Component Ratings and User Rankings:
The second most frequently asked question by new or potential users of WikiComponents is:
“Who guarantees the integrity and accuracy of the content?”
The most frequently asked question is: “Who owns the data?”
The answer to both of these is the same: The WikiComponents Community.
WikiComponents is dedicated to ensuring the highest quality content and has therefore put together
a sophisticated Component Rating and User Ranking system similar to those which have proven so successful on
sites like eBay, Amazon, Tripadvisor, and Wikipedia.
The Component Rating system
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The Component Rating system is comprised of two factors: user comments and user downloads.
Each of these is graphically represented by simple icons placed next to the component name.
The
Component Comment Rating
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is derived as follows:
- Every published component starts with a Component Rating of “0”
- Users are encouraged to give a component either a
or a 
- Users may also just place a comment
which has no effect on the Component Rating
- If a component is given a the user must post a comment identifying the reason
- A increases the Component Rating by “1”
- A decreases the Component Rating by “1”
- The resulting Component Rating is shown next to every component with a graphical icon and its actual value
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- Users can read the comment history for the component, seeing for themselves what other users liked or had problems with
- When a comment is posted on a component, the publisher and other interested parties of that component are notified
- Once a reported problem has been corrected, the user notes the fix in the comments and the negative Component Rating is reversed
This continuous system of peer review will act as a “filter” to catch faulty components as quickly as possible
and get them corrected.
The
Component Download Rating
is simply the number of times the component has been downloaded by members
of the WikiComponents community regardless of format.
All components start with a white “Wiki”
and once the number of downloads exceeds 100 the component is awarded
a gold “Wiki”
. This provides a quick visual representation of how reliable a given component is. Additionally,
members of the WikiComponents Panel of Experts may “LOCK” a component once they deem it to be accurate.
This is represented by a golden locked “Wiki”. Locked components may only be modified by members of the
WikiComponents Panel of Experts.
The User Ranking system
The User Ranking system is designed to quantify the experience level and reliability of a WikiComponents
community member. A higher number signifies that the member has been an active participant in WikiComponents
and that the quality level of their components rate well. The User Ranking value is placed next to the member’s name.
The
User Ranking is derived as follows:
- A new user starts with a “0” ranking
- For each authored component, the User Ranking increases by “1”
- The User Comment Rating value of all the user’s authored components is added
- To encourage improvement of already published components, every edit performed by a user on a different authors component increases their ranking by “1”
Additionally members of the WikiComponents Panel of Experts are identified by a special badge icon next to their name.