Elad and EarlG put together a new function based on recs/unrecs: The Top Tens Page

[Skinner]

When we unveiled the unrecommend function a few months back, the primary goal was to change the content of the Greatest Page. But many DUers suggested that it would be cool to be able to crunch the numbers to get different lists of discussion threads on DU. With that in mind, EarlG and Elad have put together a new function that highlights different types of threads.

We call it the "Top Tens Page":

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=greatest_threads&topten=1

Currently there are four Top Ten lists on the page:

New And Hot
Recommendations + unrecommendations + replies = points (4 hours)
This is a list of the ten threads, started in the last four hours, that seem to be getting the most attention (both positive and negative). We create this list by adding the total number of recommendations, unrecommendations, and replies that a thread has received.

On The Fence
A close percentage of recommendations and unrecommendations (24 hours)
This is a list of the ten threads started in the last 24 hours that have received a similar number of recommendations and unrecommendations. Often, these are contentious issues where the DU membership are somewhat split. Threads must have a minimum of 10 replies and six total recs and unrecs to make it onto the list.

Most Discussed
The discussion threads with the most replies (24 hours)
This is a list of the ten threads started in the last 24 hours that have the most replies.

Just Recs
Recommendations only -- unrecommendations are not counted (24 hours)
This is a list of the ten threads started in the last 24 hours that have received the most positive recommendations. This is a nod to those of you who miss the old Greatest Page, from the days when there was no unrecommend function.

We have added a link to the top of the DU Greatest Page which leads to the new Top Tens Page. You can always access the page from there.

We think this adds a fun new dimension to DU, and gives all of our visitors a new way to experience the site.

If you have any questions or comments, please post them in this thread.

Skinner, EarlG, and Elad
DU Administrators.

[bridgit]

1. neat!

[NashVegas]

2. Nice

Will check it out.

[TexasObserver]

3. great!

This should satisfy most of the complaints about the Unrecommend feature.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. I'm against it!

Just kidding.

[EFerrari]

49. LOL

I don't know what they have to say,
it makes no difference anyway -
whatever it is, I'm against it!
No matter what it is or who commenced it,
I'm against it!

[ixion]

5. k'd and r'd

thanks, guys! :woohoo: :toast:

[annabanana]

6. very interesting. . . going to poke around there now. . . n/t

[supernova]

7. This ought to be fun!

:D

Thanks to the bestest Admins on the 'net!

:toast:

[BR_Parkway]

8. Neat - how about a list of the most unrecommended as well?

[Skinner]

15. At this point, I don't think we want to give a platform to the worst of the worst.

But I'm not going to completely rule it out.

[BR_Parkway]

77. Just because things are unrecommended, doesn't mean they are the "worst"

I think it would be eye opening for folks to see just how much unrecommending is going on - and probably not all for the reasons that you guys were trying to implement.

[redqueen]

9. Neat!

Thanks. :)

[Oregone]

10. No "Lamest Troll Threads"?

Just counting the unrecs and posts? :)

[Arugula Latte]

11. That's good, because I just wasn't burning through enough of my day being on DU as it was.

:P

[tosh]

36. +1.

:rofl:

[gkhouston]

12. Oh, goody. A topic to shove the Polanksi threads into oblivion.

Let the re-re-re-re-rehash of the unrec feature commence...

Seriously, I like the new features.

[cry baby]

13. sounds great!

thank you!

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. I may have to add a couple of stanzas to my "Ode to the Rec Function"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6659289

[Skinner]

17. That is great!

Love it!

[A HERETIC I AM]

22. Thanks, man! n/t

[FourScore]

74. Wow! How did I miss that? It's really terrific!!!

What a poet...

[A HERETIC I AM]

82. Thanks!

I appreciate the compliment.

Though I am by no means a poet.

[madrchsod]

16. good......

the unrecos are getting out of hand. i`ve been noticing some just personal.

[treestar]

18. Sweet!

:yourock:

[dipsydoodle]

19. Will there be

Rosettes too like Farmville ? :)

[LiberalAndProud]

20. Thanks! I love new toys.

[berni_mccoy]

21. Thanks! This is great!

[Louisiana1976]

23. Good idea!

[Hutzpa]

24. Excellent, but what about the naysayers

those whom might not like this new feature for whatever reason they might give,
and you know they are out there, how do you guys planned to address them?

[peace13]

25. Thanks, but I am still sorry that we have the UR.

It would be interesting to hear the discussion leading up to the creation of this feature. I appreciate the opportunity to view the page, void of the UR's.

