Emp, thats an amazing idea.. Having to have to rate different parts of a squad & then when finished you would determain an average rating from what you picked is awesome.. Because you would have it all in there, Fun rating, Competition Rating, Theme, & Creativity, then overall of what you think it balances out to, then after all your ratings are put in the system it would outcome an average rating great idea. I would say if that were like that though then in the sub ratings make it 1-5, & still have to leave a comment this way all of the sub ratings arent given a 1.. but also at the same time thats alot of work for the 1 bandit to have to do that so maybe it might slow it down..



I agree mike, thats why i wrote that i dont think these would be in the works because Shinja & his staff of who run this site do this for free except for the few of kind donations they recieve from users so to get these idea's in effect we would need some people to Really Really start donating. I for one think we should all donate anyway when we have the means to.

Maybe if shinja likes this idea & would consider on working on this & the majority of the people like it, then we take up a collection...

Off topic: Shinja, i dont have the means to create a paypal account so is there any other way to donate to this site. I think sending maybe a money order would be the easiest for me because i dont have a checking or banking account right now. I havent tried going through coolstuffinc yet when i order to give this site some proceeds because i havent ordered yet since we talked Shinja. But if you can, can you pm me when you have a chance to let me know if there are any other options on how i could donate to your site without a paypal account?.. I really feel like i should be donating as well as all of us. They run this site for us for free so we should give them something back in return to keep it going.

great idea's as well DarkDrac, my main thing for this poll thread wasnt to gain popularity or start fights or any of that. I wanted to see what we could do about this problem of the 1's.. & i knew my idea's werent the only but were the only so far to be listed that in my opinion could solve the issue. I wanted to spark the idea to everyone to start brainstorming on how we can fix this issue. & im glad about the response i've had for this issue on this thread to where there were so many people respond to it with liking the idea's i proposed & coming out with even newer ideas. This thread basically sparked that & im so happy on the response its getting.

Again for any major changes to happen would cost shinja alot of work & time, so if any of anyones idea's were to go through i think we owe it to shinja to where if we were to go along with any idea's to do anything about this, that we in his honor donate. This guy does this for us, & i didnt wanna make more of a workload for shinja, so i'd like to see that once & if we do get action to this issue & someones idea's are gonna be put into place to fix it, Then we should all contribute to the cause.

Fellows this thread is starting to take on the taste of the figure "not to be mentioned" don't lose the point of SWM. To me if you really want Squads disscussed the forums is the place for that. The rating system is a really (key word here) FUN aspect of the site. The Top rated Squads is a Joke but is a awesome tool to find idea's from top players and help peeps have fun to keep SWM going.

It sickens me peeps grumbled about Billiv15 comments and other of my favorite squad builders no longer comment because of the some function on a awesome site that is turning into an ego measuring contest instead of what it is intended for. To me that is what needs fixed. I personally think peeps are mad about getting 1's not that they are not leaving a comment and what you can do so your squads don't get 1's. If you want squads critiqued post them in forums I did that and got feedback but don't take some subjective poll to seriously.

BTW i just got Darth Malak Dark Lord of the Sith!!!!!!!

Here's my take on the subject.

When the site first came up, the only way to view other people's squads was to look at the built squads list, they were done by rating.

People realized without a high rating, their squads wouldn't be seen. Hence we had the 'everyone votes their squad a 10' phase of the sight, just so people could look at their squads and they weren't lost in the sea of the rest of them.

Then, there was the advent (current advent of certain users who will go unnamed) who made multiple usernames to get their own squad ratings up enormously, so much so they were noticed and made the top 5.

Now, we have people throwing out 1s into other people's squads to get theirs above in rating to get their squad on the top 5. Honestly it doesn't matter what squads are on the top 5, half if not more on a given day aren't tier 1 or even that competitive. Some aren't even fun to play for casual players.

All in all the concept of rating squads is fun, the execution of said ratings is not. Why? People are jealous, prideful, and want to be right/best at all times. So, we have the high ratings of themselves and the low ratings for others. It's just human nature.


Do I have a grand proposal to fix everything or start a petition or poll? No. I'm a user who is sick of trying to rate other people's squads and have one word responses to mine that are gibberish and useless informationally and practically. I make my squads. I make them public 99% of the time, then I leave them alone. Some I have rated highly because I fell into the 'have to rate it high to get noticed' trap but the majority of my squads don't even have a rating of mine, and most don't have a comment simply because there are so many squads in the sea it is unrealistic to expect every squad I post to get a comment/rating.

Honestly it boils down to whether or not you care someone rates your squad a 1. If you really have to start a thread and petition to change a system because you feel it is cheap, nasty, whatever then really take a few days off from this site. Take the emotion out of it. That's where the trouble here is, people are getting EMOTIONALLY invested in a place/forum that has neither emotions nor any real relationship, just perceptions and oftentimes delusions of grandeur.

I for one don't care what people rate my squads, I consider myself and people I game with (and Dean/Jonny) adequate judges of squads, and ultimately, you don't need a squad rating if you use it in a tourney and it stinks, or you use it in a tourney and it wins. Your brain should be able to tell you the results and you should be able to figure out of the squad is any good (I realize that is hard to do if you are new, but again don't rely on ratings, post your squad in Squad Discussion).

If you have specific comments/feedback/suggestions for a squad, that isn't what the squad rating system was specifically designed for, that is the job of the Squad Building Forum, and that's it. If you are expecting answers for 1 ratings, you simply won't get them and you are wasting your time (and apparently a lot of it if it becomes THIS important) trying to figure out why you get a 1.

