Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Ideas to improve Criticker and new feature requests, as well as announcements about new enhancements.
andr
Posts: 36
1785 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2016 6:35 am

Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by andr »

I suggest taking in account starred reviews when a TCI is calculated. Lets assume a user A starred a review of another user B. When calculating the TCI of user A towards B, each starred review would be equivalent to A have one more common equally rated film with B (in addition to the common films they actually have).

I believe this would contribute to the following goals:
1. Hopefully better TCIs and PCIs
2. Users would be motivated to read the reviews (to see, which should be starred)
3. Users would be motivated to write the reviews (since they are read more)

mpowell
Posts: 3851
1201 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Fri Sep 09, 2005 10:22 am

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by mpowell »

Thanks for the suggestion! We'll write it down, for consideration... we definitely agree there are ways we could drive more attention to reviews.

Luna6ix
Posts: 501
4609 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 3:26 pm

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by Luna6ix »

That'd be a neat idea, but I doubt that it would really elevate attention to reviews. I can only really speak for myself, but I look at a TCI as some magic number that makes no sense to me, I have no idea why it is what it is and what goes into it and if I did know, I probably wouldn't understand.

On a different note, I bet you that if some sort of review badge system were implemented, you'd get people writing more. Like, a badge for a review with X amount of stars, a badge for writing X number of reviews total, one for X number of different people having given you stars. Ones for you to write X amount for different genres, you could go a billion different ways with it. I bet if you do that, you're going to have a heck of a lot of people write more reviews.

EDIT: Just occurred to me that if forum posts had badges too, you might get more forum activity.

boomdiddly
Posts: 11
1932 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 11:01 am

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by boomdiddly »

Yes, I think this is a great idea!
Matching up with someone's score for a film gives you some insight into how well you agree, but perhaps they love/hate the same film you do for completely different reasons. When I star a review, it shows that I agree with a user's reasons for loving or hating or feeling indifferent about a film.
Regardless of whether or not this drives users to write or read more reviews, I think it would be a nice integration into the TCI calculation. It would reward those who do choose to interact with other reviews, while having no effect on those who choose not to.

BadCosmonaut
Posts: 355
4400 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:08 am

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by BadCosmonaut »

I do not think this idea should be implemented.

If I star a mini review, it doesn't mean I agree with the reviewer's score or tier for that movie. In fact, sometimes I star a review even if I am polar opposite of how much I like the movie. If I star a review, it just means I like the review or think it's noteworthy somehow. Maybe it's funny. Maybe it points out something I didn't notice, like a theme or an excellent set design. Maybe it mentions an interesting bit of trivia. There are plenty of reasons I could star a review that have nothing to do with me sharing a similar taste in movies with that person.

For example, for Homeward Bound there's a mini review that points out something in the movie I never noticed before. Because of that review, I found the scene online, and it was hilarious. I show it to people sometimes. I starred that review and would have starred it even if he had given the movie a 10 and even if I had given it a 1. Why? Because it points out something which I think others might want pointed out to them as well.

If this change happens, I will star reviews less than I do now. I'd probably stop entirely. Why? Because I don't want my TCI to change simply because I starred a review. If it's possible for me to star a review of someone I strongly disagree with, then my TCI could become less accurate by starring a review by that person. Rather than risk lessening the accuracy of my TCI, I would just not bother with it.

I would also go back and unstar every review I've starred (if it's possible for me to easily find them all), for the same reasons mentioned above. If I can't find them all, I'd probably make a new, fresh account to import my ratings to, then delete this account.

Last, I would stop writing reviews (and delete all my current reviews) if it works the other way around as well, in the sense that if other people star my reviews it might possibly reduce the accuracy of my TCI.

My primary use of this site is movie recommendations. I can't see any good reason to implement a feature which could lessen the accuracy of the recommendations engine.

Luna6ix
Posts: 501
4609 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 3:26 pm

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by Luna6ix »

I didn't really think of that, sometimes I have a habit of starring reviews that I find amusing, even if I don't agree with them. It's possible that could negatively effect accuracy, but I have a feeling that more of them are starred in agreement, rather than disagreement.

karamazov.
Posts: 114
1727 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2013 11:34 pm

re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by karamazov. »

Terrible idea, tbh.

BadCosmonaut
Posts: 355
4400 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:08 am

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by BadCosmonaut »

Luna6ix wrote:I didn't really think of that, sometimes I have a habit of starring reviews that I find amusing, even if I don't agree with them. It's possible that could negatively effect accuracy, but I have a feeling that more of them are starred in agreement, rather than disagreement.


I understand what you're saying. Unfortunately, if you're suggesting that it will "balance out," TCI doesn't work like that. Even if you star more people you agree with than disagree with, then ones you disagreed with will still be elevated over people you agree with but haven't starred.

The net result of this is that TCI accuracy is possibly lower for at least everyone who uses the star system and at worst for everyone on the site.

boomdiddly
Posts: 11
1932 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2014 11:01 am

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by boomdiddly »

The suggested change would only have the smallest effect on TCIs, as a single star = one more movie you have in common. I can understand if you wouldn't want such a change if you are a TCI purist. However, I think this would be a fun opt-in feature, and I wouldn't mind having those whose opinions I find valuable (even just for hilarity) be more highly ranked.

BadCosmonaut
Posts: 355
4400 Ratings
Your TCI: na
Joined: Mon Sep 16, 2013 7:08 am

Re: Starred reviews should affect TCIs

Post by BadCosmonaut »

boomdiddly wrote:The suggested change would only have the smallest effect on TCIs, as a single star = one more movie you have in common. I can understand if you wouldn't want such a change if you are a TCI purist. However, I think this would be a fun opt-in feature, and I wouldn't mind having those whose opinions I find valuable (even just for hilarity) be more highly ranked.


I agree with you that if this feature is implemented, it should be opt-in. But if it's such a small effect, then why would it even be worth doing?

Also, I think it would only be a small effect for someone who gives out only a few stars. What about someone who gives out a lot? I think it's reasonably possible that the effect could be significant for someone who gives out a lot of stars.

As for how fun the feature would be, I guess that's subjective. I do think it's fun to discuss and review movies, and I like starring mini reviews, but I can't say I'd get any fun out of knowing that starring mini reviews is changing my TCI. It seems like there would be better ways to encourage users to both write mini reviews and to star mini reviews.

One last thought I had about this. This entire site is built around the recommendations engine. The engine is probably why most if not all of us found this site and why we stayed. It seems unusual to modify the engine for this feature. I can't think of any other feature this kind of modification was made for, at least that is known publicly. I think a proposed feature that is going to modify the engine should only be implemented if there is a really good reason to do so. Like if the feature would bring in thousands of new users a month that wouldn't join or stay otherwise. Or if it would greatly improve the community of the current users. Or if it would increase the accuracy of the engine for every user.

This feature doesn't come close to any of that. At best, it's a little fun for a few people. At worst, it negatively effects some peoples' PSI and/or causes those people who know about it to stop giving stars. It just doesn't seem worth it.

Post Reply