The rating feature allows users that are signed in to rate blogs on a scale from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best). The five blogs with the highest rating on the site at a given time are featured in the 'Highest Rated posts' block on the right side of the screen (a blog must have a minimum of 3 ratings to be placed on this list). You can only rate each blog once, and you cannot rate your own blogs. Users are in control of the ratings each blog gets. If only one or two people rate each blog, the 'Highest Rated posts' block will remain static. The more users that rate each posts, the more the rating will reflect the quality of the blog. The rating system is meant to be a valuable tool in assessing the quality of blogs, not a weapon to be used as reprisal against bloggers or blogs you don't like. ProgressiveU cannot control how each user rates the blogs that they read, but there have been a number of recommendations of how to rate the blogs, in order to have the ratings be fair:

• Do not rate the blog based on the topic, i.e. if the blog is a pro-choice argument, do not give it a rating of 1, simply because you are pro-life, or visa versa.
• Do not rate the blog based on the author, that is, if you have argued with the author in the past, do not rate their blog poorly for this reason alone. Read each blog separately and judge it based on its content, rather than the author. Similarly, do not rate a blog well simply because the author is your friend.
• Blogs that are written well should get higher ratings, i.e. blogs that have correct spelling and grammar and where the bloggers put some time into writing the blog.
• Blogs that provoke thought while providing some insight into an issue should be given higher marks.
• Blogs that are written for the purpose of accusing another user of some infraction, or for the simple purpose of complaining should be given lower marks.

Remember, these are just guidelines to help you rate blogs. We hope that in time you develop your own system for rating blogs fairly. If you have any questions regarding ratings, feel free to post a topic in the forums (see link at the top of the page), and the moderators will be happy to assist you.