The numbers game

You might be wondering why you should take the time to rate the content on BDN. Good question! Let me offer some reasons you might find compelling:

• It's free! Anyone with a BDN membership account can rate an article, and BDN memberships are free.
• It's fast! Just two mouse clicks, and you're done. If you don't have time to add a comment or you only want to rate an article instead of write a reply about it, you can use the rating form.
• It's easy! If you're a BDN member, all you have to do is decide on a rating and click the button. If you're not a BDN member, it only takes a minute or two to become one.
• You can help fine-tune BDN content. Every article rated by BDN members will help Borland improve the content on BDN, because highly rated articles will help identify topics of interest to members, and authors the members like to read. Of course, it will help do the opposite as well, telling us about articles you do not find very interesting.

Good and bad ratings

If you find an article of value to you, you should rate it highly. If you thought it was worth your time to read the article, you should rate it well. If, after reading an article, you didn't get the information out of it that you expected, or you think your time would have been better spent looking at something else, rate the article poorly.

If you rate an article a one (1) or two (2), you are telling us you didn't like the article and don't want to see any other articles like it. Rating the article an average rating of three (3) tells Borland the article provided some value to you, but it could have been better. A rating of four (4) tells us you really liked the article, and want to see more articles on that subject or by that author. When you rate an article a five (5), you are saying Borland should publish another article covering that subject or written by that author immediately!

These are some basic questions to ask yourself when you decide to rate an article:

• Do I want to read more articles on this topic? (If the answer is "yes" then rate the article highly.)
• Did I learn valuable information in this article? (If "yes" then rate it highly.)
• Does this author do a good job of explaining the subject? (If "yes" then rate it highly.)
• Would I tell other people about this article? (If "yes" then rate it highly.)
• Would I tell people the things I learned in this article, and wish I'd discovered them or thought them up myself? (If "yes" then rate it a 5!)

I'm seeing stars

When an article already has ratings, there is a series of five (5) start right next to the title. The number of yellow stars represents the rounded-up average of all ratings for that article. Next to the stars is the number of ratings currently given to the article.

Giving an article a rating

At the top of each article is a local link with the text "Rate this article". If you click on that link, your browser is repositioned to the rating form at the bottom of the article. Go ahead and look at the top and bottom of this article using the links I just provided. I'll wait.

If you want to rate an article and are not yet a BDN member, you will have an opportunity to create your membership when you attempt to rate your first article. If you are already a BDN member but are not currently logged in, you will be prompted to log in when you attempt to rate any article.

Use case #1: the quick decision

When you've read an article, typically you will be at the bottom of the article (unless you're a bottom-up kind of person), so you can just click on the radio button for rating it a one (1) through five (5), and click the "Rate Article" button. Clicking the button gives the article a rating value that is linked to your BDN membership account.

Use case #2: the deep thought

If you're someone who agonizes over what to rate an article, you can always come back to the article later, and click the "Rate this article" link at the top of the article, and rate it after you've had time to reflect on the momentous decision.

Use case #3: second guessing

Your ratings will be remembered (that's why you have to be a logged-in BDN member to rate content), so if you come back to the article in the future, the rating form will be pre-filled with the value you last rated the article, and the button will say "Re-rate it" so you will know you are changing your rating of the article.

The rating form

The rating form displays a histogram with the distribution of ratings, the total number of ratings, the average of the ratings, the group of radio buttons for you to specify the rating you want to assign, and the button to assign your chosen rating to the article.

When you have rated an article, the text above the radio button group says "My rating for this article:" followed by your numerical rating, which should also be assigned to the appropriate radio button above the "Re-Rate Article" button. If you have not yet rated an article, the text should say "Article not yet rated." and no default value is assign to any radio button.

Conclusion

We hope you find article ratings valuable, and easy to accomplish. If you have any problems using ratings, feel free to comment on this article (the link is below) or report it in the borland.public.bdn.website newsgroup. For more information on our newsgroups, see http://www.borland.com/newsgroups/.

Thank you for your assistance in making BDN a more valuable resource to all BDN members!