Burda Style For people who sew

I would like to know how the rating is working

what is a good rating and what is a bad rating

Sep 3, 2009, 07.47 PM by tschasta

• ShareThis

32 Posts

• 

  Sep 5, 2009, 01.30 PMby alden

  The more pink dots you give the better the rating, this helps others decide if it is a good pattern or not or how popular a particular project is. Does that answer your question?

  1 Reply

  • 

    Sep 5, 2009, 04.52 PMby tschasta

    yes of course – thanks a lot

• 

  Sep 5, 2009, 04.52 PMby tschasta

  yes of course – thanks a lot

  1 Reply

  • 

    Sep 5, 2009, 04.54 PMby tschasta

    this was a mistake, excuse me

• 

  Sep 5, 2009, 11.03 PMby nehmah

  Not to worry, I left a message on your wall. Cordially, Nehmah
• 

  Sep 10, 2009, 06.17 PMby leeshv

  Personally, I think the rating system is definately flawed. It really irks me to see projects that obviously take hours to complete…and are very good quality, get a 1, 2, or 3 dot rating. Other projects which lack creativity of any kind and are completed in minutes get a full count. I realize that this is probably due to people rating their own projects. Maybe there is a better way, or maybe projects shouldn’t be “rated” at all. Leave the rating for ‘How-To’s" and patterns.

  4 Replies

  • 

    Sep 10, 2009, 11.05 PMby ralarkins

    I don’t think the rating system is flawed as it is very subjective for projects. What surprises me is to see a project with 5 stars but no comments. It seems to be a rating of eye candy appeal as opposed to technique, workmanship quality, or innovativeness.

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 05.50 AMby geid

    Chiming in on one point: in general, ratings get better over time … the more people that rate, the more valuable they become because it then becomes a sampling of the whole community, not just (as ralakins points out) people who want eye candy.

    We put the number of people who rated next to “stars” so you could see … if its 1 person, its a pretty subjective rating. But if its 100 it becomes a decent sampling of the community.

    Best,
    George

  • 

    Feb 4, 2010, 06.09 PMby wzrdreams

    I’m rereading this thread after a few months and I still feel strongly that the rating system is useless. In fact, I am responding to Geid’s statement that ratings get “better over time” due to the theoretical increase in number of ratings. Since I do not sew for the pleasure of others, nor post here in the spirit of competition or survey, I do not care if I get 1 rating or 100 (although 100 positive ratings would be flattering). So even if the rating did get better or more “valuable” over time, why should I or anyone suffer humiliation and insult in the meantime?

  • 

    Feb 4, 2010, 07.21 PMby bekaem

    @ Geid – I see how it is supposed to work but i don’t understand how this works on the website. (Apart from the fact that I don’t think much of the rating as such but anyway…) If I go to Best Rated the first project is someting that got full points, only one member rated it and the project was added in july last year. Maybe two lines further down is a project that was rated by nine people, full points, added in january this year. And so on. If anybody wanted to see what the sampling of the community opinion was, shouldn’t there be some kind of order to this? Maybe that’s a glitch.

• 

  Sep 11, 2009, 12.52 AMby leeshv

  I completely agree, but this is where I see the flaw. I love to read all comments, and feel they really encourage artistry. I just feel badly for the creators, that have clearly poured their hearts into something just to log on and see the poor rating that has been given to them. I publish my creations because I am proud of my work and love to hear feedback…be it good or bad….A rating with no comment at all is useless, and in some cases, needlessly hurtful.
• 

  Sep 11, 2009, 02.13 PMby irmchen

  I need no help to decide if a project may be good or not. Such a rating is always subjectiv, depending on a lot of different points. It is discouraging to get a rating about 3 or 2 dots without a comment. It is critizism in a negativ way. My heart is warmed to this creativ power in all projects… don’t disturb.

