Why can’t we weight the recommendations on a time scale. Why not lower the weight of the recommendation based on a time scale…the longer the recommendation is there…the less weight it has…I’m sure this is likely done already…if so…why not speed up the rate at which the weight of each recommend carries greater weight?

The “Big Tent” analogy isn’t the correct one…the correct one is a MAGNET…we need to be a MAGNET that draws these independents in who are sick and tired of what’s going on in Washington—Fred Thompson

..why not speed up the rate at which the weight of each recommend decays?

Hope that is clearer than what I wrote a moment ago.

The “Big Tent” analogy isn’t the correct one…the correct one is a MAGNET…we need to be a MAGNET that draws these independents in who are sick and tired of what’s going on in Washington—Fred Thompson

EPU made a number of good points. I’d just like to add that there are times I’d like to say or link to something unrelated to any current diary and the only way to do so is via a diary of my one. Even the occasional open thread doesn’t work 1) because they’re few and far between 2) I don’t believe they attract much traffic.

The solution would be for constant open thread such as Redhot or like the Corner over at NRO. That way, smaller points as well as interesting links can be brought to public attention without having to write a diary and push away more substantial efforts. Just my 0.02.

I appreciate your thoughts – I had hoped my diary would be well received by you and the gang (I was already pretty sure what I said would resonate in the user community). There was never any doubt that the RS Galaxy of Stars (I pirated that from the ‘Playtone Galaxy of Stars’ in That Thing You Do, btw) sincerely had our best in mind. You’ve got good thoughts there, and I would like to chime in with some as well.

First point: I want to say this about cliques. It is a fact of life that friendship groups and alliances will form. Please don’t fight it. We all have our friends and buddies just due to the banter and interaction. A contributing factor tends to be political leanings or preferred candidate: Fredheads are almost a faction here, for example. I can tell you that due to many factors, I will tend to Rec most things I see from my favorite 8 or 10 authors. Fair to the system? Probably not, but I also don’t think it is a core problem either.

Inre the Rec List discussion, I would urge you to look at changing other factors BEFORE acting on the alliance thing. My opinion is that the behavior of “group Rec-ing” (if you will) has been a response to the lack of movement in the Rec List, not the cause of it. That such stuff has hurt rather than helped, I will grant you. But I think it was an act of desperation. FIRST came the overly sticky Rec List, THEN came the alliance activity.

Ultimately if you punish people for Rec-ing the same people (perfectly normal and innocent behavior), it will not make the situation better, and will breed more resentment.

On the other hand, if we make some good adjustments, and people continue to dog-pile the list, then yeah, please take steps, and it would get my blessing (FWIW).

Second point: Perhaps put a much, much higher minimum-word count on diaries. Like 150 instead of (what is it…) 20 or so. Another similar thought is a per-week limit of, say, 5 diaries per user. Both of these things would serve I think to thin out the over-abundance of fluff diaries.

And as you suggested, if the free-fall of substantive diaries were eliminated, and a person could figure on 18 hours of exposure, the WHOLE problem might go away. I mean it – this might sufficiently ease the whole thing. Lots of people other than the “top 5 power users” would get a totally fair shot at making the list.

Third point : You all have assured me, and I’m convinced, that the Rec List “algorithm” remains as it always was. Nevertheless, I am equally certain that the Rec rating (whatever you call it) is NOT degrading fast enough. So even if it’s the same formula, please CHANGE the formula to depreciate faster [knowing that this may be one of those insanely complicated things to actually do].

I think every single user would agree that 4 hours in the spotlight for twice as many people beats the pants off of 8 hours for half the people.

Anyway, as always I remain your humble servant. Good luck dealing with this hornet’s nest I kicked over ;o)

Paul

He could come up with an algorithm which generously considers the length of time one has been here as a primary factor:-)

So basically, one recommend takes you right to the top…

Seriously though, I thought I puked on someones shoes and they never told me. That or I just suck at writing. Either way, I was considering cash payments as a remedy.

Oh, and EPU is a genius.

n/p

I understand what you’re saying but I have to say. I read certain posts here first based on reading preferences by certain writers. Typically, they’re well written enough to recommend, so in that respect I may be part of the problem without meaning to be. But there are other times when I happen on a new writer’s post that is also worth recommending and providing it doesn’t error out, I hit that button on those as well.

That being said, I read a lot more than I actually comment these days due to the 505 errors, so you’ll often see a recommend without a comment from me. I put that in the “can’t be helped” category.

First, let me say that alot of this will clear itself now that the Election has passed. Trolls/Mobies had been purposefully (IMO) been Flooding to get things scrolled off MDL (Memb Diary List), Comments, etc…

It got to the point where things scrolled off in less than 4 hours, at one point and I even wrote a Diary to promote things that went by too fast (IMO): Some recommended items that went in a blink of an eye. I’ll leave it to you to decide if you want to read the top of that diary that setup the reasons why I felt it necessary (relevant to this discussion) rather than repeat it.

