How Can Anyone Give Bad Ratings To Posts Without Saying Why?

I don't blame you in the least. Rant away!

I don't understand why people do this either, Kevin. Jealousy, perhaps?

Kevin, low raters are insecure, childish and vindictive people. On Gather, they are called Trolls and leaving a 1 rating without comment is called at DB1 or "drive by 1". I think it happens to most, if not all, of us. I often receive them when I've made a political comment. I assume the troll disagrees with my opinion and doesn't have the guts to say so.

If I can't give a good rating, I don't rate at all. I think valid reasons for less than a 10 would be poorly written or poorly researched work. Gather has a self-appointed grammar police squad that enjoys embarrassing writers, even when the errors are typos.

On Gather, as everywhere, there are people who think they look superior by putting down someone else. "Blowing out another person's candle does not make yours burn brighter." is an appropriate quote. Your writing is awesome! DB1's are totally inappropriate.

Kevin, some people seem to rate on whether or not they have the same viewpoint as you, not on the quality of your writing. Ratings mean nothing, except that some bonehead is too chicken to defend THEIR point of view.

They are hard to INGORE, and sorry bout that-the lowest rating I ever gave was also a 9 and I hit the wrong thing ::(

I totally agree with you! If I get a low rating I want to know why. Most times it seems that the person disagrees with my opinions and does not have much to do with how I expressed them. Unless the rater tells me what might be wrong with my article, I just let go and don't let it bother me ( much ).

Welcome to the club

I get low ratings on my prayer list. Does that make any sense? It is not a poem or an article just a place where people can ask for prayer. Gee, did I do a bad job writing the prayer list, oh my, does this mean I write awful. No it mean someone somewhere has a problem and a pitiful life if this is how they spend their time trying to make some one miserable.

Ratings can give you feed back that someone took the time to say, hey this is really great. But when a troll shows up figure their opinion really doesn't count. Half the time they didn't even read your article. Don't take an insult. That is what they want, guess it feels powerful to anonymously hurt others. Defeat them and ignore it! I gave you a 10!

WELCOME TO THE CLUB DEAR
HERE IS A TEN

speeding by from comment speedway! thanks for sharing with us :)

If I am in the mood to rate posts & I read a post that I think is pointless, poorly written, or something like that... I'll rate it how I see fit. Why is everyone on this website so pissy toward people who don't give everything a 10? I don't want to go around giving everything a 10 just in the spirit of "everyone wants 10s on everything so they can get more points & cash out sooner." I think that is just stupid.

Sometimes I rate things high, & don't leave a comment. Because I didn't necessarily have a comment to make, but I wanted to rate it to give some sort of feedback. Ditto for a "low" rating, which apparently you people consider anything 9 or below to be "low." I don't feel that it is my responsibility to leave a comment for every single rating I make, & rating something low without giving a detailed explanation hardly makes me a "troll." It also doesn't mean I am a "chicken," or that I think I am superior. It simply means that I did not really like your post. Suck it up, guys!! If you can't handle people rating your post less than a 10, or doing anything other than giving you comments like "LOL thanks for sharing!," then turn off the ratings, sounds easy to me!

Sorry, I just get really irritated by seeing posts about people giving low ratings & all the comments are like "Oh those people are just stupid trolls!" & etc. No... some people just don't love *everything* but also don't feel the need to go into detail about it.

Cara is not alone. I may leave a rating without a comment, simply because I think the article is really beyond a comment. If it is unintelligible, or poorly reasoned, or clearly the work of someone who would not understand criticism, it makes no sense to waste time or stir up vitriol by commenting. I think people should take ratings with a grain of salt. Some people are rating on literary merit; others might be rating on popularity. Since you can't tell, don't worry about it. The raters, even the DB1s, are as different as the post writers.

The ratings are not used as they should be on this site. I rarely remember to rate an article because so many now choose to have their ratings turned off. Often when you do use the ratings people do not understand that you have rated them low for a certain reason not because you did so out of spite. I would never leave a rating without explaining the reason. No one can learn from their mistakes unless the mistakes are pointed out to them. I also always try to leave the person with a positive thought. I have run across people on here who post but really do not want to hear any negative criticism regarding their work. If your comments are praises they are appreciative but leave constructive criticism and suddenly your the villain.

