Best Ever Albums

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

albummaster — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 14:56:29 GMT

Author: albummaster

Posted: 03/03/2018 19:56

I was a probably a bit wrong there to focus solely on troll comments as they aren't the entire problem. There are lots of ways a comment can be deemed 'unhelpful', and it's not just troll comments (some comments can be very short, or they might be longer but not very insightful, but still part of the conversation). The more difficult problem that needs to be solved is bumping up the better quality & more insightful comments (whether or not they are in accordance with the view of the crowd) and giving them better visibility.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

paladisiac — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 14:30:19 GMT

Author: paladisiac

Posted: 03/03/2018 19:30

albummaster wrote:

Those buttons were always meant as a way for people to bury troll content, and allow users to upvote the most informative comments so that the best comments could be surfaced to site visitors. The burying of troll comments is fairly effective, it's just the second part which is less so. I appreciate the functionality isn't really being used in this way by most people, and may need to think of a better way of doing this.

This is a good idea -- burying troll content. Troll posts are truly unhelpful. Maybe create a little "troll" button instead? Maybe like this?: X

Thank you for discussing this, albummaster. It wasn't what I was expecting. 😄

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

albummaster — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 14:27:43 GMT

Author: albummaster

Posted: 03/03/2018 19:27

could maybe just change the label to say 'Informative?' instead of 'Helpful?', but not sure it would change how people use it.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Decurso — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 13:24:41 GMT

Author: Decurso

Posted: 03/03/2018 18:24

I am glad I am not the only to notice this. The other day I was reading comments on an artist ranked in the op 25. I had never really listened to them much, but after giving them a shot...I was completely unimpressed. Several users left some comments that actually were pretty helpful in describing said artist...but because they were negative, they had been rated as unhelpful. The idea is whether the comment can be of any use to a prospective listener. Sadly, it is mostly used to express agreement and disagreement.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Hayden — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 08:10:09 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 03/03/2018 13:10

albummaster wrote:

I find that it does its purpose. I've always appreciated reading a good, thoughtful, thorough review with a with a whole bunch of thumbs up.

If someone doesn't like a 'popular' album and gives a good explanation as to why, then I usually give them a thumbs up. It's not about whether or not I disagree/agree, it's just the quest to read stuff that isn't garbage.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Repo — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 07:51:12 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 03/03/2018 12:51

Michael1981 wrote:

I just prefer it when BEA is a bit more sociable and inclusive. There are certainly a number of users I could thank for making it feel that way in the forums :)

Yeah. I wouldn't even be here if BEA wasn't this way. The coolest & most welcoming place on the interwebs. 😎

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Anonymous — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 05:49:35 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 03/03/2018 10:49

albummaster wrote:

Yeah I was thinking about that as a helpful function of down-voting. But presumably we would need to flag up trolling comments anyway and they seem pretty rare on this site. The only things I would want to down vote is where a user makes a negative comment aimed at another user. But I can flag those up so don't really need to downvote. Maybe it would work better if we had the upvote option but not the downvote one 🤡 ?

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

albummaster — Sat, 3 Mar 2018 05:29:36 GMT

Author: albummaster

Posted: 03/03/2018 10:29

Those buttons were always meant as a way for people to bury troll content, and allow users to upvote the most informative comments so that the best comments could be surfaced to site visitors. The burying of troll comments is fairly effective, it's just the second part which is less so. I appreciate the functionality isn't really being used in this way by most people, and may need to think of a better way of doing this.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Anonymous — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 16:07:00 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 03/01/2018 21:07

I upvote content that I find helpful whatever I agree on the stance or not, AND also sometimes comments that reflect my view on the album that are in the opposite direction of the majority of comments. e.g. if I think an album is really overrated and the people that express that same impression get 5 negative votes I try to even it up by givin a positive vote.

But yes, in the end it mainly works as a LIKE/DISLIKE button.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Anonymous — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 14:56:32 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 03/01/2018 19:56

Generally the function is misused and not very helpful. I have seen many insightful comments get no vote at all or downvoted and like you said, 'wow, great album' get upvoted. I will admit though, I am guilty of posting comments like that on some albums with lots of comments or some tracks for point farming, but BEA's point system is a bit annoying hence why I did it. Thankfully there is no points system, it's just simply 'unhelpful' or 'helpful', so it's not a massive problem. I do think by default the 'viewing threshold' function should be removed though when there is -3 votes, with the option to turn it on later. Someone could go against the tide and make a really insightful comment, and have -6 votes, and not have their comment appear.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

manurock — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 12:59:30 GMT

Author: manurock

Posted: 03/01/2018 17:59

I'm going to be very sincere here and say that I vote "helpful" when the comment agrees with what I think of the album/track and "unhelpful" when it doesn't. If it disagrees a little but I find it a fair point I don't vote or I can even vote "helpful". I only do this on albums I am very clear I love or hate in comparison to the band or genre's other albums.

I don't mind if the user has done a historial and musical analysis if the album or track makes him feel the opposite as I do. I respect his opinion but it hasn't been a helpful comment for me because, if I had followed the user's comment, I would never have listened to that album if he dislikes it or I would have bought it at first sight if he finds it is the ultimate masterpiece. May sound harsh but it's the truth.

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

paladisiac — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 10:51:21 GMT

Author: paladisiac

Posted: 03/01/2018 15:51

Michael1981 wrote:

I just prefer it when BEA is a bit more sociable and inclusive. There are certainly a number of users I could thank for making it feel that way in the forums :)

�'� :like:

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

Anonymous — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 10:35:25 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 03/01/2018 15:35

I agree very much with the opinion opening this thread.

I find it kind of sad when someone has taken the time to write a thoughtful comment and it gets rated unhelpful, (presumably because others don't agree) That puts me off writing comments on album pages a bit and doesn't exactly promote conversation.

Oh well, maybe I'm just being a bit sensitive and old-fashioned. This is the internet after all and you take your chances when you post your thoughts and feelings online. I just prefer it when BEA is a bit more sociable and inclusive. There are certainly a number of users I could thank for making it feel that way in the forums 😄

Re: People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

bobbyb5 — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 09:51:10 GMT

Author: bobbyb5

Posted: 03/01/2018 14:51

To tell the truth, I've never even paid attention to them and I never even looked at them . But now I'm curious about it. In general when I see helpful/ unhelpful on any kind of site, like Amazon etc, I just think it's kind of useless. But I really like reading the comments comments that people on BEA leave for albums, artist, tracks. I like seeing what everyone has to say. I find it very interesting.

People's album Helpful/Unhelpful votes

paladisiac — Thu, 1 Mar 2018 09:41:12 GMT

Author: paladisiac

Posted: 03/01/2018 14:41

So i've listened to a lot of albums and ranked and rated nearly all of them hear on besteveralbums.com . Sometimes I feel compelled to leave a comment about an album. Sometimes I peruse other people's comments. There are comments not only for albums, but songs and artists as well, but I'm just going to address album comments in this poll.

Underneath BEA album comments is this "Helpful? Yes/No" option which i'm mystified by. To me, an album comment is helpful if it gives me insight, preferrably detailed insight, into an album, its genre, its historical significance, what it sounds like, its tempo and musicality, etc. An unhelpful comment to me is the opposite -- something like "Great album!" (???). What mystifies me is that many people end up interpreting this voting option to state whether or not they agree with the commenter's personal opinion (of whether they like the album or not). To me, that's not the purpose of this "helpful vote".

Are the "helpful / unhelpful" comment vote tallies helpful to you at all? If so, why? If not, why not? What's your take on that BEA feature? Am I alone in the universe?