Back in the day, Mr. Krug gave a lot of Ingress AMA answers that often included “I think,” “it’s my opinion,” or “I don’t know but I’ll check with Nia Ops” and never provided further information and many times contradictory. The community collectively took his statements as gospel but I think more were incorrect than we were lead to believe.
There’s a lot of slop to dig through. Before I started searching the archives, I couldn’t remember him saying it was any better or worse to 3* or skip. In trying to find something to back you up, I did find this response…
Q139: Could you comment on what the OPR rating stars actually mean? Our local chats have been debating this round and round again. Some say that 5* is full accept, 3* is unsure, 1* is reject, so therefore 2* is a rejection but not terrible, 4* is accepting but not 100% behind it. Others argue that 2* and up are acceptances, since 1* is the only reject.
A139: Three is considered neutral. Anything less is negative and anything above is positive. 1 being the most negative and 5 being the most positive.
Ingress AMA Archive
There was also the following response I always found odd:
Q47: In OPR, why are the categories 1-5 stars? Several of them should be binary Yes/No or ternary Yes/No/Maybe. For example, for Location - 1 star would suggest wrong location (which should disqualify it, per Portal Criteria), 3 is maybe it is there, and 5 is definitely there, I can see on the map or in street view. What would 2 or 4 mean? Similarly, Title. It’s either accurate, or not, right? What would 2, 3, or 4 mean for Title?
A47: This has been answered in a previous AMA. The stars are a five point gradient scale for how accurate or correct the submission and information matches the category. Title isn’t actually binary. Especially if the title of the candidate isn’t overtly clear. In the case of a plaque or known work of art, sure. But not everything has a proper formal name leaving things a bit open to interpretation. In those cases, can you discern what the candidate is by the title?
If a concrete statue of a pink elephant was created in October 1999 to commemorate brest cancer awareness month and the title submitted was “Brest Cancer Awareness Pink Elephant Statue”, that should be a five star because it is a descriptive title or official title. If the candidate title is just, “Pink Elephant Statue”… then that might be a 4 star rating. If the title is “Elephant Statue” then perhaps a 3 rating. If the submitted title is just “Cement Animal Statue” that might be a 2. If it is just “Statue” or “Pizza Restaurant”, that might be a 1.
Ingress AMA Archive
… Any time these get brought up, I want to make sure it’s clear that Mr. Krug may or may not have been providing strictly factual answers and rarely seemed involved with OPR and never carried into Wayfarer that we saw. These are also so outdated that I expect anything related to the back end to be no more relevant than a theory.
It’s interesting bringing this question up, thanks for raising it. I’ll give my opinion - when I review, I try to consider, what if I’m the only person reviewing it? Is it fair and just to accept or deny? Are the answers ones I’m comfortable with rating “idk” for something like location? Or is it best to leave it to somebody who may be able to more thoroughly catch what I’ve missed or offer better context at reviewing than I can.
What about you? Does anyone else see anything the old Ingress AMA archives relevant to the discussion?
