User Rating System?

budgie • 10 April 2015 at 5:09 PM

I just had the idea of implementing a user rating system.

edit --

The system would work by giving a user a special section on their page that also shows up below their username on a forum post or during a trade. A user could earn one star for this section for every five trades they do right. And reset back to zero every time they break a rule here on Egg Cave.

(Hope I described that right, we also discuss that I little more below in the responses)

shelby • 10 April 2015 at 5:23 PM

@kisamari

It sounds like it might be a good idea in theory but I see a lot of problems:

-Someone who is a scammer could have friends rate them positively and then it'd be easier for them to scam others.
-People could rate down people they just don't like and encourage others to do so. Even if there was an option to make the rating private, some people wouldn't and they'd get "false" reviews.
-People would figure out a way to abuse the system somehow. (Making new accounts on different IPS just to rate either themselves up or others down, Using different IPs in general, etc)
-And I'm sure there's more.

If you don't want to get scammed, you should only interact with people you've talked to for a while and you know you can trust.
There are warnings in various areas of the site that warn you.

Overall: I don't think this would be a good idea.

budgie • 10 April 2015 at 6:29 PM

@shelby Never thought of exploitations, but you're right ^^" guess it would be too easy to take advantage of this.

shelby • 10 April 2015 at 6:42 PM

@kisamari

I do like the idea, it's just, I think it would be too easy to take advantage of. And while you might think "people won't do that", people took advantage of the click exchange system and I didn't think that could happen.
Maybe there could be a system where; depending on the number of trades you've done you can earn points or something.
That might be less difficult to take advantage of.

budgie • 10 April 2015 at 7:07 PM

@shelby People can have multiple alt accounts though, and continue to transfer back and forth. But it would be a little harder to exploit than just clicking on a rating system.

shelby • 10 April 2015 at 7:37 PM

@kisamari
Yeah; I think they could block or disable it when the accounts have the same IP and are trading with each other, though.
I don't think that'd be too hard to do.

budgie • 10 April 2015 at 7:43 PM

@shelby Probably not too hard, but I can't speak with too much experience in IP blocking. I'm actually kinda hopeful something like this gets maid since I often sell freezes and always worry that somebody won't follow through on a deal.

shelby • 10 April 2015 at 7:46 PM

@kisamari
I know a tiny bit about IP blocking so I can't see it being too hard.
I think the trading method would be more reasonable.

Maybe every x amount of trades, you'll earn a point or star that can be viewed under your post count in the forms, on profiles, in trades, etc, and there's a max amount of x amount to be earned.

So, for example;
After every 10 trades, you earn 1 star.
And you can earn a total of 100 stars.
They could be tiered, so every ten stars, the star changes color or appearance.

That's just an example, though.

budgie • 10 April 2015 at 8:15 PM

@shelby I really like that idea, I feel it would give players something harder to work for aside building their coves.

But would there be a way to lose stars for every bad transaction? Like breaking one of the sites rules could make you lose some stars, or go into negative points?

shelby • 10 April 2015 at 8:38 PM

@kisamari
Yeah I think if you break site rules or anything like that you should lose all your progress and maybe have a penalty, preventing you from gaining stars for x amount of time.
Depending on how big of a rule it is and how bad it was, it could 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, etc. (all that would be up to staff obviously).

I'm not sure how you could get subtractions if you don't break rules; I don't know if users actually get in trouble for breaking a deal or not following through if they're reported?

Maybe they could add a new reporting system or just add that. Meaning if there is proof and they are reported, they would lose stars and proper action taken against them.

budgie • 10 April 2015 at 9:28 PM

@shelby Yes, this sounds great ^^

Kinda hoping Egg Cave takes notice of this, or at least other members so it gets some attention. Would, again, make me feel a lot safer selling freezes.

shelby • 10 April 2015 at 9:50 PM

@kisamari

You could always ping some staff members or other users to get it noticed more 😊
I also suggest changing your original post to include some of the stuff we already discussed so other users will be able to find it easier without having to read through all of it xD

budgie • 11 April 2015 at 6:16 AM

@shelby

Good idea XD

@mastergemma
@jazzyleia
@cougar
@scorpio

Sorry for the ping, just wondered if anyone else would be interested in something like this.

funyarinpa • 11 April 2015 at 1:57 PM

@kisamari

I would like something like this but (weirdly) like how it is on ebay. There is no limit to the points you can get, and you earn and lose points with your trade ratings. If there was a list of recent trades made by the user (20 or so to make it fair) so you could see if they are cheating (trading with the same user many times in a small period). The penalty for cheating being points taken away for the first few strikes, then a warning banner for players who may want to trade with them after that (maybe that's going too far?)

Upon trading we could rate out of 10 (or another round number) and leave a comment for other users to see accurate feedback- excluding transfers where feedback should be against the rules to prevent cheating.

This could be cool with an icon that changes colour at milestones or a banner or something 😊

budgie • 11 April 2015 at 9:50 PM

@funyarinpa Yes ^^

People could gain a little blurb underneath their usernames. Like being a 'Trusted Trader' or 'Reliable'.

bun • 20 April 2015 at 3:30 PM

I've seen this implemented on other forum trading sites, and it works pretty well. c:

Basically how it works on the site I use is you rate a person on a scale of 1-5 stars and leave a comment every time you do a trade.

I agree with the second post that this can be easily taken advantage of, but the system on the other site seems to work pretty efficiently. o3o

Perhaps if somebody rates you negatively for no reason, you can report it to the mods?