for it, so those in power agreed with me on how horrible it was.

Other than that, 1 is pretty damn poor, 2 is blegh, 3 is okay, 4 is good, 5 is practically perfect. Personal taste doesn't matter, only quality of the story. I've read plenty of stories that I'd rate 4 that I disliked quite a bit and dropped. I generally don't rate because that would drop the score, because people seem to mostly use 1 or 5 with nothing between.

 

[TransCatGirl]

A 4.5 star rating would usually sound like a good rating, but if the story has an average of 4.7 then your 4.5 is a negative rating which lowers the average. This means that sometimes you either give the same rating to fics you like and fics you love or you let the rating for a fic you like lower the average.

People will sometimes give a lot more 1 star and 5 star ratings because it's either improving or worsening the average and they want their rating to move the average as much as possible.

I worked out these problems on royalroad and am not sure how apparent it is here.

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

Why are we answering questions with questions? This has confused this chick...

I live to confuse!

I've seen a real zero-star worthy story. The user got banned for it, so those in power agreed with me on how horrible it was.

Other than that, 1 is pretty damn poor, 2 is blegh, 3 is okay, 4 is good, 5 is practically perfect. Personal taste doesn't matter, only quality of the story. I've read plenty of stories that I'd rate 4 that I disliked quite a bit and dropped. I generally don't rate because that would drop the score, because people seem to mostly use 1 or 5 with nothing between.

@Shard I mean, I definitely agree with you on there. There was one story where, to my eternal regret, I clicked on the ad for it. The first chapter was fine, albeit very low quality. But then, I found out the main character was this lewd beastgirl getting off on being a voyeur of nonconsentual relationships between some old fucker and a little girl, with some weird piss and vore kinks between her parents... all in the second chapter....
#ScarredforLife

First, i think your post merged so I didn't get a notification.

To answer your question...
I dont understand why average is weird to you. I want to be able to say something is better or worse than average/ok. I don't like 1-10 scale because neither 5 nor 6 is average.

I appraise your poll as a 303oz t gold coin. ?

@Prince_Azmiran_Myrian Huh... I was hoping I fixed it... But I guess that didn't happen!
I think it's because I thought you meant average as in the way @J_Chemist views the rating scale (like a bell curve with the other stuff he mentioned). That is what's weird. But thanks for explaining! Sounds your version of "average" is quite different from J_chemist. Now he's the only weird one. (~And this Gaming Manager of Puppet Casinos is not saying he is weird because he won't play my game. No sirreeeee Bob! It's totally because of his rating is strange. For sure, for surrrre.)

YAY!!! ~Money, money, ain't it funny. In a rich man's word~ I'm high value, babe! Let's goooo!!

 

[billydbd]

i, too, like emojis

 

[TheMonotonePuppet]

i, too, like emojis

Emojis are life! Life is emojis!

 

[Notadate]

You’re dumb as, one sec let me check my door. Hope it isn’t a assassin someone just sent

 

[SsemouyOnan]

This is Scribblehub, there exists three practical ratings

5 star - me likey
1 star - me no likey
Anything else - im feeling special today

 

[Satansoul]

I often give five stars and sometimes four stars, I have no idea what it looks like less than that.

 

[Woolen_Monkey]

?? hello from the other side!

 

[TheEldritchGod]

1+2+3+4+5=15/5=3
Ergo, the average is 3.