New Stat: User's Average Score?

I disagree, but great post.

 

Yes.. I miss this stat.. it was always extremely telling, imo..

 

[I'dote="mudbug, post: 1472050, member: 313098"]Useless. It assumes all reviewers review for the same reasons. Many do not. I for one only rate beers I like and use the site as a database of my favorite beers. Other people only rate stuff they want to avoid. And some people rate every thing they taste even if it's a 2oz pour at a beer festival. Individual Stats are completely useless, in aggregate, that's another matter.[/quote]

Id have to agree. Seems quite useless to me. Everyone who's for this idea seems to be missing the fact the people use the system differently, making the stat effectively just as mysterious as guessing people's techniques now.

 

Stats without context are always worthless. That doesn't mean that having these types of stats readily available (since we could all likely calculate the numbers we're talking about ourselves with a little work) wouldn't be interesting or useful. Obviously anyone who is just going to look at a user's average rating or average rDev and nothing else probably isn't going to gain much information.

But my interest in these statistical additions stems more from wanting to see my *own* stats. And since I know how I use the site, I will have the appropriate context.

 

Debate between more information or less. I want more.

 

I think there's a definite inconsistency with reviewers so a stat for average review score would be wildly misinterpreted. Example: Most people rate/review beers based on the 1 to 5 scale regardless of style. Some people rate/review beers based upon style. This is just one example of how two users could have the save average score, but achieved it by completely separate methods. With that said I don't know how much weight/emphasis could be placed on such a stat or how it would be of any use to other BAs.

 

Who said we should grade to a 3.0 average. I don't buy shitty beers. I rarely buy average beers.

 

How do you know if a beer is shitty, average, or great until you taste it? Are you letting others tell you what you should think?

 

I was actually considering this idea yesterday. I saw an account where everything was rated over 4.5 and honestly felt like they should lose their ability to rate. It took me a long, long time to rate a beer a perfect 5, and I still want to revisit the beer just to make sure I was on par, but this guy had at least ten perfect scores out of about thirty ratings and nothing below 4.5. That, to me, is total bullshit.

 

I don't have to try Wild Red to know it's awful, and I don't have to try Heady Topper to know that it's at least a pretty good beer.

 

yes ... would love it ... and i'd like to see my own numbers, just out of curiosity

 

The reason I liked this stat on the old site is because say someone's average rating it 4.1-4.2 or higher, that let's me know that if they rate something a 3.5, that means they most likely didn't like it...

If someone's average rating is 3.6, that tells me that they consider a 3.5 a solid score.. and a 4.1 for them would be considered really special/outstanding.

People rate differently.. some are generous.. some are tough.. there's no right or wrong.. but this stat really tells what kind of grader you are.. which can be helpful to users.. imo..

... that's just the geek in me coming out I guess.. ha

 

Nope, looking at the numeric score tells you almost nothing, suppose that 3.6 rater only reviewed AAL's then lo and behold he hits a 4.2 on shlitz 60?. What tells you what kind of grader they are is the content of their reviews, the stat is worthless.

 

That tells me likes Shlitz. I agree that content is more important than any number. I personally don't pay attention to ratings with no content. But the scores/numbers are still extremely important to this site. I still don't find the stat useless, maybe it is to you, but that doesn't make it useless. And I'm not saying it's the end all be all, it's just a stat that I found useful.

There must be a little investigation and research into a reviewer that you want to consistently follow. Everyone has their own use and motives for looking at scores. The average score stat used to just be a stat in the user's profile, no biggie. I liked it and wish it was still around

 

I like the idea of average scores. I have some friends who rank hard and some friends who rank easy. I feel like it is meaningful if someone who normally gives an average of a 3.26 rank gives a beer a 4.70. To me it means they are hard graders and the 4.7 should get an extra rate. Obviously if the person has only ranked 3 beers or only crap beers it throws it off but I guess buyer beware, do some work.

 

Here's the problem with thinking peoples average on here should be about average.

This is a aficionado website. The people here represent a tiny fraction of the people in the world who enjoy craft beer, who in turn represent a relatively small percentage of beer drinkers worldwide. We make (mostly) educated decisions about what to drink, and probably make similar decisions in what to review. Our average ratings SHOULD be higher than the overall average of a scale.

It's like taking the top 3 quarterbacks ratings in the NFL, averaging them and saying that this is what the new average should be.

That's not to say seeing people overall average rating wouldn't be helpful, but I think for most it would be in the high 3s to low 4s based on the facts previously stated. But that doesn't make high 3s to low 4s average for beer, just average for the beer rated on this site.

 

If I am part of the average "BA" population wouldn't I want to choose something that my peers really like. I grant you that the things we rank on here are good but isn't that what the site is made for?

 

As a proud beer score inflator, I support making my average a public stat.

 

That's my question, HOW do you know those things?