[uf-discuss] Exploratory discussion: content rating

[Drew McLellan]

 From a discussion in #microformats trying to brainstorm around a  
gravatar.com-like system based on distributed hCards, we stumbled  
across perhaps a simpler problem to solve.

All content published on the web is unrated (in terms of nudity,  
violence, profanity etc) by default. There is currently no *simple*  
method for authors to express a rating for their content so that  
visitors may choose to filter on their level of comfort.

Many attempts have been made to solve this over the years. An obvious  
example is http://www.icra.org/
It seems they've pretty much all failed, possibly due to being over- 
complex and hard to implement.

The rough idea being considered is a microformat that:

a) can be applied to any element on a page to express a rating for  
that element
b) is based on a simple, understood rating system such as movie ratings
c) by its presence attempts to 'lower' a rating from its default  
state of unrated.

something like <img src="..." class="rating-x" />

Based on the examples template, I've created http://microformats.org/ 
wiki/content-rating-examples, and we're currently looking at examples  
in the wild.

I think I'm right in saying that none of use involved so far have any  
experience in this exploratory process, and so welcome all input  
(even if it's to say we're stupid).

drew.