you so right saw one say History not like as try to kill but was a good back up for doc txt so just look at name said History the said not like as the name was it for them not read to see how it work may be same one not readme?

The voting is simply on wheteer you agree or disagree with the comments as it stands now. It is not representative of anything whatsoever except how many people liked or dislike comments. Sadly, it is not representative of the software.
Recently I have seen some voting with lots of thumbs down, mostly because a similar function software is available free. That has no real meaning whern applied to the software offered.
By continuing to use this voting method, you will discourage software developers from offering their software on GAOTD, or offering it again, because they do not want to get beat up with lots of thumbs down. And I believe that you do not want that to happen, but it already is starting to happen - all some people see are the number of thumbs up vs. the thumbs down.

A standard box with questions - have you used this software before? if yes rate it from 1 to 5 stars. did you download this software today? Did it install OK? Please rate the software from your experience so far - 1 star to 5 stars, Would you like to add a comment? if yes, a comment box pops up. simple and easy to understand.

There is no need to make drastic changes to greatly improve the voting/comments. I suggest:

1. As Dlira suggested, have two thumbs ratings: Usefulness and Quality
People won't take the time to read explanations of what these mean, but the words are descriptive enough that it would probably help to see where the issues lie.

2. Allow the comments to be categorized and sorted/filtered
As others have said, I find reading the comments to be more enlightening than the rating, but it takes a lot of time to slog through them. So, it would be wonderful if comments could be sorted (or even filtered) not just by time of submission, but by:

a. Usefulness of comment: Sorting is better than simply throwing out low rated comments because of the reasons previously mentioned.

b. Categories, such as:
- Activation / Errors
- Usefulness / Alternatives
- Quality / Usability
- Overall / Review
When submitting a comment, people could simply be asked to select a category (such as the ones above) from a drop down box. If people don't, perhaps the moderator could assign one.

I like not having to register to submit a comment and this is my first time in the forums, so I would not like those solutions. And, it would be nice to have people vote with their comments (and be able to sort on that), but that has more potential problems that would have to be addressed.

We don't seem to get the 'first to comment', comments these days either.

'first to comment' are usually my 'first to delete'. :)

The "not 1 comment" isn't entirely correct.

Some people make a comment not realizing that there is such an act called 'moderation.

We don't seem to get the 'first to comment', comments these days either.

The "not 1 comment" isn't entirely correct.

Comments require "approval" before they are displayed. So usually there are comments waiting for approval. (Which seems to encourage users to post "Hi Mum. Look at me! I'm first." - because they cannot see the other posts).

The multitude of early comments that seem to focus more on "say something quick but pointless so you are one of the first posters" syndrome - usually get deleted.

Also comments like:

• Looks good !
• Thanks GOTD.
• Doesn't work on Win 3.1
• I'm First
• 30 votes and no comments
• Has this been given away before
• Visit my blog. I sell hamsters.

Will usually be deleted, once we can post perhaps 3 or 4 comments that are actually relevant to the giveaway software- and preferably useful too.

So, sometimes it can be an hour (or more) until someone actually says something useful and a moderator cleans out the rubbish and displays the 'approved' posts.

The thumbs up or down - I don't think anyone agrees on what it is for.

• Does it look any good (from the description)?
• Are you going to try to install it?
• Did it work?
• Have you used it before?
• Is it a keeper?
• Is it better than what you are currently using?
• Do you still like GOTD?
• Are there too many No votes already?
• Do you understand what the software is for?
• Is the software the latest version of Adobe Photoshop?
• Are you tired of getting software you don't need (or understand)?
• Vote for whichever side has the most votes. (Go with the crowd)

Voting is optional - and the reasons why you voted is never asked (it can be your dirty little secret).
Rumor has it, some people are training their pets to cast the daily vote - to make the results even more statistically significant (and give cats, dogs and birds a voice on the internet - ie. Game Giveaway - I love Kittens! - proof of the power of the kitten lobby groups - voting works).

On the front page where advertised software/game/screensaver is are thumbs up and thumbs down.

I see a lot of comments like as an example:

Already, 79 votes and not 1 comment.

I get the feeling people are voting on the actual software title or if
they want it.

I believe that was what it was intended for originally.

-DELETED- no time to complete it.

I think you need to have a "reply to post" structure like most other forums do. Right now you have a flat structure where if someone replies to a previous post, it's buried way down in the posts. It would cut down on clutter a lot, and make it a lot more useful to those poor souls who asked a question.

When I vote either positive or negative, the numbers are bumping up or down 2, 3, even 5 votes instead of one! I voted enough times to ascertain that this is a problem - and not 3 or 4 people all voting randomly at the same time. You should probably check this out.

