Question for Julien about count of feedbacks on LDDB

laserdisc_fan · Posted: 05 Oct 2012, 23:15

Julien - Just wanted to ask how the number in brackets after a user's name is actually computed if you have bought/sold items.

I thought originally it was just a count of all positive feedbacks received, however I've noticed that if a buyer I have sold to before
leaves another positive feedback for me the count doesn't always seem to increment. It doesn't appear to be linear count. I've never been able to make sense of it.

I know if a totally new buyer whom I've never sold to before leaves a positive feedback the count is always incremented but the same does not appear to be true for a return buyer who leaves a positive feedback.

In other words if I bought 10 discs from 10 different sellers all of whom left positive feedbacks for me my count would be 10 and I can confirm that is the case.
However, when I buy 10 discs from the same seller who leaves positive feedbacks for all discs I would expect the count to also be 10 but it is not.

Just curious what the underlying algorithm is actually doing!

admin · Posted: 07 Oct 2012, 14:40

Sure, it's in the history v2.0.0 from 2008:

http://www.lddb.com/history.php?version=2.0

Quote:

Feedbacks accounting has been changed to give a little push to Sellers/Buyers engaging in multiple transactions over time leading to multiple positive feedbacks. Previously, any number of positive feedbacks from a single user would result only in a +1 increase in overall feedback. Now, an additional "bonus" will be added as follows:

Positive = 1 to 3, Bonus = 0
Positive = 4 to 7, Bonus = 1
Positive = 8 to 15, Bonus = 2
Positive = 16 to 31, Bonus = 3
Etc.

Note that in case of a negative feedback balanced with positive feedbacks, the "bonus" will not apply. Neutral feedbacks are really neutral and do not influcence the overall feedback.

Regards,
Julien

laserdisc_fan · Posted: 07 Oct 2012, 18:47

Thanks Julien....I knew there was something funky going on but I just couldn't put my finger on it!

laserdisc_fan · Posted: 25 Dec 2012, 10:22

Have been monitoring this count over time and it seems to be a deincentive for up to 3 multiple transactions from the same seller as total count doesn't go up at all for the buyer after the seller leaves 3 positive feedbacks, never mind any bonus! So if you had 100 positive feedbacks as a buyer and you bought 3 items from the same seller you had bought from before and they leave you 3 positive feedbacks you will still only have 100 positive feedbacks at the very end.

It only goes up if you have 3 distinct transactions from say 3 new sellers who have left you feedback. Still don't really follow the logic of this.

admin · Posted: 25 Dec 2012, 23:17

laserdisc_fan wrote:

Still don't really follow the logic of this.

The feedback will not increase with any transaction, it has to be either from a new counterpart or use the bonus scheme described above.

Reasons:

It gives a higher emphasize on keeping consistently good behavior with different people
It lowers the probability of collusion between buyer/seller to artificially increase counter through several small transactions
It lowers the probability of a buyer setup'ing a seller's shop on only carry transaction with him/herself to create inflated feedback counter and then scam people away based on it.

Regards,
Julien

firehorse_44 · Posted: 26 Dec 2012, 04:50

Well thought out Julien.
Kudos on such an ingenious method to keep it real at the LDDB !!!!

Wondered about the system, thanks for spelling it out in detail here.................

Question for Julien about count of feedbacks on LDDB

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