Paula and Cara thank you for your comments. They are important to me. However if what you say is true then what's your point in rating the posts anyway? You are not helping the the person who posts. I very much don't understand. If I take the time to read or look at something on Gather and feel I need to give them input then a comment positive or negative works better then just a poor rating. I really do need input on my writing but just a rating is not input. The only thing I can figure out from those who only leave a rating is that these people must have a lot of time on their hands with not much to do.

A ten we send, rant on~

Kevin I just read a post last night from a woman that is very proud to be called a troll. She says poor grammer and typos are inexcusable. She pretty much looked down her nose at non-writers who shared bits of their daily life. There were many that defended us peons but it seemed to make no impression. She considers herself to be a writer and is not going to encourage our poor attempts to convey our thoughts.
I took the time to check several of her posts and believe me they were not interesting. I'm not a writer but I am a reader and I hope a descent human being. I've given 2 low ratings and they were purely accidental, your's being one of them. I apologized immediately and left an extra comment.

Kevin, I understand your rant and the comments that follow. Positive comments help the ego, but comments which point up weaknesses or other mistakes in one’s work are extremely valuable. Depending on the person, if I like their work and feel I’d like to add further critiques that I think might help, I’ll send them an email.
I haven’t rated people’s work for quite a while, because the rating system doesn’t give accurate results. All tens or fives or drivebys don’t mean much. It’s rather like appearing on Gather as the most popular writers, or most read writers. It doesn’t mean their work is any better, but that they have a large network. Personally I would find it difficult to respond to 1500 people on a daily or weekly basis and I can’t believe they do either. For one thing I’m not interested in cooking, sports, travel, etc. I’m interested in a good story, short or long and if I read it I comment. I know nothing about science fiction, etc. So I rarely read or comment. And, of course, that doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the science fiction writer’s work. It just means I’m too dense to understand it. So I look for poems and stories I like and try to follow those people’s work.
My advice..and you did want my advice, didn’t you?....it to write because you want to, because you need to. Write and post what means something to you. Only by writing and continuing to write, can we improve our work. If we allow someone’s saucy remarks or low ratings to influence us, we really set ourselves back.
The biggest wilter as a comment that I’ve come across is:” thanks for sharing”….Wasn’t that one time called damning with faint praise. Ow, ow, ow!

Kevin, I know how you feel, but you shouldn't give these people a second thought. I don't know why they do it but they do. I think alot of the comments above it the nail on the head.

If you really want input on your writing, then shut off the ratings and just enable comments. The ratings really are meaningless not only because of the trolls, but because members mostly often use them to reward others thinking they'll help them earn more points. In a truly meaningful system, there should be an equal distribution, 1-10, not 1 or 10.

You get what you get, and here people get to do what they want - even all over your article.

And it don't matter all that much.

I don't know, Kevin. I do know that I forget 9 times out of ten to rate an article, I am more interested in reading and leaving a constructive comment.
I had people low rate cute pics of my kids. I think some people enjoy "trolling" by content, don't let it get to you.

And another thing: If another Gather writer or reader takes time to critique your work, or point out a flaw or two, they have given you a gift. If you had to pay an editor for that kind of help, it would be very expensive.
I suggest you ignore ratings. Ratings, to me, mean just about as much as the word "celebrity." My husband and I were trying to figure out what some "stars" are to be celebrated for. I truly believe if you want to write and write better, you write from the heart. After all the real reason to write (apart from..."Hey, Maw...look at all these words..Aren't I a clever Clara?) is to communicate. Sooner or later you will communicate to those who actually read and hear and understand you.

Kevin,

First, you are the exception rather than the rule. Most members do NOT want, and are not seeking, an honest assessment of their work. If you were to choose a post at random and rate it a 7 or 8...then state your reasoning in a comment, you would likely receive a negative response from the author...or worse. The same is true for photos or videos being shared in the community.

Conversely, unless you clearly state that you want critical assessment of your writing, you won't receive it. Every comment you garner will offer glowing praise, regardless of whether it is warranted. Gather is a social community, and not comprised of [many] writers. Therefore, you will often obtain feedback which will only serve to undermine your writing.