That is the way it is expected to work - the total votes, comment ratings etc only update on a complete page refresh (or in the case of comments - when you rate that comment). Obviously in the time between when you load the page - and when you place your vote - possibly dozens or hundreds of other people might also have voted - so the figure you see immediately prior to placing your vote is most likely not the 'live' total.

For example - you see +5 'yes' votes - you read a few more comments - then scroll up - but in the mean time - people elsewhere around the world have voted 'no' 3 times - so the 'correct' value is +2 'yes' - now you click on 'yes' to vote - and expect to see +6 (as +5 +1 = 6) but instead you see +5 -3 +1 = +3 - so to you it looks like the result should be +6 in fact is displayed as +3... and you start telling people that the voting is broken. :)

It is working just fine.

Hopefully, remembering that there are other people voting every second - and your browser isn't displaying a real-time or live voting tally all the time, will make this easier to understand.

I agree totally with MontanaGrand........"I’d like to see a place to check a box for ‘looks interesting, I’ll try it’ or ‘No, Thanks. Not something I’m interested in’. If nothing else, this might give the hosts of this site some information about how they are meeting their ‘audience’s’ needs. Just a thought! I personally really appreciate what these folks are doing here and would hate to see them lose more potential users or contributors for lack of proper feedback."

Something was going wrong in the vote calculations. When I vote either positive or negative, the numbers are bumping up or down 2, 3, even 5 votes instead of one! I voted enough times to ascertain that this is a problem - and not 3 or 4 people all voting randomly at the same time. You should probably check this out.

About half an hour later, the voting seemed to be o.k. Wonder what went wrong...

If there was another thumb up/down button for 'whether you like this type of software or you don't' then people could click that instead of rating what they obviously haven't tried. Maybe only allow clicking that or the rating vote but not both.

I find it very strange that instead of rating the software, we are asked to rate comments. When somebody posts that they've tried and liked the giveaway, some individuals give a negative rating because the poster hasn't given any advice, alternative suggestions, etc. What's wrong with an "I like" comment?

I'd like to see a new system, maybe parallel to the current one of rating the usefulness of comments, with rating scales, like Amazon and other sites use:

Ease of Installation: 1 - 5 stars or points
User Friendly Program: 1 - 5
Documentation: 1 - 5
Overall Rating: 1 - 5

This would be much more meaningful and helpful to those trying to make a download decision.

I've just popped in here from the GGOTD site and wanted to post a comment regarding ratings and voting over there. I've not taken advantage of many of the software offers at GOTD but I think my comment would probably apply over there as well. I posted this in the comment section for today's game but thought I should put it here as well-even though no one has posted in this particular thread for some time!!

I’d like to see a place to check a box for ‘looks interesting, I’ll try it’ or ‘No, Thanks. Not something I’m interested in’. If nothing else, this might give the hosts of this site some information about how they are meeting their ‘audience’s’ needs. Just a thought! I personally really appreciate what these folks are doing here and would hate to see them lose more potential users or contributors for lack of proper feedback.

just thumb down or up if it 1/2 good? may be better star say one not good 5 stars very good can be 5 or 6 max or 10 if you like,you can still keep thumb it ok.

So what if we ALREADY know there is a problem with the software like will cause your system to have conflict with other problem (or even hang/blue screen your system). So we just thumb down since it is WELL KNOWN the software has problem????

It made no sense to force people INSTALL IT first and then thumb down to indicate a KNOWN problem.

If you check how many people post comments about they don't like the 'thumb down' system and people that actually downloaded the program, I think probably less than 10% of people complain about the system out of thousands or even ten of thousands of downloads each day. I doubt everyone agree this is a big problem.

I personally think there is nothing wrong with what we have. The system right now is just thumb up/thumb down of the giveaway of the day for whatever reason.
In the end of day, if MORE people like the software, it will have more thumbs up.
If you want more detail about the product, then read the comment.

I think most people feel the same way. There is room to improve but the thumb system work ok for what it is for.

If you do anything to make it harder to vote, you will just have much less people vote and the result will be more likely toward people that really like the software.
I think for people really like the software (or people related to the software company) will spend more time to try to vote. But for those people that have problem with the software or don't like the software, they likely won't even bother to spend more time on it if it will take them even more time for them to vote/rate the product.
Going to make the vote/rate system even less accurate!!!

If we want to do anything, should keep the easy thumb up/down system and add extra option to rate if people choice to do it. All those EXTRA should be optional to avoid making it too hard for people to vote/rate. Again, making it hard to vote/rate will just making less people vote/rate which the result will be less accurate.

I agree that the current system is uninformative. At the very least you need to distinguish between people who tried and didn't like the software, and people who didn't want to download it at all. So I suggest doing away with the thumbs altogether, because they're misleading. The download count itself is a good enough measure of the number of people interested in evaluating the software. But in addition to that, you need a more meaningful voting system, based on feedback only from people who downloaded the software.

