TELA Content Rating System
Community-Powered Quality: Users rate TELA apps on a 0-99 scale. Ratings are stored on-chain (transparent, immutable) with one vote per DERO account per app.
In decentralized networks, quality assessment happens through community consensus, not gatekeepers. TELA's on-chain rating system provides transparency without censorship.
Understanding TELA's Rating Approach
TELA's rating system is built directly into its smart contracts, enabling users to provide feedback on any deployed content. Unlike centralized rating systems that can be manipulated or censored, TELA's approach is transparent, immutable, and distributed across the blockchain network.
When a user rates TELA content, their assessment is permanently recorded on the blockchain. Each rating transaction requires a ringsize of 2, which ensures the rating is properly attributed while maintaining the blockchain's security properties. The smart contract stores both the rating value and the address of the rater, creating an auditable trail of feedback.
What makes this system particularly powerful is its structured approach to ratings. Rather than using a simple like/dislike binary, TELA implements a nuanced 0-99 scale where the digits themselves carry specific meaning.
How Rating Values Work
Two-digit system: [Category][Detail]
Rating Categories (First Digit)
| Rating | Category | Quality Level | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ❌ Do Not Use | Dangerous | Serious issues, avoid |
| 1 | 🔴 Broken | Critical | App doesn't work |
| 2 | 🟠 Major Issues | Poor | Significant problems |
| 3 | 🟡 Minor Issues | Below Average | Some bugs |
| 4 | 🟡 Should Improve | Below Average | Needs work |
| 5 | 🟢 Could Improve | Average- | Decent, room for growth |
| 6 | 🟢 Average | Average | Meets expectations |
| 7 | 🔵 Good | Good | High quality |
| 8 | 🔵 Very Good | Very Good | Excellent |
| 9 | 🟣 Exceptional | Outstanding | Best-in-class |
Detail Tags (Second Digit)
For Negative Ratings (Category 0-4):
| Tag | Meaning | Example Use |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Nothing specific | General poor quality |
| 1 | Needs review | Questionable content |
| 2 | Needs improvement | Low quality execution |
| 3 | Bugs | Technical issues present |
| 4 | Errors | Broken functionality |
| 5 | Inappropriate | Unsuitable content |
| 6 | Incomplete | Missing features |
| 7 | Corrupted | Files don't load |
| 8 | Plagiarized | Copied without credit |
| 9 | Malicious | Security threat |
Source: tela-dev/ratings.go:54-65 - negativeDetails map
For Positive Ratings (Category 5-9):
| Tag | Meaning | Example Use |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Nothing specific | General approval |
| 1 | Needs review | Needs attention (same as negative) |
| 2 | Needs improvement | Could be better (same as negative) |
| 3 | Bugs | Has bugs (same as negative) |
| 4 | Errors | Has errors (same as negative) |
| 5 | Visually appealing | Great design |
| 6 | In depth | Comprehensive |
| 7 | Works well | Reliable functionality |
| 8 | Unique | Original concept |
| 9 | Benevolent | Helpful to community |
Source: tela-dev/ratings.go:67-78 - positiveDetails map
Real Examples
| Rating | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| 77 | "Good, Works well" ✅ |
| 89 | "Very good, Benevolent" 🌟 |
| 43 | "Should improve, Bugs" ⚠️ |
| 09 | "Do not use, Malicious" 🚨 |
| 60 | "Average, Nothing specific" 🟢 |
Practical Benefits
TELA's rating system provides several important benefits to the ecosystem:
Quality Signaling
In a decentralized network without central authority, quality signals help users discover trustworthy content. High ratings can indicate applications that meet community standards and expectations.
Developer Feedback
Ratings provide valuable feedback to developers about how their applications are being received. The detail tags are particularly useful, as they highlight specific areas for improvement.
Malicious Content Warning
Low ratings, especially those with detail tags like "Malicious" or "Corrupted," serve as warning signs to users about potentially harmful content. This works in tandem with TELA's security model to provide a multi-layered defense against harmful content.
Ecosystem Curation
While remaining permissionless, the rating system enables a form of community curation that helps highlight valuable content without imposing censorship.
Anti-Manipulation Safeguards
| Protection | How It Works | Prevents |
|---|---|---|
| One vote per account | Each DERO address rates once per app | Rating spam |
| Blockchain transparency | All ratings publicly visible | Hidden manipulation |
| Transaction costs | Small gas fee to rate | Mass fake ratings |
| Immutable record | Can't delete or change ratings | Review bombing then deleting |
Result: Fair, transparent ratings that can't be gamed by bots or fake accounts!
Conclusion
TELA's content rating system demonstrates how decentralized platforms can incorporate quality assessment without compromising on core principles of censorship resistance and openness. By encoding structured feedback directly onto the blockchain, TELA creates a transparent, manipulation-resistant system for community-driven content evaluation.
This approach helps solve one of the key challenges in decentralized systems: how to provide quality signals without reintroducing centralized gatekeepers. As the TELA ecosystem continues to grow, this rating system will play an increasingly important role in helping users navigate the expanding landscape of decentralized applications.