Star Ratings?

[Discorded Bluenote 126]

You know the things. You click on a number and the amount gets added to the song's star average.

 

But will it work for Pony.fm?

 

I'd like to hear feedback from those that have used Pony.fm, and to simplify the ratings, I put them into a poll; so from a glance, people can know who wants Star Ratings and who don't.

 

Blue~

 

Edit: Ahem. Excuse my mediocre spelling.

 

My worst subject.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Bluenote~

[ProjectRKA 2,848]

I think likes and dislikes would work better. You can get a better insight of what the listeners like/dislike that way.

[Black Licorice 58]

Yeah, they tried that for EQD and look what happened with that. They had to take it out because people were getting into fights over the ratings like "OH MY GOD, IT'S TOO LOW!" or the exact opposite. So I don't think it would work in Pony.fm for long before they'd have to take it out. Just saying...

[CloudFyre 848]

As useful as this could be (I'd like it to help filter good tracks from not-so-good tracks), I have a feeling that this might fall apart pretty quickly. A lot of people write music as a hobby (which is a good thing!), but if they're just starting out and aren't quite familiar with the whole process yet, I'm afraid that people's early works will be downvoted to oblivion, and they'll lose interest in music before they even get the experience or time to play with the fun stuff.

Edited May 25, 2013 by CloudFyre

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

It would quickly devolve into biased fans down voting all the Metal and Dubstep tracks with a flood of 1-stars me thinks, so I don't think it's a very good idea.

 

Also what CloudFyre said

Edited May 25, 2013 by Nightmare Lyre

[ReGen 1,466]

I honestly believe that Pony.fm shouldn't have any ratings system at all. Mostly because people don't want to feel discouraged because they only got two stars.

 

Plus, if someone doesn't enjoy a song, they might just give it a low score instead of explaining what they didn't like about it in a comment.

[Jokuc 8,173]

Look I know pony.fm is all about making less known artists more listeners and things like that, but I would like star ratings. It's a great way for me to find the best music. I want to be able to look in a list of the top voted content too. I want 0-10. Not just up to 5. Cause if you put 5 every single song people think is good are going to have a 5 star.

 

Of course there will be people who dislike for fun, but there's too many of us bronies so it wouldn't really hurt the results.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Jokuc

[ASocialyAwkwardPony 299]

Of course there will be people who dislike for fun, but there's too many of us bronies so it wouldn't really hurt the results.

 

Not all bronies are all sunshine and harmony though sadly, and biased music fans exists everywhere. I can understand rating for the sake of a "best of" list, but the problem with that is that it would discourage people to listen to things that are not highly rated even if said music might be just as good as the top rated stuff. It's all very very subjective after all.

 

Perhaps counting how many people favorite a track to make a "best of" list instead without having a rating system could work though? Might still be discouraging to musical exploration so I am not for it myself, but I could see it work as a compromise in that it won't leave new and strange musicians with negativity and no motivation while still having a ranking of the tracks people think are the best.

 

Or if we do end up with a rating system, I really think there should be some proper fail safes in place to make sure it at least won't be random bile. Perhaps having to add a 500 character review following certain guidelines along with the rating and having admins check if it's actually meant to be constructive or not.

[An Old Head 4,816]

Star ratings would be opinionated. As in the ratings themselves, not the idea of it - a dubstep fan would rate a dubstep track five stars perhaps, but someone who hates dubstep would give it one star, so the actual quality of the track wouldn't be represented. It could be solved with an approved music reviewers system, but that seems like it would take too much effort.

 

The comments system is the best idea, it lets the opinions themselves get to make some presence. As a very good reviewer Yahtzee once said, some opinions simply cannot be expressed numerically on a scale of 1 to 5.

[Betez 1,734]

I don't like the idea. In my opinion, this is just bound to make some trolls 1-star every song. Star ratings are too vulnerable for abuse. Comments are fine, because they can be removed easier if they're hate comments. The like system is working fine in my opinion.

[King 5,625]

My opinion is that a music shouldn't be judged based on star rating. The only system I like would be a "like" system or a favourite system. With no down sides in view. That way its up to the listener to listen to the music before judging it.

[SilverStarApple 849]

Could you give the option to give a song a Rating, from one to 10 stars?

[repsol rave 2,963]

i have been thinking about this as well, but then there would be some very dominant songs and a lot of songs that are pretty good, but just get downvoted to oblivion.

but if there is a good system for this, then i would like to see it happen.

[CloudFyre 848]

Could you give the option to give a song a Rating, from one to 10 stars?

 

This topic has been discussed multiple times before (and for good reason). I'm going to quote repsol here:

 

i have been thinking about this as well, but then there would be some very dominant songs and a lot of songs that are pretty good, but just get downvoted to oblivion.

The issue won't be "good songs get smashed to pieces", the issue lies in the fact that new artists are, well, new. They're inexperienced (a place where everyone has been at least once), and unless they happen to be a protege in the music realm, chances are that they're music will sound a bit rough at first.

 

Now, in a fandom that seems to really make creativity bloom, there are bound to be many people who want to try their hand at music - which is a great thing. However, the fear is that less developed songs will be crushed with lots of zero and one star ratings, and the artists who wrote them will be scared/discouraged right out of their new found hobby, before they even have a chance to really develop their talent. (I've watched a few artists vanish from YouTube because of this.)

 

Music is a profession that takes a very significant amount of time before making headway, and we'd rather avoid the drama associated with 1) fake downvotes and 2) artists leaving before they have a chance to make it big.

 

 

That being said, there is a critique/rating system in the works, but those reviews will be done by Poniverse staff, not other anonymous members of the community. People will be able to submit a track once a week (or once every two weeks, we're not sure yet), and it will be flagged for ratings/review by the Pony.fm lead team. Everyone is able to receive some serious feedback on their works, and if they want to take it a step further, they can also flag it to be considered for a feature in the front page spotlight. Artists who get the green light will get a week(?) long spot on the front page, and any who don't make the cut  will be able to resubmit when they'd like.

 

It's still in the works, but hopefully that idea will be implemented in the next few months. I'll chat with Feld0 whenever I get a chance and see if I can get some more concrete info.

[DusK 1,264]

The last thing Pony.fm needs to do is enable a rating system and watch the site become the brony music equivalent of the Newgrounds Audio Portal. That would suck royally.

 

If you like a song, go ahead and Favorite it. If not, move on to the next track. There's no real reason it should be any other way, and plenty of reasons why it shouldn't.

[duidamasterXD 9,626]

@,

 

I've merged your thread with another for discussing the pros and cons of having a star rating system on Pony.fm. Just more efficient, and you can see what members have said in the past regarding the subject.

[Zygen 6,066]

Meh, I personally like the Like and Dislike system more, Star system always leaves me having to think "Should i rate 5 stars or 4 stars or what?" 

 

I like having the simple, like dislike or just not rate.

 

But maybe thats just me.

[akalink 163]

I don't want this. I'd rather have individuals come to conclusions to the quality of the music on their own. I also don't want selfrighteous fans down vote stuff to oblivion or people make alt accounts to upvote their stuff

[Justin ZW 396]

Comments could be used instead of ratings only if they are regulated and comments like "This is good" or "Man, this song is gay" are deleted. It shouldn't become the next YouTube, but instead should be a means of actually giving the artists feedback. As such, they should require intelligent thought and specific praise or criticism.

[Shift 4,272]

Youtube has a like / dislike button and they operate fine. So why shouldn't we have one? Youtube features songs too.