Posts tagged Squidoo star ratings
Should You Rate Every Lens You Read?
Oct 5th
The question about Squidoo Star Ratings comes up every so often and I thought now would be as good a time as any to address it here at the Showcase blog.
Squidoo star ratings are in place to help the cream rise to the top at Squidoo.com. When you rate a Squidoo lens, you are telling the entire community that this lens is worth your while. It contains good information that is presented well. It helps that lens get seen and it tells the lensmaster that they are doing a good job and getting noticed for it.
And yes, even the dreaded one star rating will help to increase a lens’ rank.
But who rates all of these lenses? If you check the stats on Giant Squid lensmaster’s bio pages, you’ll learn that the Giant Squid lensmasters are responsible for the greatest percentage of star ratings across the community.
Should You Rate Every Lens You Read?
My honest answer? No, you shouldn’t rate every single lens you read and here’s the reasons why. The lens might be brand new and still be in need of some tweaking or the lensmaster might still be learning how to use the Squidoo system and will fix the lens as their knowledge of lens creation and how to use the modules grows.
Another good reason NOT to rate a lens is if the lens is spammy or is in conflict with Squidoo’s Terms of Service. In such a case, it is best to use the “report abuse” button instead.
But when you find lenses that are outstanding, or good for the Squidoo community, or are full of great information, by all means rate that lens. And if you find a lens that has fantastic photos, wonderful on-topic links, or terrific youtube.com videos take a moment and give a star rating. Lenses that are creative and helpful and beautifully crafted are all also worthy of a sprinkling of stars.
Use those stars to say, “Great job!” and “Thank you for providing good information!” and “I enjoyed my stay.”or “I want the entire world to see this!”
Victoria_Neely’s lens Squidoo Star Ratings is a fun read about the subject.
So what do you think? Agree or disagree? And if you could, how many stars is this post worth? 
Ratings and Reports
Feb 14th
As Giants, we all have an idea of what separates a good Squidoo lens from a poorly built one. And honestly that’s what makes up the core of the Giant Squid Lensmaster Program, rewarding those lensmasters who consistently make really good lenses.
That said, not every lensmaster is cut out to be a Giant Squid and not every Squidoo lens is going to be awesome.
Keeping that in mind, let’s save the “report abuse” button for serious issues.
Use the stars to fairly and honestly rate the quality of all the lenses you visit. This really does help the very best lenses float to the top.
And by all means, if you know you can build a better lens on any topic, please do!
Not sure about what should or shouldn’t be reported? Read the Squidoo TOS.
