User Ranking??

[Wajo357]

Just when I thought I figured out how the users were ranked...

It looks like the users are ranked on the homepage by the number of records they have in their collection.

It seemed to me that the users are ranked on their collection page by the number of 'figures' in the 'figure completion' field. However, if this is true; how is:
http://shmax.com/View_Collection/1/1508 ... sort_dir=1 ranked higher than
http://shmax.com/View_Collection/1/4/?s ... sort_dir=1

The second user has over 1000 more figures than the first guy; but the first guy is rated higher! Is this a bug or am I missing something?

[shmax]

SpaceHarfang is going to work on this one as part of some optimization work he's doing. We're not totally sure how rank should really work, but for the moment it looks like the ranking algorithm is counting parts as well as accessories, and the guy in first place simply has more parts and figures than the other guy. Admittedly it's all confusing, but we're going to think it over carefully, and naturally we'll take any suggestions into account. Thanks for the report.

[Wajo357]

Thanks for the reply!
Figures and parts... interesting. Although in Defense of Defensis (pardon the pun ), he has 99.9% sealed as well. Although possible, it seems unlikely that the small number of figures Defensis doesn't have and n10 does would have over 1000 more parts.

It seems like I can't view a person's collectors accessories in his collection to determine who has more parts. Is there a quick way to determine if this was calculated right or a bug?

In terms of any future way of determining ranking, I would have to think about it. Obviously if there was an accurate way of determining collection value, I would use that. Since that is too hard to accurately calculate; I would put my vote in 'keeping it simple' and just counting the figures.

[shmax]

Although in Defense of Defensis (pardon the pun  ), he has 99.9% sealed as well. Although possible, it seems unlikely that the small number of figures Defensis doesn't have and n10 does would have over 1000 more parts.

Put it this way--the guy in the #2 spot happens to own a lot of toys with a lot of parts--meaning the toys he owns come with a lot of little accessories--so when you total up all his figures and accessories he winds up in the lead over the other guy. Admittedly that's probably not the best way to compute rank. Anyway, we're cooking up a new scheme that will hopefully be more comprehensive, more accurate, more consistent, more efficient, and ultimately will allow us to enable browsing of users by a variety of rankings. Spaceharfang is taking the lead on this, and I think we can trust him to get it all sorted. Hang in there.

Obviously if there was an accurate way of determining collection value

I would think that this would be just one of several ranking types we make available--we'll see!

[spaceharfang]

In terms of any future way of determining ranking, I would have to think about it. Obviously if there was an accurate way of determining collection value, I would use that. Since that is too hard to accurately calculate; I would put my vote in 'keeping it simple' and just counting the figures.

One question we'll need to answer is whether a complete figure is worth more that an incomplete one in the ranking and by how much.

I'd propose to weight a figure and its parts toward a value between 0 and 1.
For example :
- a complete figure would get a 1.
- a figure with every accessories missing would get a 0.5.
- anything in between would get a ratio of parts owed.  A figure with half of its accessories would get a 0.75.

The sum of all that would then be used for the ranking.

[shmax]

I suppose it depends on which "rank" we're talking about. One thing I'd like to explore is to find some way to equate the "rank" seen in the Fun Facts (and signature) with the standing you see in the "Top Collectors" list, such that if you are #1 in the Top Collectors list, then your rank is also #1. Right now there's a disconnect--you can be #1 in the top collectors, but have some totally different rank in the Fun Facts. The Top Collectors list shows a ratio, the number of items you own over the total number of items available in the category. Right now there is no finesse in determining if you "own" a toy or not--we simply give you full credit for owning the toy if you have used the "Add to my collection" link. In other words, a guy that owns a MISB g1 optimus prime would get the same credit as a guy that only has the left fist.

I think determining "ownage" credit might work along the lines Spaceharfang describes, such that you have to pass some threshold score, with figure parts having a heavier weight than accessories. Another thing I want to do is caution about giving too much importance purely to "figures". Not every toy actually includes a proper figure, yet you can be sure that the collectors that own them want credit for them. And shmax.com will eventually expand to other toylines (Star Wars, G.I. Joe), so any system we come up with should be versatile enough to handle those as well.

[Wajo357]

you also want to remember that people sometimes don't care about expanding the menu and just click 'add to collection', which I believe defaults to a MISB selection. In other words, we might be crediting someone a '1' because s/he was too lazy to really enter in real information that it is loose.

[spaceharfang]

you also want to remember that people sometimes don't care about expanding the menu and just click 'add to collection', which I believe defaults to a MISB selection. In other words, we might be crediting someone a '1' because s/he was too lazy to really enter in real information that it is loose.

You're right, but it also can easily be fixed in the long.  The default condition could be loose if we start putting weight for the condition.  Of course, the parts already added would remain the same.

Another thing I want to do is caution about giving too much importance purely to "figures". Not every toy actually includes a proper figure, yet you can be sure that the collectors that own them want credit for them. And shmax.com will eventually expand to other toylines (Star Wars, G.I. Joe), so any system we come up with should be versatile enough to handle those as well.

You are right, we need to be cautious about that.  The truly flexible way to deal with it, would be to allow hand configured weight on the parts configurations inside a sku.  We could draw on the figure / accessories to initialize it, but after we could do some fine tuning where there is an issue.

[HighPrime]

All of this sounds great.  I think I'm most happy (maybe?) that I won't get dinged for being a MIB collector, versus a purely MISB collection.  I'd like to get a high rank, but not at the expense of keeping my toys sealed in the box (No offense to you MISBoxers and AFA'ers).  I may not score high in some categories, but it's nice to know that everyone can compete in an overall ranking based on percentage of a figure owned.  Another plus is that condition of the figure is not taken into account.  This can be pretty subjective.  If you own it, you're in; having all of the parts is icing :-)