Google Groups tip: Rating a post

One of the many cool things Google Groups can help you with is through its post ratings system. Imagine being a member of a huge Google Group, finding that really great post (like a good tutorial, a good message or a great tip) would be a daunting task even for the expert Googler in town. I kid you not, I’ve been on that boat when I needed to read a post again but, alas, lost it in the hundreds of posts that piled over it in a few short days. I said, sure, there’s a search system I can rely on… but imagine searching for general keywords like “mac”, “gadget” or “tutorial”. I ended up a sore looser everytime.

Ratings help you indicate (or mark) which posts you find most helpful. When you’re web browsing a group, you can rate a post and your rating will become part of that post’s overall rating.

In order to rate a post, first make sure that you’re logged in to Google Groups with your Google Account. Ratings can only be done through the web interface; it’s not currently possible to rate a post by email.

To rate a post, open a topic and click on the stars that appear next the words “Rate this post” at the bottom of any post. Simply mouse over each star to see the change in rating that occurs from one star to the next. Please note that there’s no possibility of giving a half-star rating, and you can only rate a post once (though you can always modify that rating later).

5 stars - excellent, I would recommend this post
4 stars - above average
3 stars - average
2 stars - below average
1 star - poor, I would not recommend this post

Check out this example below: