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List:       perl-qa
Subject:    Re: CPAN Ratings and the problem of choice (was Re: About tidying
From:       Greg Sabino Mullane <greg () endpoint ! com>
Date:       2008-06-30 13:20:45
Message-ID: 20080630092045.3ebf9289 () greg-laptop
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> So, why do ratings make a difference here?
> 
> Well, ratings provide at least a partial way for the community to solve
> the choice overload problem.  If a search reveals a 4.5 star module with
> eight reviews, one doesn't feel compelled to look at the other options;
> the choice becomes clear.

I question the usefulness of the ratings because they are almost
completely unused. The module mentioned in this thread, XML::Parser, has 6
reviews (2 of which are basically bug reports, and one tells you to "not
use it for any new code"). One of the oldest and most important modules
ever, DBI, has a mere 29. That's 29 reviews in 8 years - pathetic. It
should have hundreds of ratings. The important question to ask is,
(assuming the ratings are something worth keeping), why are people not
rating modules, and how can we encourage people to do so?

-- 
Greg Sabino Mullane greg@endpoint.com
End Point Corporation

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