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What is The Rating System?

It feels great to help others by giving them advice -- and sometimes, when we make a huge effort, it's also nice to get a little recognition! Accordingly, Answerology has created a feedback system so respondents can get a little love. Here's how it works:

• The person who asked the question can rate the responses they're given on a -2 to +2 scale.
• Awful responses can earn Jerk Awards, which are worth -3. Rude responses get you kicked out of town.
• For a truly exceptional response, the asker can award the "Star" Award, which is worth +3.
• To insure that the Star award maintains the awesome respect it rightfully deserves, it should be awarded with care!
• In rare circumstances, the asker might receive more than one exceptional response. In cases like these, the asker can award up to three Stars.
• Infrequently, because some responses arrive later than others, or because the wisdom of some responses takes longer to sink in, the asker might want to revise the ratings they gave. In such cases, the asker can make revisions to their ratings for one week. When this happens, one of your +2 ratings might turn into a Star, or vice versa.
• Prior to 2006, there were no limits on how many Stars could be awarded. This was frustrating to respondents who put a huge effort into their answers, as they received the same rating as someone whose response was less thorough. Because we received so many emails from our members about this, and because we wanted to encourage members to give great advice, we decided to limit the number of Stars.
• Prior to 2006, the top awards were called the "Nude Guy Award" (for a great response from a guy) and the "Angel Award" (for a great response from a woman). We don't have those anymore, although we let our members proudly display how many Nude Guys and Angels they received before we made the changes. To read about where the moniker, "The Nude Guy Award" came from, click here
• In the future, we'll be adding a way for members to nominate other members for special awards -- everything from Best and Worst Question Asker to Funniest Respondent. If you have ideas for the different types of awards we should give, please send your ideas to info@answerology.com
• More generally, if you have ideas about how we can make the rating system more fair and fun for everyone, let us know!
• Here are some general guidelines to help you think about the rating system:
  
  -3 (Jerk) = This respondent shouldn't be giving advice at Answerology (or anywhere else for that matter).
  
  -2 = Yuck. This response was inappropriate, insensitive or rude.
  
  -1 = I'm no Dear Abby, but this is some bad advice.
  
  0 = This response answered my question in a basic, "yes/no" sort of way.
  
  1 = Not only did this response answer my question, but the respondent added some valuable insights based on their personal experiences. Thanks for the helpful advice!
  
  2 = This respondent went far beyond answering my question. They took the time to try and understand the specifics of my situation, helped me look at all sides of the story, and made a genuine effort to help me figure things out. I give this respondent major kudos: their advice will help me as I navigate my current and future relationships.
  
  +3 (Star) = This response isn't just advice; it's timeless wisdom. This respondent deserves to be recognized within and beyond Answerology for their truly exceptional contribution. Without question, I will take their advice to heart and do my best to use it to change the course of my relationships and my life.
  
  Please note: when you're browsing Q&A's and viewing responses, we put the responses in order of highest to lowest rating. It's not that the first three people who responded got Stars, it's that we put the Star responses first :)

Community Star

• Occasionally, the asker of the question might not recognize the life-changing wisdom of a certain response. Or they'll give a Star award to the respondent who tells them what they want to hear, rather than the truth. (Hey, no one's perfect :) To make things right, we've added a new feature called the Community Star. This lets any member who's interested in such things vote on which response deserves the Star.
• For each question, the response that earns the most votes for the Community Star will win the award.
• In the rare event of a tie, the response which was given first will win.
• You can't vote for yourself, so don't even think about it. If we determine that you've voted for yourself with another alias, you'll get an email from James in customer service. James is an awesome guy, so you really don't want to make him send you an email :)
• The highest (and most elusive) rating is the Double Star -- a response which earns the Star award from the asker and from the community. The Double Star is worth a whopping 6 points. If you accumulate a bunch of these, we'll be offering you some special privileges in the future... stay tuned for more info.
• Please note that any Community Stars you receive won't appear on your profile or in your Sent Mail folder until 24 hours after the question has been asked. This allows us to make sure all votes have been counted.

What if the Respondent Doesn't Rate the Response?

Although we encourage all members to rate their response, some members don't always do so. To help all responses get rated:

• If a member has 15 read but unrated messages in their Inbox, they need to rate them before reading any new mail.
• If a response has been read by the asker but hasn't been rated within 48 hours, it automatically receives a "2" rating. The asker still has 7 days to rate the response themself.
• If a response hasn't been read by the asker within 7 days, it automatically gets a "2" rating.

The Ratings Tribunal

The Ratings Tribunal is a community feature that lets you challenge the rating you received on a particular response you gave, and try to get a higher rating.

Basically, if you're not satisfied with a rating you received, you can submit the response to other community members to be re-rated.

Three members will re-rate the response. You'll receive the average of their ratings, and that's the final say. To see how the Tribunal has voted, go to your Sent Mail folder in My Account. There you'll see the original rating, and the Final Rating by Tribunal. If three members haven't yet re-rated your response, you'll see "At Tribunal."

• In the past, because some respondents were so excited to see their rating, they'd send their responses to the Tribunal before the asker even rated their response. We've now changed this so responses can not be sent to the Tribunal before 7 days have passed.
• Any community member who has an overall average rating of 1.5, and has answered at least 500 questions, may join the Tribunal.
• To read more about how to use the Tribunal, click here

Points And Levels

Need even more great reasons to get involved at Answerology? We didn't think so.. :) But... to reward you for your great responses, and to encourage you to make our community even better, you can earn points.

As you earn more points, you can rise from Level 1 all the way to Level 10. You earn points any time you do things that are good for the community.

Read More Here