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DPChallenge Forums >> Challenge Results >> Are we putting the squeeze on the voting scale
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 01/12/2009 09:52:35 PM · #1
The following chart shows the high, average, and low score linear patter that has formed over the past 965 challenges. As I viewed the chart something interesting stood out (no! not the spikes where there were nude challenge:P) but the appearance that we may be squeezing the voting scale.

The linear pattern on the high scores of each challenge has dropped a 10th of a point while the average score has increased slightly over a 2/10ths of a point. But the biggest change is in the low score column at an increase of 1/2 of a point.

The high scores seems to be ok, I mean a 10th of a point over the course of 965 challenges is not a big deal. I'm more focused on the low score pattern where the increased is a 1/2 point in the same time frame. Is it because were are scared to vote low because of repercussions? Are the worst of the photographs improving? Whatever the reason, it seems to show evidence that it has effected the average score by raising it 2/10ths of a point (0.2000).

Are we squeezing the voting scale? I would like to see how others interpret the chart.

This thread is not a rant or let's beat a horse to death thread but I'm curious what do you think.

01/12/2009 10:00:10 PM · #2
have you considered the possibility that the photo quality has dropped?
 01/12/2009 10:00:20 PM · #3
It could mean the low scoring DPC member is better than previously. It could mean the voters are more forgiving.

I don't attribute anything to this minor change. What I find interesting is the compression of the voting scale by the averages, so that no matter how good or how bad, someone always dislikes it and someone else always likes it, resulting in 90% of the entries here falling within less than half the available scale. Nothing wrong with that, it's just the way it works.
 01/12/2009 10:05:51 PM · #4
Originally posted by crayon:
have you considered the possibility that the photo quality has dropped?

I don't know if photo quality has dropped; maybe photo creativity. That could contribute to the squeeze pattern.
 01/12/2009 10:12:08 PM · #5
I might put it down to a trend in the forums to call out low voting and treat it (even when it's legitimate) as anathema to the site.

01/12/2009 10:20:13 PM · #6
wouldn't high voting be what he is talking about, since the average bottom score in the challenges appears to be going UP?

Message edited by author 2009-01-12 22:20:33.
 01/12/2009 10:23:56 PM · #7
Originally posted by yospiff:
wouldn't high voting be what he is talking about, since the average bottom score in the challenges appears to be going UP?


No, what he's saying is that because the lowest votes are increasing, that we aren't using the lowest scores of the scale as often anymore. Which, in effect means it's "squeezing" the scale down to less choice in the voting.

I believe it's because the forums and the site is so dang full of vitriol against anyone thought of as voting 1s and 2s that as a whole, people are just moving their scale up a bit and only voting 4 - 10s now, and not using the bottom much at all because of it. That's just my belief though.
 01/12/2009 10:26:48 PM · #8
going by how fast the score on my unlucky entry is dropping, I would say the squeeze is being put on me. lol
 01/12/2009 10:27:01 PM · #9
Or, maybe the pictures are getting better, and there is less of a reason to vote super low. :)
 01/12/2009 10:36:22 PM · #10
Originally posted by L2:
Or, maybe the pictures are getting better, and there is less of a reason to vote super low. :)


Hrm. Not on that kind of scale. Not since this summer anyway.
 01/12/2009 10:36:45 PM · #11
I've been expanding my scale downward, just so I can use the full range.
 01/12/2009 10:39:02 PM · #12
lets all try to vote only 1's or 10's and see what happens.
either you like it, or you dislike it - simple
 01/12/2009 10:39:24 PM · #13
Or so many voters as individuals as well as alleged 'groups of voters' are being chastised/criticized/whatever-ized in the forums so much lately that people are trying to 'normalize' as well as 'raise' their 'average vote given' as seen on their profile page so as not to appear to be a part of whichever 'group' is currently being ranted upon while at the same time the over zealous in voting style is attempting to do the same in order not to appear to far to the other side...hmm...seems no one wants to stand out.

Message edited by author 2009-01-12 22:42:52.
 01/12/2009 10:39:47 PM · #14
I've been a member for almost 7 years and my personal opinion is that with the improvement in digital technology so has there been an improvement in the general quality of the pictures in DPC.
 01/12/2009 10:49:31 PM · #15
Fewer low votes (ie. 1s and 2s) would explain the whole trend. The high scores are affected less because they had fewer low votes to begin with. The low scores are affected most because they had the most low votes to begin with.
 01/12/2009 10:51:24 PM · #16
I think he may be right that the voting scale is being squeezed, that is clear. The real question here is what he is asking, and why. What I would like to see is the site membership and the voter activity on the same scale. If the membership is stagnant and voter activity is level then I would say it is the forums or something else effecting it. I would also chalk it up to how entering changes your voting style. It is a living site and I agree that if a trend, such as frogs or what ever holds true, then something must be done to keep the site evolving and not to let it grow stagnant.
 01/12/2009 10:54:53 PM · #17
Originally posted by CraigD:
I think he may be right that the voting scale is being squeezed, that is clear. The real question here is what he is asking, and why. What I would like to see is the site membership and the voter activity on the same scale. If the membership is stagnant and voter activity is level then I would say it is the forums or something else effecting it. I would also chalk it up to how entering changes your voting style. It is a living site and I agree that if a trend, such as frogs or what ever holds true, then something must be done to keep the site evolving and not to let it grow stagnant.


it gets stagnant when people keep doing what they think can gather high votes disregarding whether or not the photo holds any value besides being a ribbon winning entry for a website called DPC.