Second, there is a LOT of misconception about the rating system on Gather. This often leads to hurt feelings and other problems in the community.

Ratings are not meant to be a feedback mechanism for the member publishing the content. That's what comments are for. Ratings are intended to 'bubble up' the "best stuff you've seen on Gather". Therefore, not EVERYTHING is going to be the best thing you've ever read or viewed here...so 10's should be given sparingly if you're going to use the rating system the way it's supposed to be.

Conversely, if some content doesn't even come close to "the best stuff you've seen on Gather", then giving it a rating less than 10 (even a 1) would be appropriate. No comment explaining this rating is necessary, nor would most members even consider leaving one (see my explanation above).

It is important to remember that ratings are meant to be used as an automated way of ranking the greatest content in the community...not for communicating your opinion to the member publishing the content.

Again, if you want to learn to be a better writer, then Gather is likely not the best place to make this attempt.

People that low rate without commenting are Trolls.

I pay no attention to the ratings on my post.

I read the comments.

I save the ratings button for those who really want to improve their writing or poetry, or photography. MC

Huh? That tells a writer absolutely nothing about their work. With so many possible reasons a low rating might have been given, it's inconceivable that anyone thinks the writer can retrieve any information from it. I did notice that most people who wrote favorably here of the rating button, are rather younger than older. This resonates with me. A large number of the current crop of social network users have no empathy and are quite self centered. If it works for them it never occurs to them it might not work for someone else and when this is brought to their attention they disavow responsiblity and blame the victim. "You suck it up, I can't be bothered to consider what I do."

Kevin, for your information this so called social site was billed and advertised on NPR as a "writers' gathering place. The first thing it did was run several writing contests and it is sponsored by at least one BOOK store. It's only been after I was here over a year that writers began to be trashed by the newcomers. My personal opinion is that it's because the owner/sponsors went looking for more warm fingers on the keyboards so they could make more money off of ADVERTISING by showing more members. Thus Gather joined the ranks of the other shallow sites where pettiness and viscious swiping at those who take the time to post is cheered by the unwashed masses. Oh, did I say I'm enjoying it less?

As for serious writers, even published writers there are many of us here, but not as many as there were. I think that's sad. Writers and poets speak the truth long before the rest of the world is awake. But they don't suffer fools gladly.

This would all be solved if there were no points earned for rating another's article. These are point-mongers pure and simple. And it's less effort to post a 1 than it is to struggle with the pull-down rating window to get clear up to 10. This accounts for the thanks for sharing commenters, too. Drive-by is a great name for all these useless visits.

Gather moved the rating area so that it's not as easy to remember to rate to save giving out points. sigh.... just BUSINESS as usual in the good ole USA.

Obviously you are sensitive, kind, thoughtful man. Not everyone is.

I am relatively new to Gather. I don't know very much about rating someone, or being rated.
I don't understand why anyone would want a rating system in addition to the comments that are left by others. How can you tell if you have been badly rated? What would you consider a bad rating? Why do you feel others must tell you why they rated you the way they did. etc...

I am overwhelmed by the time and effort all y'all made to comment and to rate this post. I never expected so many to read my post and was surprised at the number of comments. I must assure you all that this was not my best writing nor was it it intended to be. It is what it is.......... a rant. I admit it was a way to release some steam for me. Your input means a lot to me even the input that does not support my position, thank all y'all.

I will continue commenting on posts the way I do focusing on commenting rather than on rating posts of others. My hope is that Gather will always be a place for writers, poets and photographers.

I agree with you, I don't understand low raters

Oops. When I addressed Kevin I meant not the writer of this article Kevin C., but rather Kevin V who bills himself as the site wizard and holds forth on how Gather is not the place for writers, but rather all about ratings, points, and other silly social stuff.

Kevin C. I appreciate this post and your rant about the silliness that goes on here at Gather. You ask all the questions I have asked and my writing friends and serious reading friends here have asked at one time or another. What I did was weed out connections that were meaningless, and groups that were not productive. I have fewer responses now but they are more valuable as well. I never did seek quantity, only quality and good input. I strive to give the same.

Best of luck with your writing, I have seen some good things from you and expect more. Now that I know you want critique, you will have some from me and I hope you will return the favor.

