Contribs Suggestion - Thoughts ?

[♥yesudo]

What would be great in the contribs section is - users(not suppliers) of the contribs being able to rate the contrib/s.

 

e.g. score 1 to 5 - as a complete score(like the reviews section on the osC store).

 

or

 

scores 1-5 for maybe areas like:

 

easibilty of install

 

clarity of install instructions

 

meeting objective of contrib

 

etc

 

This would be helpful - as I have wanted a couple of contribs - but there are more than one version of the contrib - in some cases there are 4 or 5 versions - and I don't know which would be the best to use.

 

I am sure this is the case for most users - you could even have a top ten contrib section. Popularity of a contrib could also be taken into account.

 

What does everyone else think ?

[stevel]

Well, you could go to the forum entry corresponding to the contribution to see what people say - if the contributor links to such an entry (and if there is one.)

 

I sympathize - I keep downloading promising looking contributions only to find that:

 

1: They're missing key pieces

2: The files include pieces of unrelated contributions the author happened to have loaded that break the code otherwise

3: They're supplied in the form of patch files only

4: There is no actual description of what the contribution DOES or how it is used

5: They're based on an oddball snapshot of osC

 

Luckily, not all contributions are like this, but it seems too many are.

 

I am currently developing a contribution for submission and am keeping in mind the annoyances I've found with others, hoping to do better...

[♥yesudo]

Is that a supporting vote then Steve ?

[Almirena]

It sounds like a good idea. Contributions often get a true workout only upon being used by others - sometimes leading to the discovery that there are things that still need to be fixed by the user, or that a particular contribution doesn't really work, or another contribution might be better for that particular purpose...

 

It couldn't hurt, if contributors don't mind their work being rated in this way. It would help the users quite a lot, I think.

[♥yesudo]

Thanks for that Ingrid.

 

I have made contribs and wouldn't mind if they get rated, as discussed above, for the benefit of all.

 

 

 

What do all other users and contributors think about this idea ?

[zzfritz]

I strongly support a rating method for contributions. Yes, you can learn a lot about them by reviewing the forums, but that can also be confusing and time consuming.

 

It would also be valuable for the contributions to have "Notification" options just as the online store does. We could often benefit from revisions to contributions, but are unaware of them. Most of us, after we have completed our installations and gotten them to behave, wander off to other activities.

[Chance]

You know, different people have different things they look for in a good contribution.

 

While the base installer might want file replacements, I try to only use contributions that come with diff files so that I can easily integrate in to already modified code.

 

If there is going to be a standard rating system for contribs, there needs to be a standard format for their submission.

[♥yesudo]

If there is going to be a standard rating system for contribs, there needs to be? a standard format for their submission.

Did you have a particular suggestion/s about what should be included with a submission Jason ?

 

This idea is currently being put to the Team members so any detailed suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanx.

[♥yesudo]

Further thoughts - from questions posed:

 

Q) Is it not possible to begin a poll on a contribution?

 

A) I don't think so.

 

 

Q) I suppose that the issue could arise that a contribution be given a bad rating as a means of undermining the contributor (professional sabotage) - how do you propose this could be prevented?

 

A) Maybe rather than having a 5 point rating system.

 

You could ask:

 

Please tick here if you would recommend this contrib to others: tick box.

 

This will mean that no negative feedback can be given - within the review system. You could then have this contrib has been recommended by 10 users. To quantify this, this could be as a percentage of the times the contrib has been downloaded(if this info is stored somewhere) - eg:

 

downloaded 20 times

recommended 10 times

 

Rating: 50%

 

etc...

 

Q) How about the possibility that only contributors be permitted to begin threads, and there being a link to this from the actual contribution - what are your thoughts on this? I think also that a new thread for each release would be good (barring minor updates/codefixes) - this should help trim down 50 page threads - thoughts?

 

A) Yep sounds good. Maybe add a field to the contrib submission to automatically start threads(announcement and support) - therefore cannot be missed by the contributor(which I have missed myself in the past).

 

Fritz makes a good suggestion above regarding notifications:

 

Also if a ratings scheme is put in place this may encourage better quality install instructions from contributors. Steve makes some good points in the above thread also.

 

Another thought on the above - Please tick here if you would recommend this contrib to others: tick box.

 

If someone is going to recommend the contrib you could then ask them various questions on the contrib eg:

 

easibilty of install average good excellent

 

clarity of install instructions average good excellent

 

meeting objective of contrib average good excellent

 

Which again does not allow for any negative feedback.

[Virtual1]

I'm all for it ERB. Would make life easier to know if something is a piece of crap before ya spend all kinds of time installing it only to find out you now have to make the sucker worki because someone cant spell or something silly....

 

But then you and I have been down that road haven't we? Fixing other contribs?

[Mark Evans]

I am not sure I like the idea of a ratings system for contributions.

 

I think this will put some people off from uploading contributions.

[♥yesudo]

Set-up a poll here:

 

http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=87732

[mattwho]

I think ratings would be unecessary if descriptions were better and forum threads were always linked to in the description. Even if the contributer isn't going to support the thread.

[Guest]

A poll could be done for each contribution. This topic has a poll, why not the contributions.

I would like it if I didn't have to guess what snapshot it is for. I installed one the other day and after getting error messages all over the place (in German) I searched the forums to find out that it is a contribution for MS1 not 2.2 and I had to go through this massive rewrite of it to get it to work... which it now does. Clear indication of what it does would be nice also, not just "this modifies your attributes". That doesn't tell people anything.

Also a clear link to the forum help topic that should be started for every attribute and if possible a site that it can be viewed in action.

Also give the poster the ablility to modify the contribution without haveing to add another section. Some of them you have to dig down the pile to find the actual add on.

