Rating System Change

[Andrew]

I have been working on a change to the rating system for a while.  What I wanted was to really simplify the ratings, something like this:

3 Slimes = You should definitely see this!
2 Slimes = You should probably see this.
1 Slime = You probably shouldn't see this.
Skull = Dear God, why?

The idea is that, when you are judging a movie solely on its entertainment value, you really do not need six levels of ratings.  In fact, what I find myself doing quite often is judging a film against several others.  "Would I watch 'The Blood of Heroes' over 'Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death?'  What about 'The Beast of Yucca Flats?'  How about...no, skip that, I hate that movie." and so on.

What I ended up with was more of a compromise, which is based on the 0-4 rating curve that should be familiar for many.  I have already gone through and made all of the adjustments.  It is not a big change, but it is a change.  The tweak to the rating system was mostly to remove the distraction from my brain, because the idea has been bugging me for some time. 

Not many movies became skulls, because those really are the worst, and have few (if any) redeeming factors.  I think 2 films dropped from single slimes to skulls, and one of them was "Jungle Hell."  Anybody who has seen "Jungle Hell" probably is not surprised.

The biggest concern is the Reader Reviews, because I cannot easily contact all of the authors.  As a quick fix, I adjusted three, four, and five slime ratings down by one point.  The skulls, one, and two slime ratings I left alone, because it starts to feel like I am splitting hairs.

If anyone who wrote a reader review wants the rating adjusted, because my blanket adjustment does not correctly reflect their intent, please let me know here or via email and I will make the change.

[Doc Daneeka]

I dunno, I myself liked the middle ground; Instead of "Best", "Average", "Bad", and "Worst", we have the choices of "Better than average, but not perfect", and "Bad, but still something I might watch more than once". Just my opinion, but it is your site.

[akiratubo]

I think you should keep the four slime rating but only use it rarely, for truly exceptional movies.

[Captain Tars Tarkas]

If not a four slime, than something different to signify it the best of the worst, like a whole head instead of a skull.

[Patient7]

If not a four slime, than something different to signify it the best of the worst, like a whole head instead of a skull.

Or a delightful yellow smiley face.

[Psycho Circus]

A big fat star?

[ghouck]

I'm of another school of thought. When I'm checking out Netflix, , especially when RATING a movie, I feel there isn't enough choices. Personally, I think the current system is great: 5 slimes means it REALLY good, ,4 means it's as good as a 5 if it's your particular type of movie, less entertaining if it's not (that how it works for me anyways). I've not run into many (if any) 5s I didn't like, 4s are good with a bit of hit-or-miss on the greatness factor (Army of Darkness definitely a GREAT on in my book, , and it's a 4 slime). I haven't found any 3s that I consider GREAT, , but several that are GOOD, , the rest are ho-hum.

[Andrew]

My biggest concern is what ghouck mentions, but I'd like to see how it goes for a while.  When I was adjusting the ratings (before the change went live), I encountered much of what was voiced - that removing the 0-5 system removed a level of differentiation.

[Patient7]

I noticed it's now running on a four slime + skull system.  I think that it works well.

[Andrew]

I have actually received a number of emails about this.  So far, an interesting suggestion that popped up a few times was to use halves.  In other words, instead of a skull through 4 slime rating, this would result:

skull, 1/2 slime, 1 slime, 1 1/2 slime, and so on up to 4 slimes.

That's a bit more complex than I wanted, and I think deciding on the 1/2 slime (just above a skull) movies might be hard.

[asimpson2006]

I like the idea of only 3 slimes and a skull for ratings.  It's it's simple and easy to understand.  I usually only rate things out of 4 stars since it's easier to understand then me trying to explain why I gave something a 8.5 out of 10 or what ever.

[AndyC]

Three slimes and a skull work for me, although I do like the idea of an additional symbol reserved for the very best movies. Seems to round things out a bit better.

I can't see fractions working. Three slimes with half-steps is really no different from a six-slime system, which is making things more complex. Best to stick with whole numbers.