Ratings not showing on ATB

[bmathison1972]

Is anyone else having trouble having their most recent Ratings not showing up? I remember a similar phenomenon on DTB and if I remember correctly, it was because they had reached the maximum allowed? If that's the case, would ATB be at that point already?
@animaltoyforum - any thoughts?

[AnimalToyForum]

Oh, it could well be, the ATB has grown so quickly. I'll check and get back to you...

[AnimalToyForum]

I have just checked and, yes, we have reached the limit of 2,500 'signals'. The only way around it seems to be a paid plan: https://crowdsignal.com/support/2500-signals-limit-crowdsignal-free-plan/

It still seems to be collecting the ratings data but the limit means they are not displaying it properly.

[bmathison1972]

I guess that's your call. Thoughts?

[EpicRaptorMan]

If we decide to drop the rating system due to now being forced to resort to the paid plan I suggest we keep it consistent...

... unfortunately that means removing the ratings of the previous articles too. Never really understood the rating system anyways. Are we supposed to rate the toy, the picture quality, or the overall written article?

[Burgerenby]

The toy obviously.
What would other collectors even benefit from if it rated the review itself, other than being able to be mean towards the reviewer?
This hobby is collaborative, not competitive.

[Gwangi]

The toy obviously.
What would other collectors even benefit from if it rated the review itself, other than being able to be mean towards the reviewer?
This hobby is collaborative, not competitive.

It seemed pretty obvious to me too, but this also came up recently in the Dinosaur Toy Forum and apparently it's not that obvious. Some people vote for the review, or a combination of both the figure and the review.

[bmathison1972]

The toy obviously.
What would other collectors even benefit from if it rated the review itself, other than being able to be mean towards the reviewer?
This hobby is collaborative, not competitive.

It seemed pretty obvious to me too, but this also came up recently in the Dinosaur Toy Forum and apparently it's not that obvious. Some people vote for the review, or a combination of both the figure and the review.

There are no rules either way. Vote for whichever you want.

Me personally, I vote for the figure. And I vote for it in context (i.e., I don't judge a vintage figure by today's standards). I also never vote for my own, but I vote for everyone else's.

[EpicRaptorMan]

The toy obviously.
What would other collectors even benefit from if it rated the review itself, other than being able to be mean towards the reviewer?
This hobby is collaborative, not competitive.

Giving feedback and an honest opinion of one's work is not mean. If you take it that way then you're just against criticism.

If there's a figure I really like, but the photos in the article are blurry or poor I might give it a lower rating because the Blog doesn't not accurately display the figure. Or if the measurements or other information is just wrong then there's another downside. Like @Gwangi said.
Especially if there's only one review per Make/Model.

[Gwangi]

I use the star rating for the figure only, and if I have something to say about the review I leave it in the comments. If someone gets something wrong in a review it should be pointed out to the reviewer. Reviews can be easily edited and mistakes fixed. I don't think downvoting the review will help in the slightest. It's a toy review blog, not a review of reviews blog, if that makes sense. The star rating is supposed to be a quick way to get the general community's overall opinion of the toy in the review, an "at a glance" assessment. For that reason I DO usually vote on my own reviews, because I'm voting on the figure, not my review. It's not always a 5 star figure that I'm covering either.

EDIT: Giving feedback on a review is not being mean, but downvoting a review without explaining why isn't a productive way to give feedback.

[EpicRaptorMan]

Exactly so the actual toy review part is all that should matter and anything else should be excluded. So that brings up the question, why do we have Blog Articles anyways? Why not just have someone post very specific styled of photos with essential information (dimensions and errors) and then vote solely on that?
My view would be something more along the lines of what we see on https://toyanimal.info/wiki/ and then vote that way. It would slim down the requirements for Blog submissions and allow us to focus more on quantity and the figures themselves.

@Gwangi just spit-balling here and not actually trying to offend anyone in particular.

[AnimalToyForum]

To be honest I'm reluctant to pay for a ratings system for the ATB (and DTB). It just doesn't seem worth it. I'll look into free alternatives but that may mean losing the current ratings which would be a shame. In the meantime the ratings data is still being collected, it just isn't being displayed properly.

As an aside, I always rate the figure, not the review. That always seemed obvious to me.

[bmathison1972]

Honestly, if the ratings disappeared, I wouldn't care one way or the other. I see they show up now, but usually a day late.

[Gwangi]

The star ratings seem to appear and disappear at random for me but it has been that way for a long time now and I've never been bothered by it.

[EpicRaptorMan]

How much does it cost anyway?

Like I said, if we stop with it probably best to just remove the ratings from the previous entries to keep it consistent.

We always have the Comment section to discuss our likes/dislikes. Only problem with that is it requires email entry which alot of lurkers and guests may be hesitant to give up.