Hey, here's some money for you.  Just tell me why your GA rating
really doesn't mean that much to you.  Guaranteed one-star rating for
answering this question!

Hiya Stormy!

OK, you're fishin'.  I'll bite.

I don't pay much attention to my ratings average because it doesn't
really reflect my abilities as a Researcher or the good relationship I
have with my regular (or even irregular!) customers.

Sometimes a customer doesn't understand the rating system - maybe they
think one star means they're happy, and other stars are awarded for
"wow factor".  Sometimes a customer simply won't award 5 stars, no
matter how good the answer is.  I've had any number of 4 star answers,
with generous tips and "Great!  Perfect!" appended.

Sometimes there's a mistake.  Sometimes the customer is just having a
bad day, and I'm the one they take it out on.  That's OK.  It's part
of the job.

One botched answer can bring a ratings average down considerably,
which doesn't at all reflect the 300+ answers I *haven't* botched.  So
rather than rely on the average as a measure of my performance, I
prefer to look at my body of work as a whole.  As long as I give my
customers thorough answers, good service, and I work to meet their
needs, that GA average means exactly bupkiss.  I'd rather let my work
- not some arbitrary rating - speak for itself.

--Missy

Now hand over that star, handsome!

Super attitude missy!  Always remember the two fundamental laws of
business: the customer is always right, and if the customer is wrong,
see the previous rule.

I'm not falling for it. After you give me the one-star rating, you'll
probably be a meanie and demand a refund because my answer wasn't
crummy enough. ;-)

hailstorm honey,

You need to get a constructive hobby.

Love,
aceresearcher

Most of us here have many stars already. Why add just one when there's
a lot to take? ;-)

Hailstorm! I can't believe you really gave her one star for that
fabulous answer! Do you also steal candy from kids and pull the wings
off flies?

Hi mum,

Don't be so hard on Stormy.  He's a good guy!

Unless I've totally misread him, he was trying to prove a point -
namely that we shouldn't stress so much over our ratings.  He said
he'd give one star, and one star he gave.  No complaints outta me!

--Missy

I had an operation 3 months ago and before they put me under, a nurse
said to me that, after I resurfaced, she would ask me how much pain I
felt on a scale of 1 to 10 - with 10 being the most.

I said, 'This is meaningless. My 5 could be somebody else's 10 ...'

She said, 'Well, I have to ask you anyway'

And she did.

And, as I felt absolutely no pain, I gave her a rating of -0.

She seemed perfectly happy with this.

Has the world gone mad?

I agree with Missy. While I'm sure, from a researcher's point of view,
a 5 star rating is nice, from a customer's point of view, the GA
rating system isn't very meaningful.

Its not like an asker gets to choose which researcher answers their
question (i.e. I'll pay $10 for an answer from a 5-star researcher,
but only $8 from a 4-star researcher).  I've had excellent answers
from less-than-stellar rated researchers.

Seems like its first come, first served.

Question     
Subject: 5 stars guaranteed for anything from missy-ga *****5*****5*****5 
Category: Miscellaneous 
Asked by: googel-ga 
List Price: $2.00  Posted: 13 Mar 2003 04:41 PST 
Expires: 12 Apr 2003 05:41 PDT 
Question ID: 175573 
 
Hi Missy, 
Have seen your answer to hailstorm-ga --keeping the 1-star promise 
along +$1 for your answer to 
"Subject: Who wants a one-star rating and 
some money? 
                    Category: Miscellaneous  
                    Asked by: hailstorm-ga  
                    List Price: $2.00 ". 
 
I think you have deserved 6 stars and + $3. 
 
Best regards, 
googel-ga
 
 
Answer      
 
Subject: Re: 5 stars guaranteed for anything from missy-ga *****5*****5*****5 
Answered By: missy-ga on 13 Mar 2003 06:47 PST 
Rated: *****

respree,

Some customers do indeed choose their Researcher.  Some of us have
regular customers who specify "I want X Researcher to answer this
question" - either it's because they're happy with previous work or
they've seen the Researcher answer well on a topic they (the customer)
needs help with.

We're happy to give the customers what they ask for!

--Missy

I'd say the researchers who try to do this for a living put the $ way
above the ratings. This Question was Easy Money.

Some researchers put money above ratings. Others put serving the
customer above everything. It appears that hailstorm is pleased with
missy's answer. Knowing missy as I do, I am certain that her
customer's satisfaction means more to her than either stars or
dollars.

Missy, you are of course right. For questions where the asker does not
know who has the expertise they are left for anyone to answer. For
questions where the asker has discovered that a researcher has a
particular knowledge or ability to ansawer certain types of question,
that researcher is requested - they can never be demanded. I have had
great answers from many researchers, and only one bad experience, but
on the question of politico-dynastics I trust digsalot to give me the
type of answer I require because he has several times in the past. I
do not doubt that someone else could do it, but as its my money I am
spending I prefer in these cases to utilise a certain expertise that
has proved itself to me rather than leave things to chance. I hope
everyone is doing well ! All the best, wolvies lol