[reflection]

26. Glad I ran across this. Good one! Thanks. n/t

[Festivito]

27. I thought the fence would be less than zero to four recs.

Zero net recommendations means nothing. Vacillating from 4 to 5 means a lot.

It is a bit of fun. I still prefer things that make my visits more comprehensive rather than top-star attractions out of something like a tourist's Fodors travel guide.

EDIT. Less than sign disappears rest of subject line.

[Skinner]

29. Zero net recs suggests that there may be a close split of opinion.

I don't think it's correct to say it means nothing.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

28. it seems you have tried to make everyone happy. alas. i hate to break it to you

someone is going to whine. its going to happen.

[Skinner]

30. Honestly, we just thought it would be a fun thing to do.

We gave up trying to make everyone happy long, long ago.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

31. i know. i was just pulling your leg.

:)

[Skinner]

32. Oh, shoot.

I think I'm usually pretty good at sniffing out that sort of thing. You got me. :D

[Jackpine Radical]

38. What would I have to do

to get you to pull MY leg?

[Liberation Angel]

33. From one who rallied against the unrec function, salutations...props

I think this is pretty cool...

I don't for the life of me understand it yet but at first glance I like it lots....

and addresses issues which concerned me...

seems attention to a thread itself in this new way means that important topics wil not just fade even when the unrec trolls (or cool progressives) attack!

[mzmolly]

34. Loves it!

:hi:

[lumberjack_jeff]

35. You guys are reallly awesome. I mean it. Very well done. n/t

[Jackpine Radical]

37. Thank you. This is exactly what I hoped you'd do.

I will be Unrecommending this page to get it to the top of the On the Fence page, of course.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

39. I just checked it out and it's pretty darn cool!

Great idea. I have a feeling this will be a fun new addition to the site. :thumbsup:

[FredStembottom]

40. Will this be the Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing page?

Even if it is, I appreciate having it as a possible tool to help counter Troll UnRecs.:thumbsup:

[BlooInBloo]

45. I suggest calling it the "Loud Noises!" page...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOC-hDULX1c

[omega minimo]

48. or "Much ADU"..........

[MilesColtrane]

41. I like.

Thanks

[WheelWalker]

42. Oooo - I think I'm going to like this very much. Thanks! n/t

[question everything]

43. A feebele attempt to make DU more attractive

like the news magazine and "news" programs that are bells and whistles with no meat.

"Where is the beef?"

People will be so pre-occupied with these that no one will pay attention to a real discussion.

Oh, and are you going to keep this one open, again, so that bitter DUers will be able to go back and U old threads?

Pathetic.

[BlooInBloo]

44. (facepalm)

[question everything]

50. If you want to comment, you will have to explain

but, I suppose, you are here to collect hearts.

Funny, when the U first came, you complained that you get a U as soon as you post something. So you've learned to swallow as many dingleberries as you need to become a hero here.

No wonder unions are in decline in this country if you are the face of them.

[MilesColtrane]

46. .

[alcibiades_mystery]

51. Go away

[blogslut]

81. Every Party Has a Pooper

That's why we invited YOU! :hi:

[Laelth]

47. Sweet. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[kentuck]

52. Another valiant effort by the Admins...

to please the most worthy subjects in the blog universe. :-)

[Nye Bevan]

53. Cool. And now you can compute the number of recs and number of unrecs

for "New and Hot", "On The Fence", and "Just Recs" threads, using basic algebra.

Take this thread for example. Let R=number of Recs, U=number of Unrecs, P=number of replies.
When I did this calculation, I knew:

1. P=50 (from the thread itself);
2. R-U = 48 (the total vote, displayed for every thread);
3. R+U+P = 102 ("New and Hot" score).

From (1) and (3) we get R+U = 52. And since we know R-U = 48, we get that R=50 and U=2. So this thread has 2 unrecommendations.

Hopelessly nerdy I know, but as a math geek I just couldn't resist.

[Skinner]

54. Indeed you can.

We have lifted the curtain just a bit. We thought that the benefit of providing this new function outweighed the possible downside of letting people compute the number of unrecs. The fact is that most threads will not appear in any of the Top Tens, so the mystery will still remain.

[HughMoran]

78. Yes, I immediately realized that most contentious threads would not make it to the lists

...just as well as that would cause a lot of complaining, at least we can see some of the most interesting stuff.

