I see the same people on the "featured list with 2 or 3 sets being featured. I have had 2 featured since I joined, do you have to be in contest or something to have your set featured? I feel like I will never be good enough. It's very discouraging to see people with the same kind of set have 2 or 3 each week or even each day?
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@sustainablejaney No, they sold themselves ;D and now another popular Polyvore-like site is going to be sold. I know that because the same company asked us about the possibility of buying URSTYLE, but I did not agree.
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@admin Thank you so much for not selling URSTYLE!! I appreciate all you do to keep the site up and running. You must put a lot of work into maintenance, updates, and other things we don't know about. You have created a great website! I hope it continues for many years, and I wish you success in all your future endeavors.
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@admin Thank you so much for clarifying how this works since I only had part of it right.
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@admin I'm so glad you didn't sell URStyle since it's a fantastic website that I enjoy so much. I presume that you do generate revenue from advertising & have noticed a big uptick in ads on the site that often lead me to discovering some fabulous sources of fashion items for my sets.
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Aw don't worry I'm pretty sure you'll get more sets featured, I was a little discouraged that a lot of my Halloween sets didn't get featured but a few of my fashion sets did get featured and it made me happy. So I could understand. You'll get better keep trying.
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@admin, so you aren't a business? And you made a point that your are different ;D? How?
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@funkyjunkygypsy I think all of the Sets that show up in the "Get Inspired" section are all of the sets made by all URSTYLE members in chronological order of when they are published. When you publish a set it immediately shows up in the "Get Inspired" section. I once published 3 sets in a row and they showed up one after another in this section.
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@sustainablejaney hey I like it very much when multiple of my sets get featured what's wrong with that. You're not that good I saw your sets. Don't be upset I'm just being honest.
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Funny how this topic showed up recently as I was just about to ask the same question myself but was afraid to ask. I also feel that the same people do get chosen over and over while others rarely get picked. And many sets that do show up meet the Algorithm Rules and are Fabulous Sets! So they are well deserved!!! However, many that do get chosen either do not have a high like count, have no or little comments, do not use any items from the shop and/or they are not from new members either. Some of those sets are really Fabulous too and some are OK but need improvement but these sets really don't meet the Algorithm Rules 100%! Maybe in some of these sets the user used a lot of items from the shop that helped the sets get to the Featured Page. Many of those items on the Shop Page are linked to old expired web pages or links to fashion items from a few year ago so they are not the latest fashion styles nor can you buy the items. With these observations, I hate to say it but the Algorithm kind of sucks and I'm not sure it works all of the time or is too arbitrary in how the sets are chosen. It's the main reason why I made this set over a year ago:
This year, I made a lot of sets for Halloween and not one set got featured. I thought they were really good, I spent a lot of time making them and had fun doing so! They did meet most the Algorithm criteria with the exception of maybe not using enough items from the shop but I did use several items from there. However, not one showed up and I am disappointed but not surprised because even on Polyvore where actual people picked the top sets, I only got 3 tops sets over 5 years being there while others got endless Top Sets each week. Who knows why, maybe they just didn't like how I made my sets??? Now I don't expect all of my sets to show up on the Featured Page but at least one or two a week would be nice. Seems fair but nothing is fair in life! Oh well, it won't stop me from making more sets in the future! As a comparison, I also make sets on TrendMe, Combyne, and ShopLook but not as many as I have on here and I feel I have been featured a lot more often on those three websites with less sets made than on here. I have gotten quite a lot of Top Sets on Trendme and I placed in the Top 3 winners in 2 official contests on Shoplook picked out by real people not a computer!!!
I have had a few of my sets on the featured page but it's weird as to the ones that have gotten chosen. The ones that got featured where not the best I made nor had the highest likes count or a lot of comments. I read over the Algorithms steps and my sets usually meet the criteria within the 24 hour limit from publishing rule with the exception maybe not of using enough items for the shop. I do use some but I use a lot of stuff I imported myself or by other users. I don't particularly like the items provided by URSTYLE as they are old fashion items (most of the links are dead, 404's or items not found) and there are a lot items with body parts in them or on mannequins which I really don't like to use in my sets.
