Total newb questions

Wondering how Criticker works, or have a question that doesn't seem to fit under requests or bugs?
NonyaBeezWax
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Total newb questions

Post by NonyaBeezWax »

I'm sure i must be doing something wrong- whenever i have a question or feel like i don't understand something, the same questions have already been asked, there are usually a million tutorials if a person only looks. But i can't find anything..

Criticker is confusing. Awesome but confusing- are there any tutorials, videos, or similar that explain it like we're babies? The whole concept seems genius, i just don't understand why it's not working the way i think it should be.

For example, from the main page, on the right side is an area where you can "create my own recommendation". I pick suspense/thriller and date range 2005-2016 and hit go, the result is a foreign language film. I love foreign language films usually, but after a long day i don't really want to read, no big deal i hit go again and get another foreign language film. I hit it a dozen times, almost every one of them is foreign language.

I haven't gotten into the main functions yet because i don't understand them- the site has a general description of each thing, but i don't understand it nearly enough to know how to use it, when i try explore/recommendations, i some older titles, a lot of foreign language, i don't really watch older things, definitely not before the 70's, but it seems to think i'd like these- the PSI's are between 55 and 70 usually.

I have imported my IMDB ratings, i think around 1500 of them, very few are foreign language or earlier than 2000's. I have generated 50 more TCI's, in fact i think one of the last times it gave me a warning- it said it was going to tell on me or something for using it too much.. Is there a way to have it take what it knows so far and list the movies it knows about with the highest PSI on top, instead of just a handful of seemingly random titles?

Sorry for the length, i'm sure if i understood how it's working better i could answer my own questions.. Are there any in depth tutorials? Every other movie site just lists out movies in what seems to be an order that hollywood would prefer to see them, it's nice to see something different.

Thanks!

TheDenizen
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by TheDenizen »

If my understanding of the way Criticker works is correct (and it may not be), it generates TCIs (taste compatibility index) compared to other users based on how the tier of your scores compare for films you have both rated - the closer your tastes, the lower your TCI with a given user is. Then the PSIs (probable score indicator) are generated for films you haven't seen based on how those films were rated by people with similar TCI. The more movies you rate, the better it gets. (Also it is essential to rate a wide spectrum of films, good and bad. If you only rate movies you really like, it throws the calculations out of whack. I'm sure someone smarter than me can explain the math if you're interested)

The recommendation engine doesn't recommend you films similar to ones you've rated highly, it generally recommends things that people with similar TCI to you have rated highly. A lot of the users on this site are into foreign films, which is probably why you're seeing them pop up in the recommendation box often.

If you're looking for recommendations with more stringent criteria, use Full Database under the Explore tab. Set it show all titles, then apply filters as you like. Order by PSI and you should have a page full of good stuff.

Hope this helps :)

PeaceAnarchy
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by PeaceAnarchy »

NonyaBeezWax wrote:Is there a way to have it take what it knows so far and list the movies it knows about with the highest PSI on top, instead of just a handful of seemingly random titles?

Yes, under the You tab, click PSIs, then on the right you can pick filters, or just click on Full list of your PSIs and use the filters there. It takes you to this page: https://www.criticker.com/films/?filter=uzop
You can apply all the filters you want to this page. Personally I only filter out TV, but you may want to use the year range, or country filters. You can save filters too, so maybe create one for the years you want with any countries and then one for those years with the additional "only USA or UK filters" and then maybe one for only older films for when you're feeling adventurous.

You can also get there using the Full Database link as suggested by TheDenizen, which takes the same amount of steps but is a less interesting journey. :D

NonyaBeezWax
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by NonyaBeezWax »

Thanks, to both, that all makes sense- whenever i see a list of suggestions (PSI's), it's only with regards to how a particular other person's (kumpel) ratings compare to mine? So i'll see a different list of suggestions for each kumpel, right?

If i understand right, a kumpel is just a contact, or like a facebook friend, a TCI is the relationship between your ratings and the ratings of a particular kumpel, and a PSI is a movie recommendation? Or a list of movie recommendations on the basis of one particular TCI?

NonyaBeezWax
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by NonyaBeezWax »

I just used "generate more PSI's" and it gave me a screen full of movies- PSI's, or in other words, movie suggestions? The number to the right i see is the PSI score, what i'm "likely" to rate it. But this is the part i most don't understand- everyone says how accurate the PSIs are, especially after you've rated several dozen movies. But i have around 1500 rated (imported from IMDB)- someone mentioned you have to have rated movies you like as well as ones you didn't, and most all movies i;ve seen older that 1970 or so i gave poor ratings (i just don't care for older movies:)), very few foreign language movies have higher ratings just because i don't watch them very often, and especially older AND foreign language movies i wouldn't watch. I've never given an animated show a high rating- i don't care for animated movies or cartoons, and have plenty of them rated low, yet i keep getting animated films and older and/or foreign language movies, and the first two rows are all rated 70 and above, i know i'd never watch. Anyway if that's how it is, that's fine, i just thought i might have something set wrong.

