Is the leaderboard stuck? Or do questions not matter anymore?
In the past when I asked a question and it got a lot of activity my rep soared, that didn't happen this time. Did the Woot gods decide they were tired of the lame questions and decide to weigh their algorithm more heavily to the deals side (as it should be)?
by
ohcheri
asked 6 months ago
It would be nice if questions don't count any more; I'm deathly tired of wading through dozens of inane questions just in case there might be something of usefulness buried deep under the pile.
I went lite (checking only 5 times a day) on deals for a week and fell 50 places.
The leaderboard is not stuck (my stats just changed, albeit very slightly, between me noticing your question and me posting this answer, maybe five minutes?).
As for question vs. deals weighting, it might be that the delay in things like tattling have spread to questions. My last question seemed to take a while to boost my rep and then continued to do so for a while.
It seems that one good question every two weeks or so is enough to keep me above 97% rep, at least in addition to the generally mediocre deals I occasionally post and my other activity.
I'd think that your daily deals which almost always go popular, if not stratospheric, would tend to keep your rep in the high 90's with ease (you're at 98.35% now, compared with my 97.53%).
There's a delay between the question and the effect on your reputation. I believe that delay is a moving window of about 30 hours, give or take.
I agree with @shrdlu that it takes a day or so to update your rep, but always click on the leaderboard to see what you need to do to get yours going!
@magic cave: I totally agree this is a deals site and questions should not weigh as heavily for Rep.
I will admit that I am guilty of asking questions to help my rep out but I do agree that the good questions are getting harder to find.
I have also posted some questions involving purchasing items and finding deals they don't do as well as most none deal questions.
I'm fine with however the weigh questions. I have more fun reading questions and answers than I do seeing how much the same DVDs I saw a deal on yesterday cost today, or what a vendor is posting today as their "deal" as opposed to yesterday.
Questions are more fun than deals, sometimes :-) I just wish nothing weighed as heavily on a weekend!
@shrdlu is, as usual, correct. I had a question go wildly popular back when jumbo tossed out the $20 coupons. It took a whole day at least before the boost hit my rep.
Also note that the impact on your rep drops dramatically about ten days later.
While I still wish that "questions asked" would cease to be a score component, I have to say that I like this current behavior.
But how much did your actual rep (rather than your ranking) change?
If you're not in the top 14, does it actually matter whether you are in 50th or 100th or 152nd place? You've got a black triangle, so you're at the party.
The drive to be top dog at something that doesn't really matter all that much is something I don't get (but then I've always prefered to hang back and watch, usually at the bar or where the really good food is).
Also, given my own experience, I'm wondering what it is that I'm doing better than others.
It certainly isn't posting deals (18 total, ~1/week on average, highest #votes 48, average #votes 17.4)
Or questions (18 total, ~1.4/week on average, highest #votes 121, average #votes 20.7)
So it has to be comments and answers (in terms of adding content) or my voting on deals and questions.
This happens because people don't understand that posting more questions doesn't help unless all of the questions are good.
Consider an example... say a good question gets 20 votes and a bad one gets 2 and that credit is based on a simple total of votes divided by questions (this isn't the case, but it shows the point):
Post one good question and you get 20 credits
Post one good and one bad: 20+2 / 2 = 11 credits
One good and five bad: 20+10 / 6 = 5 credits
All bad: 2x / x = 2 credits.
Since people that post many questions tend to post bad ones (sorry guys, but you do), they end up with little or nothing to show for their rep.
In short, if you don't have something good to say, say nothing.
Wait, hold up a second. Why does reputation matter again? I thought this issue was resolved a long time ago..your reputation is meaningless.
I hear ya. It feels like such a daily struggle just to keep the triangle black - I'm considering ditching the whole thing and just watching the site for things I want to buy. It's nice to get gift certificates from JumboWoot on occasion, but sometimes I wonder if it's worth the fight.
@baqui63: Well, that explanation makes sense. I ask questions only when I either need information or am curious about some odd ol' thing. I asked about Christmas catalogs a couple of days ago; the responses lead me to think I'm ahead of the pack, and not in a good way. At least my mail carrier likes me; he's been asking lately if I can't sign up for more magazines and suggesting I send lots of cards out this season. Times are tough at the USPS.
I think it's been balanced out, if you add a lot of deals you don't get as much credit anymore.
@baqui63:
"In short, if you don't have something good to say, say nothing."
ah, if only some would heed that advice! (i agree with your statement btw.) i've come across so many threads where there's a sub-thread of hate. some of the questions posted are poor as well.
it seems that after the last go around of changes, there's been this need to push everyone, everyday to post something so their numbers move. it's a crazy game. is there ever really a winner? (save for @jumbowoot of course!)
@jockovonred: Even JW doesn't really win, you know. It's rather like Alice Through the Looking Glass, where everyone has to run very hard to stay in the same place. If you stand still, the board is whisked about under you. I think of JW as The White Knight (one of my favorites from the book).
So it goes.
{I also point out that I go out of my way to NOT ask questions. It's a race to the bottom, as far as I'm concerned.}
I know that it has been asked many times and many ways. But I don't believe there are "Good Questions" that really boost your rating. I think this should be a forum to share ideas about deals or Woot community questions. If it really must mater, how about "Participation" points.
@baqui63: Sure it does not matter, when I say I took a week off in reality I was busy doing other things. I enjoy checking deals out, making comments, reading questions, getting answers, and the community. I just happen to notice the drop.
I think the push to post more and mroe questions is because people don't understand what I wrote above about the average ROQ (return on question). (Either that or they are pulling the average IQ down.)
@shrdlu: if it really was a race to the bottom, I think you'd be posting inane questions up the wazoo (or is it that your sense of self worth stops you?) ;)
It has absolutely nothing to do with what the question is asking.
Good questions are those that get a lot of votes. Mediocre questions get a few votes. Bad questions stay at zero or go negative.
The community decides what is good and what is not, by how they vote.
(This is an over-simplification, as views and answers also count.)
@baqui63: In that mad rush to the bottom, I am merely an observer. I posted many questions when the site first started, but they were few in comparison to what goes on now. I don't even read most of the questions now. I feel a little sad in saying that, but it's true.
At one time, there were actual conversations going on in questions, and I think this "top" thing has killed that. Everything has its time; even you and I are not forever. I still pay a bit of attention, but nothing like I did before.
So it goes.
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