Just have to get this off my chest, How Should Boards Be Ranked?

Jim · 2004-07-24, 09:25 AM

Take a look at Board Tracker's tracking. This is not sour grapes, I promise. But, it is just idiotic to rank boards only by the number of replies.
http://www.boardtracker.com/cgi-bin/tools.pl?1

So, what do you think...
How should boards be ranked?

Jim · 2004-07-24, 09:31 AM

Oh yeah, I should mention that the straw that broke this camel's back was yesterday I saw a board jump from way low to way up because they had a contest that caused a lot of one word posts by a very few people. How does that help anyone?

Cleo · 2004-07-24, 09:31 AM

Rating a board solely on number of posts is just moronic.

Especially when the board pays people to post or does things like have board games like bingo or is just never ending piss posts.

Jim · 2004-07-24, 09:43 AM

I agree Cleo
If for some reason you couldn't take the average of the 3, wouldn't the number of views be more important than the number of replies? Looking at the ranking list, it's easy to see the boards that have thread games. And, there is nothing wroing with that at all. Just don't use it for ranking. Look for a lot of replies and a lot less threads than normal.

MrMaryLou · 2004-07-24, 09:46 AM

Quality vs Quantity any time Quality wins

Jim · 2004-07-24, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrMaryLou
Quality vs Quantity any time Quality wins

Yeah, but you can't really rank quality. I don't fault them for ranking based on numbers. I just think they should be more realistic in regards to the numbers they use. I mean, the way they rank, we could start a thread where we just post the number "1" and offer $$$ for whoever has the most posts in a thread. That would give us a huge reply count but would be worthless to webmasters and sponsors.

Cleo · 2004-07-24, 09:52 AM

Number of views would be the best if I had to pick one of the above answers and not all of the above.

Total time spent visiting the board would be a good indicator of the quality of the board but I don't see how they could measure that.

Jim · 2004-07-24, 09:56 AM

Views probably would be best if you had to pick one. I guess it is the hardest to artificially pump up out of the rest.

MrMaryLou · 2004-07-24, 10:19 AM

Well Jim with what has been said then maybe an average but how does that tell ya what the board really has on it ?

Jim · 2004-07-24, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrMaryLou
Well Jim with what has been said then maybe an average but how does that tell ya what the board really has on it ?

Only by looking, I guess. But like I said, I have no problem with ranking based on numbers. But to rank by replies only is just plain foolish.

MrMaryLou · 2004-07-24, 10:28 AM

Oh I agree with ya on the ranking by # of replies for sure

But it just don't seem to be the way to rank a webmaster resource for since allot of the places are only boards where they talk about shit that has not to do with the biz and really are not true webmaster resources

plateman · 2004-07-24, 12:58 PM

Well I have spent very little time on other boards and the short time was spent weeding through BULL SHIT..

Greenguy and Jim Is the best webmaster board in my book..

Hell even if i didnt make one fuckin dollar from what I learned here.. The great people here, I made friends with is worth it..

To many to list but a few Ranster greenguy Jim Mrmarylou surfn cleo Dangerdave Murry Urb XXX Jay Tommy Linkster Wazza Kezza..

And to be honest I am making a few bucks doing this - and its from hanging and reading here.. And asking questions..

Thanks for having me at the best dam board on the net..

Oh I voted The Average of All Above

Surfn · 2004-07-24, 02:09 PM

IMO the number of views is the best barometer of success for a board.

CelticTiger · 2004-07-24, 03:35 PM

there should be a mathematical equation that takes all the above into account (with replies given more weight in the equation imho)

Being mathematically challenged I'll leave the equation to to someone else

XXXManager · 2004-07-24, 05:44 PM

Its a very good issues you raise Jim.
In general, if it was possible to rank based on quality, we would do it without thinking twice. In fact, we were and are still thinking about the issue.

