Don't allow TRIAL members to rate others

Some noob triple rates me today (first negative rating for me, btw, but I think rating = lame anyway). Anywho, why the heck can noobs rate people anyway? Good or bad, they're trial members, what they do shouldn't have any affect on permanent goings on in the game. They're here to evaluate, explore, learn, ...

In my case, the neg rating, his note was "You have rigged games". Well first, I don't. I *might* have a game with a script that needs adjustment, or a PERMISSIONS_DEBIT might have been lost -- but I don't run rigged scripts. Second, this guy never paid me a single L$ for anything, according to account history, so I strongly doubt his given reason. 3. He didn't say *what* was rigged, so I have no basis with which to resolve the potential problem.

Being that he didn't even pay me any money to try any of my games/items, I suspect an unsupervised child of the 90s that's discovered that the only damage a 12 year old can do in SL is neg rate strangers. Something noobs shouldn't be allowed to do in the first place (neg or positive, they're freaking evals, let um sign up for full access).

Better yet, just drop ratings (although I really care less about the actual rating, vs. the fact that some tard can just do it for 7 days, then create a new trial account and do it some more). Then bring back vote booths! Dwell = boo, ratings = boo, vote booths = boo, but they make noise which is fun.

Boso

Bosozoku,

i think that's an excellent idea.. let people get used to the game and how things work and what ratings do before letting them use the ratings.

maybe even add a 'ratings explained' area to Prelude, to explain what they are and what they do.. as well as stating that the feature isn't available during the trial period.

also, prevent them from being rated as well.. this way they can't be neg rated with no recourse available to them.

lock out trial period ratings and SL would smooth out one more kink.

I thought it was already the case that trials couldn't rate. Certainly was when I was a newb.

I support this idea/suggestion!

The rating system is horribly flawed and should either be taken away or changed dramatically. At the very least, I do agree that trial users should not be allowed to rate others. If the only way to do that is to make it so they cannot be rated either, then so be it!

Eh, just remove ratings.

How does kitty feel about this issue?

I agree, this would also help cut down on some multi-neg ratings some people might do with trial accounts, i.e. neg-rate with your main account, make 3 trials and neg-rate with them also.

Personaly I don't see rating as a huge feature of this place, so its not a deal breaker for someone trying it out ("What, no rating system?! I'm not signing up for THIS!".

Explaining it in orientation island would be good to "As a member you can also rate other users and be rated yourself." etc.

The only potential downfall is not being able to rate griefers... but if its a trial anyway, it doesn't really matter.

It amazes me that someone fresh off the Linden Pad has aready acquired positive ratings in all three areas especially building in which i'm sure they havent even figured out how to rez a prim to start with.

I'm all for removing ratings and expecially removing them from those on trial accts.

Well the main problem, in my perspective anyway, is that ratings == money. Therein lays the flaw of the system (besides that ratings aren't robust enough, where's the scripter rating, the texturer rating, the clothier, avatar maker, etc etc..) Anywho, back to the flaw, money.

Vets abuse it too, rating "abuse" is definitely not exclusive to noobs (who quite often are just trying to better their noobiness situation of having no funds).

Scenerio:

Noob_00: "Hey what are these ratings?"
Vet_00: "Those allow you to 'vote' on someone. The more positive ratings you get, the more your stipend bonus is."

Noob_00 shouts, "Rating party at the landing pad!".
Noob_01 thru Noob_23467, "Yea!"
Vet_00 thru Vet_451992, "We're on the way!"

Ratings need to not be related to money, but a method to RATE your peers. Money, I dunno, maybe base it off time in game or something simple and outside player interference. And not a HUGE bonus. I don't get paid in RL because my friends like me, I get paid because I offer a service and/or material goods on a market.

Monetary income is it's own, self-governing, rating. If people like your stuff, you'll be rewarded with some coins (assuming you choose to sell vs free copies).

Boso

Time spent in game wouldn't really be good either, because then someone could just keep their avatar idle all the time.

Maybe have it so only people with your calling card can rate you?

Not sure, its really really hard to think of a fundamental and un-abusive way to guage how much a person should be getting.

I meant time from subscribing, member since xxx sort of time. Still not a great idea, but an option anyway.

Calling cards, blah I hate them (the lack of control over online alerts) and rarely accept them.

Personally I'd rather it immulate real life more, as I mentioned: you get cash ("rewards") for your works/services (sold). Course this would hinder pure socialites who don't sell services/goods.

Definitely the entire concept of giving free money (stipend) becomes confusing when trying to balance it out.

Boso

Trial members can rate? I thought that would have been fixed by now.

Well I admit that I don't truely know. He was "born" on the day he rated me.

Turns out he rated me for someone else's "rigged" games. :p Another reason noobs shouldn't rate, till they understand how to use the right mouse button. Oh maybe he's on a Mac :p

Well everyone knows Mac users are slow!

*runs and hides don't hurt me*