As a techie, I am confused about the algorithms used to determine where in the pecking order the stories fall. By this I mean. When I do a search for a keyword in a specific category by Rank, the stories are all over the place. Some will have high votes, low votes, no votes, high average scores, low average scores and so on all on the first page. Usually the first page is the highest and then goes down from there. Not true here. Same goes for searching by votes. The votes will be high at first then go down and then jump back up or be out of order. At first I thought it was ranking by number of views. This is not true either. Some stories that have only a few hundred views rank higher than ones in the thousands. This is very confusing to me. Can someone help me understand this? Thanks.
So, I agree that most of the algorithms used here on Lush are a bit confusing. Sadly, I can't fully explain. Truthfully, I don't know if they are prebuilt search algorithms or something more customized, but It's worth noting, that search algorithms on a web app of this sort are particularly tricky to program, and Lush is run on a volunteer basis, so there is very limited time for a huge amount of technical work.
I have noted though, that they have seemed a little funkier in places since the site has started having as many technical problems as it has been lately. Not sure if the two phenomena are connected, but I have observed a correlation, regardless of whether or not it is causal. As a side note, I am also quite curious about the algorithms used to select the users listed in the Top Author's section, but I would expect for the moment, that algorithm updates are a bit lower on the priority list, as some other stuff has become more urgent. Of course I would not speak for Gav or Nicola - I'm just guessing.
Not sure if any of that information was useful. Just thought some of it could be since you're relatively new.
Thank you for the answer. I do understand about issues and volunteers dealing with them. I am unfortunately a 30+ year veteran of the IT world and former programmer. So I catch little things and sometimes they just get to me. I try to not let it happen but it does. I was not trying to make these things an issue for anyone. It was more an observation than anything. I hope the team works out all the main problems first and little things like this can wait. Have a great day.
I didn't know alligators had rhythm. I'm sure Kee will tell me that Gators have rhythm.
Popular: 5s with the most votes at the top and work down.
Most Views: Most views.
Recommended: The most recent RR or EP stories first going back in order of the stories getting RR'd and EP'd.
I agree that is how it is supposed to be. But it is not working exactly like that. The scores and votes are all over the place. I have tried with several different search words and different categories.
Its OK. I am just anal a little I guess. No biggie.
Hmm. I realize now that, in my undercaffeinated state earlier, I answered an entirely different question than that which was asked (and probably led Buz astray as well). You mean when you click on the little magnifying glass and search stories for a specific word? Then, I _think_ the search results are based on some estimate of 'relevance' (having the word in the title or tags seems to count for a lot) and it doesn't look at popularity of the story at all. Again, just a guess. No inside knowledge on what's really happening.
I think search results are by the number of times the keyword (or variations) appears, with no thought to to popularity.
The criteria for Top Authors and Story Picks has always escaped me, but I prefer the mystery.
I will very occasionally sneak into Top Authors if I've been writing a lot of flash fiction, but never have a Story Pick except for the couple of times I've won something. So I assume the Top Author thing is based on views over a specific time period, and the fact that I have a lot of stories means I get views, even though most don't turn into actual votes, or even reads. More stories = more views.
To find the list of 'Story Picks' click on 'Popular' then 'Last Month' and all the stories will be listed in order as they appear. Stories that stopped accruing votes, comments, and views drop off the current list as other stories move up due to more recent activity.
Kissing your lips while straddling your lap.
