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bonjonelson
offlineMember
As I look in the writers room, a huge number of posts, most of them amusing, but not outstanding, have five stars.
Are we all being too generous? If you receive less than five stars from someone, do you see it as an insult?
I guess it's up to the editors here to complain if they need to, but should be be doing a better job at being more honest about quality of submissions.
I'm sure many of my five-star rated contributions deserve less.
Good point bonjo, post it in the writers' room and I'll give it 5*.
I agree, the scoring system at the moment seems to be a choice between ignoring something completely or giving it 5. I'm as guilty as anybody of doing this though, so I can't really complain.
Will make an effort to make use of other ratings.
3 if it's a good idea but in need of developing
4 if it's well worked but missing something, maybe needing a stronger punchline
5 if it's a good idea, with several good jokes, and a strong punchline
And
1 if it's written by somebody who has given one of mine less than 5
2 if it's written by somebody who I like, but has given one of mine less than 5
Gerontius
offlineMember
NB seems to attract the more 'genteel' satirist as opposed to angry satirists - which is reflected in their treatment of one another.
Bastards.
You wouldn't want many of them on your side in a fist fight....they'd just start throwing vol-au-vents and celery...start talking about anger management instead of getting the boot in.
I agree that being too cosy/comfortable with each other can stifle creativity.
Some people can post any old garbage and it still gets rated (overated)...that's not really healthy for either the person posting or for the reputation of NB
It doesn't hurt to fail once in a while.
I've had 3 years of failure and it hasn't stopped me from being a pain in the arse...er, trying.
As ever, I blame Facebook
Being nice to people will certainly help you with those undeserved fives.
John Ffitch-Rucker
offlineMember
Actually, I was put off posting here for a long time by some of the vicious and pointless trolling that appeared to emanate from people who never posted anything; I much prefer it when people are civil to each other, so if it’s five stars or nothing, so be it.
Before anybody else points it out - I do realise that following my scoring system condemns me to never getting higher than 4*.
Nick - I'd say getting no ratings and no comments is better than getting 1*. If you get no ratings it might be that people think something isn't necessarily bad, it's just not that great, so don't bother giving it stars. Whereas a 1* rating means somebody thought it was so bad it was worth the effort of logging in just to give it 1*, and tag it as "shit".
John - I think a 3* or 4* rating with some constructive criticism is more helpful than giving everything you like 5*. I think part of the problem is that people worry that somebody might not take criticism the right way, even if it is supposed to be helpful.
I still don't have the confidence to tell anybody else where I think they are going wrong, because I don't think I'm any more qualified to say what works than they are.
But just calling something shit doesn't help anybody, so I'm glad that doesn't go on anymore. Was looking through some of the posts from about 12 months ago (just before I joined) recently and I can't believe how much sniping and backbiting used to go on.
That's a really long post, I'm going to do some work now.
vertical
offlineMember
Sirs,
By coincidence, just yesterday I came across a thread offering a most intriguing grovelling apology from one of you satirical deities while sniffing around below stairs. It seems that as recently as '4 months ago' (my only clue) twas not quite so civil here as you might imagine.
writinginbsl
offlineMember
I guess it depends on how easily amused one is.i am easily amused, but i rarely give five stars. when i first joined a few months ago, i did say how many stars i gave, but then biscuiteers seemed to be worrying why i only gave 3 or 4. so, to save having to explain i stopped that and just say stars now.it is very difficult to explain humour at all, and i think impossible to explain why one thing is not as funny to one person compared to another.
my position is always qualified by the kinowledge that i rarely post anything as i dont have much creative skill/stamina/competitiveness, so i woud never one star something, nor write a nasty or derogatory comment. i could go on 4chav if i wanted to exhange views in that manner. however, to me, much of this stuff is really funny and i enjoy reading probably about 1/3 of it. now have to paint the house-nothing funny about that, although would be very happy to have vol et vents thrown in my direction.
Mary Evans
offlineMember
Overall, I think this is a well-balanced critique of the scoring system, although I have to be brutally honest and mark it down for lack of reference to cliques, editorial favouritism and Rikkor. 3* (although I'll swear on my baby's bumcheeks I gave it 5).
Now who wants to fist a badger?
The All New Jeni B
offlineMember
Nor has there been the mandatory reference to a voting cabal.
Most disappointing.
It's nearly Friday, so I'll see you at the Cheeky Penguin Maz, I'll have a puffin ready and waiting or you.
Drylaw
offlineMember
I have had no stars for posts that I thought were very good and I have had stars for ones that I didn't think were all that funny.
I got one on the front page once that I didn't particularly rate.
I'm always generous with my ratings.
It's a funny old world eh?
Mostly. if i think its good enough to be an FP, ticker or NIB then it gets 5 stars. But also if i just think its really funny. And sometimes if I'm just in a good mood. And if someone is new. I give 4 if it needs a bit of work. Don't think i've ever bothered with 3,2 or 1.
waylandsmithy
offlineMember
It's being overthunked. Stuff gets picked with no stars on occasion. Thumbs is a bit daily mail, isn't it?
I think what we need is some sort of 5-point system of scoring.
So you mark each sub out of 10 in the following categories:
Headline
Overall concept
Writing style/flow
Jokes
Punchline
Then you get an overall score out of 50, and find that nobody bothers marking anything at all.
Or, we could just leave it as it is.
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