Ratings help indicate which content is considered the best, or has the most Content Quality, as decided by the community. Telligent Community Server's ratings service allows users to rate content with a five-star scale and provide this feedback. When ratings are received, they are factored into the Content Quality and Author Quality scores - building the content's credibility and an author's reputation. In addition to providing feedback, community members can compare their ratings with the average of others' ratings on the content. Note that ratings are only recalculated when a new rating is added.
When members mouse over the star scale, the average rating (such as "Average rating: 3.2 out of 7 ratings") is displayed. A user can change their rating by clicking on the stars again. A user can rate his own content.
When a rating is received, Community Server sends the author a notification. This is visible in the Notification Queue or Live Alert.
Ratings differ from liking in that:
- Ratings provide an objective measure of content quality (for example, whether or not it is helpful).
- Liking is a more relationship-oriented feature. It tells you whether or not others like content as well as who liked it.
Metrics
There is a simple five-star system scale for community members to assess content quality.
Ratings contribute to the Author Quality score, which helps determine whether the author is present in the Group - Members List ("Top Quality Authors") widget on the group home page, and the Users - Top Quality Author Groups widget ("Groups in which <username> is a top quality author") widget on the user profile.
Development
The rating service is part of the core functionality. It provides engagement with community-internal content and third-party content via the APIs.