So my point is to say let's not get too caught up in being in the Featured Page as it is determined by an Algorithm that I don't think works all that great and is chosen essentially by a computer and not an actual person or a group. It would mean more if an actual person(s) picked the sets. That's why I am more happy when I place in a group contest because an actual member of the website liked what I made no matter how many likes I got, comments I had or what items I used! They valued my style, hard work and creativity and that is more satisfying then showing up on the Featured Page!!!
Hugs, Diana XOXOXOXO
P.S.: I'll be making a set with all items from the URSTYLE Shop! Lets see if it make it to the Featured Page! My guess is NOPE!!!
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@minerva that might be the most insecure most childish thing I have ever read on a site like this coming from the goddess of wisdom, let's us see your true colors. "YOU'RE NOT THAT GOOD, I SAW YOUR SETS" said @Minera, I'm not upset, I am embarrassed for such a poor, sore winner. I feel pity. Greed can even get to the gods.
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@curekitty a fellow Pollie survivor. I am the one the asked the question. I understand why you wouldn't want to ask. Just look at what Minerva said to me. I had not addressed her, yet she felt she needed to be judge juror & critic. At Polyvore in those 5 years, I spent more time there b/c it was a community. I won many Art Sets and maybe 3 Fashion sets. We inspired each other. Thank you for your story. It makes me understand how this site works & doesn't. Enjoy your great work. Jane
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o you aren't a business? And you made a point that your are different ;D? How?
This project has a very long history dating back to its beginnings about 12 years ago when the first version of URSTYLE was created, available only in Polish. Over the years, we managed to acquire an investor to build an entirely new version (currently available), hire programmers, graphic designers, etc. After a while, I bought out the investor's shares with private funds, but unfortunately, the project generated very high costs, and the idea for monetization was not entirely thought out (we focused more on building the portal itself). Eventually, the team disbanded, and I was left with URSTYLE de facto alone, continuing to support the project out of my own pocket. However, ultimately, thanks to advertisements and several optimizations, we reached the point where URSTYLE no longer generates costs and earns for its maintenance (server fees). The times of working on URSTYLE were very exhausting and frustrating (sleepless nights due to portal failures), which discouraged me from further developing the platform itself, and for some time now, the portal has been living its own life. Thanks to investing time in my other projects and companies, I have managed to regain stability. Currently, I am focusing on other projects (like the online store https://inspiruj.pl (currently available only in Polish)), but thanks to catching a breath and other my projects bringing profit, I plan to reinvest in URSTYLE and complete the work on the portal, and there is definitely still a lot of work to be done here
My current priority is a slight redesign of the homepage, regular publication of news from the world of fashion, adding new products to the "Store" tab, fixing a few bugs, and if we manage to raise funds, creating a new, professional mobile application. Of course, each stage of work is also associated with the "renovation" of the entire infrastructure and software, so it takes a while. However, the most important thing is motivation and consistency in action, and the motivation is given to me by users like you - active users
some of whom I have seen here for many years.I have had a few of my sets on the featured page but it's weird as to the ones that have gotten chosen. The ones that got featured where not the best I made nor had the highest likes count or a lot of comments
@curekitty please remember that likes and comments received within 24 hours of publication count.
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@sustainablejaney I didn't say it for you to get upset what's the matter you can't take criticism. Maybe your sets are not what they are looking for. Stop being a baby about this issue. Just enjoy that urstyle is still with us and you know what create whatever you want!
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@sustainablejaney so my sets get featured and I also have winning sets. I'm not the greatest set maker but I'm not complaining. Your the one making all that noise. You want to know how I really feel Your sets suck. I was trying to encourage you to do better but you turn it around to insult me. Whatever!!!!
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@admin Thank you for your great response! I have a better understanding of the things you have to do to keep this website going and it is greatly appreciated! I used to work for a medical software company in the software testing and quality assurance department for over 20 years so I know what you have to do to keep this website running. I hope you don't think my response was anything negative about what you do. I was just making some observations and I got carried away with what I said. I tend to pick apart things I see with computer programs and websites that could be potential issues, bugs and system improvements, it is the Software Tester in me that does that. I thank you for keeping the website going and I look forward to your system improvements! Good Luck and Best Wishes! I still think this is the best website to make Sets!
