Question

04/16/2012: The Magic (release time).

Answer 1

lol I have a SmartScore of 99

This means your system isn't working properly. ;D

Answer 2

we all do...so i guess we're gonna have good jobs >:)))

Answer 3

Hey folks, a lot of stuff has changed around here. Today's release represents, in raw numbers, over 8000 lines of code changed. It represents an epic amount of work from @farmdawgnation and @mattfeury on the development front, a fabulous imagination leap from @darthsid on the design front, and a great deal of thinking from everyone at OpenStudy, not least of all @chris, @preetha, @ashwinram, @cshalvey, and @Laura* . We've been bouncing ideas off of a ton of people for a while.

So, welcome to SmartScore. We've rethought the way we do ranking on OpenStudy, and this is just the beginning of that work. You can read more on the vision at http://blog.openstudy.com/2012/04/09/to-boldly-go-where-no-grades-have-gone-before/ , and you can visit your profile (click your username near the top right of the page to hit it) to see your score and the shiny new profile page. We'll be adjusting the way scores over time in response to how we see people fitting on the scores now, as well as what we hear from people who interact with users in the real world.

We've got bugs to fix and things to tweak over the next couple of days, so you'll be seeing a few more reloads than usual as we get everything trimmed up, but we wanted to put this in your hands so you could have a look around.

Welcome to the future of what it means to be smart. Look around, get familiar, and let us know what you think. We are, as always, eager to listen.

Answer 4

Okay, but in all seriousness, WAT. If we all start with a perfect grade and get deductions based on bad behavior, wouldn't that create an incentive NEVER to do anything except the solving the easiest problems?

And if I am getting a 99/100, that's actually a problem. Because I'm far from actually helpful.

Answer 5

Hehe. We'll be adjusting the way we *calculate* scores over time ;)

Answer 6

badreferences, I find in general the people who protest being high are the most helpful in life. And you don't start with a perfect grade, you earned it ;)

Answer 7

Daww how nice of you. But I see you are keeping your "calculations" secret.

Answer 8

Formula --- formula ... please? :)

Answer 9

Yes, formula.

Answer 10

Who stole my medals?

Answer 11

That said, SmartScore is calculated relative to the other users on the site. We're not going to share the formula for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is keeping you updated on how it works as we tweak things rapidly over the next days and weeks would be a huge pain ;)

Let's just say the formula isn't final, and we'll be workin' it.

Answer 12

COol. :p It's just the scientist in me.

Answer 13

lol.

Answer 14

Let's just say... enjoy your 99 while you got it ;) (kidding).

Also, saifoo, I think you sold yr medals to me for OpenStudy Gold(tm) :p

Answer 15

LOl^

Answer 16

Okay so 99 is the highest? and this is a relative score .. so it will go down if i don't answer ?

Answer 17

Folks, yeah, I forgot to mention that one. A single user can only give a single medal per question now. We've run a migration that's updated all older questions to follow that model, so medal counts have changed.

Answer 18

I hope SmartScore only does "grade" inflation and not "grade" deflation. Because, you know, "relative" distributions are damaging at times. Like that year everyone at Harvard got a 98% or better, so they deflated the grades.

Answer 19

nic what arethe other changes excluding the smartscore?

Answer 20

Wait... @shadowfiend can you make it so that we can give a medal to the asker, as well as one answerer, at least?

Answer 21

Our goal with SmartScore is, quite simply, to measure that which grades miss. We'll be optimizing the formula to do that over time, and that may result in score drops as we factor new information.

Answer 22

wow, that's the think i always wanted. :D

Answer 23

can you make it so that we can give a medal to the asker, as well as one answerer, at least?like @badreferences told?

Answer 24

@badreferences Not for the time being, no. We'll consider it, though.

