Done with star ratings
Posted by mike | Filed under Meta
The number one source of frustration on this site: star ratings. No matter what I do, they’re bound to disappoint someone. If I give a high rating to every place I get excited about (most of them), then I get feedback that my ratings are uninformative. If I stick to ratings of no more than 3.5 for really good places that don’t necessary stand above the crowd, then everyone associated with that place is a little disappointed (and rightfully so).
So Long Star Ratings!
At the end of the day, every place is a little different. There are high points and low points, and condensing a very complex emotion that I have for a particular place into a single metric just isn’t workable. Sure, I could use a multi-variate scoring system, but that’s just complex and burdensome. I write this blog to call attention to restaurants than I want to promote, and a numeric scoring system doesn’t let me do that any more effectively.
If you want to know how I feel, read the review. If your pressed for time, then skip to the last paragraph or two, where I tend to summarize my thoughts. Even that is bound to give you a better perspective of how I feel than a single score.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:49 am
Ratings are over-rated. No worries — I don’t think the stars will be missed!
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:02 am
Thanks Megan. I’m glad you agree.
March 2nd, 2010 at 11:02 am
agreed. i don’t think the star ratings were the most interesting part of this blog anyway
March 7th, 2010 at 7:17 am
I also think the are not totally necessary. Maybe we can engineer a new grading system. Cheers!