[Catalog-sig] Package comments

[Laura Creighton]

In a message of Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:13:45 +0100, "M.-A. Lemburg" writes:

<snip>

>That said, I don't think it's a good idea to try to reinvent a
>wheel that has already been invented many times over. Just look at
>the successful systems running on e.g. Amazon and eBay. We don't
>really need to go through all the pain they've gone through to
>build successful systems again.
>
>-- 
>Marc-Andre Lemburg
>eGenix.com

I don't think that the Amazon system is successful.  I think that
you are confusing two things -- 'people like to rate things' with
'the rating is meaningful'.  I think that the Amazon rating system
satifices people's desire to rate things, but is a detriment to
actually finding a technical book that will help you do what you
want to do.  Only fairly detailed reviews can help with that, and
only to the extent that they exclude certain works, leaving you
to review the remainder on your own.

Why should software be any different?

Also, remember, amazon makes money no matter whose books are 
purchased,  But we would rather help people find the best packages
for their purposes, no?  I think that a rating system harms this
goal, and therefore we should not do it.

Laura