  3 Replies

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 05.47 AMby geid

    You make a good point, but I am sure some people like the feedback for sure. What I am hearing is that it should probably be an “options” … eg. when you post your project, you can choose to allow other users to rate or not. This way everyones happy.

    Just a thought for a future enhancement.

    Best,
    George

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 06.14 AMby irmchen

    Oh… that’s it! Great idea! Anybody should be satisfied – I had feare for the future because of all these burdafashion-user who will come here – a quiet different lobby which pefers ratings and competitions.

  • 

    Feb 4, 2010, 06.11 PMby wzrdreams

    @ Geids: I think some (not all) people do like feedback. But dots are not feedback. Has anyone said that they DO like the dot ratings?

• 

  Sep 11, 2009, 09.24 PMby wzrdreams

  Uhm… I just rated a project and I wasn’t even logged in. Alarming?

  2 Replies

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 05.44 AMby geid

    Hello wzrdreams, you don’t need to be logged in to rate. This is similar to when there is a contest or survey. The system detects the computer and only allows one rating. You can see that on many websites these days (eg. http://www.instructables.com).

    The reason is that user studies simply show that people don’t rate if they have to log in and renders the rating functionality useless (eg. because little to no ratings).

    I hope this helps!

    Best,
    George

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 11.34 AMby ralarkins

    Thanks, Geid, for explaining how projects can have ratings with no comments. Or at least it seems that to leave a comment, I have to login.

• 

  Sep 12, 2009, 12.05 PMby tschasta

  I see there is a great discussion going on just because of my short question in case i was to stupid to check the system and rated about 3 times until i checked out how it works. I think that the technical options are difficult because you click on the rating and tschawumm, you already rated. that was a little difficult for me. So my question was just a question of the webdesign anyhow. Funny to read whats going on here now. Even after all – now that i know how it works, i think it is a good thing, because I want to give a comment on a project and do not always want to write “great, wunderfull, I like it …” So just a click from 1 to 5 and it is done. I like it.
• 

  Sep 12, 2009, 02.13 PMby wzrdreams

  Hey Geid, Thank you for the explanation. I still think the system isn’t ideal…. what does each rating mean, and how can a voter revise their rating if they change their mind? What is the point of having a 1-5 rating? Who does it really benefit? I agree with those who have said they would like a “thumbs up” only rating system on projects. Comments are great, but no one needs passive bad ratings. I hope this feature can be tweaked to be a positive only form of feedback. Thanks!

  1 Reply

  • 

    Sep 13, 2009, 02.12 AMby wzrdreams

    Just to clarify, I do appreciate constructive criticism, but 1-3 dots do not help me. I didn’t mean to imply that I can only handle positive comments/praise.

• 

  Sep 12, 2009, 05.46 PMby harlekin

  To be honest, i don’t like the point rating, especially if people don’t leave a comment, i was rated three points twice without no comment for uploading a bag, which attracts a lot of people in the “real” world. So still don’t get the point for that function…but as i see, a lot of fellow members feel hurt, which is only natural, considering the work and love put into most projects…as wzrdreams said, feedback is always welcome, but not rating, just for..“uh i don’t like the style, so i just give one point”
• 

  Sep 12, 2009, 08.09 PMby arsonista

  I agree with the anti-raters. On the old site there was no way to describe what fabrics to use. Therefore I had to use the comments field. Therefore I had to RATE MY OWN PATTERNS. Ha. Anyway, I’ve found it more productive to just contact users directly if I have any constructive feedback rather than just leave a single, snarky button. I don’t use the ratings to determine if I’ll download a pattern or look at a project.
• 

  Sep 12, 2009, 09.02 PMby ditavee

  I’m also an anti-rater – in fact there’s a whole other thread on this on a different part of the site. I’m even MORE anti rating now that I know you don’t even have to be logged in (and thus I take it, not even a member)!