@AravindG I can't think of anything else major at the moment, but we've been at it a while :p

Answer 25

Your avatar burns my eyes, @saifoo.khan . Fix this plz @shadowfiend :D

Answer 26

I FLIPPIN LIKE THIS SITE. You guys need you're stop you're whinin'. :P

Answer 27

wow now the detailed profolr looks sooooooooooo good

Answer 28

@badreferences Hell yes! :D
That's awesome!

@shadowfiend 's avatar blinks.

Answer 29

*profile

Answer 30

We're the revolutionaries. As long as we keep complaining, OS staff won't slack. :P

But no, really, I appreciate OS' efforts to make their site more awesome.

Answer 31

simply marvellous!!

Answer 32

What happened to all my medals? lol. I only have 170 now:)

Answer 33

I'm actually sorely tempted to try dropping my grades methodically and in a controlled manner--so I can "reverse engineer" the formula for SmartScore.

Answer 34

Very interesting! I'm curious - what about situations where multiple users contribute equally to answer a question? And it's the collective response of the community that really gives a satisfactory answer?

Answer 35

@kma230 Good point.

Answer 36

ys

Answer 37

@shadowfiend You don't need any more medals :P taking one from you and giving it to @kma230

Answer 38

lol, undoing medals is cooler.

Answer 39

@kma230: Good point! I fear the un-medal and re-medal might induce some negativity :(

Answer 40

YES! i will give medals. after answer i will take them back! :D

JK

Answer 41

I kind of liked the levels, It directed me to the people who answered well. Now I will never know:(

Answer 42

@Open2study, we definitely hope to convey that information in SmartScore. They have some overlap. We'll be tweaking it as we go if it fails to perform that task.

Answer 43

Btw is there a notification for un-medal-ing too?

Answer 44

Good question^

Answer 45

These are all definitely valid concerns. A few things to bear in mind:

- We do want SmartScore to give you that same information regarding good answers. You'll notice the tooltip you get for a user when you click on an avatar gives you a breakdown of SmartScore dimensions—problem solving, teamwork, and engagement.
- We'll be watching the best answer stuff to see how it performs.

Answer 46

Because before, In the online list, the top answerers were at the top of the list and I know who can help me well. This list is all mixed up

Answer 47

There is no notification for an undone or reassigned medal, nor will there be.

Answer 48

The online list sorting is something we're going to work on. Right now it's sorted by overall score and then alphabetically. We're going to look at ways that sorting can be tweaked to convey the information people are looking for there.

Answer 49

@shadowfiend, Can you guys also PLEASE fix the tagging feature?

Answer 50

“Equally good” or fully collaborative answers are indeed a problem with respect to best answer. We'll be watching to see how this performs with respect to the previous system.

Answer 51

What's wrong with the tagging feature @Open2study ? I assume by that you mean the mentions?

Answer 52

Before, while typing someones name, the list of people would come up and then, I coud click on the name and it will appear in the box. After an update, this was no longer possible. I had to manually type the entire name

Answer 53

This is abit uncomfortable when typing really difficult nicknames

Answer 54

@Open2study Press tab after the list comes up. ;)

Answer 55

Wordalicious. I'll make sure that's taken care of soon, thanks for the reminder.

Answer 56

Here's my dystopian view of OS:

If I understand it correctly, the new medal system makes it so that there's an incentive to have exactly one person answer any given problem, otherwise it will be wasted effort for the "late" individual.

This also makes it, unfortunately, difficult to convince people to read through and correct bad answers.

Also, in their haste to get a medal, many users will regress to just posting answers with minimal involved work, like, "use l'Hopital's rule and get this answer," as opposed to, "do X, Y, Z, which is called l'Hopital's rule, and get this answer."

Answer 57

Okay, in the mean time, If I undo someone I will post a comment (as a courtesy) explaining the reason.

Answer 58

I don't see the strong incentive. If someone then gives a better answer because they took their time, the medals will move to them.

Answer 59

@shadowfiend I'd like to think that's the case, but I feel like most people who give medals don't care enough to reassign medals to better answers.

