| This Service Genre describes the assignment of a subjective evaluation as a property of an object. For example, an object is reviewed, and a value from a range of ratings is applied. Ratings are typically numbers, with higher numbers indicating a more generous subjective evaluation. (E.g. A website which rates cinema films may give a particular film a rating of "4 stars"). The original object MAY be modified by the Rating service. The Rating MAY be applied to a proxy of the object. The Rating MAY be applied as metadata. Ratings can be applied from any subjective scale; common examples include confidence or popularity. The data used to make up the set from which ratings are drawn (the Rating Set) MUST be finite, and MUST be ordered. If neither of these conditions are met, a rating has not been applied (perhaps an annotation or classification has been instead). Ratings SHOULD be attached as a distinct property of an object. (E.g. The property could be "satisfaction" and the allowed Ratings could be "1", "2", "3"). Ratings MAY be made anonymously. Ratings MAY be accompanied by a comment. As defined the Rate Service Genre is not access controlled. Any client may attempt to contact a Rate service end point. There are no authentication controls. The service end point is responsible for determining which individual objects can be rated and which clients can assign ratings to existing objects. |