The ratio of upvotes awarded to a commenter compared to upvotes awarded to an original poster (OP) weighted for each user's follower count. TAR adjusts for engagement for both parties.
True Adjusted Ratio is calculated as follows:
TAR = (Folₒₚ)/(
Fol꜀) x (UV꜀)/(UVₒₚ), where a value >1 is considered a "W"
Strengths:
- TAR reflects the
true impact of a comment in unbalanced interactions. Comments with fewer followers are augmented, further amplifying OP's humiliation.
- It is possible for a commenter with fewer followers than OP to have fewer upvotes than OP and still obtain a "W".
Limitations:
-
True Adjusted Ratio assumes followers of each account are supportive. It does not take into account "hate-followers".
- TAR fails to take virality into account. A comment is more likely to receive engagement during the
time when a post is most
viral, after which engagement in both original post and comment deteriorate at different geometric rates.
- TAR calculation does not account for downvotes or tertiary responses. While TAR is a more accurate measure in
social media spaces with upvote-only rating systems (e.g. Twitter), ratio calculations may be redundant in spaces which use an upvote/downvote
system (e.g. Reddit). Tertiary reactions that are ambiguous (e.g.
Facebook) are not factored into this calculation.
- "Premium account" algorithms (such as Elon
Musk's blue-check model on Twitter) artificially alter views, skewing engagement in favor of paid subscribers.
True Adjusted Ratio: TAR
OP: Original Post
Folₒₚ: Followers of OP
UVₒₚ: Upvotes for OP
Fol꜀: Followers of commenter
UV꜀: Upvotes for commenter
If a user with
100 followers (Folₒₚ = 100) receives 40 upvotes (UVₒₚ = 40) and a comment from a user with 1000 followers (
Fol꜀ = 1000) receives 50 upvotes (UV꜀ = 50), traditional calculation would consider OP "ratioed" using traditional calculation:
R = UV꜀/UVₒₚ = 50/40 = 1.25
R > 1, thus OP would be ratioed
However, since OP's follower count is 1/10th that of the commenter's, the
True Adjusted Ratio (TAR) is calculated as follows:
TAR = (Folₒₚ)/(
Fol꜀) x (UV꜀)/(UVₒₚ) = 100 / 1000 x 50 / 40 = 0.1 x 1.25 = 0.125,
TAR < 1, thus OP would not be ratioed.
