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Well, I feel that I may have derailed Gary's initial intent by mentioning my own pet idea about linking ratings to users. I think I have some fairly good reasons for that, so I think I will reintroduce the topic at a later date when I have time to marshall my arguments.

Could we just consider the merits of Gary's proposal instead of mine? Gary's proposal is simply that rating a game should require a comment, placing no restrictions on who can rate and who can comment.

If I read him correctly: Gary seems to be introducing a further idea which is the compromise: If you're going to rate a game below 'average' you should at least have to say something about why. Could we at least agree on this compromise proposal? It's one thing to have a free forum in the interest of encouraging people to use this site, but it's another thing to be sensitive of the inventors' hard work and effort and realize that this too is something we should be trying to encourage. The current comment system is not always very encouraging and could be dispiriting. I know of at least one fantastic chess variants designer who is very disgruntled with this site because of all the arbitrary negative comments some of his work has garnered.

I really think it's fair to ask people to take a moment to think about why they're making a judgement if they care to be doing that. Because judgements can be very significant things, I think.

Personally, I think the 'say at least 5 words' if you're going to rate a game is still a good one. In a different thread, I suggested de-linking ratings from comments. Just for purposes of greater organization. It's one thing if you want to go to a website and make general comments and ask general questions, as we encourage people to do on the 'rules of chess' area and another if you want to offer a judgement as to the quality of a game. One may wish to drop by and say, 'The inventor of this variant was my great uncle, etc.' That's of topical interest and doesn't run the same risks as the rating system. It's another thing if you want to say, 'I dislike/like this variant because...' It's the latter subset of remarks that concern me because they reflect on how people will regard the quality of this website.

I think the best way of handling the situation would be to re-program our comments section so that if you click on a rating, a new screen comes up with a different message for each comment. If you click on 'Excellent' The screen could have the message. 'Great! Please say 5 words or more why you liked it.' If 'Poor' -- 'Please say 5 words or more about what you didn't like about this game or how you think it might be improved.' Etc.