  Just to be clear, I have no problems at all with rating patterns or tutorials, simply with rating projects. I find it negative and encourages competition where sharing should be the goal. Ralarkins points out the very problem with rating of this kind… It’s subjective, meaning that if you have no interest in the project because it doesn’t relate to you in some way – then you’re probably going to mark it low (unless you do what I would consider the right thing and not rate it at all). Not only this, there are plenty of people who will rate based on presentation mostly, regardless of the quality of the item. The maker should not be down marked because they don’t own a swishy camera or photoshop and live near a gorgeous country cottage.

  And let’s be honest, as much as we’d like to think that people would choose not to rate at all on something which they consider a) irrelevant to them b) to be plainly presented c) they plain don’t like d) “that the heck, I’m bored and in a bad mood, you get a 1”… It’s human nature to do this! If it wasn’t already happening, there wouldn’t be down marking without comments to back it up.

  My final point is where is the purpose? On a pattern or tutorial I often use the rating and comments to find out the quality of something and whether it’s worth my time to look more. I’d hate to think this was the purpose of rating a project. Other than this I can see no gains to be had from the rating.

  I used to manage a site where there was a rating system in place like this, and to alleviate these problems there was weighted scoring. So, if you were someone who consistantly marked way off the average (higher or lower) your point weighting went down so that your rating meant less and didn’t impact on the over all score. I’m not saying that would work here, I’m using this example to point out that most sites recognise how flawed this type of voting can be if not managed.

  2 Replies

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 09.04 PMby ditavee

    Ech – I miss having the edit function to go back and fix my spelling mistakes 8-)

  • 

    Sep 12, 2009, 10.29 PMby ralarkins

    Personally I would rather see a rating system that has a cumulative point spread for each item of design, workmanship, use of materials and creativity with a “doesn’t appeal to me at all/Not applicable” button. I find lots of things with bad design or (most commonly) workmanship getting top marks. To accurately score, pictures of the front, back, design details and workmanship. Ideally there should only be a few absolute top rated items. After all, if the coffee date dress is made the same way with no design changes, how creative is it? Nobody wants to leave criticism (whether constructive or subjective) because members are constantly told to be nice in our comments. I am a anti-rating person as I would prefer to know what about the project gets a lower score. Of course, someone’s idea of good workmanship is another’s idea of sloppy. My biggest pet peeves in this area are ‘Lack of Pressing’, ’Lack of grading/clipping/notching on curves and corners", “Uneven top stitching” and the dreaded “Unclipped Threads Left dangling”. (I have several others, but those are the most common mistakes I see.) OK, time to step down from the soapbox.

• 

  Sep 13, 2009, 11.30 PMby nehmah

  Oooh goody, my turn up on the Ivory soap box! I agree with Rose. It’s the lack of care in cutting, sloppy construction, poor fitting, and minimal or no pressing that annoys the stuffings out of me. The two worst are not pressing, (Don’t tell me “No time” you’re not running for the last plane off the island) and modeling a garment that is far too small. Ladies, and gents, when the parts are flattened out, smashed together and your face is going odd colors, this is your body saying, “It’s too small; take it off!” Cut and adjust for the correct body size by numbers, not your RTW size. It isn’t the beginner who does this. All too often it’s one who has been sewing long enough to do better, and usually does so. Cordially, Nehmah

  2 Replies

  • 

    Sep 14, 2009, 02.14 PMby ralarkins

    OK, Nehmah, I think we can both agree that we both have totally gotten off topic, which was of all things, how to use the rating system. But it did feel good to vent, didn’t it? After all, why sew a poorly made, ill fitting garment when you can buy it cheaper off the rack? Cheers.

