Stash 1.7 — introducing the item score

Summary tiles for items on keyword pages now have a 1–10 rating in the lower right-hand corner. If you haven’t noticed them, check out Web development or San Francisco dining, or any other keyword that you’ve taken an interest in.

The ‘item score’ is the primary feature of Stash release 1.7.

So what’s in a number?

The item score communicates the quality of that particular item relative to the highest ranked item in that keyword, as determined by the community. This represents a big step forward for Stash as an application that uses crowdsourced assessments of quality to direct your attention to the most valuable items. For example, the item score allows you to see the relative value of items in the ‘New’ section. Sometimes new items will be hugely compelling, and sometimes days will go by where new items pale in relation to the best items over the last 90 days. Relative quality is now a transparent metric in the system.

A few ways to use the item score:

• Engage with items by clicking on them and adding new keywords or reinforcing the item’s association with the current keyword. Favorite items that you particularly like. Then go back to the keyword page. You’ll often see immediate changes in the item’s score. This is fun to watch and you’re helping feed the app with critical data that will optimize attention for everyone else.
• Check out your favorite keywords. Don’t like how the items are ordered? When you engage with the items you like, you effectively vote to elevate their placement relative to others. Help us mold your keyword pages to reflect your taste.
• Use item scores to prioritize your time. You’ll want to check out the 10’s for sure. Depending on available time and your level of obsession with the topic, you may want to cut off items after 8, 6, 4, etc. Some keywords will have a ton of items above 8, while others will have a few high scores and then a long tail of mediocre stuff and that balance will change over time based on the quality of available content. You shouldn’t consume a fixed number of items. You should consume the best content and proceed down the quality curve as your time and inclinations permit. The item score is your guide along the quality curve.

Have fun exploring the item score and don’t be shy with feedback!

All the best

Colin