I have been thinking about the proposed ratings system, and thought long and hard about what *I* would want in ratings I receive, and how much I would like to rate articles with ease. The model I arrived at was substantively different, and may reduce overall bandwidth while allowing greater control of my own personal mbox. What I would see is a list which only sent the traffic to a subscriber on _request_ instead of at once (perhaps more digest-oriented). I would send a message to cypherpunks-rated@whatever.domain (which could be an independant ratings group subscribed to receive and hold the "normal" 'punks list, and perhaps other related lists) with a command to get the mail I had not yet received. I would prefer that the list handle a database of when I last requested mail, and perhaps had a command to just tell me how MUCH mail was waiting (in both messages and Kb). Then, the messges would arrive, along with any ratings. Perhaps some services could maintain a ratings profile for me, of the signators I trusted to rate and the topics/ratings I prefer (one especial benefit for me would be to raise my filtering level at the transmission end on those days when the volume had increased, as launchpad has _serious_ disk problems, and I'm telnetted in at 2400 bps anyway). The messages would arrive and I could reply to cypherpunks-rated with MY ratings/comments (whichI would like to see batched and transmitted to the author, so comments on saliency/style/flamage would be sent only to her/him and not clutter up anyone's mailbox) to the server to be added to the list. This way, new messages are always sent (although it would be easy to change that, preferably in my profile) to be rated, and old messges have longer accumulated ratings. Actually, this runs more like a mail-based archive than a list, but the end result is similar. Perhaps a couple of days hacking at some archive manager (like the ones at most listserv's... does majordomo have archiving?) could set up a running prototype. It seems that this meets most of the requirements: multiple ratings, multiple ratings services, easily alterable filtering profiles, easily extended to handle keywords (many archivers already o this, of course). Specifics are debatable: the source filtering seems controversial (although I don't know why, unless people are worried about having the list manager know their preferences, in which case they can get everything and its ratings and handle them locally), so maybe the server shouldn't keep persistent profiles, but should receive a request with a profile for that specific request. Perhaps I send a "request on" message, and receive a message containing information on the queue: how many new messages (in however much time, so I know), how many Kb, how many rated messages on which common topics (in any given two-day period, the number of topics stays pretty low), etc, and I reply with numbers ie:
Per: your "request on" message of 940401:1935GMT Last request 940401:1209GMT Messges: 12 Kbytes: 65 Remember: ar is "Average Rating" of raters accepted in your "request on" message: Raters id's follow: exclude: BIFF.DORK@BITNET.SHOUT exclude: ld*@lance* accept: master.rater@text.analysis.god.com
Keyword: Remailers... 3 messages rated, 1 message unrated, ar:8.2 send all Remailers Keyword: Libertarian... 2 messages rated, 0 messages unrated, ar:0.6 send above 2.0 Keyword: PGPTools... 5 messages rated, 1 message unrated, ar:5.2 send above 7.0 send below 1.0 #for chuckle factor Your messages comments: msg id: xxxxxx "Excellent, it changed my life" Rating: 1.1 --SomeOne "Rehash of old crap" Rating 7.6 --SomeOne Else msg id: yyyyyy <no comments>
Hmmm... a bit too wordy, but you get the idea. (Get the lucifer? Get the skipjack? (Remember: Ounce for ounce...) ) This would also make receiving multiple lists easier for those of us with no filters (Where does one get pc-elm???????), as we could receive one list, process it, and then get another list, allowing us to not get them mixed up. Seth Morris (seth.morris@launchpad.unc.edu)