Ravelry and Difficulty Ratings

[noirem]

Some months back, I read an editorial (written by a high school student, which the printer of the editorial thought was important enough to mention so I will relay it to you) about Ravelry where she observed and wondered about the difficulty "ranking" system of patterns, noting that only two patterns were marked as Very Difficult. Two patterns in

Comments

[palecur]

Freakonomics covered this exact topic a little while ago. They moved (they used to be a New York Times blog, and now they're not) and the original link is dead, but Ongo has a copy: http://admin.ongo.com/v/472674/-1/6AF078C8F66AE25F/a-young-reader-asks-is-there-an-elitist-oligarchy-in-the-underworld-of-knitters

I thought it was fascinating reading, and you're talking about a lot of the same points, so I think you'll find it interesting as well.

[noirem]

That does appear to be the article I was referencing, yes.

[angelbob]

Perhaps it's time to stop saying, "oh, but things *I* knew about Jennifer were easy, I didn't know it but it wasn't *challenging*" and start saying, "there are higher-difficulty facts about her, if I don't know some of them after 17 years" :-P

[noirem]

What kind of things are you learning? TBF, I picked up knitting in the Dark Years when we mostly lost touch. As for encouraging me I'm not sure what works best. I don't write "for an audience" in as much as I don't sit here and think, "I have to write something for them", but responses are always gratifying. Except of course when they're stupid and wrong, and did they even read what I wrote, but you know how that goes :o)

This is why I shouldn't comment when brain dead btw.

[ceebaby]

I think you've just described why I don't normally rate patterns. My ratings are subjective, so what I consider difficult isn't necessarily difficult for someone else. And I've just taken the path of least resistance & not submitted any ratings at all. I like your solution though & think I'll probably do the same.

thanks! :)

[noirem]

That seems fair, too :o) I think it would help if ravelry had guide-lines like knitty or any other pattern publisher, a suggested skill level based on objective standards, possibly separate from the user-rankings.

[luftblasen]

I tend to avoid the difficulty ratings, and go for the overall happiness ratings. If it turns out well, no matter how difficult, then I will give the pattern more stars (forgetting how much swearing I'd done along the way). If it looks like a mess of knots, I'll probably not rate the pattern at all, since I figure someone else probably put a lot of effort into the pattern and it clearly worked out for them.

[noirem]

sounds fair to me :o)

I try to write notes about the pattern, if I have to frog sections or make adjustments or anything else. I find those even more useful, when looking at a pattern than the happiness ranking. Sure everyone liked it, but did they rib the border instead stockingette stitch or some other little change that made it work better for them? Did they cast on extra or fewer stitches?

That stuff really helps me :o)

[turunewt]

Hmm, that?s some cool information. I would search on Google to find other relevant articles. Actually, I came across your blog on Google Blog Search. I?m going to add your RSS feed to my reader. Continue posting please!