//runs and hide from the flame throwers and godzillas
 01/12/2009 10:55:56 PM · #18
I've been here since 2002. My scores are going down. (There needs to be an exception to every rule....)

Seriously, I think that it is really hard to get much out of the graphs. Images from early in the site's history would not score as well today. (See my highest scoring image, for example. Seriously, take a look.) Not only has camera capability moved forward, but also the viewers are more sophisticated. Yes we go for the eye candy and pretty pictures, but each fad has its day and the site moves on. (My personal current peeve is the letterbox effect, that is in current vogue.) I'd say the low scores are a little higher because the cameras are more forgiving. My FD-71 was horribly noisy in low light. The high scores are a little lower as we demand more and more perfection. In the end, in any challenge, there is everything from 1 to 10 on the images. So you are talking about averages, not about individuals voting. Think of it like flipping a coin. If it was heads last time, on average it should be tails this time. But the coin has no memory and does not know how it landed last. Similarly, each voter votes his or her own way. (Though some have called for uniform voting... how sad.) What the average tell me, is that at the moment, this is what the averages are. If I score higher, then I have beaten the average. Lower, and I am more towards my norm.
 01/12/2009 10:57:06 PM · #19
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Fewer low votes (ie. 1s and 2s) would explain the whole trend. The high scores are affected less because they had fewer low votes to begin with. The low scores are affected most because they had the most low votes to begin with.

I would agree but add 3s to the mix and 10s as well. But why fewer? Are voters afraid that DPC is more likely to scrap their vote if the vote is near the end of the spectrum. Or could it be people are hesitant in giving out 1s, 2s, and 3s for fear of being fingered out as a troll. And have more voters adopted the 10 vote is for ground shaking-perfect pictures?

Message edited by author 2009-01-12 22:57:34.
 01/12/2009 10:59:46 PM · #20
Originally posted by SDW:
Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Fewer low votes (ie. 1s and 2s) would explain the whole trend. The high scores are affected less because they had fewer low votes to begin with. The low scores are affected most because they had the most low votes to begin with.

I would agree but add 3s to the mix and 10s as well. But why fewer? Are voters afraid that DPC is more likely to scrap their vote if the vote is near the end of the spectrum. Or could it be people are hesitant in giving out 1s, 2s, and 3s for fear of being fingered out as a troll. And have more voters adopted the 10 vote is for ground shaking-perfect pictures?


when you vote 1,2 or 3 you are asked to comment.
voters hated that?
 01/13/2009 03:18:28 AM · #21
Originally posted by ambaker:
I've been here since 2002. My scores are going down. (There needs to be an exception to every rule....)

Seriously, I think that it is really hard to get much out of the graphs. Images from early in the site's history would not score as well today. (See my highest scoring image, for example. Seriously, take a look.) Not only has camera capability moved forward, but also the viewers are more sophisticated. Yes we go for the eye candy and pretty pictures, but each fad has its day and the site moves on. (My personal current peeve is the letterbox effect, that is in current vogue.) I'd say the low scores are a little higher because the cameras are more forgiving. My FD-71 was horribly noisy in low light. The high scores are a little lower as we demand more and more perfection. In the end, in any challenge, there is everything from 1 to 10 on the images. So you are talking about averages, not about individuals voting. Think of it like flipping a coin. If it was heads last time, on average it should be tails this time. But the coin has no memory and does not know how it landed last. Similarly, each voter votes his or her own way. (Though some have called for uniform voting... how sad.) What the average tell me, is that at the moment, this is what the averages are. If I score higher, then I have beaten the average. Lower, and I am more towards my norm.


The problem isn't that the scores don't average out, because they do, it is possible problem that all pictures rate the same.
 01/13/2009 03:30:48 AM · #22
I think you need a much larger data set. Try again in 20-30 years. :)
 01/13/2009 04:11:33 AM · #23
didn't the vote wiping process only start a year ago? (where a person has gone through and voted '1' for every image, these scores are wiped off at rollover).

that might explain why the lower end of the scale has changed!
 01/13/2009 06:37:22 AM · #24
The vote scrubber has been around for much longer than a year. Been here since I got here and I would assume it has always been here.
 01/13/2009 07:40:07 AM · #25
I think it shows that we need more nude challenges.
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