FP RATINGS: case study

[Paul Stix]

I've read through most of the suggestions/opinions in this thread and some of the new suggestions are a bit overcomplicating.... although I kinda like where lloyd was going with the gold and so on levels by only allowing mods to vote.

The ratings on the FP are really just there for fun and have been there since the site began... now do they really serve a purpuse? Well, speaking personally, I would have to say that the ratings happen to reflect very accurately of what I feel about a track... but obviously I know others don't agree with them.

So, I don't have a problem removing the ratings and just having FB likes on the FP (and maybe I'll add tweets as well). It is true that if the track has been FPed... than why does it need a voting system after the fact.

again all good arguments... so I'll leave it to you guys .... get rid of the ratings or keep them... either way is fine by me.

I will say however that I don't have any control over FB likes as they are on the FB database... so I wouldnt even be able to order the tracks by most to least likes for example. The truth is, I don't even know exactly how they calculate the likes in the first place haa.

I made a quick example page of what the FP would look like without the ratings... one good thing about it is there would be more tracks on each page as opposed to the 8 per page at the moment.

check it out and awesome feedback guys!

http://www.mashstix.com/test2.php

- Paul Stix

[lloyd]

I'm gonna take my mod hat off for a minute now and give feedback as a casual visitor;

to be honest with the long list of faceless tracks i don't really think it is showcasing the individual tracks very well, It's not exciting me or inviting me to click on anything.
Have you seen the way that livingelectro.com displays it's frontpaged tracks... It entices you in, ignore all the chat boxes and crap round the sides but the displayed tracks look great
take a look - http://www.livingelectro.com/

[onelove]

I've read through a bunch of the posts and here is my take on it...

I don't really see what a person can gain by downvoting a track- I mean, what.. you might get an extra day on the FP for your track I guess? I don't imagine anyone downvoting out of spite (not to say it doesn't happen) but moreso that I would just think it's more on the less likely side of things to occur then anything (and perhaps even something people's egos just might not be able to deal with )

Facebook likes is a decent suggestion but my only problem with that (from a personal standpoint) is that I don't "like" very many things. I try to keep them to a minimum unless I really, really like something because it's just so overused... it's like beating a dead horse. It's supposed to basically show up on facebook as a "check this out" to my friends but I feel like it probably just gets filtered out with the thousands of other crap things on facebook.

Also I'd have to agree with Lloyd on the cosmetic point... just simply have the "like" next to it doesn't seem very enticing... especially when most tracks don't even get that many to begin with. Seeing something like "32 votes- 87%" gives me more faith in a track from a listener standpoint than 6 facebook likes does.

Having mods only vote on tracks is another good idea but I feel like that puts too much power (and hence pressure) on the mods. I know a lot of people don't have all the time in the world for starters.. plus it's a bit hard to vote solely on personal opinion. I mean even coming from a technical standpoint each producer has different priorities when making or "judging" a track.

Overall I think the system is pretty much fine as is. It's far from perfect but I just don't think people will ever stop complaining.. especially when it has to do with a touchy and subjective issue like something they've produced.

I hate to say it but I really just feel like anyone thinking "I bet someone purposefully downvoted my track" is probably just making up excuses to ease their wounded ego. It might have happened once or twice but for it to actually have an effect you'd need an army of people downvoting something quite a few times to actually change the track... if you have 30 votes and a 60% rating it's not because someone maliciously downvoted you 15 times.

Man up and try to learn from it rather than claim foul play... mashstix just doesn't quite seem like the immature lot this thread is making it out to be.

I'm also a bit new here so it could be.. but there's my 2 cents. If any change were to occur then the mod system seems best because it has accountability but that's about it.

[[MMM]]

I think in the 'fair' way, it is much better like that Paul. But I have to admit, it makes it very dull looking indeed...
(although, that can be easely fixed with a nice designed surrounding)

...Have you seen the way that livingelectro.com displays it's frontpaged tracks... It entices you in, ignore all the chat boxes and crap round the sides but the displayed tracks look great
take a look - http://www.livingelectro.com/

Yes, it looks great, but if you look at the tracks posted, they are all in the same catagory.
Here we put all kinds of mashup styles / genres on the same page...

Or we have to make catagories too, like they do on livingelectro (electro / house / dance / dubstep), but then only 2.
As we once had (next to the regular Radio Stix) a Radio Stix Alternative, we could do that with the frontpage by putting a big link to an 'Alternative Frontpage'.
Like that we can keep things as they are, the only difference would be the extra page (with the same layout, but different tracks).
Then I would not at all be bottered with voting systems of any kind on any page!!

Anyways, I rest my case with this comment. I think you'll come up with a great solution Paul

[garagara]

+one(love)

[lloyd]

I don't really see what a person can gain by downvoting a track

Hi Dave
Nothing at all is gained from downvoting on the frontpage, tracks leave the frontpage as new tracks arrive on it... you can't slow this proccess down by downvoting (you can on the sMashed page).
Downvoting does however happen here almost everyday. Indeed in the time it takes to click submit and returned to the frontpaged there has been voting when i've arrived to a track with 1x1star vote and 20% and then youll notice all the rest of the page has had its %ages dropped.
Over the summer we had a lot of new guys arrive and a lot of those didnt quite understand what mashstix was.. they expected us all to give them "NUFF RESPEC!!" and tell them all their tracks were "BANGIN!!" like all their freinds did on youtube... they didnt take kindly to being told that actually they were rather crap.
Also we had a spait of guys passing off mashups that weren't their own...they didnt take kindly to being called out.. so yep im afraid Mashstix does have a few haters.

Anyway back to the frontpage... we all agree that we leave it the same but add the shiny gold stars voted for by the Mods and guys who have reached 3/4 stars in the forums...all those in favour say "aye"... or +1 or whatever...

[lloyd]

Oh and [MMM] how would we ever decide what was an "alternative track".... they are mashups afterall

[[MMM]]

Oh and [MMM] how would we ever decide what was an "alternative track".... they are mashups afterall

The same way as some did with the "Radio Stix Alternative"

No seriously, I think a track is fitt for the alternative page if it has the same good features as other tracks that go to the frontpage, but where mods for example are saying: "...It might be a bit dark for the FP, but I'd love to see how it'll perform. Who's with me?!..." or "... I would like to frontpage this one, but maybe it's TOO different for the MashStix frontpage visitors..."

[lloyd]

It's our job to educate the frontpage listener, to open their ears to new things, not to tell them they might not be ready for that sort of music yet... I say keep it all on the same page.... it's the best way to introduce people to new stuff, sandwich it between something they are used to... like feeding a child vegetables

and I'll say again its not for us to second guess what the end user wants..we choose what we like... if we like it then there will be other out there who will like it too

[boris]

oh for a much simpler time when all we had was mashups and not "mainstream mashups" or "alternative mashups" or any other f**kin kind of mashups!!
its just music folks forget all the crap and lets all go back to just making frigging music!!!

oh and for those that complain about tracks getting voted down you've obviously not posted anything at the mashup charts have you, that goes on for practically everything posted there