ShipSpotting.com Forum

Shipspotters all over the world => Shipping News and information => Topic started by: Guest on August 16, 2007, 04:55:00 PM

Title: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Guest on August 16, 2007, 04:55:00 PM
Hi All

The voting button for the "Do we keep the Google Earth Category" is now accessible via the "Top Posters" tab (left hand side of the Home Page). When you reach the Top Posters page you have to scroll right to the bottom to cast your vote. Not really clear but if you click on the radio button you are voting for the category to be kept. Probably would have been clearer with a yes and no button  :-)

Regards

Steve Ellwood
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: JMB on August 16, 2007, 05:13:19 PM
What a strange voting system, I would never have known it was there or even found it if you had not said.

It seems an ideal system for Mugabe or New Labour as it appears to guarantee a 100% YES vote!
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Robert J Smith on August 16, 2007, 05:15:04 PM
Questions

I'm not a Google Earth fan and don't think it belongs on this site, how do I vote NO?

If I do not click the radio button and just click VOTE, my vote is not recorded so how does the poll show the number voting NO?

Regards

Bob
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Aleksi Lindström on August 16, 2007, 05:16:14 PM
Yep, I also voted, but since there's only one option which says nothing and I wanted to vote 'NO', I have no idea as what my vote was counted as... Indeed as J_M_B said, very nice idea, maybe for the next US Presidential Election?

Rgds,
Aleksi
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Guest on August 16, 2007, 05:23:27 PM
Quote

AJL wrote:
Yep, I also voted, but since there's only one option which says nothing and I wanted to vote 'NO', I have no idea as what my vote was counted as... Indeed as J_M_B said, very nice idea, maybe for the next US Presidential Election?

Rgds,
Aleksi


Hi Aleksi

Not an auspicious start  :lol:

Regards

Steve Ellwood
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Mats on August 16, 2007, 05:49:24 PM
He-he, love the voting system!

Don't see why we need to remove any part of this wonderful site, though. But since we're at it, let's also vote to remove container ships - just in case someone thinks they're too boxy...
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Anton Heuff on August 16, 2007, 07:08:50 PM
I cast my vote. However, it surprised me that I was shown the interim results when I was done. And, worse, there is a link "Results" too on the page. This information should be kept under lock and key, as it will influence one's vote. Sorry, Derek, for troubling you with another IT problem.

Regards, Anton
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Nathan on August 16, 2007, 08:18:23 PM
Of course we need to keep it! What its the only form of indoor ship spotting. Good for when its raining.
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Guest on August 17, 2007, 07:06:33 PM
Quote

The voting button for the "Do we keep the Google Earth Category" is now accessible via the "Top Posters" tab (left hand side of the Home Page). When you reach the Top Posters page you have to scroll right to the bottom to cast your vote. Not really clear but if you click on the radio button you are voting for the category to be kept. Probably would have been clearer with a yes and no button  :-)


Hi All

Just 35 votes in the space of 24 hours - doesn't seem a lot when you consider the total membership numbers?

I wonder if its a case tha folk don't know where the voting button is - something that Ken mentioned in one of his postings - Not much to bring folks attention to where it actually is  :-?

Regards

Steve Ellwood
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Michael Martin on August 17, 2007, 11:52:17 PM
Way to go, guys. Hide the button, then blame it on apathy.

Maybe we could have a vote to delete about 90% of the 1000 pics of the same ships.

If you really need to cut back images to save server space, I suggest you trim the number of images of the same vessel. Just type in the search bar under Maersk and you'll be overwhelmed with thousands of pictures of Maersk self propelled container barges. I just did a quick search and stopped at 5200+ images under Maersk. It could have it's own category! And what do you get for all those posts? Here it is coming in( about 12 posts at 15 degree angle of rotation) and then here it is coming back out and that process is repeated ad infinitum as the same ship is photographed over and over again.