 

My 2 cents

 

Peter

[nrlatsha]

I like this idea. I think it would put people off from uploading bad contribs. Poor wording, bad install instructions, etc.

 

But on the other hand, I could see how some people wouldn't want to add a contro then too...

 

If each new release reset the ratings, that would be good.

 

I like the link to support forum from the contro. Perhaps if the contributor had the option to create his/her own sticky to notify the thread for a new version, moved to new thread etc (I dunno how hard this is, perhaps notify the moderator to post it). or search within thread for long ones...

 

Of course, being the good community we are, when you do find a contro that doesn't work and you have to fix it yourself, you package that into an update and upload that, right? Thought so...

[♥yesudo]

If each new release reset the ratings, that would be good.

 

I like that idea Noel.

[♥yesudo]

But then you and I have been down that road haven't we? Fixing other contribs?

yep - and uploading the corrected versions.

[paulm2003]

If each new release reset the ratings, that would be good.

 

I like that idea Noel.

Even better have separate ratings for each version, so you can see if it goes up or down with new versions, sometimes an old version appears to be much better than the updated version. I hope this does not become to complicated to implement.

 

Also I would like to see how many downloads there have been, I think it will inspire contributers. (and lots of users will download, but not as many might vote for it)

 

Good idea yesudo!

Voted: YES

 

vote at http://www.oscommerce.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=87732

[♥yesudo]

Also I would like to see how many downloads there have been, I think it will inspire contributers. (and lots of users will download, but not as many might vote for it)

True.

[wvmlt]

I don't like the ratings idea. A person without much php savvy could rate a contribution as being extremely difficult to install when in fact it's an easy install. Of course this would discourage others from trying the contribution.

[nrlatsha]

One more thing: "Notify me of updates to this contribution."

[Virtual1]

One more thing: "Notify me of updates to this contribution."

 

HERE HERE!!!!

 

 

I'm all for that.

 

As far as people not uploading contribs becauise of the rating.... I have a problem with that logic. If someone has actually written and tested and documented properly the contirb (too much to ask for?) then the ratings should make life easier for the newer people trying to install them. Take a look at the big script sites - everything is rated and commented.

 

Basically - if the script sux - you can find out. Why not give people that courtesy here with contribs? It seams to me a few people have released utter crap - spelling mistakes and improper syntax all through the code... why evenm bother if thats what you want people to use? I mean if you wanted it fixed - ask. That kind of releasing puts people off of using the whole cart as they cant get the mods they require to work so they drop the whole cart.

 

I'm rambling and bitching but I 110% support ERB's idea for ratings. Allow reviews and comments and take a lesson from macromedia - add staff approval fro the contrib - not support but approval - gives the rest of us some hope that the damn thing might work with the cart.

[bettysue]

:ph34r: newbie joining in here....

 

I like the idea of the ratings.

 

However someone just trying to learn how to personalize osCommerce, I feel there are some other things that would help more.

 

1. When describing the contribution, please add the support url. If there isn't one, state that also.

 

I have spent literally hours searching for the support for some of the contributions, only to find that some were only mentioned in passing in various threads. I think this may partly be why there are so many scattered threads with questions, users give up trying to find where the discussion began.

 

2. If the contribution has been successfully tried in combination with other contributions, please list them. If it's known there are some they won't work with, please list those. If there are some which require advanced osCommerce and/or php knowledge, let us know ahead of time.

 

I've done several new installs due to conflicts in contributions. Not knowing enough about php, re-installing was easier than going through files to try and figure out which was causing the problem.

 

Maybe they just need to add a "new and raw" section of the forum so those of us who are relatively clueless :blink: , won't disrupt those who know what they are doing B) .

 

So after all the bable, I guess I side with a rating system from users as to the helpfulness and use of the contribution and a rating from the author as to the difficulty level, and expanded information.

 

Betty

[FlyingMonkey]

I don't like the ratings idea. A person without much php savvy could rate a contribution as being extremely difficult to install when in fact it's an easy install. Of course this would discourage others from trying the contribution.

I think that installations are all relative. People with limited PHP knowledge (aka "newbies") will rate easy installations more difficult than someone who is experienced. To me everything balances out, because "newbies" are more likely to try the same contributions as other "newbies" therefore the relative rating will be similar to their peers. Meaning a contribution used frequently by newbies with a rating of "3" will be more realistic for them. The same applies for advance contributions were mostly experts use them.

[420]

Think some of you are over-analyzing this. hehe

 

As far as I'm concerned, even if you are a PHP wizard, you're going to be annoyed if you downlaod a contribution and have to spend more time fixing it than the guy who created it took to write it. I'm certainly no php wiz, but even if a contrib takes me an hour to install (i.e. tons of changes), I would rate it easy if the instructions were clearcut, no matter how long it took. Now if someone supplies "replacement" files and directs me towards Beyond Compare to spend the rest of my evening comparing lines of code and hopelessly trying to fix what will never really work, that would rightfully deserve a difficult.

 

 

Anyway ... much of this has been said, but to show my support ...

 

- yes, each update to a contrib should get a seperate rating

 

- perhaps a rating system based on questions like those nice little psychologicval surveys. I ... completely agree, somewhat agree, 50/50, somewhat disagree, completely disagree (offered by way of radio buttons, each of which has a hidden value point of 1-5)

 

i.e.

 

Instructions included were accurate? Completely Agree (5)

Contrib did as promised? Somewhat Agree (4)

Graphical layout was well done? Somewhat Disagree (2)

 

So each contrib update has a rating box with each of the questions with avg. score next to it and in parens next to the total, can have the # of total survey responses