How I became a Squidoo Addict 19

After a few months creating lenses with Squidoo, I started to compile a list of improvements that I think would help. I submitted some to SquidooHQ hoping they would see the light. However, I realize that the staff is small and they are busy with other more pressing stuff. I decided to create a listing of "features" and bugs for future reference. It started as just a list but grew to much more. It was also about this time that I and others noticed some problems with the ranking algorithm. I started doing some investigation and posted my results on this lens as well. I didn't realize how popular this topic was. Well, it steadily climbed the ranking chart until it reached #172 - my highest ranking of all my lenses so far. That is quite an achievement. With all the discussion about lensrank, in truth, I don't think my lens belong anywhere near the top 100 or close. All my lenses, except one, are non-commercial lens. Right away, that should knock me off any ranking list that includes profits from sale of items. I don't have anything to sell. As you can tell, my lens are information lens and to promote a charity or "How to" lens and lately my squidbooks. They should never appear on any top 100 list or I would be really surprised.



Let me take a side bar here to discuss star rating for a moment. Squidoo allow each lensmaster to "rate" the other lens. This is an attempt to provide some form of peer review.

Each lens may receive either no star or 1 - 5 stars with 5 being the best. Each lensmasters can only rate a given lens once. This is to prevent ballot stuffing. Apparently, this rating goes into the general "secret" algorithm that determines lensrank along with many other factors.

In any case, what I want to discuss here is how to rate a lens. You might think that is self evident. However, what does a 1 star or a 5 star lens mean? What should it mean? How should we rate? Once we have a clearer definition of the rating system and examples of each, it is more likely that the final ratings of all the lenses will reflect the general consensus. Some will say rating a lens is like looking at art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. That is true to some extent. There are and should be some standards to lens design. Art, in general, has no limitations and open to interpretation. Lenses are specific topics, a narrow focus, and contain relevant information and CONTENT. The rating of a lens in my opinion should only be based on design layout and CONTENT. By CONTENT, I don't mean whether you as a reader agree or disagree with the information. I do mean whether the information is accurate and presented logically and completely.

Here is my guide to lens rating:

No star means no opinion.

1 star - poor design and content. (ie. Lens that have very few modules and an assortment of links that are thrown together without order and with no associated text description.)

2 stars - a lens that is incomplete in content. (ie. Lens that seems to be half finished)

3 stars - a lens that is complete yet with average CONTENT. (ie. Information is not unique or has expertise.)

4 stars - a lens that is complete and above average. (ie. Information is high quality, including other multimedia objects such as images, video, audio).

5 stars - a lens that is complete and the top of its subject matter. (ie. The crème de la crème on this subject- a lens to be proud of and referenced).

Notice, I deliberately left out emotions in this evaluation. In my opinion, a lens' rating should stand on its own and not rely on whether the reader agrees or disagree with the point of view. For an extreme example, if a lens about Jesus is rated 5 stars, it should be 5 stars to both Christians and other religious believers and including atheists. Whether you agree with the subject matter or not, the design and layout and the CONTENT are all that matters in determining the rating.

A final word, one should never give a rating to a lens based solely on the lensmaster. You should not take that into account. Each lens should stand on its own. Just because a top ranked lensmaster created the lens does not automatically make it a 5 star. Also, you should never rate a lens because you are just a friend of the lensmaster and trying to help him or her out with the ranking. That is unfair to the rest of the community. In the extreme, it will undermine the whole ranking system. This is not a scientific poll. It is depended on honesty of all participants. It is not exact but should be fair.

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