As I said, now that the Election is done some of this should ease. Diary creations will probably ease, allowing for them to remain listed longer. Even Front Page will probably also stop from being Flooded. Front Page items were spending barely a day some times. Was being Flooded by several Diaries all at once, and often covering the same subject matter (I’m not going to whine further here in Public, if Erick hadn’t seen my specific email in the regard I’d be happy to send it again).

Also, there is issue with the “Read More” pagination in Sections/Tags/Profiled lists.

Glad we are having this discussion. We wouldn’t have it if we didn’t care and love this place.

Elsewhere comments about limiting New Users was had. Especially good ideas to prevent people from Posting until after being a member for a period of time – whatever that time-frame is worked out to be. Diary creation should be an even longer time-frame, before a user is allowed to start that function. IMO, no member should be allowed to create more than 1 Diary per 24 hour period (rather, they could be created but queued perhaps – unless a site authority steps in to “allow” the extra because the content is considered worthy) so that someone cannot Flood the MDL.

Just my thoughts/opinions.

Love the site… want it to be the best!

A number of users have started posting throw away diaries that could best be comments. The result is that the good stuff scrolls off the front page too fast. I am going to begin deleting the garbage so the quality stuff survives and thrives.

At Dailykos they have somehow coded it so that you literally can’t submit a diary with less than X characters. There are a couple workarounds (adding 100′s of spaces, for instance), but they are pretty obvious and the code cuts down on many non-diaries. At least the person posting has to knowingly flout the rules. And then y’all will know they have flouted them and that’ll say something.

I don’t have a lot of time, so I generally do not read diaries by people I don’t know. Therefore, I generally only end up recommending posts by certain people.

If the trash wasn’t so hot and heavy, I would take more chances on new and different posters.

1) Do recommendations from someone who has been here several years have the same usefulness in deciding what to read as one from a user who has only been here a few days?

2) Is it probable that a diary post from someone who has been here several years is of the same value to the reader, and therefore should receive the same prominence as one from a user who has only been here a few days?

Why not impart a recommend scale on the colum list where each 3 spots have a required “level” to be there. For example, the top 3 spots would require say 10 “recommended points” to be there. Spots 4-6 would require 6 points, 7-9 would be 3 points and 10 would be a diary with at least 1 recommend point.

Then, each Recommended diary would have a shelf life of 72 hours based on the time it achieved recommended status and would roll automatically. Obviously if it was front page worthy, an admin could bump it onto the Front Page for further exposure.

Additionally, all users could have a weighted recommending capability based on site longevity. For example, a user with less then 1 year would have 1/2 a point, 1-2 years 1 point and so on. This way a diary from an unknown poster can make it to recommended status faster and provide us a chance to read lesser seen diaries.

I have no idea if this could be implemented, but it certainly would create more variety because the last thing I want to see is quality postings go unseen.

before all of the 3.0 insanity I would say recommend like 75 percent of Gamecock’s stuff I mean how could you not he is an excellent writer and is deserving of being on top…that said I also have a definite 8-10 others I would say I recommended half the time…BUT since the insanity I have as Susannah has looked for new writer’s and emailed the link to my friends from Redstate.

I think you will see the “cliques” end because the site is more user friendly since the leftards have won this election cycle……now when we call out the Imitation Christ they will flood in to defend him BUT I suspect they are satiated for the moment.

I really don’t want to be limited to 1 diary a day I mean I can go a week with nothing but be inspired to 5 in a day….and others inspire me sometimes more than once in a day BUT maybe not for days at a time.

Limitations on the expression of your diariest only leads to resentment of and a pulling away from the site.

LOTS of good people here and I don’t think we want to alienate anyone at this juncture….especially since WE are going to ATTEMPT to remake the party!

if you want to bring up a specific thought or discussion point, I don’t see the Comments section of an open thread or existing diary as a great way to do that. What if only a few people are following that one thread?

If, on the other hand, you post your own diary, it has its own title and hyperlink, and you stand a better chance of getting noticed.

There’s a place for short diaries. As I mentioned in EPU’s diary, a diary doesn’t have to be long to make a specific, focused point or alert the readership to something important (e.g., a breaking news item).

IMO Redstate should be a place where you can quickly exchange information and provide tipoffs to the rest of the conservative blogosphere. We are an action organization, aren’t we?

There are plenty of “think tank” websites on the Internet as it is.

After reading this comment, or diary, I believe that I really must apologize for being the author of some of the so-called “throw away diaries.”

