[Catalog-sig] Please turn off ratings

["Martin v. Löwis"]

Am 05.04.2011 23:05, schrieb Jacob Kaplan-Moss:
> On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 3:56 PM, René Dudfield <renesd at gmail.com> wrote:
>> a small note for anyone who wants to join in painting this shed... Please
>> first see previous recent (long) thread where this was discussed, and where
>> it was decided to leave them on.
>>
>> -1 (out of 5) for turning them off.
> 
> Perhaps I'm missing something, but I can't find a single articulation
> of why this feature is actually useful. Can you explain to me:
> 
> * What, as a package maintainer, I'm supposed to do in response to a
> 0/5, or 3/5, or 5/5 rating?

It's not primarily targeted at package maintainers - if users like
your package, you shouldn't do anything, and if they don't like it, you
may not be able to do anything.

If users dislike your package, hopefully some would also comment on
why they dislike it, in which case you might consider changing your
package.

> * What, as a user, I'm supposed to do if I see that Django 1.3 scores
> 0/5, or 3/5, or 5/5?

If there is a single vote only: ignore it. If there are many votes, all
voting the package very low, try to find a different package for the
same purpose. If there are comments, consider whether they apply to your
application as well.

> * What, as a user, I'm supposed to use as a criteria to rate a package?

If you like the package a lot, give it 5. If you don't like it at all,
give it 0. If you are in the middle between these, give some rating in
the middle.

Is it really that difficult to understand a grade system? In case you
are familiar with U.S. grading: A=5, F=0 (if I understand U.S. grading
correctly).

Regards,
Martin