I suggest including something to enable voting inside the readme file in the download. Either a voting code, which people would have to enter in a textbox along with their vote, or a unique url which would take them to a voting page for that product. And I think it'd be a good idea to ask for a 1-5 rating and a review comment. Comments from people who tried the software could be displayed in line with discussion from other users, but could be highlighted in some way.

It would be a bit of work to implement this but I think it'd be worth it. Switching to this kind of system would offer an increased incentive to actually try out the software, rather than merely visit GotD every day and make acerbic remarks. :-)

I have read many good suggestions...neilc....RichU, ..Bubby...also a lot of useful comments by other regulars... I personally think a combo of RichU, and neilc programs would be far more enlightening to us "newbe's" than the current rating system. I'd much rather post a "not of interest to Me"..Than a thumbs down....And how can I evaluate a program I have no use for? Or one I did not download because I had no use for personally? If I have no interest in what it does, then of course I'll give it a thumbs down. Also I was of the opinion that the comments section was a way of letting the developer know of problems with, or suggestions on how to improve the program offered. There are far too many "off subject" comments allowed. That's what the forums section is for. Personal preferences aside...The developers of software "Give" it to us so that we can give them insight into what the general public, who has need of their product, thinks about the usability of their product.... All the dumb ranting in the comments section is one of the main reasons GOTD & GGOTD are having so much trouble supplying content to us...the ungrateful public.
Most of the regular commentator's on this site have helped me learn a lot. But a lot of persons who take for granted that everything they get for free here should be perfect really need to get a reality check.
These developers are giving you their product free of charge. All they ask for is a fair evaluation of their product If it is of use to you. If you have a problem with it ...they want to know so they can fix it!
If I have never used or do not try a cd writing application...How dare I tell someone that I give it a THUMBS DOWN? I would much rather just say that I personally have no use for this application....Or else not vote at all.
But If I am a regular user of the site I would feel compelled to say "I have no use for this application" Just to let the developer know I had looked at his offering so that he would continue to offer his applications for approval....It would broaden his user base in order to make his applications more user friendly.....Consumer friendly...etc.
The programmers & developers need us as much as some of us financially unable persons need them, and I for one am happy to give them my fair opinion for their generosity.
They gave it to me for free....If I tell them of a problem I have with it and they don't, or won't , fix it...well to bad for them..I delete it... No Harm... no foul... and I shall be aware, to watch other offerings from them.. I do purchase programs but only from companies with whom I have had GOOD experiences.
This is usually why developers offer us Give Away's...

This is why I check GOTD and GGOTD everyday and support their sponsors, Follow their forums, and support their Ideal.

I think that a lot of people are voting thumbs-down on a game simply because they have trouble getting it to work on their computer. Shouldn't the rating be based on the game, and not on whether your system can play it? I believe that anyone unable to load it, or having troubles with it, should leave a comment to that effect, but not vote on the game. This would give a clearer result as to the actual rating of the game by people who have played it. -Dan

I don't really have anything to add as the points made have all been good. Everyone agrees the "thumbs" system is not working.

All I'll say about it is that I don't care if someone doesn't LIKE the program, or has no use for that genre of software or game. I want know if it functions, is not prone to crashing, etc. THIS is what the voting system should measure. Not someone's opinion on the particular genre.

Kevin

Honestly, I don't even bother reading the comments or taking the time to comment. At least, very rarely. Sometimes it's worth it just because of the entertainment value but never would I take the time to wade through all of the comments just to see if someone posted something worthwhile. It takes less time for me to download & install the program, and come up with my own opinion.

I'm curious what the point of the comment vote is supposed to achieve. Is it supposed to be a benefit to me or the software publishers?

I think that giveawayoftheday.com has to do something about the ratings of games and programs. I think giveaway should have it like this.

If you like the game thumbs up. If you played game and didn’t like the game then thumbs down. If it isn’t your type of a game there should be a 3rd option to vote on. People vote they dislike a program/game just because it isn’t their type of program/game to play. You can’t get an actual idea if a program/game is good or not on this site. People vote they hate a program/game when they never even gave the game/program a try.

This goes for both giveaway and gamesgiveaway.

@Hoss.....I like your suggestion to "display each commenters score below their comment". That would make sense b/c most times you can tell from the comment whether someone d/l'd or not. I ususally just take a quick glance at the thumb ratings just to see what the general concensus is but I don't use it to make my decision about downloading. One of the main things I used to look for in the comments was whether people ran into problems with the d/l or install. But I'm finding that even if they do, I don't. I think I only ever had a problem with an install once and never with a d/l.

