The Lensmaster Lounge

MeganCasey · 04/30/2007 11:45 am

LensRank was created as a yardstick for measuring the very general "goodness" of a lens. The much-debated algorithm counts things like visitors to a lens, ratings, number of emailings, postings to delicious, lensrolls, favorites and more. These are all social, human impressions upon the lens. But, like all algorithms, and despite the spirit of its factors, LensRank is only an educated mathematical guess.

So we're adding an important new editorial element to lenses. It's you. It's the most passionate people here in SquidU, the top 1%, the people who really understand what makes lenses great.

Introducing...Squid Angels.

Angels? What, like fairies who can bless their favorite lenses? Well, pretty much, yeah. Think of it like a "super rating" system, where star ratings from Angels count for a little more. Of course, Angels can also ding lenses that misbehave, or knock lenses that have won their way toward the top of Squidoo without any real content.

It's our hope that this new degree of trusted human influence will make the algorithm just a little richer, and just a little more agile to respond when "spam" lenses game their way toward the top.

How does it work?

1. Any lensmaster can apply to be a volunteer Squid Angel. We'll take up to 12 at a time, if that many people are interested. You could start as early as tomorrow. UPDATE: we've got a full team!

2. As a SquidAngel, you get access to a new "thumbs up / thumbs down" feature that only you will see. If one Angel blesses a lens, the lens will get a tiny reward in LensRank. If 12 Angels bless a lens, it will get a bigger reward. Same for dinging lenses.

3. So, no single SquidAngel will have much affect on LensRank. But 12 of them independently rating a lens the same exact way could really move the needle.

4. We're starting a new forum for the Angels, where newbies and pros alike can post their lenses for review. If an Angel likes your lens, he or she can go bless it. But if you spam the forum with a not-so-good lens, the Angels will probably ding it. So make sure your lens is in tip top shape. (Angels are not required to give editorial writeups of the lenses they've reviewed).

5. Squidstaff can see which lenses an Angel blesses or dings. If Angels use their powers recklessly, we can boot them from the club and also remove the ratings they've doled out. (If you have an axe to grind, or a campaign against another lensmaster, or are salivating at the ways you might use Angel status to beat your competition, this probably isn't for you).

6. If you want to be an Angel, drop us a note at angels@squidoo.com and tell us why. We'll send back the Angel's Handbook, and if you're cool with it, you're in. First come first served.

pkmcr · 04/30/2007 12:34 pm

Megan

Brilliant idea and one which will really involve people in the community in a marvellous way.

I wish them all great success!

Take care

Paul

Christene · 04/30/2007 1:01 pm

i sent in an email

Margaret_Schaut · 04/30/2007 1:56 pm

Megan, as usual you have a great concern for hand-built lenses. This is a terrific idea. There are LOADS of us who see tons of lenses.

Is there a reason this couldn't be added to groupmaster functionality? That way you wouldn't need to 'watch' anyone, and it would make lensmasters care more about what the groupmasters think about their lenses. Also, if a groupmaster lets anyone and everyone in, they probably won't be using that function, just like they don't star rank or visit the lenses; but if the groupmaster cares very much about the quality of the lenses applying and joining their groups, then they would use this function.

This could be concurrent with the squid angels who are lensmasters without groups who care about good lenses getting the attention they deserve, and not the crummy spam lenses that get the attention at the expense of everyone else.

Just a thought.....

AngelaChenShui · 04/30/2007 1:58 pm

Wonderful idea! I'm probably too new for this but I feel this will only add to Squidoo's already very human, personal touch.

Angela.

spuds · 04/30/2007 1:58 pm

This is a fantastic idea. Love it! Good work Squidoo.

N376 · 04/30/2007 4:46 pm

Good idea.

Will Squid Angels have a badge and be announced or are they a secret society?

daoine · 04/30/2007 8:07 pm

What a fantastic idea!

InvoluntaryGypsy · 05/01/2007 5:52 am

This is a great idea.

genglo · 05/01/2007 7:45 am

This is a wonderful idea.

MeganCasey · 05/01/2007 2:18 pm

glad you like it!

Glen, great question. we will be announcing all the SquidAngels on the forum soon. they'll be representing the Squidoo community in the LensRank algorithm, so to speak, so we wanted to make that factor as transparent as possible.

Margaret, good idea re: Groups management. we'll discuss on this end.

thanks everyone.

p.s. i've got about 7 SquidAngels signed up for now... if anyone else is interested, just drop a note to angels@squidoo.com

MrLewisSmile · 05/01/2007 2:48 pm

I sent in an email but haven't received the rulebook back. Hope you got my email!

MeganCasey · 05/01/2007 3:20 pm

Patience, grasshopper The handbook should be in your inbox now.

N376 · 05/01/2007 9:20 pm

Just had a thought...

What would be nice is if we were only allowed to post lenses in the Angels Forum that we ourselves don't own.

gail1367 · 05/01/2007 10:27 pm

Great Idea Love it. I am only new to Squidoo but think the idea is brilliant.

Great job

MeganCasey · 05/02/2007 11:15 am

N376 wrote:
Just had a thought...

What would be nice is if we were only allowed to post lenses in the Angels Forum that we ourselves don't own.

