By gatman on

It's too much work wading through the modules. Can't figure out the good from the not-so good and on top of that, the multitude of recipes that can be generated for better or worse.

Sorry for little rant - but there has to be a better way.

Thanks
John

Comments

JohnForsythe’s picture

JohnForsythe commented

A robust module rating system is coming soon, trust me. But, that's all I can say right now ;)

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John Forsythe
Need reliable Drupal hosting?

Sophia’s picture

Sophia commented

Nice :)

Hope that soon is sooner lol

JohnForsythe’s picture

JohnForsythe commented

Progress is being made, results coming in May..

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John Forsythe

gatman’s picture

gatman commented

Really nice to know there is thought in this direction.

Cya
john

bonobo’s picture

bonobo commented

You mean like this?

Cheers,

Bill

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http://www.funnymonkey.com
Tools for Teachers

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DrupalBone’s picture

DrupalBone commented

I definitely see why users would want such a ranking system. I guess my problem with it is what I've seen it do in other communities, which is to discourage contributions to a project. These rankings sometimes create a superiority/inferiority complex where well meaning potential contributors will subdue their efforts so as not to be criticized for a fear of inferiority. I personally find that dissappointing because communities generally seem more vibrant and interactive when everyone participates, without fear of a "grading" system.

zoon_unit’s picture

zoon_unit commented

Module bloat is a huge problem in Drupal. If coders are insecure enough that they don't want their module under scrutiny, then it's probably not written up to the standards the drupal community desires for new modules.

I wish I had a penny for every minute a drupaler wastes on testing out multiple versions of the same module done different ways, debugging poorly written modules, decoding poorly documented modules, etc. Next to searching for answers in Drupal's serpentine help system, there is nothing that reduces developer productivity more.

Sometimes quality is more important than quantity.

DrupalBone’s picture

DrupalBone commented

But your point would be much better served by written reviews from actual users in the drupal forums themselves so that a reader can actually see the writier's bias. The rating systems strip any such accountability, and I haven't seen it add true value to any community.

If a rating system was applied to wikipedia, not only would the system be gamed from every angle, but dissent on popular subjects would be extinguished.

As far as the "insecurity comment", I find that argument a bit too immature to accept, as their is a wealth of evidence in the free software movement to show that user communities have a way of stifling development they don't understand. If the Linux kernel wasn't driven by innovations companies are trying to make, the thing would likely only be a glorified jukebox.

zoon_unit’s picture

zoon_unit commented

My "immature" statement about insecure developers was a response to your own statement about developers with "inferiority complexes" being stifled. Should I consider your statement immature?

I'm glad you "absolutely agree" with my position, which makes the rest of your post somewhat confusing, since it contradicts the title. :-)

I do agree with you however, that a ratings system should be accompanied by the rater's comments. This allows the reader to judge the rater's judgment and therefore, view the rating in context. That tends to be the most successful implementation of a rating system. Hopefully, Drupal's new system will include rating comments.

Btw, ratings systems seem to add considerable value to sites such as joomla.com, amazon.com, and digg.com, to name a few.

DrupalBone’s picture

DrupalBone commented

since you at least agree that to have a rating system you also have to have comments, but my personal position is that ranking systems bring far more negative than positive to a community, though they do give newbie/novice users something to do, even though doing so is not really a constructive contribution anyway, which I believe was my point.

I believe people spending time actually contributing is much better for a project regardless of the quality than engaging in the more typically political "popularity contest" activities which typically only bring negativity and strife, not to mention increased "demands" from participants who don't actually give anything back. I've just seen ranking systems do that to far too many communities and it really is devastating to the quality of dialogue in the community. Of course it raises a projects popularity since anyone can be a critic and bash people who are actually being constructive, and many people have fun in fanning the flames of these often political/religious types of arguments which serve nothing other than to pass time instead of contributing.

Which brings me to the big point I'd like to make. In my opinion, it is time for a web services project to put its foot down and tell people to either contribute constructively or go elsewhere (that project doesn't have to be Drupal, but that would be nice). There was so much heat generated in that "tables" vs. "tableless" debate. Why wouldn't those people instead spend their time writing reviews of modules in the forums, or creating some other type of documentation (none of them seemed to have any problem with grammar or style)?

I am just personally glad to see that at least Drupal hasn't been infected with the deconstructive mentality as of yet, but the "slow down the developers" post was definitely the first salvo.

Also, as far as amazon and others, I really don't consider that "good value" as the people who seek out any way to review those materials almost always are biased with an axe to grind either positively or negatively. It might be an interesting way for me to waste some time, but I can never put too much consideration into any of them since my experience has taught me that nearly all of them are completely innacurate for the eventual experience I end up having with the product, one way or the other. And I think that's a big problem. Most people I know don't actively analyze their personal experience with a product in comparison to the reviews they first read about it.

However, on amazon, there is something I do like which is the ability for people to make a list of the things they like, with a short paragraph telling why. If Drupal.org had to do something, I would hope it would be something positive and constructive like this:

Each user to the site has the capabaility to make one module list and one theme list. On this list they can share all of the modules or themes they like and explain why. The reason I like this sort of method is:

1. It is typically positive in that it encourages people telling what they like rather than what they haven't like, or haven't actually tried. This encourages module developers to make better product since they will want to be on those lists for the prestige they can give.

2. You can clearly see an individuals thought process in terms of how they link or like things and generally see why, especially when they give good explanations.

It would be nice if there was a page to see other people's completed lists, and see statistics on which modules/themes are the "most" listed from most to least. Such a page list would also give developers incentive to push the latest and greatest in hopes of rising in the ranks.

And this would keep the typical negativity between developers and users at bay since both can be looking forward constructively rather than destructively.

I hope you see where I'm coming from which is in the mode of keeping the best intentions in mind rather than the typically negative and bloody political popularity contests.

Also, I would read that title again, because I must be missing something.

zoon_unit’s picture

zoon_unit commented

I hope you see where I'm coming from which is in the mode of keeping the best intentions in mind rather than the typically negative and bloody political popularity contests.

Gee, for a guy who's so concerned about not hurting any poor developer's feelings, keeping the discussion positive, and having the best intentions, an so on...you sure like to use incendiary words like "immature" and "completely shred." :-)

JohnForsythe’s picture

JohnForsythe commented

http://drupalmodules.com/ <-- coming soon :)

--
John Forsythe

naught101’s picture

naught101 commented

drupalmodules.com is cool, but why is it separate? Is there resistance from the drupal.org crew? Or is it a matter of resources? It would definitely be better if they could be combined - module rating and issues queue all in one place.

JohnForsythe’s picture

JohnForsythe commented

On DrupalModules.com I can write code and make it live in a few minutes. On Drupal.org, it can take years to go from issue to patch to cvs commit to live feature. I'm not patient enough to do things that way. Building the site from scratch gave me the freedom to experiment and learn at a rapid pace, with very few restrictions.

naught101’s picture

naught101 commented

Yes, I can appreciate that, but it doesn't help that most people don't know about it, and that it doesn't tie in with drupal.org in any way.

bonobo’s picture

bonobo commented

See http://groups.drupal.org/node/9321 for a laborious and inconclusive discussion of this exact topic.

Cheers,

Bill

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