At the moment, BoardTracker ranks boards based on number of replies. Why? well, the idea was this, in some boards there are few threads but more replies per thread since people care about the thread. Thats in comparison with boards that many threads are about "I fucked your mama" that noone cares about. So we found number of replies to be better representing "quality" than just number of threads. A thread with no replies can be worth something, no doubt about it, but in general, we though that boards - which are a community tool and encourage discussion and exchange of information (otherwise it could be just a simple resource site) - is better when people are involved and reply to threads.

Indeed, spam threads are the best example for zero (or very little) value (in our humble opinion). However, they are not that common, usually occur once in a very while, and are not that effective and infuential in the long term.

BoardTracker does not aim to claim that the #1 board is the best quality one. IF you ask me personally, I would have very strong reservations (to say the least) with that statement/idea (and that is all I can say about that subject). BoardTracker ranks boards based on replies and that is all one should see it for. Spam threads may change a rank of a board a little for a short while, but wont change the rank on a board in the long term. Spam boards tend to either die, become spam-oriented or get rid of that behavior.

Remember that BoardTracker is far from being a "Board ranker". This is just a side issue and an added value (if you see this info as a value at all). The main purpose of BoardTracker is to get people closer to the boards and to discussions THEY care about. Be sure that very few people got alerts about the spam threads from BoardTracker and even fewer followed such alerts and posted in such a thread.

What I would be happy to hear from people is, how would you mathematically formulate an index of the quality of the boards.
If you had the number of Threads, replies, people that post or any other numerical info from the board, how would you mathematically rank the boards based on that?

Jim · 2004-07-24, 06:03 PM

Since you really are interested, I will try to come up with a formula.

Thanks

Jim · 2004-07-24, 06:19 PM

See, the problem is, you really don't want to use anything that is easy to artificially inflate. As I said, if I were to start a thread where I said, GreenguyandJim will give $$$ to the person that posts in this thread the most, we could easily jump up your list.

Threads are a little more difficult to inflate and views seem to me would be the most difficult. Take a look at your own stats. Look where there are many replies and few threads that are in the top 10. Then take a look at the board and most likely, someone is having a worthless contest of some sort. And some even post in the thread, we are just trying to get our post count up.

I know it is hard to rank as long as almost anything you can tangibly track can be inflated.

XXXManager · 2004-07-24, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim
See, the problem is, you really don't want to use anything that is easy to artificially inflate. As I said, if I were to start a thread where I said, GreenguyandJim will give $$$ to the person that posts in this thread the most, we could easily jump up your list.

Threads are a little more difficult to inflate and views seem to me would be the most difficult. Take a look at your own stats. Look where there are many replies and few threads that are in the top 10. Then take a look at the board and most likely, someone is having a worthless contest of some sort. And some even post in the thread, we are just trying to get our post count up.

I know it is hard to rank as long as almost anything you can tangibly track can be inflated.

Threads are as easy to inflate as replies if you really wanted to. Offer $$$ for each new thread. So are views.

But what would it give you to inlate your post count, of thread cound or views for that matter in exchange for $$$?
I'll tell you what - losing $$$. That's about it. MAYBE you will be ranked a bit higher in BoardTracker for a while. You know what? If you (I don't mean you personally BTW but rather a general board owner) keep doing that maybe you will be ranked a little higher on BoardTracker for a while longer. But look what happened to boards who did that spam-threads in the past. I don't want to name any, but if you remember the history, you will see that the effect did not last and maybe even was negative.

Does SexTracker rank of TGPs show the quality of a TGP? Of for that matter, the quality of its traffic or effectiveness of advertising on it? No. In fact, it can be easily manipulated as well, even easier than post count on Boards.
But it is still there as a rough "guide" for some measuring scale for whoever cares about that.

Regardless, if you find formulas that you think are much better than simply replies, tell me. We have some ideas for better formulas btw (that we think will negate the influence of occasional spam threads) but we are still testing those ideas.

Greenguy · 2004-07-24, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by XXXManager
...Does SexTracker rank of TGPs show the quality of a TGP?

No, but they also don't rank the TGP's by the number of galleries they have listed, which is probably the same as ranking boards by the number of posts.

