Making the stats more interesting

[Katya]

Huh. That pretty much wiped out the archives questions from any of the top 10s, which I hadn't forseen. Oh, well. I still think it's a better way of approaching the stats.

Here are today's links:

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jul/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jun/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/may/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/apr/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jan/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/dec/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/nov/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/oct/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/sep/07/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/aug/07/

[TheAnswerIs42]

So, I have a question for all of you. How often do you use the "like" function? Perhaps as a percentage of what you read. I have personally only been using it for the ones that really, really stand out to me- which does happen about once every day or two. But I notice that most answers are getting at least one or two likes. So I was just interested what everyone else uses as criteria for clicking the thumbs up.

[Katya]

So, I have a question for all of you. How often do you use the "like" function? Perhaps as a percentage of what you read. I have personally only been using it for the ones that really, really stand out to me- which does happen about once every day or two. But I notice that most answers are getting at least one or two likes. So I was just interested what everyone else uses as criteria for clicking the thumbs up.

I think I use it for about 1/3 of the questions. I think I use it more for archived questions than for newer questions because, like I said, I'm trying to make the stats more interesting. (I.e., I know I'm not at a lower position on the pickiness bell curve, and that's fine, so long as there are others in different positions to balance me out.)

[Katya]

Today's links:

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jul/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jun/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/may/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/apr/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/mar/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/feb/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jan/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/dec/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/oct/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/sep/08/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/aug/08/

[NerdGirl]

Today and yesterday done!

[Katya]

Thank you!

[C is for]

Phew. That takes a lot longer when I'm not doing it to pass the time before the next episode of jer3miah loads. (Yes, I'm like a year behind on that bandwagon.)

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jul/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jun/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/apr/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/mar/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/feb/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jan/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/dec/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/nov/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/oct/09/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/sep/09/

[Indefinite Integral]

Finished Saturday, Sunday and today. Whew! That was a lot of reading (spread out over a couple days). Maybe doing the last 6 months instead of the last year would be a good idea, especially as people start getting busier.

[Katya]

Maybe doing the last 6 months instead of the last year would be a good idea, especially as people start getting busier.

I can work with that. Is there anyone out there who would participate (who isn't participating now) if we only did six months at a time? Alternately, we could make it not tied to days. I.e., go through the archives day by day, but you don't have to complete it by any time frame. More of a go-at-your-own-pace kind of thing. Does that make sense?

[Humble Master]

I've gone through these posts when I have time. Thanks for putting them up Katya. I tend to tackle them in chunks, so 6 months or 12 months is fine in my book. Another option to make the stats more interesting is to have people post a bunch of links from their Favorites. If they favorited them others will probably find them interesting.

[TheAnswerIs42]

Ooh, I like the favorite links idea. I love seeing what everyone else has as a favorite. New thread for that? Or is that a bad idea?

[C is for]

Well, I don't see why it needs to be a different thread as it all falls under the category of "making the stats more interesting" and so we don't have to go to more than one place to find things to vote on. (This was a tacit agreement that posting favorites is a good idea, until I added this clarification that made it no longer tacit.)

I also think that having the option of a whole year instead of just six months is nice. I actually kind of prefer reading the older ones...probably because I do so much rereading of the recent stuff anyway.

[Katya]

Another option to make the stats more interesting is to have people post a bunch of links from their Favorites.

The problem with this is that you end up adding more votes to the "top" questions, without filling out the bell curve with votes for medium or low questions. (And I want the bell curve filled out, because I'm going to ask for a couple of ponies when we get enough ratings in the archives.) If people posted a link to the whole day that included their favorite question, I'd have less of a problem with it.

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jul/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jun/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/may/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/apr/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/mar/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/feb/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2010/jan/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/dec/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/dec/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/nov/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/oct/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/sep/10/
http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/archives/2009/aug/10/

[Dragon Lady]

I think this is an awesome idea. But considering that I just came into it, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed already. Esp. considering how many days I've already missed. And especially since I'm trying to stay busy and off the computer, because my days tend to be more productive and overall happier when I do that. I haven't even read much of the Board since 5.0 launched. (Sinner, I know.)

And with that said… I'm gonna go pit some cherries and ignore the rest of the boardboard. Again.

[Katya]

I think this is an awesome idea. But considering that I just came into it, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed already. Esp. considering how many days I've already missed.

Don't feel overwhelmed. This really isn't an "all or nothing" endeavor. Doing a few days here and there still adds more data points. (And if you've got better things to do, then go for it. )

[TheAnswerIs42]

Another option to make the stats more interesting is to have people post a bunch of links from their Favorites.

The problem with this is that you end up adding more votes to the "top" questions, without filling out the bell curve with votes for medium or low questions. (And I want the bell curve filled out, because I'm going to ask for a couple of ponies when we get enough ratings in the archives.) If people posted a link to the whole day that included their favorite question, I'd have less of a problem with it.

I had a feeling Katya would shoot this down, since it would create the problem we had before (people look at the favorites and mark them favorites, making sure they never leave the top). But it does make me sad when I go through my favorites and realize mine is the only vote for "yes, ice machine" or "How do I get rid of the wrinkles from my pillow on my face?" Some things are classics for a reason.

[Katya]

Another option to make the stats more interesting is to have people post a bunch of links from their Favorites.

The problem with this is that you end up adding more votes to the "top" questions, without filling out the bell curve with votes for medium or low questions. (And I want the bell curve filled out, because I'm going to ask for a couple of ponies when we get enough ratings in the archives.) If people posted a link to the whole day that included their favorite question, I'd have less of a problem with it.

I had a feeling Katya would shoot this down, since it would create the problem we had before (people look at the favorites and mark them favorites, making sure they never leave the top). But it does make me sad when I go through my favorites and realize mine is the only vote for "yes, ice machine" or "How do I get rid of the wrinkles from my pillow on my face?" Some things are classics for a reason.

I'm not trying to squash favorites, just spread the voting love around, a bit. Is it too much work to post a link to the entire day that a favorite question appeared on? (I'm asking that as a genuine question, not in a whiny "what is wrong with you people?" kind of way.)

[TheAnswerIs42]

Oh, I never thought you were being a mean dictator about it or anything! I just knew that, no matter how much fun I think it is to see everyone else's top favorites, it really does mean the top ten stay the top ten forever.

I would be willing to post links to the days of my favorites if people want to do that.