Most newbie I make my decision as I visit there lens if its a promotion for a marketing program that I know is no good then its gets no rating. If its about what someone likes their  city, dogs, cats ect. I give them a 5 star and become a fan then I check my favors everyday as soon as they do an update I favor them next time they do an update I do a comment but there are some lens I never comment on you know ladies there are some lens a guy just can't comment on. All food lens by the time I get to the bottom I have to leave and get something to eat you know like Joan lens but I 5 star them love them food lens. As for all other lens if they have a lot of great lens and it is my first time there I become a fan and on their profile page a start at the bottom and rate them as I go up the page, I do this to help boost the lower ones up the ones on top are already getting good ratings so they don't need a boost as soon but I do work my way to their top lens over time.

I rate lenses like I grade papers (the English teacher in me).  I reserve 1* for spam.  I give 2* when they have no intro plus all of their modules have the generic module titles, and after I check their bio to make sure they aren't new.  If they are new, then I don't rate.  If a lensmaster isn't new and the lens is just ok and very weak on content, then I 3 star it.  I 4 star good lenses that still have a little room to get better.  I 5 star great lenses, lenses that have a unique subject matter (that rubber duckie lens comes to mind), or any lens that succeeds in ignited my emotions (be is laughter, sadness, empathy, a healthy sense of debate, etc).  I use the phrases that pop up when you hover over the stars as a guide.

I the lens is terrible, but I really feel that they tried then I just don't rate it.  I don't want to give a false good rating to someone that hasn't earned it, but I don't want to penalize them either.

thrivingmom wrote:

I rate lenses like I grade papers (the English teacher in me).  I reserve 1* for spam.  I give 2* when they have no intro plus all of their modules have the generic module titles, and after I check their bio to make sure they aren't new.  If they are new, then I don't rate.  If a lensmaster isn't new and the lens is just ok and very weak on content, then I 3 star it.  I 4 star good lenses that still have a little room to get better.  I 5 star great lenses, lenses that have a unique subject matter (that rubber duckie lens comes to mind), or any lens that succeeds in ignited my emotions (be is laughter, sadness, empathy, a healthy sense of debate, etc).  I use the phrases that pop up when you hover over the stars as a guide.

I the lens is terrible, but I really feel that they tried then I just don't rate it.  I don't want to give a false good rating to someone that hasn't earned it, but I don't want to penalize them either.

The way you rate lenses is I think what the Squidoo folks had in mind, although I wouldn't give any stars at all to a spam lens, which to me is by definition terrible. Even one star is a boost in rating. Other than that, I would prefer to rate lenses much the way you do.

However, it struck me early in my Squidoo days that most people who rate lenses feel they should give five stars if they're going to give any at all. So perhaps they only rate lenses they feel are really good. That's pretty much what I've been doing. I have tried to rate more lenses since I became a Giant after the June 30 deadline.

Last edited by MobyD (10/19/2008 12:14 pm)

I don't follow the "5*'s or nothing" way of lens rating.   Personally, I feel that defeats the whole purpose for having a rating system.  I rate lenses based on many different factors and use the 1-5 stars available to do this.  Obviousy, I am not the only one that does since I have lenses that are rated 3, 3 1/2, 4, 41/2 stars.

Janet21 wrote:

I don't follow the "5*'s or nothing" way of lens rating.   Personally, I feel that defeats the whole purpose for having a rating system.

I agree.
I try to be objective and only give low ratings when I feel that the lens really deserve them. It feels better to give 5*s and 4*s. But I have given out plenty of 2* and even 1* ratings and I expect I'll give many more of those in the future Let's face it, Squidoo has a lot of cr*ppy lenses - and I don't mean merely unfinished ones, or those of newbies not sure what they're doing. I mean those with spam keyword links and copy>paste content.

Just so everyone knows, you can rate a lens with "X" number of stars and then go back in the future and give a better rating if the lens has been improved. Since I found that information out, I now will rate a lens based on how good it is. It the lens is not that good I give it a low rating, then i try to get back to it down the road and if it has improved, then so does my rating for it!

ThomasC wrote:

Just so everyone knows, you can rate a lens with "X" number of stars and then go back in the future and give a better rating if the lens has been improved. Since I found that information out, I now will rate a lens based on how good it is. It the lens is not that good I give it a low rating, then i try to get back to it down the road and if it has improved, then so does my rating for it!

That would be an ideal situation, Thomas. Kudos to you if you can manage to keep an eye on all the lenses you've visited in regard to further improvements, and then go back for a rating upgrade. I find it difficult, time wise. I'm already spending many hours every day checking out lenses and working the forum. It probably all balances out when everything is said and done. 

I find myself giving 4's and 5's mostly. In rare occasions a 3, but any Lens not worth at least a 3, I usually bail before voting, because it is so bad.

At least once, I visited a Lens that was still WIP, and I knew the new Lensmaster had some reworking to do, and was doing it, so I favorited the Lens, and joined the fan club. I returned within a couple of days and was very happy to give it a well deserved 5 *!

Normally, I fear that, like Chef, I may not be able to keep track of which Lenses I rated less than 5 *, but I have surprised myself and revisited a Lens I had rated less than 5, saw it appeared better than I remember, so boosted them up to 5

ThomasC wrote:

I have a folder on my firefox toolbar where I bookmark any lens that I give a low rating, making it very easy to revisit and check for improvements!

I'll keep that in mind, Thomas. Maybe I change my rating habits - your method makes sense. 

On your dashboard there is a favor tab and the first thing I do everyday is go there and any lens that I have favored or become a fan of that has updated its right there and depending how big of a fan base you have it just takes a few min. of time to check them if you do it on a daily bases.

sara08852 wrote:

Wouldn't it great to have a special rating for spammy lenses: what I mean is you could mark a lens as spam if you find one and if any given lens gets say 10 such votes then the HQ could go ahead and delete it.

That's what we have Squid Angels for, sara. They look for spam and then they have the power to "ding" a lens. If anybody else feels like they've discovered a spammy lens, they can report it from the link at the bottom of each lens, where it says "report spam". 

MobyD wrote:

vbright105 wrote:

I can't find anything on my firefox.  I've downloaded extensions that have ended up...somewhere, but I don't know where...lol

Your Firefox extensions are under Tools > Addons > Extensions assuming you installed them from the site where you found them.

Hmm, nope, If I go to tools, then click addons, it takes me to the download list where I can delete them, but not use them