[sldev] Your Feedback Wanted on Search Flagging !

[Felix Duesenburg]

Sorry, I wasn't quite clear in my earlier statement. Although I talked
about in-world content, I didn't mean to distinguish between that
content and listings or classifieds that refer to it when I opposed the
suggested flagging system. Whether for content or listings, I am against
facilities that make it too easy to give demerit points, especially when
they are coupled with an automated de-listing that forces the accused to
intervene to have it undone.

But maybe there is one aspect where such a system could be very helpful:
To improve relevancy of advertisements/listings to the actual content,
and therefore improve the quality of search results.

There is quite a rampant abuse of keywords used both in location
descriptions and classifieds. Pretty much everything is put in there,
whether it has anything to do with what they offer or not, only to boost
search ranking. But that's the same problem as on the web and very
difficult to tackle by technical means. I usually simply include such
facts in my consideration whether to buy anything from that vendor or not.

If there was a rating system where users can influence the search
ranking based on relevancy, that would be quite an improvement. However,
as said before, a negative flagging system is an invitation to abuse by
e.g. competitors or anyone with malicious intent. Only a positive
flagging system (similar to the in-world vote boxes we already have)
would be able to prevent that from happening. To fake a positive ranking
you need an army of alts and that could be detected internally.

Felix


Jeska Dzwigalski wrote:
> Heya,
> 
> Thanks for all the great thoughts everyone, very helpful!  I wanted to
> clarify that the Search Flagging described is for search listings -- not
> inworld content, avatar or group profiles, land sales etc. - it is ONLY
> for parcel listings, classified ads and events listings. Also, for those
> who are concerned about abuse/griefing, here is some more detail on the
> proposed design:
> 
> ...