  • 

    Sep 16, 2009, 01.56 PMby ghainskom

    I’ll continue on this off-topic path as I understand some sewing projects are a miss (too small, ill-fitted, etc.) but then why would you want to upload it for the rest of the world to see? Blows my mind. Thank you for letting me vent :D

• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 03.20 PMby nehmah

  Hi Ghainskom, I suspect that most folks who upload a project or photo don’t recognize any problems. On the plus side, looking at a photo of your project when you can’t use mental blinders, is a real eye-opener. Hopefully, they will see and correct whatever they have done incorrectly. Cordially, Nehmah

  1 Reply

  • 

    Sep 16, 2009, 04.08 PMby ralarkins

    Ghainskom, I give newbies a lot of leeway, because honestly, they are very proud of what they have done. I don’t want someone to stop sewing because they received a bad rating for poor quality when all they need is a little (ok, sometimes a lot of) practice. Intermediate and experienced don’t get the same leeway and they deserve poor ratings for less than stellar work.

• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 04.20 PMby nehmah

  If we are to fairly rate, we need to check out the creators. That way, ralarkins’ suggestion can be applied. N
• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 07.27 PMby wzrdreams

  When I bother to rate, I don’t rate based on workmanship (pressing, thread tension, stitching accuracy). Complaining about garment workmanship is part of my day job and I’m not on Burdastyle to do more of the same. I think most of us are here to learn from each other, to share our experiences, to be inspired, and to brag a little about our accomplishments. I rate based on creativity, design, color choice, fabric choice, and for styling and photography.

  2 Replies

  • 

    Sep 16, 2009, 08.58 PMby ralarkins

    Then you are voting purely based on eye candy appeal. Some of the garments are being sold. You can honestly rate a 5 on something that is poorly made? I am afraid I can’t. I don’t rate anything anymore, especially after reading what criteria others are using. None of are rating based on the same criteria and at that point the rating becomes moot.

  • 

    Sep 16, 2009, 09.21 PMby wzrdreams

    @ ralarkins: No, I don’t think I’m rating purely on the “eye-candy” appeal. That would be true if I only rated based on the quality of the photographs and styling. I won’t be a buzz kill for anyone who is making things for their own pleasure and accomplishment.

    However, you make a good point about the stuff for sale. I don’t and won’t rate items for sale. If and when I decide to sell a creation, I doubt I’ll list it here. Etsy – yes, Burdastyle – no. I think etsy is a great market place and Burdastyle is about the craft.

• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 07.27 PMby wzrdreams

  When I bother to rate, I don’t rate based on workmanship (pressing, thread tension, stitching accuracy). Complaining about garment workmanship is part of my day job and I’m not on Burdastyle to do more of the same. I think most of us are here to learn from each other, to share our experiences, to be inspired, and to brag a little about our accomplishments. I rate based on creativity, design, color choice, fabric choice, and for styling and photography.
• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 07.28 PMby wzrdreams

  I hate when I accidentally post twice.
• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 10.20 PMby ditavee

  I think this whole thread shows the various reasons that rating for projects just doesn’t work…

  I’m the first to admit I’m not an expert seamstress, but anything I post on here is something I’m proud of and want to share. It worries me even more now seeing the comments on here from people I really respect, and knowing that I will get a low rating from them if the workmanship is not spot on.

  I guess I’m really starting to feel that for my own peace of mind I’d rather stick to posting my creations on my blog and not on here, because in all honesty, a low rating feels like a kick in the teeth, especially for someone like me who’s trying to improve.
• 

  Sep 16, 2009, 10.43 PMby emmastaf

  I’m with the non-raters. I don’t post things on here to show off, or for others’ approval. I post things because I’m happy with how they turned out, and maybe I hope to inspire someone else. Workmanship is important, but it’s not the reason everyone is on here, and I don’t think people should be discouraged because they want to focus on aspects other than workmanship. It’s not my place to tell them how to create. It’s true that someone who can’t focus on workmanship will not go far in fashion as a career… but I am a scientist; sewing is just a hobby. I think the project rating system needlessly stratifies the community. It’s already frustrating enough to see that pretty people with nice figures and good cameras get more comments. I hate the thought of people feeling rejected and unwelcome in what’s supposed to be a friendly community. -e
• 

