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Help[Opinions] Name ratings: Mohammed, Allah, Adolf, Donald
Yesterday I took a closer look at this site's "name ratings" and found a problem. Namely, some people have been jamming the ballot box. I added some code to clean things up somewhat by deleting identical ratings that came from similar internet addresses. I've also added safeguards to prevent this in the future. Note that these ratings came from anonymous sources -- users who have not logged in.
Some names were targeted more than others. Allah and Mohammed both had a campaign of negative ratings. Unfortunately, even after cleaning, these Islamic names still fare poorly.
https://www.behindthename.com/name/allah/rating
https://www.behindthename.com/name/mohammed/rating
Donald likewise had a large negative campaign. The campaign also rated the name feminine. The cleanup has mostly righted these skewed ratings.
Conversely, Adolf had a campaign of positive ratings that led the name out of the devious category and into the wholesome. Ugh. It seems to have been the work of a single person, and the cleanup has helped.
There were other, less "controversial", names that had the same problem and have been remedied. Consequently you may notice that the ratings for some names have jumped a bit over the last day.
Some names were targeted more than others. Allah and Mohammed both had a campaign of negative ratings. Unfortunately, even after cleaning, these Islamic names still fare poorly.
https://www.behindthename.com/name/allah/rating
https://www.behindthename.com/name/mohammed/rating
Donald likewise had a large negative campaign. The campaign also rated the name feminine. The cleanup has mostly righted these skewed ratings.
Conversely, Adolf had a campaign of positive ratings that led the name out of the devious category and into the wholesome. Ugh. It seems to have been the work of a single person, and the cleanup has helped.
There were other, less "controversial", names that had the same problem and have been remedied. Consequently you may notice that the ratings for some names have jumped a bit over the last day.
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Thanks for fixing this. Name ratings on this site are not something I normally pay any attention to, but I looked at "Donald" because of this post and saw there actually is a long comment on usage posted just a few days ago that starts out with a complete falsehood about the usage of the name for girls in the USA. I have posted a comment correcting that.
It is a shame when people don't have anything better to do than try to manipulate a name site in order to express their prejudices and/or political opinions.
It is a shame when people don't have anything better to do than try to manipulate a name site in order to express their prejudices and/or political opinions.
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Thanks for correcting that comment! The user you responded to is known to me as one who (using various accounts on this site) tries to incite debate about using masculine names on girls. Her comments and accounts are typically deleted as they are encountered, though I've pared down her Donald comment and left it with your response.
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Thank you for making sure that the ratings more accurately reflect popular opinion. Out of curiosity, which less controversial names were also targeted?
Allah has a pretty sound, but since it is the name for God in Islam, it isn't generally used as a name in Islamic families. I would expect "God" to also have a low rating as a name, not because people necessarily dislike the deity, but because they don't think it should be used as a name.
Allah has a pretty sound, but since it is the name for God in Islam, it isn't generally used as a name in Islamic families. I would expect "God" to also have a low rating as a name, not because people necessarily dislike the deity, but because they don't think it should be used as a name.
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Many traditional and recently-popular English names. There was no real pattern of which names were voted up, which down. I guess it's only natural to want your favourite name to be positively rated, but it takes the fun out of it when one person gets to vote dozens of times.
I have more of a problem with an individual or small coordinated group of individuals trying to manipulate the ratings for political, racial or religious reasons.
I have more of a problem with an individual or small coordinated group of individuals trying to manipulate the ratings for political, racial or religious reasons.
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Yes, I have noticed this. Unfortunately the majority of the ratings for Steven were submitted over five years ago. By this point the individual ratings get condensed into a single yearly total, so there's no good way to fix them.
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One Passionate Steven = best username
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LOL
This message was edited 12/17/2019, 11:02 AM
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