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Squidoo Star Ratings

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Squidoo Star Ratings

Note: This lens is no longer relevant to the Squidoo lens rating system and only remains for historical interest. Once upon a time, the star rating system stirred up drama and woe for lensmasters who wondered why someone had only given their lens one star, or even why someone gave them only three or four stars. It's an interesting part of Squidoo history, but for my part, I don't miss the star ratings much.

Do people like your Squidoo lenses? Do they love your lenses? Or do they think your lenses suck? Star ratings are a way for people to give you anonymous feedback. Unfortunately, some people misuse and abuse the rating system.

The purpose of this lens is to explain star ratings on Squidoo. We'll go over how they affect your lenses, what compels people to give 1 or 5 star ratings, why you shouldn't exchange 5 star ratings, and rating abuse.

Do Star Ratings Affect Your Lensrank?

Not really, or at least not very much. Star ratings are nice perks, but they don't have a lot of significance when it comes to lensrank. It's just one of many factors, secondary to things like traffic and lens freshness. Some lensmasters claim that any kind of rating is good for your lens in terms of lensrank.

Mostly, star ratings are just another way for readers to express their opinions. Your lensrank is determined by stuff like traffic, outbound clicks, and earnings.

So if someone gives you an undeserved 1 star rating, you don't have to worry about it dragging your lens down. If you still feel an overwhelming urge to track the meanie down and give him what for, most lensmasters will sympathize with you.

The Dreaded 1 Star Rating

This Sucks!

This is the absolute worst rating you can get. Everybody wants a 1 star rating about as much as they want week old sushi. If you get 1 star, your lens is either in bad shape, or someone decided to be a meanie.

Possible Translations:
  • "I can't even begin to describe how badly your lens sucks!"
  • "I hate your lens because it supports George Bush/Hillary Clinton/creationism/evolution/etc. I'm going to show you just how disgusted I am with your opinions."
  • "I'm jealous of the fact that your lens is doing so well. Instead of building a lens that's just as good as yours, I'm going to be a poopy-head and give your lens 1 star."
  • "I'm mad because you didn't accept my irrelevant and low-quality lens into your group, so I'm dinging your lenses!"

Even the Best Lenses Get 1 Star Ratings

Some people have nothing better to do than tear down other people's efforts. If someone feels threatened enough by your lens to 1-star it, that's almost a compliment.

The Measly 2 Star Rating

It still sucks.

This is just about as bad as a 1 star rating. It either means that your lens sucks, or someone doesn't like you.

Possible Translations:
  • "You need to add more content, customize your modules, and learn how to spell."
  • "You really didn't spend much time on this, did you?"
  • "I'm a jerk. Take that!"

Star Rating Poll

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The Iffy 3 Star Rating

Pretty good.

You may have a hard time getting lensmasters to agree on this one. According to Squidoo, 3 stars means "pretty darn good." According to some lensmasters, this is a worthy rating for a GOOD lens.

Then you have others who interpret a 3 star rating to be "mediocre" or "poor." It could also mean that the rater thinks your lens stinks but is too nice to give you anything less than a 3.

Possible Translations:
  • "Your lens has potential, but it could still use more work. You need to add more stuff or make it more interesting."
  • "It's OK, but I don't feel particularly enlightened."
  • "The information is solid, but the writing has about as much personality as a rock."
  • "When I give a lens 3 stars, it means I think it's pretty good! Stop questioning my motives, dagnabbit!"

War of the Ratings!

When you see a poorly made lens, do you give it a low rating, or do you withhold your vote?

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I blast it with the low rating it deserves!

Kit-Kitty says:

That depends, if it looks finished and isn't very good I will often rate it with a low rating, if it looks like its still under construction... I move on.

Posted December 30, 2008

MexicoLarry says:

I only give bad ratings for lenses that are not in the spirit of Squidoo - for example, today i found a lens promoting a scam.

Posted June 20, 2008

Cinetech says:

I give low ratings when it's deserved, but only after the lens has been up for a while. Is there any other easy way to let people know that they need to improve their lenses? Rating lenses only 5 stars or nothing is really unfair.

Posted June 07, 2008

Noadi says:

If the lens looks like it's still being worked on and it's lens freshness is recent I won't rate the lens. A lens that looks compelte but is really bad or a lens that is incomplete and hasn't been republished recently I give a poor rating to.

Posted June 05, 2008

spirituality says:

It depends. If the lens looks unfinished, I don't rate it. If it looks finished (lots of modules, actual text etc.), but has spammy links for instance, I may give it a low rating.