  Sep 17, 2009, 02.46 AMby wzrdreams

  I’m totally in agreement with DitaVee and emmastaf. This is not school, I am not here to be rated/graded on my work. Being on the receiving end of unsolicited criticism is a major bummer… It’s a creativity smack down. Like on Ravelry, I want the immediate authority to delete comments on my projects and wall if I find them objectionable.
• 

  Sep 17, 2009, 07.33 AMby irmchen

  If I were able, I would decide to forbid the community rating my project. I agree with ‘wzdreams’, ‘emmastaf’ and ‘DitaVee’ – my english is not good that’s why I don’t find own words. ;) By the way: I noticed that one is able to rate own projects… again an again… ???

  1 Reply

  • 

    Feb 10, 2010, 11.03 AMby kaitui-kiwi

    Maybe rating could be voluntary? I think when you post your project you could click a selection that says something like “enable rating tool” or something, the it can show up on your project saying, “Please rate my project”. I don’t care about other people rating my project, I’d rather read comments that are thoughful or constructive. I wouldn’t click it but others might like to know what we think. Then it would be worth making the ratings more indepth, maybe 4 catergories like: workmaship, fit, fabric choice, overall or something similar.

• 

  Jan 31, 2010, 12.34 AMby trumpet

  Um I want to rate a project but it’s not highlighted???? I can leave comments though – is there something I have missed? thanks

  1 Reply

  • 

    Feb 3, 2010, 09.33 PMby alden

    hmm, is this on every project? were you looking at a pattern or a project?

• 

  Jan 31, 2010, 01.42 AMby cthuliz

  Why not just have a “disable ratings” option when someone uploads a project? That way ratings will not be made available if you don’t want them to be.
• 

  Feb 2, 2010, 01.59 AMby sew4my3

  Trumpet & cthuliz, both of your comments have been sent in to the office. Thanks!
• 

  Feb 2, 2010, 10.34 AMby ichigogirl

  Just a thought on comments on projects. I went to a kind of design school (architecture) and I learned very hands on about constructive critisism vs unconstructive critisim. When critisizing someones work it’s oh so important to point out BOTH the well executed parts of it and the points that can be improved. If you only get to know what’s bad about your creation you have nothing to pick up on and may be very discouraged. But if the teacher/colleague/friend/site-member who comments your work leaves a feedback like “the construction of this piece is very well done and it’s figure-flattering, but I think it would look much better if you had removed the loose threads and put some more work into ironing it” it’s much much easier to listen to and take in the critizism than if you simply say “it doesn’t look nice when it’s not ironed and the loose threads aren’t trimmed off”. I encountered a surprising amount of teachers who didn’t understand that in school (as simple as it may sound!) with hurt and discouraged students as a result, instead of improved students who had learned something. Other teachers were masters at it, and really helped their students to improve. But I think in general people leave very constructive comments here! Maybe we should in fact be more brave about leaving tips and hints. Or maybe it’s just a simple matter of asking for help when we want and need it (on how to improve the fit or finish f.ex). It’s a good idea to make it possible to turn off the rating for projects, but maybe not so much for patterns, to save time wasted on impossible patterns…

  1 Reply

  • 

    Feb 4, 2010, 06.38 PMby wzrdreams

    You have made some very good points regarding critiques. It can be hard to give and take criticism, but the benefits are innumerable. I was a BFA in studio art and MS in fashion design so I’ve had my fair share of painful and enlightening critiques.

    With art/design school critiques there is the expectation that critique is part of the class and participation is often part of ones grade. Critiques are face to face with the creator and in the physical presence of the artwork and respect for ones peers is mandatory. With the exception of respect, these guidelines don’t really apply to Burdastyle.

    I think that if some one is open to constructive comments/feedback/critique they should maybe say so.