I am just very thankful for the GGOTD giveaways, I've never had such a collection of games before and some of them are downright fantastic. Hubby has also gotten some great freebees on GOTD and even if we decide not to keep something at least we got to try it. I've also met some really cool folks here. Thanks giveaway team!

I would like to suggest a scoring system. Maybe a 0 to 5 scale that users could click on. Maybe something like; 0 = "this software is the worst I seen" up to 5 = "I love this software". And then the average score could be displayed. I would also like it if only the ones that downloaded can vote (not sure how to pull that one off though). I would leave to comment section the way it is now but display each commenters score below their comment.

oh, and as for cpu/ram/os- my first question is 'which computer'? The one I download with, or the ones I installed it on?

I'm gonna get roasted, but my opinion leans toward any system is going to be a terrible indicator just because of the spectrum of hit-n-git, don't care, who fills things in honestly users we never see aside from thumbs-up/thumbs down votes based on the screencap, title, and mood.

but, if you want how I'd start out, reset the u/d count at 30 minutes, 1, 2, and 4 hours then let it accumulate- and post the u/d ratios & counts from each reset in a line?

that should start showing where the 'read it' and 'tried it' crowds start having an effect, without the kneejerk 'collecting personal info' paranoia. and still give *something* to guess from at all times.

BuBBy, Sorry, I didn't see your question about my comment before.
"So in essence you are saying that after perhaps 2 or 3 hours, the lack of any strong negative comments could be construed as a positive indicator (even in the absence of positive votes)?"

I guess you might say that, but "could" is the operative word. I might say that "the lack of any strong negative comments could be construed as a WEAK positive indicator."
:^)

To add a bit to my earlier comments regarding checkboxes on the comments page to easily differenciate between the types of votes and/or comments, I would also like to see a small profile to be filled out (could be stored as a part of the users GAOTD profile) if the comment is about a problem. This profile would include the type of operating system on which the problem occured and possibly the level of experience of the commenter.
I find, as I read through the comments, that when a person is having a problem not being experienced generally, it would be very helpful for readers to know if they are on Vista, XP or Win98, etc. Occasionally, it would be helpful to know if they are using a dual processor, how much RAM, what video and/or sound card, etc.
As we might know, people frequently do not read instructions or suggestions, or may not understand what they read, and the beauty of computers is that users can be gently guided to do what the web designer needs them to do.
The nice thing about these suggestions, is that they can all be (easily?) automated, so the users fill out the profile once, when registering for GAOTD forums and merely have to check a box or two when entering a vote or comment. The small, user machine profile could automatically show up in the comment, with the user ID, and the type of comment could automatically be placed at the top of the comment. An added benefit of this system would be that readers could quickly search the comments to find, for example, installation problems or freeware recommendations or opinions on the Giveaway. BTW, one of the check boxes could be freeware recommendations, and a poster could check more than one box.

Apologies for triggering yesterday's exchanges on GOTD re voting. Time was short and to be honest, it never occurred to me to visit the forum.

Being in the UK I have the advantage over many other GOTDers in that the download window seems conveniently timed to GMT. So if I can get an early-day opportunity to visit, I do so then. What was so disturbing about yesterday was the way negative votes for a fairly specialist software offering had already piled up so quickly -- yet without accompanying negative comments.

I thought the developer concerned deserved better. I thought GOTD deserved better. Above all, I thought people who value the site deserve better, because when time is at a premium, as it so often is, I've often gone no further than the thumbs up, thumbs down percentage result. Presumably, so have others.

But it wasn't until yesterday when I realised just how witless, how pointless, and how misleading that percentage "score" actually is.

There's no reason for that. If I go to Amazon UK, for instance, to check on a product price / product availability, as often as not there's a user rating that's not only crystal clear for all to see, it's a user rating derived from the comments left by previous product purchasers.

But GOTD "User Rating" suffers from total disconnection. And not only from user comments. As one poster repeatedly asserted yesterday, a "User Rating" can with justification (?) be given by a non-user.

On which basis, the next time I visit Amazon UK I'll find it packed full of negative ratings because for every person who may have bought a product, there'll be several hundred who didn't and don't want it but who have nevertheless registered a vote that others may take as a verdict on product quality, rather than a wholly unnecessary expression of some unknown individual's likes and dislikes.

Obviously, a nonsense.

There were some good suggestions on the GOTD page yesterday, and now I see some similarly thoughtful ones here, all of them prompted by the desire expressed in neil's excellent preceding post to this: to help make GOTD more meaningful and more useful.

My apologies again, then, for raising the voting issue yesterday; I certainly won't do so again. Hopefully GOTD will sooner rather than later act to implement a better and more credible voting / comments system, to the benefit of developers, trial users, and ultimately, GOTD itself. The way things are at the moment, I wouldn't embrace GOTD as a medium for user-group sampling of my product when it's not even clear who has used my product and who hasn't.