Rate songs and songbooks

Question about song & songbook ratings - - - If you sort all public songbooks by 'highest rated' it becomes apparent that even the highest ratings seem to be quite low.  Is this because Chordie users are just a tough bunch to please?

Or, perhaps is it because if you view a songbook but choose to not rate the book (or individual songs) the default rating is 'zero'?   This would seem to explain the fact that even the highest-rated songbooks have a rating barely over 'one'.

I am curious about this rating system since until the rating system works to clearly distinguish 'better' songbooks (and songs) from 'not better' then there is no benefit in having a rating system. 

Please explain just how the songbook and song rating system work.  Thanks!

Hello Tunedeaf - I have posted 4 songbooks, all of which got lousy ratings - but I didn't post the books for ratings.  I posted them because I had found and cleaned up several songs that I enjoy playing and singing - my motivation was simply to share some stuff that brought me some happiness . . .

Don't fret that a songbook seems to be under-appreciated . . . I have since seen a couple of my 'cleaned-up' song versions in other songbooks - so I know that other Chordie users are at least looking at and using what I have posted.   

Each time I have published a songbook, I realize that I am in some weird way exposing part of my soul since one's choice of songs is a very personal thing.   Perhaps a mental health professional could take a look at my songbooks and recommend appropriate medications or therapy?

It is very curious though that even the highest rated songbooks have such seemingly low scores . . . . my guess is that an 'un-rated' songbook is automatically rated as a 'zero' . . . but only the omnipotent Admin knows for sure!

By the way, what is your songbook entitled?

I would like to take a look at it, and peer deep into your soul . . .

My songbooks are entitled:

   Strut Your Pipes

   Ballads From Blondes

   Silly to Sublime

   "In 3" Waltz Gems.

The "In 3" book is listed toward the very end of the alphabetical listings because of the quotes in the title.

While we are on this subject, wouldn't it also be nice to be able to browse and search just within the songbooks?  Perhaps a separate index or another little tab on the Chordie homepage . . . ?

Songbook rating ideas: 

1. Let only registered Chordie users rate songbooks;

2. Show how many users have rated a songbook;

3. If a songbook is comprised of nothing but 'raw' songs (no Chordie-user editing) then the songbook should carry label such as "No Improvements Made";

Other Songbook Ideas:

1. Songbooks should be searchable - by more than ratings and recent.  Make it possible to search by: who posted, song titles, artist, etc.  Perhaps a new tab can be added to the Chordie homepage, "Browse Chordie User Songbooks".  This would offer a shortcut to songs with 'improved' layout and contents.

2. Put a limit on the number of selections that can be included in a songbook.  A book containing "too many" selections is of no practicle use - how does one fairly rate a book if there are too many selections to view?

3. Songbooks and songs that are posted with "No Improvements Made" should not be included in the songbook search - only books that offer something 'better' than what you can find through the regular browse should be included in the "Browse Chordie User Songbooks".

It is fun watching Chordie evolve and grow . . . thanks, Admin, for all your hard work and creative energy.

Maybe this will work - try re-naming your songbook and then make it public.  Perhaps a new file name might just do the trick?

I don't know if it can be done, but I'm assuming that the current ratings are by the *over-all* rating for the songbook itself...would it be possible for ratings to be based on the aggregate rating of all of the songs *within* the songbook?

My songbook is called Tunedeaf's songbook....tunedeaf and unoriginal to boot! lol

You can tell it's mine by all the "Made up Chord" and "Variant Chord" notations.

I don't know if they're really made up chords, but I haven't been able to find them listed anywhere's and I wanted to note them for my own future reference.

Also, I haven't modified all of them yet ( some I like fin e the way they are and some I haven't got to) but the one's I have are pretty easy to pick out...just look for the made up chords! <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_wink.gif" border=0 alt="Wink">

Obviously, the songbook rating function does not function as intended.  The mighty Admin has promised to address this issue very soon and make some other changes/improvements to the Songbook feature.

Hi Again:

Just browsed through the new song books and I have to say that I like the new format. I especially like the percent edited heading.

One additional suggestion if it's possible...re: the ratings...is it possible to say how many ratings the book has received to end up with the final total?

My new book was initially unrated, so, on a whim and with no hubris whatsoever <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_wink.gif" border=0 alt="Wink"> I rated it a four, and when I went out and looked, sure enough, it had a four rating, which, in a way, kind of invalidates the rarings if you know what I mean.

Tunedeaf.

Hi Again:

I'm not really worried about people "stuffing the ballot box" as it were. I doubt most folks are so insecure as to take the time to pad thier numbers.

My inquiry was just based on trying to make the rating system as informaive as possible.

As with any survey, the number of respondants impacts the accuracy of the results, so if I were to search by rating and found a book with 100 votes and a four average, I'd have no doubts that it was worth looking into. With no total votes, the high (or low) rating could be strictly the opinion of one or two individuals and therefore shouldn't impact my decision on checking it out.

Now, if I saw a book that was highly edited *and* had a high rating with 100 votes, I'd probably dedicate days to going through the entries!

Also, I hope you won't take my suggestions as criticism. They in no way are. Chordie is by far and a way the best site for aspiring guitarists and the site that I always refer to first whenever I'm playing.

Tunedeaf

Brilliant! Absolutely Brilliant!

If I could only get my issues at the office addressed so quickly and completely!

Next issue...I'll need the names of the people who rated my book so I can hunt down the jokers who gave me a bad rating! lol !

Tunedeaf

Great that you will attend the Christmas songbook contest.

There are lots of Christmas songs around, and probably several hundred somewhere in the Chordie index.

There are two major challenges here:

* Just a few of the songs are located under "Misc. Christmas". Good hunting..

* A lot of the Christmas songs have horrible layout. In the largest Christmas-song-archive I included, all the chords are placed after the lyrics. So there will be a lot of editing to do.

I would really like to see themed Christmas books appear. Like "Rock'n Roll Christmas", "Traditional Christmas" or "Christian Christmas".

Good Morning Admin:

I've just been perusing the public books and noticed that the rating listing has changed from giving the number of ratings when you hover over the stars to saying you should open the songbook to rate it.

There appears to be no mention of the number of ratings for any of the books again.

Is it just me or was this a conscious change for some reason?

Thanks and TTYL

Tunedeaf