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[Titansfan]

I'm not a forum regular, but I do contribute quite a bit to this site and DCM.  A lot of us are working as a team to get some rare books scanned and out for everyone.   Even going as far as traveling hundreds of miles away on vacation to get access to the books.  I'm not asking for thanks or anything.   What I am ask is whoever enjoys giving books a 1 or 2 rating out of 10 to knock it off.  If it's a genre you don't like or enjoy skip over it and don't stick a thumb in somebody's eye just for the hell of it.  It's happened to me several times but others as well.  Maybe it's petty to even notice to begin with, but honestly it's taking joy away when there's no cause for it.  And that's all I have to say.

[narfstar]

I never look at a books rating. I do tend to look and see how many views/downloads my book gets. I agree that there is no reason to give a book a bad rating without a review explaining why.

[paw broon]

I do the same as narfstar.  But now that I've read your comment, I wonder why someone would rate a book as bad without writing a short reason for it. Constructive criticism is good and will often start a discussion.
Keep up the good work.

[shea6408]

I also don't look at a book's rating.  I didn't even know the books were rated!

What is being rated, anyway?  The content, or the quality of the scan?

[paw broon]

On the card for each book, there is a rating line where anyone can rate it out of 10, and it shows how many votes have been cast and the average is shown in stars. 
As an example randomly chosen, this Black Hood book has 2 votes and average of 8.5 out of 10.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=69816
I have never used the rating system and it is anonymous.  As I said, it would be good if anyone who gives a rating, would also add a short opinion, whether good or bad or anything in between.
You'll also see in the card, a note of the number of downloads the book has.
Click the book and have a look.

[Yoc]

I also don't look at a book's rating.  I didn't even know the books were rated!

What is being rated, anyway?  The content, or the quality of the scan?

That is the problem about the ratings.  It's never been established exactly what is being rated so it's a pretty much a useless feature that I suspect most people ignore.

Titansfan and his gang of editors are doing an AMAZING job bringing new scans to both sites.  Bravo to everyone involved especially TF who has done the real heavy lifting of traveling and scanning these books to start the ball rolling.  Thanks so much TF!   

-Yoc

[narfstar]

Simple solution would be for Mark to eliminate the ratings function

[MarkWarner]

it was crossed my mind BUT the  sticking point is that it helps us being found on searches ... if you so a search under Google you'll see the stars appear ... makes it all look like we actually know what we are doing ...

Otherwise I'd zap it like a shot

[The Australian Panther]

Well, I have to admit, I use the ratings, mainly to show my enthusiasm when I find something good tho, not to be negative. The ratings system is pretty easy to find, shea6408, if you just look carefully at the internet page, ( not the comic page)
But there seems to be a general problem with 'rating' on the internet There seems to be a species of person who exists just to find ways to add negative input to internet pages. Look at music videos on Youtube for example where you often find a negative rating in the hundreds. I suspect that there are trogdolytes out there who press the button many times. Unfortunately we have to live with things like this on the internet and CB+ is mostly free from this kind of nonsense. I think that Mark is right. If it helps us be found on searches, it's probably useful. Might be an incentive if the rating is unreasonably low to change it to be more positive? What are we rating? Well, you can't be specific, so really only if its good or bad - personal opinion. It is something that enables readers to make a personal contribution, and that can only be useful. In any case, its relatively harmless and can be ignored.
Cheers!         

[positronic1]

I don't rate the books here with any kind of regularity, and when I do it tends to be sort of an impulse thing (always a 10) based on the sheer joy of discovering that the book is here (and particularly if it's a crisp-looking individual copy of the book, or the scan itself is exceptionally clear).

Recently I had some sour comments on the (lack of) quality of the writing in the last few issues of Planet Comics, but I never even thought to give those books a 1 or 2 rating, I just left comments explaining why I thought the stories were crap. By no means does that imply that I'm giving the uploader of those books a backhanded slap for their efforts, because if the issues weren't uploaded on here, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to read the stories and judge them on their merit (or sad lack of same). By the same token, I've left some "thank you" comments on the book directed at the uploader of the comics when I felt grateful.

It's a good question to ask, though -- What is it exactly that's being rated? It could be a good-quality scan of a very hard to find book, but if the contents of said book are crap, that's not the scanner's fault, nor should they take a negative rating as aimed at them personally.

When all's said and done, if you want to give a big 'thank you' or 'attaboy' to the uploader, it might be better to try to remember to click on the member's name and give some applause (or karma).

[crashryan]

Frankly, I seldom leave ratings. Everyone has a different idea of what they're supposed to be rating. Story? Art? Rarity of the comic? Quality of the scan? At least one member has been upset when a particular book got a low rating. But how can one reader know which standards another judges by? For these reasons I only rate comics I think deserve a 9 or 10. To me this means either (1) Wow! What great artwork! (2) I enjoyed the heck out of this story! or (3) I never imagined I'd ever see this rare comic!

[The Australian Panther]

crash. Well said. I concur. Use the system to communicate your enthusiasm if, any, otherwise don't comment at all.
Cheers.