How Not To Sort By Average Rating

Re:How Not To Sort By Average Rating by gojomo on Thursday February 12, 2009 @03:53PM (#478971)

Yes. And similarly, for sites like News.YC: I'd rather read a "2 points" comment with 100 upvotes and 99 downvotes, than something banal with one upvote.

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Re:How Not To Sort By Average Rating by sofal on Thursday February 12, 2009 @04:05PM (#478983)

Comments like that are frequently dogmatic assertions about down-the-middle controversial issues (like religion or politics) that draw knee-jerk up/down votes from the two ever-combative groups. The comments with one upvote can sometimes be hidden gems in an abandoned thread, or possibly one great comment among many others.

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Re:How Not To Sort By Average Rating by gojomo on Thursday February 12, 2009 @06:16PM (#479158)

They can be. But if they are shallow, dogmatic assertions, they often (and should) go negative and stay negative.

I've seen lots of good, fair comments with strong opinions (whether I agree with them or not) go initially negative -- early downvotes from the anonymous censorious underemployed peanut gallery -- then creep back up to small positive values after a full day's cycle. Those are much better comments than any pandering +20 one-liner.

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