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Questions about PaperBackSwap
Topic: The 37% solution
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I just ran across a member whos profile says:
Books Listed, Wish List, Book Reviews, Forum Posts, Books Mailed and Books Received all Zero.
The member is Currently Reading nothing, has no Favorite Books or Favorite Authors listed.
However printed neatly on the page is:
Your Similarity to [nickname]: 37%
The only similarity that pops into mind is that we are both male - does that account for 1/3? (no sexist remarks, ladies!)
I realize it is just a quirk of the system, but I find it interesting; even if he (and I) are not.
wc
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Maybe lives in the same state? or Logs in around the same time you do to check PBS..lol Weird. |
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They may have rated some books they have read. |
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What Rebecca said -- I'm thinking ratings, or past activity. |
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How the system determines "similarity" is really a mystery. I have one PBS friend who used to consistently show as being over 100% similar to me--it would report her as being "102% similar" or "107% similar" or somethng like that. Made me laugh, I figured I should probably ask her to start ordering books for me, as she probably knew what I would like much better than I did. I think they must have tweaked the system somehow, because she's only showing as being "69% similar" now. Still don't understand the system though, because some of my friends that I know like the same books I do show as being in the 30-40% range and others that show over 50% similarity have very different books on their wishlists than I like. |
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Wanna see how YOU compare????
http://kb5kid.paperbackswap.com/profile/ |
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It sounds like this person joined and then did nothing at all with the account. It looks like a foreign address but it could be a APO/FPO/DPO type thing. It showed me 30% even though they never send or received any books. And it's set to public and showing 0 not private. Doesn't mean they didn't rate any books though which could be why there's a %.
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MP is Northern Mariana Islands |
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I had the 37% similiarity as well. |
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I'm 30% similar!! |
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I have a 30% similarity with him. |
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37% Maybe it's some kind of default, I'm 37% with Wayne too. Last Edited on: 10/17/12 5:29 PM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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I'm only 30%. No accounting for tastes. |
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I figured I should probably ask her to start ordering books for me, as she probably knew what I would like much better than I did. (Oh, Laura. That's funny) |
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Just checked...I'm 37% similar, but I'm 62% similar to Wayne.
Edited for typos Last Edited on: 10/17/12 9:16 PM ET - Total times edited: 1 |
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I'm 30% with both Wayne and his 37% buddy |
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I'm 37% similar to Wayne's buddy and 39% to Wayne. |
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Just checked...I'm 37% similar, but I'm 62% similar to Wayne.
I know this is sudden...but...maybe we should get married... Are you busy friday night???????????? |
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I am another one that is "only" 30% similiar--but I am 71% similiar to you, Wayne! And to think that someone I exchange books with regularly is only 34% similiar! |
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42% with Wayne and 30% with the other guy.. Maybe that just means we both choose books to read.. |
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I can't believe I'm quoting the help files here:
Similarity Index
Introduced August, 2008.
The Similarity Index shows how "alike" you and your Friend are. it is determined based on the information you provide to the club through your participation. So when you apply star ratings to a book, add an item to your Wish List, or tell us what your favorite genres are, we're more able to come up with a profile of you as a reader. And as others do the same, we can start matching up people who have similar tastes and habits.
Seems like a good idea gone bad. Besides, I'm not sure I like the word "profile". Conjurs up a vision of a knock on the door and a guy that says, "Hello, my name is Bound...James Bound.
I'm here to check up on your neighbor Sally. She's a member of PBS...no, PaperBack Swap...and we just need to profile her..."
At least it's not that they are consulting with the FBC, CIA, IRS, SSS, SS or (heavens!!!!) the phone company.
I wonder what my Similarity Index to ME is....
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I'm 37% similar to Wayne AND the other guy. I would really like to know how the other guy and I are similar, since he has 0 books listed.... |
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In order of importance and simplified: similarity of wish list items, especially exact matches similarity of favorite genres, especially more specific genres age, gender state of residence Your similarity index to yourself is always 100%. We don't even perform the heavy statistical calculations in that case. If you ask how similar you are to yourself, our code makes the wild assumption that you're exactly the same. This seems to work for everyone not named Sybil :)
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I'm also 37% with him - but 52% with you. That's one of the higher % I've seen. |
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