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Post Ratings
build version: arbitrary numeral
based on discussion here: x
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Table of Contents

1. A Brief Overview of Post Ratings
2. Weaknesses of Post Ratings
3. Solutions
4. Current Progress: Testing & Beyond
5. Outline of Possible Ratings & Reasoning Behind Them
6. Conclusion
7. Questions/Concerns/plums is a babe (i know)​

Brief Overview of Post Ratings
Post Ratings, designed by Luke Foreman, is a vast improvement upon XenForo's built-in "Like" system. With the ability to add, subtract, and adjust the Like system to your liking (haw haw), your forum will be able to create a unique way for forum members to evaluate posts, and have the confidence to say that their posts are worth more than a simple "like".

Features of Post Ratings include:

• Fully Customizeable Ratings: You can create as many and whatever ratings you would like! There is no limit, and your creative potential can soar.
• Forwards and Backwards Compatible with XenForo: Likes before implementing Post Ratings will pass on as "Likes" in the new system. If you decide to remove the add-on for whatever reason, all ratings made will be counted as Likes (negative ratings will also carry over, but subtract from your Like count).
• Ratings Moderation: Staff members with the appropriate permissions can remove ratings on posts. This allows staff to take action on "Dislike Campaigns" in a similar vein to Mass Negative Rep Sprees on vBulletin.
• Postbit and Member Card Inclusion: Ratings can show on your postbit, either in a bar or a list of the type of Ratings (Positive, Neutral, and Negative) you have received. The List Style may also appear on the Membercard.

Spoiler: Example 1 - Bar

Spoiler: Example 2 - List

Spoiler: Example 3 - Membercard

• Member List Integration: You can search the Member List by who has the Most Positive, Most Neutral, and Most Negative Ratings on the board, similar to the previous functioning of vBulletin.
• Alerts/News Feed/Recent Activity/Rating You've Received: This functions pretty much the same as it does currently. However, you can now also view Ratings You've Given, which allows you to see every Rating you've ever given in the past!
• Admin Interface: Admins are given more flexibility, with the ability to enable and disable certain Ratings in certain sections of the forum.
• Trophy System: Receive materials for the Pin Shop for each level of Rating you achieve!

As you can see, there is quite a bit of flexibility offered with the Post Ratings system, which will enable the forum a similar experience that vBulletin's Reputation had to offer, but with a greater ability to refine and tailor as we go forward with the site.



Weaknesses of Post Ratings
Despite its many features, Post Ratings does have a few notable weaknesses:

1. Lack of a Built in Limit
Post Ratings does not have a built in limit for its ratings. This would mean that it would be similar to the way Likes currently function, in that members can give out an unlimited amount of ratings. This has the potential to see abuse on both sides of the matter, with certain groups raining positive ratings on one another, and others using it to rain negative ratings on those they see fit.

2. Lack of a Commentary System
This is also a weakness of the current Likes system. Members are unable to give commentary with their ratings. In my opinion, I don't see this as much of a detractor, but I know many members have expressed interest in getting this feature back. At the time of posting, the developer has stated that he has no plans for adding a commentary system. However, a few other forum owners/administrators on the XenForo Community site have expressed a similar interest in this system.



Solutions
In the past few days, I've been looking throughout the XenForo Community site in search of additional add-ons to alleviate the aformentioned weaknesses. While the comments one is out of our hands currently, there is an add-on to add a limit to likes and is fully functional with Post Ratings. However, it does have a wee price tag of $5.00.

If we are unable to acquire the add-on, my solution is to simply disable the Dislike feature.



Current Progress: Testing & Beyond
Post Ratings is installed and running on a testing site for KHV. Currently, the setup looks like the following:

Spoiler

View attachment 38246

As you can see in the screenshot above, the ratings will be accessed right below the signature. They can be either entirely hidden until hovered over, as displayed there, or showing fully at all points in time. Additionally, they can be placed below the post controls (as pictured there), or above the signature line.

View attachment 38248 As you can see, it ends up looking ugly as ****.

Once you rate a post, an overlay with all the people who rated that post will show. This will include the type of rating that they've given.

View attachment 38247

An unfortunate side to this is that this feature is public. If you give a negative rating to someone else's post, everyone will be able to see that rating. I'm still looking into this aspect, but I don't believe it is too much of a downside at the moment (especially considering that, in the past, you could see the person who had derepped you, though it was only between the two people).

As mentioned earlier, staff members are able to moderate these ratings and remove them if there is evidence of abuse/mass like campaigns.

Additionally, to explain why some things regarding the ratings (white boxes, etc.) looks off in the images, the styling is still very much a work in progress! We haven't really had the time to get running with it yet, so everything is still at the most basic stages.

