{ "blyg": "0.4", "id": "38t8hrwavwgabkkerm0cpgcd41", "kind": "thread", "origin": "https://notionparallax.co.uk/", "page": "https://notionparallax.co.uk/2016/breaking-the-5-glass-ceiling", "author": { "name": "Ben Doherty", "url": "https://notionparallax.co.uk/" }, "created": "2016-03-30T23:00:00Z", "updated": "2016-03-30T23:00:00Z", "version": 1, "content_md": "# Breaking the 5* glass ceiling\n\n\n
\n![alt text](https://notionparallax.co.uk/assets/rate_your_driver.png)\n
\nStandard Uber ratings got to 5. What if we want to be able to go all the way to 11?\n
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\n\nDave Wilcox, all round smart guy, has just started his blog[^1]. One of his posts is about [Reputation Technology](http://dwilcox.bitbucket.org/posts/2016/03/28/Reputation%20Technology.html) and it's prompted me to write something here about how rating things works in society.\n\nI'm going to talk mainly about Uber to begin with because it's a well known example. When you finish a journey with Uber you need to rate your driver out of 5 before you can book another one. Drivers need to keep an aggregate rating of over 4.6 to stay on the system otherwise they get _deactivated_ (which means fired without notice). If you know this then it limits your rating choices. This system compresses your rating options into 4 levels of punishment, and everything else.\n\nI like that my rating is personal to me[^2], I can rate whatever I want, but if that fifth star encompasses everything from _did an OK job_ to _this was the greatest cab ride of my entire life_ then it feels too restrictive.\n\nI few years ago I read building [web reputation systems](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596159801.do) and there were two things that have stuck in my mind. One was that people really only rate at the extremes (e.g. 1 and 5 stars, hardly any 2-4 star ratings). So telling people that 5* was the baseline, but that they *could* rate up to 10 would just result in a drift up to 10* being the standard.\n\nIt's free to rate 5 stars, maybe you could make it cost something to rate above that?\n\nWhat if there was a log or exponential scale of tip that it would cost to rate above 5*? E.g. if a 6* rating cost 50c and a 10\\* rating cost $100 with a rising rate in between[^3].\n\nThat money could then go directly to the driver, overcoming some of the objections to the forced-obsequiousness that has been mentioned elsewhere.\n\n[^1]: He's an even more severe yak shaver than me. He has built his blog engine from scratch and hasn't even got around to putting an index page in yet. We've talked about all kinds of interesting things over the years and it's going to be interesting to see some of them written down. A lot of them were on the boundaries of what I can understand, so it'll be good to be able to re-read them until I am _sure_ I don't understand.\n[^2]: This is unlike tipping in a restaurant where there is social pressure because you are being watched.\n[^3]: Something like $0.50, $1.88, $7.07, $26.60, $100.00\n", "content_html": "

Breaking the 5* glass ceiling

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Standard Uber ratings got to 5. What if we want to be able to go all the way to 11?

\n
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Dave Wilcox, all round smart guy, has just started his blog1. One of his posts is about Reputation Technology and it’s prompted me to write something here about how rating things works in society.

\n\n

I’m going to talk mainly about Uber to begin with because it’s a well known example. When you finish a journey with Uber you need to rate your driver out of 5 before you can book another one. Drivers need to keep an aggregate rating of over 4.6 to stay on the system otherwise they get deactivated (which means fired without notice). If you know this then it limits your rating choices. This system compresses your rating options into 4 levels of punishment, and everything else.

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I like that my rating is personal to me2, I can rate whatever I want, but if that fifth star encompasses everything from did an OK job to this was the greatest cab ride of my entire life then it feels too restrictive.

\n\n

I few years ago I read building web reputation systems and there were two things that have stuck in my mind. One was that people really only rate at the extremes (e.g. 1 and 5 stars, hardly any 2-4 star ratings). So telling people that 5* was the baseline, but that they could rate up to 10 would just result in a drift up to 10* being the standard.

\n\n

It’s free to rate 5 stars, maybe you could make it cost something to rate above that?

\n\n

What if there was a log or exponential scale of tip that it would cost to rate above 5? E.g. if a 6 rating cost 50c and a 10* rating cost $100 with a rising rate in between3.

\n\n

That money could then go directly to the driver, overcoming some of the objections to the forced-obsequiousness that has been mentioned elsewhere.

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  1. \n

    He’s an even more severe yak shaver than me. He has built his blog engine from scratch and hasn’t even got around to putting an index page in yet. We’ve talked about all kinds of interesting things over the years and it’s going to be interesting to see some of them written down. A lot of them were on the boundaries of what I can understand, so it’ll be good to be able to re-read them until I am sure I don’t understand. ↩

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    2. \n
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    This is unlike tipping in a restaurant where there is social pressure because you are being watched. ↩

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    3. \n
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    Something like $0.50, $1.88, $7.07, $26.60, $100.00 ↩

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    4. \n
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\n", "content_hash": "sha256:03b1519424af2224b6f4d560d54dd62486184dd84abaa1c7b2cb5e25a282d2fb", "media": [], "changelog": [ { "version": 1, "at": "2016-03-30T23:00:00Z", "note": null } ], "transclusions": [] }