When i use generate more PSI's- what user are the PSI's based off of, or is it an average from all of the kumpels i've added?
Last edited by NonyaBeezWax on Thu Mar 09, 2017 11:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

NonyaBeezWax
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by NonyaBeezWax »

Ok, i'll try to minimize how many questions i ask, otherwise we'll end up with a book.. There is a page that lets me generate 50 more TCI's. Do all of the TCI's i've generated before stay in my list (up to 1000 i think if i understand what the page says). But when you generate 50 more, the ones you get are the highest rated on criticker for you at that particular time, or is it just a random selection? In other words does it do any good to "generate more TCI's" a few times? Maybe i need to generate TCIs each time before looking for movie suggestions so it's more accurate. Also, after i generate TCI's, do i need to add people as kumpels in order for their ratings to have an effect when i generate recommendations (PSIs)?

NonyaBeezWax
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by NonyaBeezWax »

I supposed things become clearer as i use the site- i'm seeing new messages that i hadn't seen before:

The PSI is generated by averaging the opinions of your Top Users.
Criticker stores your top 1000 users, ordered by Taste Compatibility Index, and the first 10 who've seen Arise from Darkness are used to generate your PSI.
First, their film tiers are averaged. The resulting Average Tier is then translated into a score, based on your rankings.
At least 3 of your top 1000 users need to have seen the film, before a PSI can be generated.

So the PSI score apparently isn't about you and another user's ratings, but rather a group of other users, and the exact users used changes, depending on the movie that a PSI is being generated for. I think. It doesn't seem this complicated until i write it out.

There are lots of older movies, so i reordered the page of PSI's by year so the newest movies show first. But now almost all movies on current page are from 2017, but none of them have PSI scores. I clicked regenerate PSI's, but that doesn't give a score for them, i guess some movies don't have enough info to generate PSI's for, is there a way to exclude them? I didn't see anything in the filter section..

paulofilmo
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by paulofilmo »

Try: https://www.criticker.com/films/?filter ... 9zf1999zop

are the movies highlighted blue- good? shit? a mix?

hopefully you can see the filters i've used there. use the popularity filter to filter-out movies without psis. use the year filter to filter-out older movies.

and/or use movielens. you'll probably need an account first, but here's the imdb import link.

Ok, i'll try to minimize how many questions i ask, otherwise we'll end up with a book.. There is a page that lets me generate 50 more TCI's. Do all of the TCI's i've generated before stay in my list (up to 1000 i think if i understand what the page says). But when you generate 50 more, the ones you get are the highest rated on criticker for you at that particular time, or is it just a random selection? In other words does it do any good to "generate more TCI's" a few times? Maybe i need to generate TCIs each time before looking for movie suggestions so it's more accurate.


i'm not sure how much you've figured out on your own considering your last comment, but i don't think clicking the generate 50 more tcis button will stop you getting recs for '90s anime(, etc.)—not unless your top tcis also happen to like the same films as you and are similarly disinterested in foreign cinema (unlikely!).

Also, after i generate TCI's, do i need to add people as kumpels in order for their ratings to have an effect when i generate recommendations (PSIs)?

nope

i'm a bit Image forgive me

BadCosmonaut
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by BadCosmonaut »

NonyaBeezWax wrote:Thanks, to both, that all makes sense- whenever i see a list of suggestions (PSI's), it's only with regards to how a particular other person's (kumpel) ratings compare to mine? So i'll see a different list of suggestions for each kumpel, right?

If i understand right, a kumpel is just a contact, or like a facebook friend, a TCI is the relationship between your ratings and the ratings of a particular kumpel, and a PSI is a movie recommendation? Or a list of movie recommendations on the basis of one particular TCI?


I think a kumpel is just a friend on a friends list. I don't think the kumpel system interacts with the systems for TCI or PSI in any way. Kumpels are just for if you want to keep tabs on other users to see their new ratings or whatever.

TCI is not a relationship between your ratings and the ratings of only your kumpels. TCI is a measure of similarity between your ratings compared to another user's ratings. Whether that user is a kumpel to you doesn't influence the TCI between you.

I don't use the kumpel system at all, and there is no need to use it for purposes of TCI or PSI.

BadCosmonaut
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Re: Total newb questions

Post by BadCosmonaut »

NonyaBeezWax wrote:I just used "generate more PSI's" and it gave me a screen full of movies- PSI's, or in other words, movie suggestions? The number to the right i see is the PSI score, what i'm "likely" to rate it. But this is the part i most don't understand- everyone says how accurate the PSIs are, especially after you've rated several dozen movies. But i have around 1500 rated (imported from IMDB)- someone mentioned you have to have rated movies you like as well as ones you didn't, and most all movies i;ve seen older that 1970 or so i gave poor ratings (i just don't care for older movies:)), very few foreign language movies have higher ratings just because i don't watch them very often, and especially older AND foreign language movies i wouldn't watch. I've never given an animated show a high rating- i don't care for animated movies or cartoons, and have plenty of them rated low, yet i keep getting animated films and older and/or foreign language movies, and the first two rows are all rated 70 and above, i know i'd never watch. Anyway if that's how it is, that's fine, i just thought i might have something set wrong.


I have a similar issue to what you're describing. Instead of anime and foreign films, my top PSI list is flooded with anime and documentaries, which I rarely want to watch. The reason these are showing up is because enough other users who have similar tastes to you like those shows. Unfortunately, the best workaround I've found is to go through and ignore hundreds if not thousands of shows/movies I don't want to watch in order to get them out of my top PSI list. This is a huge hassle and is something you'll need to do once or twice a year as new items make their way up your list, but I don't know any other solution.

The ideal solution would be negative filters, but unfortunately this functionality has not been implemented yet. It possibly never will be.

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