The Associated Content Article Rating System

We are all victims at one point or another...we write a great piece, it is well-received, then a few months later, someone has given it a low rating, bringing down the rating of the article. Futile as this may seem, for we as CP's know this doesn't affect our bonus points or payments, it only makes one wonder, just who has given the article a low rating, and for what reason?

Bruised ego's aside, people have the right to judge your article and grade it. We are putting ourselves out there, and this is a public forum. But when people are
putting genuine effort into low-balling you, it is obvious that there is an agenda at work here that is not going unnoticed by CP's who keep a watchful eye on their work.

The quality of an article and subject matter stands out on its own. It would be a shame for another CP to try and make a rival look bad. That is not going to help them become a better writer, or more respected, for that matter being malicious to another. As for the outside voters, those who stumble upon our articles from the search engines, there may be a percentage of people who bother grading our work. I think when people like an article, they bother to make a comment, not vote on a scale of one to five. I have had people leave their names and comments who weren't CP's, and the current rating of an article has stayed the same after their comment was given. I don't even pay attention to the rating of an article, only when I noticed my particular genre of Florida articles was lowered, then it made me wonder who was going to all the effort to do this, especially since these articles were old ones, and no comments were left.

If you think you have a following, but that their are some bad individuals who are watching your work, chances are they are keeping an eye on other public forums where you communicate, such as MySpace. A great way to find out who is watching you on MySpace is to get a profile tracker for your MySpace page. I know who has been visiting my page, how many times, the area they live in, and what time they were on. I have a pretty good idea, by location alone, of who has visited my site. The page tracker shows a certain demographic, and exact locations.

As for the CP who downgrades articles, its a childish and unprofessional act, especially when its obvious that the article is good and well-received. Fortunately the majority of CP's at AC are an articulate and passionate group of like-minded individuals, who give a good article and writer the credit that they deserve. We all can complement each other, and promote ourselves as well. I think the ability to leave one another comments is the best rating system, one in which levels the playing field in regard to fairness and honest feedback, good and bad. In this way we can learn from each other, instead of throwing mudpies like five year old's in the sand box.