[BlooInBloo]

56. Beans-spiller!

[scarletwoman]

69. Wait. What? You mean we hafta do MATH now?!?!

I don't think I can take the pressure. :cry:

[TexasObserver]

80. Algebra making one's life better every day!

Remember the thread recently about algebra used in daily life?

[Nye Bevan]

83. Math is fun

Anyone who thinks otherwise probably did not have a good math teacher as a kid.

I used to think some subjects were boring (history for example). Only much later did I realize that there is no such thing as a boring subject, but there *are* many bad teachers who make subjects boring.

[TexasObserver]

85. Yes, it is!

Yesterday, I was talking with my sister and brother in law about personal practices. Neither of them ever checks their gas mileage. I always check mine. It's the first thing I do upon filling up my car. I always know exactly how my efficiency has been for each tank. My mom is the same way.

Some people get off to numbers and some don't. I consider math an additional way to look at many things. Statistics, for example, give great insights, particularly when charted smartly.

[wicket]

55. I love it!

[krispos42]

57. Finally took off the curtain, I see

Cool. :-)

[Mrs. Overall]

58. I like it! Thanks for doing this!

[MoonRiver]

59. I like it!

You guys always come through! :hug:

[xultar]

60. Great features!

[immoderate]

61. Thank you Skinner!

--imm

[Old Codger]

62. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRReat!!!

wonderful idea, thanks a lot for making this board better and better ...

[dmr]

63. This is good -

The Greatest Page is my home page. There's a lot of info there that's hard to determine what to read or not read. This idea will help sort things out, I hope.

:hi:

[Trillo]

64. Great Work!

See how it works out! It should help with the complaints against un-recommendations.

[NMDemDist2]

65. love it! Hey Skinner, can we get a shortcut to the page up there by "Latest" and "Greatest"?

I'm already frustrated it takes two clicks to go from "Latest" to "Top Tens" via the Greatest page.

:rofl:

IMO we can lose the Lobby or Journals or even the 'options' icons but that's just me :shrug:

[izzybeans]

66. My favorite fencesitter

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6665367

just for the title. reading further it makes sense as a fencesitter

[Stinky The Clown]

67. Since anyone with an IQ above freezing can calculate the numbers of recs and unrecs .......

.... why not now just put them right there for the world to see?

I also wonder what the "I unrec any thread that is about nnnnnnnn" people will do now. Even unrecs now have value. Will they all leave in a huff or will they :gasp: engage in d-d-d-discussion?

[myrna minx]

68. Love it! Thanks.

[onehandle]

70. Ugh!!! "Vagina Exposed On 'So You Think You Can Dance' (NSFW VIDEO) Fox TV"

This, of course, is in the 'most discussed section.'

I wouldn't have even know about this thread if not for this swell new function.

How embarrassing for DU.

I'll pass on this page made for the crybabies.

[johnaries]

73. Why are you opposed to vaginas?

Personally, I find them fascinating! Of course, that could be simply because I don't have one. but they seem such wondrous things! They bring pleasure to men and women alike, and they also are literally the canal to new life!

I cannot think of anything more wondrous and magical than a vagina!

[onehandle]

75. I'm a big fan.

I just dislike sensationalist crapola at DU.

[HughMoran]

79. "swell" new function exposed "vagina exposed" thread?

:rofl:

[Javaman]

71. Good idea! I think it's pretty neat!

Man, you guys are the best. You never cease to amaze me on the new things you come up with.

Cheers!

[BuyingThyme]

72. Cool.

[Stinky The Clown]

76. Okay, here's a wish ...... like the dead letter office ... how about the dead thread office?

I hate not knowing why a post got yanked or a thread got pulled.

I also chase fire trucks and follow speeding cop cars to crime scenes.

[surrealAmerican]

84. I like it.

Thanks.

[ThisThreadIsSatire]

86. is this what you call

'addition by subtraction' or is it more 'subtraction by addition'?

However it came about, sounds like a good addition.

Thanks.

[flying rabbit]

87. That's how to do it.

:toast: You guys do rock!
On edit: if this doesn't get whined out of existence, you should give it an icon at the top of the page.

[bigwillq]

88. Any chance we can extend the rec time

Sometimes I see a post I would like to rec but the time frame already expired. Thanks for the consideration.

Maybe you can extend it just so people can rec it...instead of people just unrecc days old threads. Or is that considered censorship? Not sure these days. Anyway, that's my suggestion.

[Odin2005]

89. Hey, I think that was MY idea!

I want royalties! :rofl: