Regarding The new voting system

[boomsmee]

I saw the announcement about the new voting system being ready, but why not switch over right away if it is ready? If you are worried about people losing the stuff on the old voting system, just copy the HTML of the voting page with all votable options shown (Minus the vote buttons, they can be removed with a simple find and replace all) and place the HTML on another page and have a link to it on the forums (or even on the main menu for a few days) That way the new system can be up, and people who want the old stuff can transfer it over right away.

[EMG]

This is easier. I let them know, they write down what they want, and then I start the new system. This means that the people that have items they care about will get them carried over to the new system. Changing over on one day or another doesn't matter that much.

I saw the announcement about the new voting system being ready, but why not switch over right away if it is ready? If you are worried about people losing the stuff on the old voting system, just copy the HTML of the voting page with all votable options shown (Minus the vote buttons, they can be removed with a simple find and replace all) and place the HTML on another page and have a link to it on the forums (or even on the main menu for a few days) That way the new system can be up, and people who want the old stuff can transfer it over right away.

[alloiledup]

Disappointed that all the old stuff are pretty much gone. Does it mean people have to re-input their fantasies again and get them re-voted with a for or against all over again? Would EMG make some of the ones on the old system which many people have already voted for? Enquiring minds want to know.

[EMG]

Let's just say that I have a text file with 70+ items that I saved from the old list. :) I'm not putting them back up, I'm keeping them and they'll probably get made at some point.

Disappointed that all the old stuff are pretty much gone. Does it mean people have to re-input their fantasies again and get them re-voted with a for or against all over again? Would EMG make some of the ones on the old system which many people have already voted for? Enquiring minds want to know.

[demigraff]

So far, I have a few issues with the new voting page.

Firstly, on visiting the page, or every time I vote for a file, it takes me to the 'behaviour' tab. (Though it works properly in firefox)

Votes against: Why? If you're not going to use the file, then I'd think its irrelevant whether you actually dislike it or just don't care.

I'm not sure what order the files are in. Is it by total number of votes? Makes it harder to pick out the most popular.

Will it be paginated when there's more suggestions? My big problem with the old page was that WM/IE tends to screw up on big pages, so I couldn't get at it.


Good to see the changes :) And sorry for so much nit-picking ... I'm in the middle of building a voting page myself (for another site), which kind of brings out the perfectionist in me.

[EMG]

That I will definitely have to investigate, I hadn't noticed it, but it could definitely be a bug.

Firstly, on visiting the page, or every time I vote for a file, it takes me to the 'behaviour' tab. (Though it works properly in firefox)

I understand your questioning of that one, but I wanted to see both sides of people's reactions. So far there have been a few surprises.

Votes against: Why? If you're not going to use the file, then I'd think its irrelevant whether you actually dislike it or just don't care.

Currently it's ordered most popular(for-against) to least. I'm considering adding more sort options.

I'm not sure what order the files are in. Is it by total number of votes? Makes it harder to pick out the most popular.

Argh!!! Forgot pagination. Ok, that one will happen soon. Thanks for all the feedback, it's something I get a lot less of than I need :)

Will it be paginated when there's more suggestions? My big problem with the old page was that WM/IE tends to screw up on big pages, so I couldn't get at it.

Good to see the changes :) And sorry for so much nit-picking ... I'm in the middle of building a voting page myself (for another site), which kind of brings out the perfectionist in me.

[alloiledup]

Feedbacks are good. I think when there are changes, the maker of the changes has committed to a lot of work and he deserves feedback. One can't always promises good feedback, but even "negative" feedback should be directed in such a manner which aims to be constructive so this great site can have continuous improvement. I understand the reason why EMG puts in the "against". Just like watching a move, you can give thumbs up or you can give thumbs down. It's a free country. In that way, EMG can clearly see how he could target his efforts. I remain disappointed though that the old stuff was gone, because there are numerous items on the old system that I would have really liked to have some files created. So, I hope that will materialize and not all previous voting efforts all gone to waste. This is nevertheless a great site and we should give a thumbs up to EMG to keep this site interesting.

[Henrique]

I think it need a graphical image next to unvoted files so it's easier to search for files you haven't voted yet.

[hellion0]

"Votes against" has a good reason for being there... suppose someone put an idea up that could get EMG or the file maker in hot water, from a legal standpoint?

[demigraff]

"Votes against" has a good reason for being there... suppose someone put an idea up that could get EMG or the file maker in hot water, from a legal standpoint?

Isn't that what the "report" button is for?

[EMG]

Vote Against is more a personal taste thing. It's a way of seeing how people respond to the idea as a whole. We have 1 file that has more votes than any other because it seems to engender passion on both sides for and against.

As for illegal, anything suggested that is out and out illegal is getting deleted before it ever gets approved.

[boomsmee]

as far as the sort options go, the main ways I would like to see the voting options are:

By date added
By total positive votes (for votes only)
By total score (for votes - against votes, how it is now)

If you are implementing the sorting in the SQL query, these options should be very easy to implement.

I would also like to see the options numbered as well, so we can see what the voting option is ranked.

[EMG]

you are correct, re-sorting is easy, I just have to decide where to put it and do the work.

My question is, what do you mean when you ask to have the options numbered. Not sure what you mean there.

as far as the sort options go, the main ways I would like to see the voting options are:

By date added
By total positive votes (for votes only)
By total score (for votes - against votes, how it is now)

If you are implementing the sorting in the SQL query, these options should be very easy to implement.

I would also like to see the options numbered as well, so we can see what the voting option is ranked.

[boomsmee]

By numbered I mean having a column where the files are numbered.
Though having a page system would reduce the need for this.

+-+--------+-----------------------------------+------+
|1 |<title> |<Top file in current sorting> |vote |
+-+--------+-----------------------------------+------+
|2 |<title> |<second file>...................... |vote |
+-+--------+-----------------------------------+------+
|3 |<title> |<third file>.......................... |vote |
+-+--------+-----------------------------------+------+

Also I noticed with the current voting page with files that have the same overall score are listed pretty much randomly. (a file of 4 for and 1 against sometimes appears ahead of a file with 20 for and 17 against) It seems like it would make more sense to have files with the most total votes show up before files of the same score, but have fewer votes.

[EMG]

Also I noticed with the current voting page with files that have the same overall score are listed pretty much randomly. (a file of 4 for and 1 against sometimes appears ahead of a file with 20 for and 17 against) It seems like it would make more sense to have files with the most total votes show up before files of the same score, but have fewer votes.

While I could display a file id, I think I'll leave it off. I DO plan to add in pagination and expect I will rework the sorting, I like your idea about most votes first in case of a tie.

[hook]

I was actually just looking at the growing list and thought rather than having for and against, how about a more rating based system (ala. youtube).

eg. a suggestion maybe really bad (-2), not a suggestion I would use (-1), a suggestion i dont have an opinion on (so that you know you have seen it... 0), a good idea (+1), or I would really like to see this file (+2).

The average score could then be used for determining good files and would give a more flexible selection range

Additionally the existing good bad could be converted to +1 and -1 so the existing ratings would not be lost.

Some AJAX behind it would also be nice, as reloading the whole page after a vote is a little annoying - if you want some help here, gimme a yell




Also how can you change your vote?

Finally how is 'NEW' worked out currently? Is it based on a date range or last time I saw the page?

[EMG]

Let's see, sorry, you can't change your vote(I'll keep that in mind).

New is anything added in the last week.

Hmm, if you can show me what to do I'd be happy to put some AJAX behind it.

Finally, I will think about moving to a rating system closer to what I use for files, it's not a bad idea and may be more useful than what I have now(although what I have now does amuse me)

I was actually just looking at the growing list and thought rather than having for and against, how about a more rating based system (ala. youtube).

Some AJAX behind it would also be nice, as reloading the whole page after a vote is a little annoying - if you want some help here, gimme a yell

Also how can you change your vote?

Finally how is 'NEW' worked out currently? Is it based on a date range or last time I saw the page?

[hook]

Hmm, if you can show me what to do I'd be happy to put some AJAX behind it.

First thing you would need to do is grab the AJAX lib you want, ill suggest prototype coz I know it ( http://www.prototypejs.org/ )

add the script tag into the head of the page(s)

then against the td with the voting results in it, add id="result[id]" (replace [id] with the id from the DB)

then add a function such as the below:
[code:1]
function vote(id, type) {
new Ajax.Updater('result' + id, '/modules.php?name=Voting&file=index',
{
parameters: {
VoteType: type,
VoteFor: id
}
}
);
}
[/code:1]

That function is to make it easy to spot the {}'s, and vars. You can make it all one line if it makes more sense, eg.
[code:1]
function vote(id, type) {
new Ajax.Updater('result' + id, '/modules.php?name=Voting&file=index&VoteType=' + type + '&VoteFor='+ id);
}
[/code:1]

More info on the call (including other options such as post, ) at:
http://www.prototypejs.org/api/ajax/updater



Now its just a matter of changing the link to href="javascript:vote([id], 1)"
(once again replace [id])

That will do the ajax, although.... the Updater call will update the div with the results from the page, so you should also change the output from the vote to be what now displays (eg. the new contents of that td you gave the id to)

I suspect once you have that working, you will start on other pages :)

Note, this code is untested its off the top of y head based on your site. If you need an example gimme a yell...