I'd try to figure out a way to rank them by "views"

Jim · 2004-07-24, 09:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Greenguy
No, but they also don't rank the TGP's by the number of galleries they have listed, which is probably the same as ranking boards by the number of posts.

I'd try to figure out a way to rank them by "views"

Good point Greenie. How does sextracker rank TGPs? By the amount of traffic or, loosely translated...Number of "VIEWS"

XXXManager, if you are going to compare your ranking to that of sextrackers...at least rank the way they rank.

XXXManager · 2004-07-25, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jim
Good point Greenie. How does sextracker rank TGPs? By the amount of traffic or, loosely translated...Number of "VIEWS"

XXXManager, if you are going to compare your ranking to that of sextrackers...at least rank the way they rank.

In a sense I think we do.
TGPs are all about VIEWS. They show how "good" the TGP is by showing that people SEE it. Thats not really how good the TGP is but they figure that a busy TGP must be "better" in a sense that those with no views.

In a forum, its not only about VIEWS but about the comminuty and its involvement - hence REPLIES and POSTS. Views in many boards are also generated by searchengine spiders, and in some boards, bored people that have nothing to do with the indstry who have nothing bette to do than read what they think is a "juicy" thread with some naked ladies showing in it. This is true for some boards at least. Wouldn't you agree?

Note btw, that even if we ranked based on views (which we don't think is better than replies), the ranks would not change much.

Chop Smith · 2004-07-25, 02:50 AM

By views would measure me better. I come here several times everyday and try to read everything written that is not bull shit. Been doing it since day one, April,03. Now look at my posts - 300. What the people in the know have to say is important to me, but I only post when I really have something to offer.

chilihost · 2004-07-25, 03:02 AM

I know this really does not help, but I agree with MrMaryLou, its all about quality. This is why I never even look at things like board ranks, I know it really means nothing!

cheers,
LUke

Dagwolf · 2004-07-25, 06:29 PM

Well, I couldn't really vote; I don't think any of those three is the real measure of the value of a board. If boards were ranked by professionalism and usefulness, I thing GG&Jim would be at the top. When I want sound information, this is where I go.
I love the no BS policy of the "General Business Knowledge" forum.
Page views are of value to the board owner as well as the posters, but I don't believe they should be the true measure of a board. Post count, as stated above, is easy to inflate; new threads are easy, RELEVANT new threads are not.

Alphawolf · 2004-07-25, 07:28 PM

Do board rankings matter at all? I mean- if you ranked #1 would you get a lot more visitors?

I think boardtracker is a great resource to get a nice broad view of things.

I'm registered on probably - dunno...10 boards. I post almost exclusively here...for better or worse.

It's pretty hard to judge a community based on numbers.

You can come up with a formula of some sort, but that's just a snapshot of an aspect of web traffic.

The community is all about the peeps, the posts and the PM's when all is said and done.

View Poll Results: How Should Boards Be Ranked
Number of Threads	0	0%
Number of Replies	2	3.39%
Number of Views	29	49.15%
The Average of All Above	28	47.46%
Voters: 59. You may not vote on this poll

2004-07-24, 09:31 AM	#3
Cleo Subversive filth of the hedonistic decadent West Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Southeast Florida Posts: 27,936	Rating a board solely on number of posts is just moronic. Especially when the board pays people to post or does things like have board games like bingo or is just never ending piss posts. __________________ Free Rides on Uber and Lyft Uber Car: uberTzTerri Lyft Car: TZ896289

2004-07-24, 09:46 AM	#5
MrMaryLou i fucking told i type to fucking fast wtf Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: New York Posts: 11,247	Quality vs Quantity any time Quality wins __________________ <a href="http://www.greenguysboard.com/onthebench/">Join Me For On The Bench </a>

2004-07-24, 09:52 AM	#7
Cleo Subversive filth of the hedonistic decadent West Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Southeast Florida Posts: 27,936	Number of views would be the best if I had to pick one of the above answers and not all of the above. Total time spent visiting the board would be a good indicator of the quality of the board but I don't see how they could measure that. __________________ Free Rides on Uber and Lyft Uber Car: uberTzTerri Lyft Car: TZ896289