Step away, take the emotion out of it, and use the squad building tool and the Squad Building Forum seperately and not as the same thing.

That is all, back the regularly scheduled programming.

Frankly, I believe this site has grown beyond the Ratings. If you want a critique, ask for it in the Squad Building forum. Leave the feedback out of the squad tab. That's where most of the abuse is.

The fact that you can remain anonymous means you can abuse as much as you like. Most people are civilized to see this as a tool. However, there are several people who don't have the maturity to use this as a resource, as so planned.

I would be very happy if the Ratings went the way of the Hammer pants.

Just add a Facebook like interface that leads to "Like" Squad and be done with it.

Just keep track of the newest squads via New Squads and by account.

I just don't think that a ratings scale does anything bring out the worst in people.


BTW: Shinja, I love this site and all the hardwork you do for it and us, the SWM public.

I don't know if this would help but what about a counter showing the number of squads, ratings, and comments. It may motive people.

Also give people a cookie every time they rate/comment

I really don't think there is a lot that can be done about this problem. People are very immature and subjective when it comes to ratings. We are dealing with a large age range of people and everyone has different views on how things work.

Even the 'good players' are biased when it comes to ratings. One of them rated one of my squads a one and left a comment that said 'bad squad, it will never work'. When I PM'ed him to ask why, his response was, 'it is not my responsability to tell everyone how to play the game.' He them went and left another nasty comment on the squad. I even admited that the squad was not worthy of ten's, but I didn't think it was worth a one and then a nasty comment. My point is, it is not just the uninformed that cause this problem. People are often not happy with negative feedback, and even constructive critiscm can be viewed as negative feedback.

I have stopped posting new squads in the squad building forum because of all the comments such as above. I am not the greatest player, but I'd like to think I am pretty good. But I still have a lot to learn as well. To me, that is part of being a good player, you are always trying to get better.

I just don't see a way to take the subjectivity out of ratings. I have stopped worrying about it and I now ask certain people to look at my squads and rate them, with critiscm, good or bad. I don't even care about the rating any more, but I do want to know if people think it is competative and can do well.

You all put way too much stock in public approval.

I'm sorry Shinja, but me not rating much anymore doesn't make the problem worse. Me not rating is a symptom of the problem, not a cause. It is never my responsibility to rate people's squads. It is my option, to do as I see fit. I will not participate in a rating system that is broken. It is broken regardless of whether I use it or not.

Unless you start blocking people from complaining about my ratings, or pming me to harass me for what they feel was unfair, then I have no interest in participating beyond the occasional. I won't be forced to comment by any measure, and if you do so, I will stop completely. If you make some change like only granting a squad to the person who posted first, then I will stop using the site completely.

Guys, quite simply grow up. Ratings mean absolutely nothing. I use this site as a resource and a database. That's what it is meant to be. The rating system is not even a top 10 purpose of the site for me. If it is for you, then you need to look at your priorities and do a little self reflection. Shinja, I am ashamed that you put this problem as a creation of me not rating as much. The problem was most certainly present when those of us who have admitted we slowed our ratings, were rating in full force. Us stopping or slowing did not create, nor really affect the problem. Heck, as it was, I still have multiple PMs about people complaining about their rating. Zalkrie who posted above (although the situation he described was not me) was one of them. I am starting to think because people have way too much tied up in rankings, that we simply need to do away with them completely. Or perhaps I just need to completely stop commenting and rating squads from here on out. Either one seems to work fine for me.

I just feel whatever the answer to getting the annonomous 1's to stop is gonna be the key to getting more squads rated. Even though like many people mentioned that ratings shouldnt matter much or the publics approval doesnt either, in my eyes it does. Dont you want good idea's that you may be missing in one of your builds? & the only way to get them is if your squad doesnt dissapear in the site because of the uncalled for 1 with no comment. I feel this thread alone is slowing down that problem because the ones doing it i feel see that we are talking up about it & these people dont wanna be known.

Its just a joke or a gag. & like i said also i dont think the idea's i proposed are the only idea's to solve it, thats why i made the thread. Let this issue gain all of our attentions so that all of us may decide on how to fix it. Even if you dont rate squads on here anymore or you dont find this to be a real big issue for you. It's an issue for alot of others & the main goal should be even if you dont rate squads or care, you should wanna help create the best site possible for your fellow SWM's players building squads. Even if you dont care you should wanna solve this issue for them. The people doing the million ones without comments are hopefully reading this thread & seeing that maybe its time to call it quits.

Basically anyone & everyone who plays the game & is registered on this site, are all like a family. Not to where we give our figures away, to the fact that we all come on this site for the same cause. There shouldnt be any bickering or fighting or jealousy. We need to all come together & stop trying to make issues for this site whoever it is doing it. Lets say, just saying, not saying this would ever happen, but what if something minor like giving the ones without a comment or some other little tidious thing you were doing to the site made people stop coming on this site & go else where. Then forcing shinja since noone is coming on here shut the site down. Then what? So the easiest solution to this & to any problem caused by users would be to just stop it, say ok it was fun but lets think of the other users now. Basically the solution is a simple as just stopping. Because i for one wouldnt like it to where if this site has to shut down. Of course that would never happen but just saying ya know..


Also, If you wanna make the site better in the construction of new options & ones that are avalible now, then donate. $1 here & there from every user here can really make a difference. Figure, shinja made this the best site for mini's as is with only a few donations. All's it takes is a dollar here & there from every user for this person who gives us this site for free. & if you dont have a paypal account like i dont, then there is other ways to donate. I just feel we got the best SWM site in this world right here, so lets try to keep it like that & stop pushing the site away from us..