Being a newcomer to this site, I have taken the opportunity to post a “diary” when I wanted to make point or an observation that (possibly) hadn’t already been made, rather than to make a speech. I see now that diaries should be reserved for speeches, and that comments should not pretend to be diaries.

I will try and do better.

I am going to begin deleting the garbage so the quality stuff survives and thrives.

…most of my diaries

I love humor snippets and videos, and even some instructional stuff, but I want the front page to highlight substance that could persuade viewers on the correctness of conservatism and the GOP. So I have criteria for reccos.

I never base reccos on any clique. I do appreciate being alerted by friends of good blogs esp. given the number of blogs being written now and that they fall off the front page so quick. I hope that those that regularly send me links to blogs they deem recco worthy will continue to do so. I know that I will, even of they are by gamecock. Roosters need to heard!

wake up

We should try to find, recommend, and comment on diaries from newcomers. We have some very intelligent people posting here who are relatively new.

It’s discouraging to put a lot of effort into a post and have it drift away with not so much as a word of response. We need to encourage them and maybe they will stay and turn into our next Academic Elephant or Blackhedd. Remember, we were all newbies at one time.

Proper grammar saves lives.

Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.

---

Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

something I miss…and I can’t remember if it was RS1 or RS2…remember when you could click and all the member diaries would open up to you? I think it wasn’t the whole diary, just the part above the fold, so you could get a look at the subject and some of the substance. Kinda like the front page for diarists.

Anyway, we could just scroll down through all of them and open the ones that looked promising. I wish we had that back.

Proper grammar saves lives.

Let’s eat Grandma.
Let’s eat, Grandma.

---

Activists Taking Action: Unified Patriots

I’m sure that most of my diary entries (if not all) are “throw away”. I’m new here and I don’t see everything (especially regarding cliques) that everyone else is seeing. Are you suggesting that my diary entries will be deleted because they are substandard or not reader worthy?

I am feeling intimidated by alot of these proposed rules. Partly because I don’t understand them, but mostly because I don’t think I’m up to the standard that is being set.

In other words, I’m out of my league.

I’ll keep trying to read and understand and hope that my mistakes aren’t dealt with too harshly. And hope someone will enlighten me when I’m screwing up.

A personal blog

Join the RedState Strike Force

Just curious. Thanks

RS has too many technical problems, and too many unconvincing reassurances that the solution is within sight.

Hats off to EPU for venting!

Note- cliquing is inevitable where primaries are involved, as the supporters of the same candidates will form solid alliances. Ditto with certain issues.

Erick, I take exception to your comments in this front page diary. We all know what you are alluding to with “cliques” so lets rumble.

In the most important election of our time RedState was AWOL. Had RedState been on the ball there would have been no need for DRAMA!

In the first place, there are a small group of long-time posters who consistently provide insightful diaries, and who I try to always read. Most of the time, when I can FIND their work, I recommend their work.

FINDING them, of course is the operative word, since over past weeks and months, between 500 errors, 404 errors and my favorite “the website is not responding.”

When I HAVE been able to get onto the site, SIGNING IN, and not getting knocked off again has been a prime goal. The next goal, of course, has to be to find well written diaries amid all the chaff that we have come to find. I won’t go off on the inane cr-p that has become the norm.

Since, with additional traffic, it now takes a dozen or more recommends to even MAKE the reco list, it was natural that people who typically recognize other people’s work would chose to band together.

This DRAMA was formed.

That you are surprised appears to me to be a bit like the casino scene from Casablanca, “shocked?” you say? Funny, I thought you were included on the list — apparently I was wrong.

I suspect that I am like most of the people on that list — when I get a DRAMA request, I go read the diary — if I can dodge 500 errors etc. If I like the diary, I recommend. Sometimes I do not. Looking at the reco lists on various diaries, it appears to me that most others do the same.

The UPSIDE to the list, is that GOOD WORK doesn’t disappear before I get the chance to even read it. The downside — sorry, I don’t see a downside.

Fact is, and I don’t mean this in a mean way Erick, because I credit RedState with my online emergence, I have found RedState to be more and more irrelevant in the last few weeks.

Probably it was the inaccessibility due to RS 3.0 problems. The overrunning of the site by liberal flamethrowers often made it unreadable when I could get through — and of course, the general lack of quality due to new posters without a clue. When a longtime poster writes a thoughtful piece on a timely issue, only to see it fall off the diaries list by 20 other people who see the same story and write one paragraph links to some article in the WaPo — the site quality suffers.

That said, I find the implied threat against longtime posters to be very Democratic in nature. [that is not a compliment]

Interesting.

I have just assumed that the recommended list feature wasn’t working well for the past several months. Who would have guessed that a conspiracy was afoot?