Anecdotal evidence, maybe, but many times I just outline a solution method, and get some medals--while other users flesh out the entire solution, AND the answer, and proceed to get fewer medals. Mainly because I was the first to respond.

Answer 60

So what's new?

Answer 61

i agree with @badreferences

Answer 62

the older system on medals was better

Answer 63

@AravindG I won't go so far as to say that, since we've barely had any change to try the new "system". I, for one, would like to "field test" SmartScore for a good great while. :D

Answer 64

in btw :i have a qn :P
has anyone got 100 smartscore in OS?

Answer 65

Hey @AravindG and @badreferences - both very good points, and please keep that kind of dialog coming. And you're right Bad, this is definitely a 'field test' ;)

Answer 66

Yes, Aravind, I just checked. Best of luck figuring out who. ;)

Answer 67

Yeah, we're basically not going to have a discussion on which is better right now. We need to see how it plays out first :)

Answer 68

So three things to keep in mind:
1. You actually do get credit for "trying" - the number of people helped and questions ansered is taken into account in the scores. Regardless of medals.
2. We've discussed a few ways to go internally regarding medals. For example - right now medals from high scoring users are actually worth more towards your score (quite a bit more in fact).
3. We've also discussed using medals as a reward for high scoring users - for example users over 90 may one day have two medals to give. No promises, but we like the idea of adding abilities as users progress.

Answer 69

ya lets see what happens.all the best wishes to OS!!

Answer 70

@AravindG http://openstudy.com/users/satellite73 ;)

Answer 71

Way to spoil my fun :P

Answer 72

Oh derp sorry farmdawg :p

Answer 73

@satellite Get in here, smartypants, and see what havoc you've wrought with your "better than everyone" grades.

Answer 74

He was so looking forward to that surprise @shadowfiend...

Answer 75

Ah, yes, @chris makes a good point. Part of SmartScore is that a lot more than medals goes into your score, unlike before.

Answer 76

Lol, that's not surprising at all.

Answer 77

Satellite's got a score of 18. Satellite73, on the other hand… ;)

Answer 78

Whoops, lol, see this is an example of when my SmartScore should drop. :P I still see a 99, though.

Answer 79

Imagine I make a mistake like that when typing an answer! That would be terrible.

Answer 80

Hahaha. I'm not sure your smart score should measure your ability to type or your ability to use OpenStudy ;)

Answer 81

hehe u have to live upto ur smartscores i supose :P

Answer 82

@AravindG You remind me of http://highexpectationsasianfather.tumblr.com/ . :D

Answer 83

Hahaha @badreferences - nice one!

Answer 84

Also, these scores will be updating as we watch and react. Perhaps drastically, perhaps not. However, we hope this is a major step towards encouraging all types of participation and collaboration. As @shadowfiend mentioned, this is just the beginning of this effort, and really early days of distinguishing the top helpers and "smartest" learners on the site.

Answer 85

I hope there isn't a timed feature to your grade. My access to the internet (and this site) is very on-off.

So if I were to be kidnapped for a week, and then be rescued, would my grade drop? :P

Answer 86

20 people viewing, that must be a record

Answer 87

and those viweing are the real ones who contribute the most for OS :)

Answer 88

If you disconnect or get a red "connection lost" message in the middle of an answer, you are docked smart points. But other than that...

PS: just kidding

Answer 89

@Open2study It's pretty traumatizing, I imagine, to log into OpenStudy and to see all your medals gone, and a "SmartScore" on the top right. So most users come to Feedback to complain, and proceed to realize it's a new "site feature", and then complain anyways.

Answer 90

HMM.. u see i also hav a prob , i will be away for sometime if i hav xams at school will that make a drop in my score?

Answer 91

Something is wrong with satellite73's mathematics medal count.

Answer 92

Lol. I wasnt complaining. I was asking what happened. Didnt know what was going on, SoI was asking. But not complaining:) There is an enormous difference

Answer 93

@Ishaan94: Check yours ;)

Answer 94

I know @Open2study , I was describing my reaciton. :P