• 

  Feb 4, 2010, 07.04 PMby bekaem

  Like most members who gave their opinion before I don’t think that the rating for projects is beneficial in any way. Rating makes sense for things that will be used/ seen/ visited etc by others, like the patterns or how-to’s on this site or generally films, restaurants, the new printer you’re thinking about buying and so on. Apart from a few items that are for sale and might be made more than once only the creators are going to use anything posted on this site. The projects on this site are ‘rated’ in a sense by the number of comments that are left. They’re showing the level of interest a something is receiving, and since the feedback is almost always positive, I would see those as the best rated projects. Now there isn’t a ‘most popular’ or ‘most looked at’ button, and probably there shouldn’t be one either, I don’t think the site’s idea was about competition in that sense. Obviously everybody here likes feedback, but that’s not what a few dots are, like wzrdreams and others said, and giving members a bad feeling about posting again because they have received one or two dots only seems really unnecessary. And having the option to turn ratings on or off – I don’t feel good about that either. Firstly, if a lot of members turn the ratings off, what’s the point and secondly it might provoke ‘bad’ ratings for projects who allow rating, it could be interpreted as ’they’re asking for it’. Personally I don’t use the rating, either i take the time to leave a comment or I don’t. I can’t see anybody would be interested how many dots i’ve anonymously left for something.

  1 Reply

  • 

    Feb 4, 2010, 08.08 PMby wzrdreams

    I especially agree with the last part of your statement. When I think back to the times i use the dots, I reallize that I only ever give 4 and 5 dot ratings, and that is usually after I’ve written a comment.

    I also agree that if the search feature was more powerful and could read the weight of the ratings than they might have an actual purpose. I would love to have the “most commented” or “most viewed” be a search option.

• 

  Feb 8, 2010, 12.12 PMby ichigogirl

  The rating-calculation works in strange ways… one project for example I know for a fact has recieved three 5:rates and one 4:rate, and the rating shows as four (it had two votes and was rated as a 5, I rated it at four and the rate jumped down to 4. I thought that was a bit unfair so I gave it a 5-rate at another computer and it is still rated at four, with four votes registred). Now, I’m no maths expert, but I did learn in school that if you have to round things off, you rond them up if they are at 0.5 or higher, and down if they are at 0.4 or lower. (3 × 5 + 1 × 4) /4 = 4.75, so it should DEFINITELY be a 5-rate at that project. So, if you are discouraged by low ratings, keep in mind that they may actually be close to one digit too low. If the rating-system is kept, I think it’s really necessary to fix this bug. I’ll post this in the bug-section too.
• 

  Feb 8, 2010, 08.26 PMby meaghanlr92

  I definitely agree that the rating system should be worked on, and I only rated something once because the pattern was truly awful, and in my opinion wasn’t even close to earning a 3-dot rating. But otherwise, I don’t use that, and I only just started commenting on projects. As someone else said, it would be really nice to have a feature to see projects that had the most views/comments. Another good feature would be that you can’t rate you own projects, techniques, or patterns.
• 

  Feb 9, 2010, 07.20 AMby dewreb

  I had never used the rating system, and then once decided to check it out. I didn’t know how it worked, so I just clicked generally over a dot…turns out that clicking on a dot is considered a rating, and I accidentally had rated this particular project a 3 or 4 (when it definitely deserved a 5). I felt so badly that I had pulled down the project’s rating! I agree that the rating system is pretty pointless (and kind of mean…why waste your time giving someone poor ratings), but contributing to the problem is the fact that one click over a dot is a rating, and there’s no way to take it back.

  1 Reply

  • 

    Feb 10, 2010, 09.44 AMby ichigogirl

    I agree! I tend to give all projects I rate a 5 to make up for poor ratings, can’t really see the point in giving other people a 1 or 2 unless it’s an offensive or mock-up project…
    I also agree that it’d be much better if it was possible to change ones mind, or undo mistakes.

• 1
• 2
• Next
• Previous