Youtube - Rank vs. Like?

Since I think Lost has about 5 million too-many characters, I'm going to ask our vast audience which method of rating YouTube videos they prefer - the old-school 5-star rating system, or the new-school like/dislike rating system:


I'm personally a fan of the star-system. While 5 isn't too much higher than 2, and overall, I'd imagine the average rating for a video is very similar between the two methods, I would at least enjoy the opportunity to think my nuanced 4-star rating makes a difference. Call me old-fashioned or adverse to change, but I don't think I'll be changing my mind anytime soon.
Posted by Scott at 3/31/2010 09:42:00 AM
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7 comments:

  1. AaronMarch 31, 2010 at 9:51 AM

    I prefer star ratings because art and music are too subjective. I mean, how would you Like/Dislike "I love the song, but the video scared the bejeezus out of me. I will never watch the video ever again, but I will download the song to my iPod."? I'd give it 2.5 stars.

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  2. NatalieMarch 31, 2010 at 10:32 AM

    It seems like one of the reasons they chose to move away from the Five Star rating system was that it was showing itself to be binary afterall. A 5 star rating was becoming essentially meaningless. For the most part, videos receive 5s or 1s. I like the idea of the 5 star system, but only if the rating is going to be something meaningful. If it's merely an average of all the 5 and 1 star ratings, then I'm fine with the switch to like/dislike. I feel that something along the lines of an "89% Like" will still give me an understanding of how valuable past viewers found the video to be.

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  3. ScottMarch 31, 2010 at 10:36 AM

    GotGame - agreed; I think an 89% like rate, would essentially show up as a 4-4.5 star rating under the old version, so I don't think this shows much difference into the aggregated totals. I just feel like I lost a little power with the switch. I'm just being bitter and frumpy!

    Aaron - completely loved the lengthy emotion description followed by a curt rating.

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  4. RoyceMarch 31, 2010 at 11:08 AM

    I agree with GotGame, the ratings ended up being 1 or 5 stars, so why not just go full bore thumbs up/down?

    I never ever rate anything... am I alone on this? I usually use the number of views to estimate something's popularity

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  5. ScottMarch 31, 2010 at 11:13 AM

    Screw you too Royce!

    Let me rate my videos 1-5 in peace. I'm going to start rating the videos in the comments section...

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  6. RoyceMarch 31, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    Maybe we should add a like/dislike to all our posts and our comments

    That way people can tell me how great I am!

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  7. ScottMarch 31, 2010 at 12:47 PM

    If you add a like/dislike instead of stars - even after this conversation - I will disown you.

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