This is especially true of the icons. Llave has signed up to put together some excellent ones for us, but I told him to wait a bit so we can hamper out one of the most important parts of the process, and one of the bigger reasons I'm writing this thread up for you guys:



Outline
Over the past few months, I've thought of a potential system we could implement for Post Ratings. As a result, I've come up with the following. This is a very, very rough draft, mind you, and as such is obviously subject to changes and improvements as we move along and talk this out.

The possible ratings that I believe we could use are:

Rating	Type of Rating	Forums to Be Enabled In	Explanation
Like	Positive	All	Basically what we have now. You see a post, it makes you chuckle, giggle, PTERODACTYL SCREECH, or whatever. You say "i like this, i like this" and click the button while hopefully not saying it to yourself more than twice.
Useful	Positive	Feedback & Assistance, Code Vault, Technology	There's usually quite a bit of referential things posted in these sections that you can often look back on and refer to. The Code Vault is riddled with codes, Technology has quite a few threads about tech and advice on browsers/computers/etc., and Feedback & Assistance can utilize this to show support for a suggestion and such if you might be too busy to post right away or are unsure how to voice your support.
Informative	Positive	Kingdom Hearts (all), Interests (all)	A lot of topics in these forums revolve around discussion and can open someone's eyes to something they hadn't realized or considered before, or teach someone something they didn't know about. Posts such as Claw's on Prescriptivism vs Descriptivism, libre's thread on the Next Gen Systems, the many show/movie/book reviews, and even explanations and theories on Kingdom Hearts set out to inform people of what things are and what the possibilities could be, and I don't think a simple 'like' really expresses that too much.
Creative	Positive	SpamZone, Playground, Creativity Corner	There are quite a few really inventive things that have spawned from the SpamZone and the Playground, such as the KH-Vids Unlocked game and Jiku's choose your own adventure story. I think it will also help bolster more confidence in people to post in the post counting creative sections as well. Even if there may not currently be too much in the way of replies, as often goes in the Writer's Nook as of late, having a way to say "I am not sure what to say, but this is really creative!" can help give the appreciation you may not be able to phrase right after reading.
Dislike	Negative	All	Can't really have a "Like" without "Dislike" ha. Jokes aside, this one is very much up to the community to decide if they would like or not. In the Why Rep Should Return: Our Posts Are Worth More Than a Like thread, I've seen valid arguments from both those who would be in support of a 'negative rep' and those against it. I don't have a current preference, but I do want to reiterate that if we do not get the Like Limit mod mentioned above, Dislike will be disabled.
Agree & Disagree	Neutral	Kingdom Hearts (all), Debate Corner	To be honest these are rather last minute ones I thought of recently. I think they'd be good for inspiring continuation of (peaceful) discussion. It may help you to refine your argument for a theory or what you're siding with more, and since both would be neutral, it wouldn't take or add anything to your Like count.

​

Conclusion
From my perspective, I believe Post Ratings is our best option to both create a system that has some of the merits of the Reputation system while also enhancing our current Like system. With it, I believe we'll be able to have the best of both, and can easily and swiftly improve it as we move ahead with the future.

What I need you guys to do is to read through this thread and give feedback on the ratings suggested, as well as suggest your own!

At most, three suggested ratings can be added. I would like to keep our initial pool of them on the small side so we can judge effectiveness and tweak them more easily as opposed to going through like 10-15.

There has been a lot of support for an improved Like system, and I really want you all to be able to get involved with the change and help shape it up to be something the community would enjoy for quite a while.



FAQ

Yes! In the Admin CP, there is an option to disable showing the amount of Positive/Neutral/Negative ratings one has received.

Spoiler: All Showing

View attachment 38242 View attachment 38243

Spoiler: Only Positive Enabled

View attachment 38244 View attachment 38245

At the current moment, we will only be showing the amount of positive ratings you've received.

Good question! Likes will remain the same when we go to Post ratings. If we install & ever decide to uninstall Post Ratings, your Likes will not be affected. The ratings will be converted into Likes. Say I had 4000 Likes, 2 Dislikes, and 5 Neutrals. The 2 Dislikes would count as someone "unliking" a post of mine, and the 5 Neutrals will not effect anything, leaving me with a count of 3998 post-uninstall.

Nope! The numbers are unlinked, and just show how many ratings you've received and dealt out. I'm still looking into disabling the table and only showing the bar/numeral, but yeah.

Vote vote vote.

What is Question Time?

Note:
Miles removed for lack of votes.
Mike in danger of removal from last week's save!
Nights and Rainshine added to the poll!

read this new information on how removals in the poll will work

@hatok
@Cookiie
@Mike
@godhead
@Nights
@Loxare
@iwantedtoexplode
@Square Enix-chan
@EvilMan_89
@Mixt

I bought a year long PS+ sub yesterday, and got access to this again. If anyone would be up for it in like...an hour or two, I would defs be up for playing some together. PSN is pluramsey & I (currently) have a level 13 Siren.

Gimme yours and I will add you to the list.

Plums: pluramsey

Character: Maya, Level 13 (Siren)​