Top Rated Discussions???
By Alice Henry
@IreneVincent (15962)
United States
April 22, 2017 9:14am CST
I just scrolled through the list of “top rated discussions” and read quite a few of them to try to figure out what made them “top rated?” Who decides if a discussion gets on the top rated list?
While some of these discussions were interesting enough, I found some that were not very interesting at all.
I would like to know what would qualify a discussion to be chosen for this “top rated” list.
Who decides?
And what guidelines are used?
10 people like this
11 responses
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
No, that won't work either, I don't think. I looked again and the responses are all up and down in numbers.
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
22 Apr 17
not sure about top rated but pretty sure every new post appears somewhere on the hot list and as it garners more responses it moves up.
Makes sense top rated would work in a similar way
3 people like this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
@Mike197602 I don't think its based on the number of responses, because some of the posts had less than 8 response while others had over 40.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
22 Apr 17
'Top rated' discussions are simply those with the largest number of 'likes' over the previous 24 hour period (approximately). They are chosen 'mechanically' (or rather, by the software).
If you look at the list, you will see that that are listed in order of the number of 'likes' (indicated by the blue 'thumbs up' and a number).
2 people like this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
22 Apr 17
OK That makes sense to me, but there were some with very few "likes" it seemed to me. Must have been a slow 24 hours. 
@allknowing (130066)
• India
22 Apr 17
Posts that get the most number of likes get to the top
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
22 Apr 17
I don't think that could be right. I went back and looked and although some had 20 or more responses, some had 40 or more, there were some that had only 9 or 11 responses. So that didn't seem to me to be the deciding factor.
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130066)
• India
22 Apr 17
@IreneVincent There is the hot category where the rating is based on responses. I think.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
@allknowing I don't think its based on the number or "likes" or "responses" because some of them only had maybe 8 "likes" or "responses." While others had over 40.
@sjvg1976 (41131)
• Delhi, India
23 Apr 17
@IreneVincent that depends on the time also.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
No, its not the posts that get the most number of responses. Some had only 7 or 8 responses while others had over 40. Some had 20 or less.
1 person likes this
@valmnz (17099)
• New Zealand
22 Apr 17
Apparently it has something to do with how many people respond to the discussion in a short time. Anyway, now I see others have given you more specific info. It's all a mystery. I once got onto Hot Discussion and I had no likes or respsonses!
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
Yes, I do believe its "all a mystery." Because something with 8 "likes" or responses doesn't seem to be a TOP discussion to me. Maybe it's the top one each hour of the day.
1 person likes this
@Mike197602 (15487)
• United Kingdom
22 Apr 17
Top rated are the ones with the highest number of likes in a 24 hour period.
The algorithm picks them out not a person.
1 person likes this
@Bluedoll (16774)
• Canada
23 Apr 17
@IreneVincent I think that information is just around the site and isn't formally written anywhere.
I don't like the system that much but it does seem to work.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
Where did you find that information? Is it in the guidelines somewhere?
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
It's not really a game. I'm not "worried" about it either. But, I would like to know who or what qualifies a discussion to make the TOP list.
@RasmaSandra (73408)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
22 Apr 17
I am not really sure how that works and have not taken a look at those yet but you got me interested so when I have more time I will look at them. I am not on that list but I have made the Interesting Discussion list. I just like to interact, comment and see what other are up to.
1 person likes this
@IreneVincent (15962)
• United States
23 Apr 17
I would like to know, although it really doesn't matter to me. I just thought that if a discussion made that list, that it just might be something that I would truly like to read. Something that had some solid content and not just what someone had for lunch. Just saying.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (66921)
• United States
22 Apr 17
I would like to know to. Although i dont go to that part of the site. Only to the most recent discussions part.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
22 Apr 17
Have you noticed that "Hot Discussions" and "Top Rated Discussions" usually mirror each other?
1 person likes this
