iRiff Ratings/Feedback...way to implement a more eBay-like approach?

[mr.b.natural]

I won't expect a response because I know how busy you guys are and once a little bit of info gets out it brings on a flood of even more questions but I just want to repeat something I've mentioned before.  I know we've been asking for a lot with the site upgrade and the new feedback system but I just wanted to say that one thing I'm hoping for is that the feedback reminders work retroactively.  That is to say, if sometime bought an iriff a year ago and didn't leave feedback then they would be told about it.  Rather than then the feature just working for future iriffs.  That's all.  Thanks.

[Hor-RIFF-ic Productions]

Lately torgosPizza has been referencing a big site upgrade.  I would like to know if they have an ETA on that and if our new feedback feature will be premiering with it. 

I would also be interested on if iRiffs will ever be able to upload their trailers or samples as apposed to dealing with youtube, in the forseeable future.

Yes.

Woohoo! 

[LucasM]

I'm seeing this thread for the first time.  I am responding both as a buyer/viewer of iRiffs, as well as someone who is working on their first iRiff (in my - Ha! Ha! - 'spare' time).

I think the email reminder (even if it's once a month) would be useful to remind people who don't often visit the site and picked up one or two after hearing about it from somewhere else that people are promoting their iRiffs.  But it wouldn't be a bad ide to have an opt out of the email bit.

I still am in favor of ... a nag that reminds you (maybe once a week or something) to leave feedback for your purchases if you have any that require them.

I'm pretty sure that e-mails or notices or reminders in major areas of the website (particularly repeated ones) would be a sure fire way to piss off people who were 'just checking' to see if any riffing was to their liking.  And it might be aversive enough to prevent them from coming back to the site at all.  [I know that I would be irritated with e-mails.]

ANY time feedback is 'forced' it becomes less accurate (I learned that when learning about psychometrics).  And people who were irritated by the reminders are more likely to leave negative feedback.  [Imagine how irritated some of you were when you had to go to a particular place on the internet to look up the word "psychometrics"... now multiply that by a hundred or more, and you'll get the idea.  ]

Honestly?  The only people you WANT to leave you feedback are those impressed enough by the product to do so on their own.  However, if they have no way of doing so, or don't know it is possible, or it is difficult to 'find', then they won't do it.

So my take?  "Feeback possible? Good"  "Feedback 'forced' (or harped on)?  Bad"


I think it was Torgo'sPizza that said something like this: Possibly on the file downloads page a separate column for ratings (that the website would then 'transfer' to the listing page)?  That would be real handy it seems to me: as the place for all ratings would all be together, so the person doesn't have to search out the listing page for each item.  I, personally, would finish leaving ratings for regular RiffTrax if that was available.  [But, as someone else pointed out in this thread, it is difficult to tell which sets of stars are 'group'-scored RiffTrax, and which have your rating on them, so I just said, "screw it," and won't bother anymore.]

An addition I'd make to that is - immediately after leaving the "1-5-star" rating - there was an option of leaving a comment for the iRiff.  [i.e. when someone entered their 1-5-star rating, the website on the confirmation page for the star rating (or pop-up window confirmation) would have a box that said, "if you'd like to leave a specific comment for this iRiff, please do so here."]

Using the idea that we get a webpage listing our downloads and ratings, maybe some sort of a reward. Say a free short for 50 ratings. It's nothing huge, but it's a great incentive.

Particularly with retroactive ratings (as mr.b. suggested), this would lead to people doing 'mass ratings' where they'd go through and leave the same rating for a bunch of things at once (or at least the same rating for most everything, regardless when they rated it).

The problem is 'motivation'.  If people are motivated "to get a free iRiff", then they don't/won't care about what rating they leave.  If people are motivated to rate the iRiffs, then their rating will be far more accurate.

It is true that incentive may be important.  On eBay it is in your benefit to give feedback because you yourself have a buyer's rating.  When you give sellers feedback they in turn give you buyer's feedback.  There's incentive there.  Offering free stuff sounds complicated but not a bad idea at all.  But you know, people are funny and I bet a free and easy way would be to create arbitrary rankings.  Give ten feedback you're a user, give twenty five you're a power user, and so on so forth.  Not unlike the rankings we earn here on the forum.  I bet that's all you would need to encourage feedback.  "Well, I'm only three ratings away from being a 'Blue Beer Drinker' I'll go ahead and rate those few I haven't yet."  That sort of thing.

This might work.  It is a small enough incentive to only motivate those that would already care, but not so much that people would care more about the result of the rating (a free item/discount) than the accuracy of it.


I looked further at the incentive program suggestions, and came to this post:

Let's say for example I decide I want top take part in this incentive program.  I look at my iRiffs:
http://www.rifftrax.com/iriffs/atomic-treatment

And I decide that of the eleven iRiffs I have, I want to offer three of them up for the incentive program.  I can decide to choose the shortest lowest priced ones so that I don't lose as much but still it gives people a chance to see my riffs and people are more likely to purchase something they are familiar with so my others stand a better chance of getting bought. 

I think that might work, as it 'keeps it in the family'.  Only those who are motivated enough to try iRiffs would get something - another iRiff - as reward for rating the ones they've bought.  There's still the possibility of 'mass grading' things, but it might be lessened.

A thought I had is if the iRiffs that were offered were graded by 'movie type' (e.g. 'sci-fi', 'action', 'western', 'horror', 'old/B&W', etc.) and those entering ratings for free iRiffs could choose which film category they'd like their free one from, but then the selection of the specific iRiff would be randomly generated by the site out of the pool of qualifying iRiffs.  This randomness to the reward would also reduce the intensity of the incentive and make it more likely that the ratings would be accurate.  But it would still get people to try different iRiffs (and iRiffers).  The downside is the person might be frustrated/dislike the particular film that was being riffed to the point where the 'free' item was a 'binary paperweight'^TM.


[Since I have not yet made an iRiff, one can gather from the amount of thought I've given this, that I think highly both of the website and iRiffers in general.  (So... what'd the sucking up get me?  )]