[Python-Dev] PyPI comments and ratings, *really*?

[Guido van Rossum]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 11:25 AM, Jesse Noller <jnoller at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'd not trust a package without a bug tracker, mailing list or link to
> the source a lot sooner than something without comments and ratings.

Yeah, but you're not exactly an average user. Most users don't know
how to use a bug tracker. Also, there's a large variety of packages on
PyPI. Not every developer has the same attitude, but they all live
happily together on PyPI. (Or did you want someone to start a separate
CPAN "for the rest of them" ? :-)

[...]
> What about astroturfing? What's to stop me from writing a script to
> create a pile of accounts and then bumping packages I like with
> glowing ratings and reviews? Who is going to be the moderator, and how
> to decide between spam, incorrect comment, etc?

Those are all hard problems, though all of them have at least partial
solutions in the other worlds (Amazon, Wikipedia, Apple app store,
etc.). Maybe there should be a standard "social app" that you can just
customize for a specific purpose. Sounds like an interesting project,
actually.

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)