2004-07-24, 10:19 AM	#9
MrMaryLou i fucking told i type to fucking fast wtf Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: New York Posts: 11,247	Well Jim with what has been said then maybe an average but how does that tell ya what the board really has on it ? __________________ <a href="http://www.greenguysboard.com/onthebench/">Join Me For On The Bench </a>

2004-07-24, 09:25 AM	#1
Jim Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mohawk, New York Posts: 19,477	Just have to get this off my chest, How Should Boards Be Tracked? Take a look at Board Tracker's tracking. This is not sour grapes, I promise. But, it is just idiotic to rank boards only by the number of replies. http://www.boardtracker.com/cgi-bin/tools.pl?1 So, what do you think... How should boards be ranked?

2004-07-24, 09:43 AM	#4
Jim Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mohawk, New York Posts: 19,477	I agree Cleo If for some reason you couldn't take the average of the 3, wouldn't the number of views be more important than the number of replies? Looking at the ranking list, it's easy to see the boards that have thread games. And, there is nothing wroing with that at all. Just don't use it for ranking. Look for a lot of replies and a lot less threads than normal.

2004-07-24, 09:56 AM	#8
Jim Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mohawk, New York Posts: 19,477	Views probably would be best if you had to pick one. I guess it is the hardest to artificially pump up out of the rest.

2004-07-24, 10:28 AM	#11
MrMaryLou i fucking told i type to fucking fast wtf Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: New York Posts: 11,247	Oh I agree with ya on the ranking by # of replies for sure But it just don't seem to be the way to rank a webmaster resource for since allot of the places are only boards where they talk about shit that has not to do with the biz and really are not true webmaster resources __________________ <a href="http://www.greenguysboard.com/onthebench/">Join Me For On The Bench </a>

2004-07-24, 12:58 PM	#12
plateman What can I do - I was born this way LOL Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: ohio Posts: 3,086	Well I have spent very little time on other boards and the short time was spent weeding through BULL SHIT.. Greenguy and Jim Is the best webmaster board in my book.. Hell even if i didnt make one fuckin dollar from what I learned here.. The great people here, I made friends with is worth it.. To many to list but a few Ranster greenguy Jim Mrmarylou surfn cleo Dangerdave Murry Urb XXX Jay Tommy Linkster Wazza Kezza.. And to be honest I am making a few bucks doing this - and its from hanging and reading here.. And asking questions.. Thanks for having me at the best dam board on the net.. Oh I voted The Average of All Above __________________ Submit to: Porn O Plenty XXX Links Reality Here Last edited by plateman; 2004-07-24 at 01:01 PM..

2004-07-24, 02:09 PM	#13
Surfn If you don’t take a chance the Angels won’t dance Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Earth on occasion Posts: 8,812	IMO the number of views is the best barometer of success for a board. __________________ Surfn's Links Are you a partner?

2004-07-24, 03:35 PM	#14
CelticTiger Are you sure this is the Sci-Fi Convention? It's full of nerds! Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Ireland Posts: 266	there should be a mathematical equation that takes all the above into account (with replies given more weight in the equation imho) Being mathematically challenged I'll leave the equation to to someone else __________________ Submissions Wanted!

