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In the past couple weeks, I have received e-mails from two or three people complaining that the scores given in website reviews did not have enough variation.
A quick consultation of my Excel spreadsheet of the scores (I have spreadsheets for just about everything) showed that there was not much variation. From 87.00 to 90.00, there are nine sites, roughly one-half of the sites reviewed.
This may, at first, alarm some. What is Double L thinking? Why is the bell curve being thrown out the window? Are there that many B+ level sites out there?
Well, I have an explanation for all of this. The reason that the scores are so jam packed is to add excitement.
I knew from the time that I did the first website review that I would eventually be hosting the Top 20 NES Sites, if all went to plan. In the current voting format, which, barring an extreme change of plans, will be used for the first week of voting, states that each voter has the power to raise the grade of a site up to .50 points, if they use all five of their votes to help it. Likewise, a voter can lower a site's grade by up to .50 points.
Now, if I use the entire scale, let's say 95 for a straight A to 50 for an F, there will be an average of about 2.5 points between sites. With only twenty voters and with each voter having the power to change grades by only 1/5 the average margin, is there really that much excitement? I sure don't think so.
With site grades so close together, every vote counts. Right now, NES el33t trails Old-School Gamer by a mere .05 points. If NES el33t receives just one more plus vote than OSG, it moves up! I don't know about you, but I find the competitiveness that goes hand in hand with close scores exciting.
So there you have it. If you still think that grades should run A thru F, well, I think you're wrong. 'Nuff said.
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