I'll be honest, I rate low and don't comment. This is on post with two lines or copy and paste emails. Those aren't writers, those are pointers. If someone truly "writes" an article or story/poem, if I low rate it I will comment on it. But then I get the whiners who tell me to leave them alone, then been writing on forums forever and they are writers. I back off but sigh. I am a published author, not a POD author either. I use to run Art of Horror and Black Petals for years till I retired from editing and publishing, so yes, I do give out low ratings as needed. If someone wants to be a writer, then do so with a manuscript and send out to a publisher instead of doing so on a "social network".

BTW: I don't do any serious writing here, I am here for fun and relaxing. The only stuff I have put up here that are real writing is work I have already published in magazines or from one of my books.

Nellie I am very glad that you have had such success in writing. One day I will send out manuscripts knowing that it takes a lot of rejections before you get published. Until then I will keep working on my writing honing my skills until I believe my writing is half as good as yours must be. I do that in the same way that actors in community theater work on their acting. Rarely but once in awhile an actor that starts off in community theater moves on to become a professional actor. Please don't discourage those who try to learn their craft here. We all have to begin somewhere, even if you are such a talented writer that you didn't have to spend long learning your craft.

Thank you for posting this to the Gimme 10!!! Group



glitter-graphics.com

I use the whole rating scale, from 1 to 10, with 10s being reserved for content that I consider to be the best stuff I've seen on Gather. 1s are generally reserved for content copied from elsewhere, with little or no additional effort from the Gather member. I don't leave comments after every article I read, and I don't feel any obligation to leave a comment simply because I rated the content.

I never give low ratings. I give either 10, or I don't rate or comment at all (if I don't like the article). I never look at my ratings; only the comments.

Sorry to hear the Trolls got you! Some people are eternally in middle school - mentally that is!

I am just learning about gather - I feel the same though~ don't rate if you don't like it~ or at least give an explaination about your rate. I gave you a '10' for this because you are being honest and everyone has that right - take care.

Hello Kevin,
People will always be either/or -- low raters or high raters, with nothing in between. Why? Who knows. I don't let it bother me and I also don't leave generic comments. Sometimes, joining the writing essentials groups on gather will really help you hone your writing.
Also, putting this (or something similar) at the bottom of each post you do - or in your tagline on here -Critique Welcome- might also help.
You'll still get those who'll low-rate -- that's been here for quite awhile and probably always will be. I've turned off ratings in some of my posts in the past, but now I really don't even look at ratings.
One thing; and you already know this -- write for yourself first, because you need to, because you have to and let the writing speak for itself.

Mark

Kevin,
This site was billed as a writer's site long ago - well before I joined and I've been here for over two years, going on three come this summer. And yes, two (I think) of the advertisers are bookstores, which makes some of the contests they've had turn into popularity contests, instead of actual writing contests, which did upset a lot of people.

I've also turned off ratings on some of my articles; though I don't pay much attention to ratings in general. I do read the comments and try my best to respond and for a long time, I always, without fail, put "Critique' Welcome", in every article I wrote, which I need to start doing again as some of that critique helped me a lot. It's like a gift, being able to accept critique and mistakes and then having the ability to edit your post/article to fix those mistakes, or if you feel truly strongly and it's an opinion thing, defend you right to word things the way you choose.

There were more writers and in the process of change or some say Progress, we lost a lot of them. There are still a fair amount and if you do want to improve your writing, which will actually happen mostly on it's own, you can join the Gather Writing Essential's group, which sometimes/some days, has an open format, and other days, there's a writing assignment; which you can choose to do or not do.

On that group, you'll usually get very constructive criticism and it (so far, to me) has been done nicely and with the consideration of this:
(The comment tells you what they like about what you wrote -- the commenter tells you what's wrong; again, nicely), so it's a give and take thing. The "what's wrong" part usually has to do with punctuation, spelling or just wording, and I appreciate that type of critique - I learn everytime I post there.

First and foremost, as Mark, above says, and he's right and not just because we're married..
Write for yourself. Write because you need to. Write because it's in you and you love to. Don't write for the comments or the ratings.

