Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Am I rating a page or a thing?

When rating a Wiki page, there is a choice to be made: am I rating the page (quality of writeup, depth of information), or the thing the page represents (e.g., the underlying movie, no matter how crappy the page quality itself)? The answer for this system is: the thing. See also RateThisPage.

Does everybody share these page ratings, or are they mine?

Each login has separate ratings.

Can people see my ratings?

Your ratings are public (can be seen by everybody) by default, but you can control this through your preferences. We highly encourage you to keep your ratings public! There is more value to the system in the long run if everyone shares ratings.

Do I pollute the data when my (rounded off) rating is less accurate than WikiLens' prediction?

69.114.181.233: I'm kind of stunned....I've rated a handful of beers and sodas and a couple of websites and the movie predictions are damned good. one question: if I'm predicted to rate, say, 3.7, and that is indeed my exact rating, should I rate it a 3.5 (to add my data) or leave it a 3.7 (to reflect my actual rating)? In other words, do i pollute the data when my (rounded off) rating is less accurate than the prediction? (added at 01:51:33 PM on 07/15/05)

DanFr: You should rate. First off, ratings are quite valuable, both for you and for the community as a whole; if you don't rate it, no one gets that value. Second, the difference between 3.5 and 3.7 is too small for most algorithms to get any value from it.

Is there any way users can create a new page that's not a category?

(Specifically, I'd like to create a discussion page linked onto the home page where users can discuss the project, seek help from other users (i.e. not bug the managers), etc. When the user pool grows so large that such a page will be seriously unwieldy, it'd work better via forum software (e.g. the new MovieLens forum), but meanwhile this would be a good addition. I've been instructed elsewhere to use the mailing list, but only a small percentage of users is likely to be on the list, plus mailing lists happen in real time whereas a discussion page allows future newcomers to read backtrack. I'd create the page myself, but this isn't the most open of Wikis (e.g. the homepage is locked). Any suggestions?)

DanFr: Sorry about the HomePage. I've had to defend against spammers (really!), and the HomePage is the most often defaced. In fact, I believe that's just about the only page that's locked in the whole thing. By the way, if others are willing to help defend it, I would unlock the HomePage, too. (added at 06:21:50 PM on 07/28/05)

Chowhound: I've replied to this at: Discuss WikiLens.

DanFr: Sure, there are several ways to create a new page. What I find easiest is to search for the page you want (in the Search box to the left), then when it's not found, click the "CreatePage" button on the resulting screen. Another way is to simply create a reference to a page (using brackets is easiest), and then clicking on the resulting question mark. For more explanation, see WikiLens/Tutorial/CreatingANewPage. In fact, clicking on "WikiLens" and reading the whole tutorial might be useful if you want to dig deeper. (added at 06:24:26 PM on 07/28/05)