I'd like to step away from my usual rants and such to blog about our rating system on this site. Bear with me, there is a purpose to this blog. First off, I must say that I was pleased with the new rating system. Was being the key word. If you are new to the site, you don't know any difference, but there used to be a rating system where you had to click on an arrow and scroll down to the number you wanted and then hit 'submit'. For a short time we could even get points for rating other people's blogs. But the new system, though being "easier", has it's issues, and I think I'd like to see it back to the way it was. All my old ratings have disappeared, which sucks because I used to get some fours and fives. Now I'm stuck in 3-land with no sign of escape. Also, I've found that I can only vote after I comment, because if I vote before commenting my vote will disappear (is it just me, or is this happening to other people as well)? Now here's the part I wanted to get into. Ratings are more than just ratings to me. They are an indication of self-esteem that tells me how well I've done. With the amount of 3's I've been getting, I'm starting to wonder if my blogging has gotten worse since I first joined the sight a year ago. My biggest problem with the ratings is if I get a bad rating, nobody explains why. If I get a 2 star rating, I really want to know what I can do to improve. It's getting pretty frustrating when I get a 2 or 3 and nobody explains what I could do to earn that 4 or 5. When I visit other blogs, I rarely rate. I usually save ratings for the really good blogs. However, if I rate badly I will tell the blogger what they would need to do to get a better rating. I don't know if anyone's listening to my advice on format and spell-checking, but I dish it out anyway. Can't hurt to lend a helping hand, can it? So there are two things I'd like to see: 1. The old rating system up and running again. 2. People to explain to others why a bad rating was deserved. Then I think we'll start seeing some better blogs, and some less frustrated bloggers.