The sort order of script listings is highly unfair.

I have written an article about it and have also written an Algorithm that would make the Hotscripts sort order fairer than it has ever been.

http://justinvincent.com/home/articles.php?articleId=17

You can download a sample PHP script using the Algorithm from here..

http://justinvincent.com/home/downloads/hotscripts_rating.zip

Cheers,
Justin :)

I think another good think would be ordering scripts by downloads.

I think it will be better if HS Team make some option of Sort Order.
I can be build with radio button or ordinary links

The options are :
- Sort by Postdate (could be set as default)
- Sort by Hits
- Sort by Rate
- Sort by lastUpdate
- Sort by Alphabetic

So the visitor could find what they need by this option.
Isn't that great ...? :)

1) Regarding adding 'Number Of' Downloads' to the sort function.

I had thought of that but then decided that it wouldn't be fair because many of the listings dont have a download link. Therefore it would seem unfair that just because a script had a download link that it should get rated higher than a better script that just had a homepage link.

All the criteria that I included in the function is 100% equal for all scripts, articles, code snippits, etc.

Anyway just incase someone wanted to include it all you would need to do would be to add

+ ( $download_num / $num_days_on_site)

into the function.

2) Regarding offering different sort orders. I think that is a good idea but you would still need a 'default' sort order - and nothing would be more useful than a 'top of the pops' style sorting.

Mainly because when a user goes to > PHP > Database managment. What they are initially looking for is the 'best' script under that category. The only way to quickly find that out is to see which script is deemed best by the public at large. The only way to find that out is to consistently update the order based on a function like the one above.

The reason why you need a more complex function than simply basing it on user rating is because if 1000 people vote 4.35 for a script. And 2 people vote 5 for a different script. Which should appear first? It would make no sense to put the second script higher, just because it had a higher rating. We should also take into account that the 4.35 is a very trusted rating as it has been rated by 1000 people.

But I do agree with you, as an added feature it would be nice to have the aditional ability to sort by any feild you wanted - after you have first opened a category.

Quite frankly.. I'm amazed that more people aren't talking about this!!

I fully support this and hope that they will make this soon because currently this is one of the most annoying things in HotScripts

I completely agree with you.

I will take this issue with forum admins.

Thanks for your suggestions,
Regards,
JD

Hi,

I see they have gone back to sorting by number of hits. Well that's better than the alpah sort... still...

Just wondering if they were planning to use the new Algorithm?

Cheers,
Justin :)

Hi Justin,

I have communicated the idea to them, We should be working on it soon, I guess.

JD

A new rating algorithim will be released within the next 48-72 hours.

Hi,

Is it in any way derived from the algorithim above?

It would be good to know because then in the future we can point people to this thread when they ask how the hotscripts rating is done.

Also, if it is derived from the above algorithim I will change..

http://justinvincent.com/home/articles.php?articleId=17

..to explain that hotscripts (unlike most corps.) actually 'listened' and now rate things differently.

Cheers,
Justin :)

Yes, it is similar to the one that you proposed. We had been developing one along those lines, where things are divided by the # of days as that is the only fair way to do it. It is a bit more complicated than yours, however, allowing us to add in some new features coming soon and taking the rating system by members a bit further.

The results are live...

We'll post the algorithm soon so people know what will drive their ranking.

I see it in action!

It's fantastic.

Thank you for doing this.

It makes all the difference because now the scripts are rated in a much more up to the minute/current fashion.

I should point out that I had no way of knowing ezSQL would move to the top of it's category (database tools)... but I am not entirely suprised because it has been on hotscripts for a shorter time than the other 'big' db script names (and seems to have had more activity in that short time).

So what is the exact algorithim you are using now.

Cheers,
Justin :)

Whatever the new system, I'm happy with it now :) Good work ;)