Sorry for the rant, but I get a little peeved when people are ready to delete a mere 500 or so unique images just to blithely ignore maybe thousands of worse incidents of server space wastage. C'mon, how many dozens of pictures do you really need of Emma Maersk? Also, not to mention that an cropped browser image is at most 500kb so what are you saving? About 250Mb? I think that the real reason the category is being deleted is because it is easier to delete everything in one shot than to trim the fat in the more precious categories.
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Andrew Lester on August 18, 2007, 02:06:03 AM
You do realize Maersk owns or operates over 700 vessels, right? I'm curious, do you do a search before posting a photo, to ensure you aren't duplicating someone else's photo? I doubt anyone does. However, I do agree with you on the mass posting of a ship. If you take 12 photos of a ship as it goes by, that's fine, but it isn't necessary to post each and every one here. Go through them and pick at most 3-4 (unless there are significant differences) to post, and keep the rest in your personal collection. In my opinion, the rule for posting multiple photos needs to be lowered (to maybe 5) and strictly enforced.

As for the poll, it's almost laughable. Not only is the poll buried at the bottom of a rarely visited page (I never realized there even was a poll feature), but there is nothing directing users to its location. The only people that will be voting are those that have been following these threads, or users that accidentally stumble upon it. If a representative sample of users was wanted, the poll needs to be on the front page, clearly visible near the top of the page. The results would also need to be hidden, and users limited to one vote. As it sits right now, I can vote as many times as I feel like, and vote even more if I see the results swinging the other way. The results of the current poll are completely meaningless.
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Michael Martin on August 18, 2007, 04:09:32 AM
It has less to do with how many vessels a company has, but more with how people seem to be so enamored with these huge lego block barges as if they were giant Ipods.

When it comes to investigating before I post, I do it everytime and I also use this site. Actually, it is the conscientious members here who usually provide that one clue which unlocks most of the hidden information. Also, if you happened to see what I post, you would find that most of the vessels I post are coming here never to leave again. So actually in a way I am the last shipspotter for a number of vessels. I may be wrong or maybe a little incomplete, but I would think that a good portion of shipspotting entails the interesting keeping track of vessels. In my case, I once saw and posted a vessel that another poster had photographed earlier in it's journey. As well, I feel these photographs provide a record for history, eventful or unique vessel's passages. The connection we get as a ship travels around the globe and is tracked on this site is half the kick.

Big ports are great for vessel traffic but also tend to naturally get the same vessels, as they run between supplier and market on their set runs. This leads to the same vessel getting posted multiple times. Now I think the one image of a vessel arriving or leaving at a certain date is fine, but if you go to the containership section, you'll find on average 4 to 5 photos per ship. If the idea was the identification of a certain ship coming or going, why not just post the one picture and pass on the information? If people could do this, you could reduce the server space load by at least a factor of three.

With regards to the vote, I feel the die is cast. I had four images deleted in that category which were actually Windows Live Local aerial photos. I recently also had an image which had the international flags, alphabet radio names and morse code deleted, even though I think it had over 500 views. It seems if this information had been painted on the side of a funnel it would stand a better chance of providing an educational reference to shipspotters.
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: JMB on August 18, 2007, 06:04:31 AM
Is there no way to put a message on a page associated with a category?  It is quite possible that there are regular users of the Google Earth category who are completely unaware of the poll or plan to remove it.  Perhaps someone should send out private messages to all the ones using that category.

MB
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Guest on August 18, 2007, 09:07:26 AM
Quote

lest69 wrote:
Snipped
As for the poll, it's almost laughable. Not only is the poll buried at the bottom of a rarely visited page (I never realized there even was a poll feature), but there is nothing directing users to its location. The only people that will be voting are those that have been following these threads, or users that accidentally stumble upon it. If a representative sample of users was wanted, the poll needs to be on the front page, clearly visible near the top of the page. The results would also need to be hidden, and users limited to one vote. As it sits right now, I can vote as many times as I feel like, and vote even more if I see the results swinging the other way. The results of the current poll are completely meaningless.


Hi

To compound things I have just tried a little experiment - entering the site as a "non member" I was able to cast a vote  :-o

Can I suggest that any future polls are based on criteria such as:

1. Voting button visable on the Home Page - at the top of the page.
2. Results are not shown
3. There is a restriction to members only
4. There is a mechanism for one vot only per member.

"And they thought they had problems with voting in Florida"
:lol:

Regards

Steve Ellwood
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: JMB on August 18, 2007, 04:35:19 PM
I have no problem with the result being visible, with most other sites you only see the result after you have voted.

MB
Title: Re: Google Earth Voting Button
Post by: Allan Mears on August 18, 2007, 07:56:45 PM
I have just added a notice on the home page about its location and made it members only.