I am getting pretty darned sick of CPAN Ratings. They can be quite useful: I can see what modules people like or don't like, and I can get an idea of why people like or don't like my modules.
But then there's the crypto bug report rating. I've ranted about it before, and I'll do it again. Look, you ungrateful bastards, ratings are not good for reporting bugs. The author isn't informed of the bug, and he has no way to reply.
"It's a great module, but it doesn't work on Windows!" Oops, I try to support Windows. What doesn't work? Well, I don't know, and I can't ask you because there is no means to contact a rater.
"It's a great module, but it doesn't work on Windows! (redux)" Yes, it does, I use it there daily! Maybe it used to not work, but it does now. I'd ask you to either explain your rating or change it, but I can't, because there is no means to contact a rater.
"This module is bloated and has too many prereqs!" You're right, it relied on a module that had lots of silly prereqs, but I've fixed that. I'll just...
Well, you get the idea. I'd love to see a "reply to rater," even if only available to the author being rated. I'd love to see a "this rating is factually untrue" button. Heck, I'd be mostly satisfied with a big "please consider filing a bug report, if you're going to report a bug in this rating" box. It should probably blink yellow on red.
Re:a thought
rjbs on 2007-12-05T00:52:49
The problem is that "this rating didn't help me" sounds like, "This did not help me make a decision," which is a very different thing from "this rating is FALSE and you should ignore it."Re:a thought
sungo on 2007-12-05T01:01:56
well, I think some sort of karma system could help the problem. Yes, I think the module authors need some way of saying "this was a problem 8 versions ago" or whatever. However, some way for other users to say "this is a pointless rating" might be helpful too.Re:a thought
rjbs on 2007-12-05T01:51:51
That already does exist, just like (say) Amazon's. I use it when I know the rating is wrong, but I hate using it when the rating is a bug report with insufficient data. It might really be a problem, but I can't tell!Re:a thought
sungo on 2007-12-05T21:02:37
ah. I is dum. You can tell how often I look at cpanratings:)