With those thoughts, I'm leaving you with the Writing Essential's link, in case you wish to join.. you'd be great at it. Writing Essentials There is a list on the group, of who's got what for each day and what they'll be doing. Sandy's got a fiction exercise for writing on Tuesdays, which I'm so behind on it's not even funny and will have some catch-up to do - but since she's open to anyone joining in, at anytime, you're apt to find a new character when you least expect it.

There's Humor Monday, assigned and I haven't gotten the courage to write one of those yet! And so on...

I know you're strapped for time right now, as am I, but there are definitely writers on here that are willing to helpfully share what they've learned.

Hang in there,

Marilyn

Just because someone rated low it does mean they are a troll.

I will low rate copyright material that people steal from websites or stuff people don't give credit for. I know of a gather member who came out and said she doesn't care if it is copyrighted or not. She post it anyways. So why tell her, she already says she doesn't care. I also know for a fact one of the rules on one of the sites she snags her content says no one is allowed to use their content. But she does anyways.

Sorry but I do not think someone who steals a picture or article deserves to have their stolen content featured for the highest rating. Over someone who takes their own picture or writes their own content. Do you?

I'll be honest Kevin, I love your writing, adore it, it draws me in and holds me captivated always! That being said, I do not rate and do not allow rating on most of my stuff anymore because seeing low rates on something you worked really hard on, is very disheartening.

Unfortunately.....anyone can give a bad rating to any post and I know, as a writer, it is bothersome to get poor numbers. I find it very difficult to rate any posting on here as the stars keep disappearing. My poor mother, who joined Gather a few months ago has a really difficult time with them to the point that she even accidentally hit the wrong star and of course there is no way to change it once you have clicked on one. I used to stress over the rating system and now I try no to anymore. I look at it this way.....even a poor rating generates points! Gather really does need to fix this option, making it more user friendly and also making raters accountable.

In my opinion you are a great writer.... I love reading your posts... I personally dont like the ratings system because if a budding wriiter is looking for feedback you probably won't get it because it is more a popularity contest, I usually dont allow ratings, only because I am not good with someone cutting me off at the knees with no explanation, but your writing deserves honest and true critques from those who can help you not berate you.. so with that I so hear you and wish I could change the ratings system from drive by to you must elaborate!!!!!!!

People can be immature; in addition, they're typically too lazy to be bothered to explain themselves; rants are okay, but best when kept to a minimum. --Joe

Sigh, this is a good rant. Unfortunately, from experience, I have found some people do not rate items here for the QUALITY of the work...but rate them on how well they like (or dislike) the person. For that reason, I have turned my ratings off. Sad, isn't it? This is suppose to be an "adult" site, however the rating system has proven how much immaturity can be found here.
I agree......a person should comment as to why they are rating a post, especially if giving it a very low rating. The rating system here has been a subject of controversy for some time now.
I would tell you to keep writing and don't worry about the ratings, but I know that is hard to do...especially when you put a lot of thought, time, and effort into a post.

Gather ratings are useless. Whether it be the topic, the content, the grammar or the author, who cares? Accept that there is a wide audience and the results from anything can vary. The best Seller list of the NY Times has some pure junk, IMO. Movie Critics give THEIR opinion, not mine. If I don't like something, don't rate and don't comment. That person still got a view. This is a silly place to socialize and have fun. Use and enjoy it accordingly.

All of your writing is exceptionally good. Even this rant, because you purely, and simply express yourself, so very, very well.


A 10 for you, to help your articles, as Kevin stated, bubble up to the top, as it is some of the very best.

I agree with you and I gave you a 10, because you tell a story very well and I enjoy them.
Glad you got this off your chest!:)

I agree completely agree. My motto is much the same, if someone took the time to write it and I took the time to read it then I feel like my rating should be a 10!

You can and a lot of trolls do the DB1 thing. I wish they'd just get rid of the ratings.

an issue i struggled with on a daily basis
until i created private groups
and only posted my stuff in them
and i only invite those who seem to read them to the groups
low ratings hurt my feelers
:(

the subject of ratings just continues to go on and on...........best thing i think is to pay no attention to them.......
pif

It's happened to me too, but really it's just a form of cyber bullying. An attempt to make someone feel small and insecure. Don't let it get to you. I like your posts! PIF