2004-07-24, 05:44 PM	#15
XXXManager Aw, Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless Join Date: Sep 2003 Posts: 20	Its a very good issues you raise Jim. In general, if it was possible to rank based on quality, we would do it without thinking twice. In fact, we were and are still thinking about the issue. At the moment, BoardTracker ranks boards based on number of replies. Why? well, the idea was this, in some boards there are few threads but more replies per thread since people care about the thread. Thats in comparison with boards that many threads are about "I fucked your mama" that noone cares about. So we found number of replies to be better representing "quality" than just number of threads. A thread with no replies can be worth something, no doubt about it, but in general, we though that boards - which are a community tool and encourage discussion and exchange of information (otherwise it could be just a simple resource site) - is better when people are involved and reply to threads. Indeed, spam threads are the best example for zero (or very little) value (in our humble opinion). However, they are not that common, usually occur once in a very while, and are not that effective and infuential in the long term. BoardTracker does not aim to claim that the #1 board is the best quality one. IF you ask me personally, I would have very strong reservations (to say the least) with that statement/idea (and that is all I can say about that subject). BoardTracker ranks boards based on replies and that is all one should see it for. Spam threads may change a rank of a board a little for a short while, but wont change the rank on a board in the long term. Spam boards tend to either die, become spam-oriented or get rid of that behavior. Remember that BoardTracker is far from being a "Board ranker". This is just a side issue and an added value (if you see this info as a value at all). The main purpose of BoardTracker is to get people closer to the boards and to discussions THEY care about. Be sure that very few people got alerts about the spam threads from BoardTracker and even fewer followed such alerts and posted in such a thread. What I would be happy to hear from people is, how would you mathematically formulate an index of the quality of the boards. If you had the number of Threads, replies, people that post or any other numerical info from the board, how would you mathematically rank the boards based on that? __________________ Please Re-Read The Rules For Sig Files

2004-07-24, 06:03 PM	#16
Jim Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mohawk, New York Posts: 19,477	Since you really are interested, I will try to come up with a formula. Thanks

2004-07-24, 06:19 PM	#17
Jim Banned Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Mohawk, New York Posts: 19,477	See, the problem is, you really don't want to use anything that is easy to artificially inflate. As I said, if I were to start a thread where I said, GreenguyandJim will give $$$ to the person that posts in this thread the most, we could easily jump up your list. Threads are a little more difficult to inflate and views seem to me would be the most difficult. Take a look at your own stats. Look where there are many replies and few threads that are in the top 10. Then take a look at the board and most likely, someone is having a worthless contest of some sort. And some even post in the thread, we are just trying to get our post count up. I know it is hard to rank as long as almost anything you can tangibly track can be inflated.

2004-07-25, 02:50 AM	#22
Chop Smith Eighteen 'til I Die Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Mississippi Posts: 2,168	By views would measure me better. I come here several times everyday and try to read everything written that is not bull shit. Been doing it since day one, April,03. Now look at my posts - 300. What the people in the know have to say is important to me, but I only post when I really have something to offer. __________________

2004-07-25, 03:02 AM	#23
chilihost Look at 'em. Watchin' my TV. Sittin on my couch. You better not be in my ass groove! Join Date: Aug 2003 Posts: 465	I know this really does not help, but I agree with MrMaryLou, its all about quality. This is why I never even look at things like board ranks, I know it really means nothing! cheers, LUke __________________ HunkMoney+BritishBucks+LatinoBucks=50+ gay sites!

2004-07-25, 06:29 PM	#24
Dagwolf They have the Internet on computers, now? Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: British Columbia Posts: 146	Well, I couldn't really vote; I don't think any of those three is the real measure of the value of a board. If boards were ranked by professionalism and usefulness, I thing GG&Jim would be at the top. When I want sound information, this is where I go. I love the no BS policy of the "General Business Knowledge" forum. Page views are of value to the board owner as well as the posters, but I don't believe they should be the true measure of a board. Post count, as stated above, is easy to inflate; new threads are easy, RELEVANT new threads are not. __________________ Hey, what did I do this time?

2004-07-25, 07:28 PM	#25
Alphawolf Don't come to Florida for vacation. We're closed. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Orlando, Florida Posts: 1,874	Do board rankings matter at all? I mean- if you ranked #1 would you get a lot more visitors? I think boardtracker is a great resource to get a nice broad view of things. I'm registered on probably - dunno...10 boards. I post almost exclusively here...for better or worse. It's pretty hard to judge a community based on numbers. You can come up with a formula of some sort, but that's just a snapshot of an aspect of web traffic. The community is all about the peeps, the posts and the PM's when all is said and done. __________________ Regards, AW Weekly Pay. Sites That Convert. Start Pimpin' Today!