Posted April 24, 2008

I just move on.

Trireme says:

I would move on then re-visit to see if there has been improvement to the lens page

Posted June 25, 2011

bonniebee says:

It's not fair to give a 5 star if it isn't -how will anyone learn? I'd give a medium rating so as not to totally discourage them.

Posted September 01, 2010

KarenTBTEN says:

Most of the time I move on. Sometimes I do rate, though. I've given 1 star ratings twice -- once for a lens that I was pretty confident was a 'squid-don't', once for a lens that not only had content that I think would be offensive to a lot of people, but also was skimpy content-wise and had stuff like generic module titles. If the person offended me and took their time doing it, I would have moved on, but since they seemed to put pretty much no effort whatsoever into being offensive, I decided to give them a 1.

Posted February 15, 2010

good4us_all says:

I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement

Posted October 24, 2009

meetsuefrank says:

just move on.

Posted October 15, 2009

 
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The Almost Perfect 4 Star Rating

It's great! But...

A 4 star ratings means your lens is really good. Maybe it's even really, really good. But... yeah, see, there's a "but." The rater thinks you did a splendid job, but they also think you could probably do a tiny bit better. Some raters are generous with 5 star ratings, while others want you to knock their socks off first.
  • "Very spiffy! However, I think it would better if you added interactive content/a guestbook/subheadings/more pictures/etc."
  • "It's great, really smashing, but it lacks a certain... je ne sais quoi."
  • "It'd be PERFECT if you'd just move the guestbook module down to the bottom of the lens instead of leaving it in the middle like that."

Problems with Star Ratings

1

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Everyone has different standards for rating lenses.

18 points

2

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Some people just give 5 stars to please a friend.

9 points

3

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People give unfair ratings to some of the best lenses.

8 points

4

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Some people do illegal 5 star exchanges.

7 points

5

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People are afraid to give less than 5 because they're not sure how anonymous it all really is

5 points

6

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People think "pretty darn good" = mediocre & "splendiferous" = not good enough - get a dictionary!

3 points

7

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Lensmasters sometimes place too much importance on star ratings.

2 points

8

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Some lenses are still being developed when they're brand new.

1 point

The Greatest 5 Star Rating

Awesome!

Apart from leaving glowing feedback on your guestbook and emailing your lens to everyone they know, a 5 star rating is the highest compliment you can get from someone who checks out your lens. They think your lens is just spiffy. Good job!
  1. "This is totally spiffy-cool-awesome!"
  2. "I can tell you worked hard on this."
  3. This fits my standards of what a lens should be: It has X number of modules, a guestbook, pictures, original writing, etc."
  4. "I could use this as a reference!"

Did You Know?

You can always change your vote. If you make a mistake, you can fix it just by clicking on the correct star.

When lensmasters improve their lenses, you can always go back and give them a new rating.

Don't Do Rate Swaps

The "rate my lens and I'll rate yours" deals are a big no-no on Squidoo. It's perfectly fine to ask people to look at your lens and give feedback, but it's bad form to offer to do star exchanges.

The Squidoo team also claims they're working on changes that could negatively impact rate-swappers.

Leave Your Mark

Comment on star ratings, and feel free to rate this lens. ;)

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  • Reply
    Vintage-Butterfly May 11, 2010 @ 10:35 pm | delete
    I think the star rating is a good idea, with the exception, that, if you are new and just setting up on squidoo, it can take awhile to create your pages, Lenses, Modules etc
    .
    Perhaps for the first weeks there should be a button where you can ask for feedback or critique.
    Then the star ratings could apply after a said period, this would cut down on low star ratings,when trying hard at the start.
  • Reply
    JaguarJulie Feb 27, 2010 @ 5:39 pm | delete
    Terrific assessment of the star rating system! I see this debate going on and on and on into infinity and back.
  • Reply
    KarenTBTEN Feb 15, 2010 @ 11:56 pm | delete
    This is a very interesting discussion. Like a lot of people (I think) I actually give more five star ratings than anything else, being more at to move on if I don't think the quality isn't so great. But I think it's a good idea to sometimes give lower ratings if one feels confident about it in a particular instance. I remember coming across an e-how article that I thought was giving irresponsible advice (as well as being poorly done) and I was actually glad to see that there were people in the e-how community that had given it low ratings.
  • Reply
    Spook Oct 6, 2009 @ 2:23 am | delete
    I enjoyed this. I always enjoy the rating lenses.
  • Reply
    CoolFoto Oct 5, 2009 @ 8:52 pm | delete
    Interesting discussion of the rating issue.
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