I'm betting SquidAngels will keep that in mind when doling out blessings. If someone goes to the trouble of posting someone ELSE'S lens, the lens is probably pretty darn good.

the777group · 05/02/2007 1:44 pm

The Angels are a great idea. I've posted for my first lens:

http://www.squidoo.com/xangoblog/

and I'm looking forward to (hopefully) getting their blessing.

N376 · 05/02/2007 5:15 pm

MeganCasey wrote:
N376 wrote:
Just had a thought...

What would be nice is if we were only allowed to post lenses in the Angels Forum that we ourselves don't own.
I'm betting SquidAngels will keep that in mind when doling out blessings. If someone goes to the trouble of posting someone ELSE'S lens, the lens is probably pretty darn good.

Excellent.

Most of the threads I started in Lenses We Like was for other people. Who had great ideas or pure motives.

Could we have our moderator remove all lenses in the Angels Forum which are definitely below par? I think stuff should only be posted in there that is firing on all cylinders and fine tuned.

daoine · 05/02/2007 7:06 pm

Glen, I think that's the idea of the Angels. If the moderator prescreens the lenses the angels look at, then you don't get the "Power of 12" effect. Ie, one person has more say over what is fine tuned than 12 Angels do...

N376 · 05/02/2007 7:45 pm

daoine wrote:
Glen, I think that's the idea of the Angels. If the moderator prescreens the lenses the angels look at, then you don't get the "Power of 12" effect. Ie, one person has more say over what is fine tuned than 12 Angels do...

I'm thinking of the ones that are half finished. Ones with half an intro, an Amazon module with the default title, and a Guestbook (again with a default title). It would be good if a certain standard is attained. The standard is low though: make sure you've actually filled four modules, and changed the titles.

Short of that, I hope that lenses that fall beneath that criteria get slapped with the Unhappy Angel stick and there's no encouragement awards given out.

jeffryv · 05/02/2007 8:05 pm

Angels primary purpose is help and reward both new and experienced Lensmasters into creating quality (subjective) lenses, personally I hope new members are given a chance to learn and be helped before someone thumbs them down.

Note: I will NOT be prejudging lenses that are posted in the Angel Forum. As the intro says post at your own risk.

gail1367 · 05/02/2007 10:08 pm

bigebiz wrote:
Is there a way we will know if an Angel dropped by and Blessed up? Will it be listed in our Stats or Visible somehow rather than just seeing an increase in Lensrank? Without some sort of acknowledgement would be hard to know if our Out side Linking is working, or what factors are benefiting or negating us. Hope that makes sense.

Now go out and Bless us Dammit..LOL

Hi everyone,

I was wondering the same thing. How do we know how many angels have visited our sites?

Thanks
Gail

1SquidAddict · 05/03/2007 12:50 pm

Sent in an email but have yet have had no reply.

Was I too late?

Grace

MeganCasey · 05/03/2007 2:01 pm

i replied

MeganCasey · 05/03/2007 2:07 pm

bigebiz wrote:
Is there a way we will know if an Angel dropped by and Blessed up? Will it be listed in our Stats or Visible somehow rather than just seeing an increase in Lensrank? Without some sort of acknowledgement would be hard to know if our Out side Linking is working, or what factors are benefiting or negating us. Hope that makes sense.

Now go out and Bless us Dammit..LOL

great question. we don't have that capability yet.

right now, unless an Angel drops you a note or posts in your guestbook or winks at you in the forum, it's hard to tell if you've been blessed or dinged. but i doubt anyone will see any really dramatic lensrank changes as a result of the Angels. if your LensRank improves by a few points, mysteriously, chances are you got blessed by a couple of Angels. if it changes significantly, i'm willing to bet YOU made it happen, or that something more organic with our algorithm elicited the change.

i know it's hard to tell, and frustrating, without better stats. luckily we've got Gil chained up in a corner working on that...

EDIT: i wrote above "i doubt anyone will see any really dramatic lensrank changes as a result of the Angels."

to clarify, i mean that a lens won't jump from #55,891 to 400 because of Angel blessings. likewise, a lens that's ranked #50 can't get dinged down to 3000. if you see huge jumps in LensRank like that, it means something else is going on with activity to your lens. sorry for the confusion.

SquidU

The Lensmaster Lounge

Announcement

#1 04/30/2007 11:45 am

Calling all SquidAngels

#2 04/30/2007 12:34 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#3 04/30/2007 1:01 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#4 04/30/2007 1:56 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#5 04/30/2007 1:58 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#6 04/30/2007 1:58 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#7 04/30/2007 4:46 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#8 04/30/2007 8:07 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#9 05/01/2007 5:52 am

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#10 05/01/2007 7:45 am

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#11 05/01/2007 2:18 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#12 05/01/2007 2:48 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#13 05/01/2007 3:20 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#14 05/01/2007 9:20 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#15 05/01/2007 10:27 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#16 05/02/2007 11:15 am

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

N376 wrote:

#17 05/02/2007 1:44 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#18 05/02/2007 5:15 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

MeganCasey wrote:

N376 wrote:

#19 05/02/2007 7:06 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#20 05/02/2007 7:45 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

daoine wrote:

#21 05/02/2007 8:05 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#22 05/02/2007 10:08 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

bigebiz wrote:

#23 05/03/2007 12:50 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#24 05/03/2007 2:01 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

#25 05/03/2007 2:07 pm

Re: Calling all SquidAngels

bigebiz wrote:

Board footer