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@curekitty I did not take that as something negative, thank you
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@admin What is you mission statement? What do you hope to achieve with this platform? I am a sustainable fashion data manager. So I am looking for the end line. Sustainable fashion is becoming the latest trend because fashion must live. I appreciate you taking the time to explain URSTYLE to me. I was a Pollie for years & years when we had music & nothing to contain our creativity. Before they sold out. It was devastating. I want to help save this planet. That is my mission statement. Jane PS I looked at your online store, is it selling new products?
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@sustainablejaney Wow! This thread is mind-blowing. I replied to @sustainablejaney because she wanted to know exactly what gets a Set Featured on UrStyle’s Front/Home Page. @Admin answered the question, which is MUCH appreciated. What isn’t appreciated is how fickle and frankly, unfair, those requirements are.
As @Admin has stated that:
- A featured set must receive at least 5 likes within 24 hours to be considered for featuring.
Points are awarded for:
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Each like received
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Unique comments under the set
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Extra points for including products from URSTYLE, available under the shop tab or directly in Create mode
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Fewer points are awarded for using only self-uploaded products
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New users (those who created an account less than a week ago) will receive a bonus.
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More followers at URSTYLE means more likes and comments under your sets.
From my understanding, based on @Admin’s explanation, the current algorithm is designed to award “POINTS”.
The Sets that get the most Points trigger the coding (algorithm) and therefore, get featured.
The requirements that a Set must meet to “trigger” the algorithm and be awarded those Points, in my opinion, make no REALISTIC consideration of User Activity.The algorithm is awarding Points based on ‘Artist Popularity’ and ‘Member Participation of a Certain Kind’.
- A featured set must receive at least 5 likes within 24 hours to be considered for featuring.
That’s kind of unfair, considering that most of our Followers are not online at the very same time as we are. This is a global platform and time-zones vary. So do people's schedules. Requiring 5 Likes within 24-hours of Set publication isn’t much, but when coupled with the additional requirements (below), those 5 timely Likes can easily get canceled out.
Not everyone who uses UrStyle is checking their Feed, or checking the Set Pages of their favorite UrStyle artists, every 24 hours. Heck, many are not even ONLINE every 24-hours. I’m not, and when I am, I have a load of Notifications to go through and Contests to congratulate and thank for before I can even enjoy my Feed and the Featured Pages.
Additionally, my time is limited here, yet that should NOT make the Set LIKES I give less meaningful that those Likes given to the same Set with 24-hours of its publication. I, and others, may Like it days later. That doesn’t help the Set Creator at all in getting featured.
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Each like received (A multitude of Likes…)
@Admin did not give an exact number of Likes here, but I think we can expect that Sets with the MOST likes earns Points. As no time-breakdown was indicated here either, I question: Does this mean that Sets with the most Likes within 24-hours of publication influence the algorithm? Or is there a different time-period to gain those precious +5 Likes?
If I publish a Set right now, am I being ‘judged’ against Sets that were published before mine was?
And 24-hours after my Set is published, IF my Set even makes the Front Page, I may find it way down the page as more Sets published by other members may have been awarded more Points. But again, that’s even if my Set is Featured... and I must have many, many LIKES for this to happen --- among other things. -
Unique comments under the set
All of you who are leaving simple, perhaps 'copied & pasted' remarks, on Winning Sets to congratulate the artist, guess what? Those comments are not unique! And even if they were, the Set you are congratulating is almost certainly more than 24-hours old, so your comments may not count towards generating points for the Set. To generate points for a Set, it seems you must watch your Feed Page (Don’t forget to refresh it!) and like the Sets you love. Then you need to write very unique comments on each Liked Set. A heart/emoji, words like “Gorgeous!” or “Love this!” or “Beautiful!” are too-often used. (That likely counts for "Thank you!" when you respond to a comments on your own Set.) Not “unique” at all. Get out your thesauruses, People! -
Extra points for including products from URSTYLE, available under the shop tab or directly in Create mode
What if your design doesn’t have a use or need for products offered under the Shop Tab?
I guess I’m going to have to pop a few in to my Sets and hide them behind the scene to trigger the algorithm! 🤭 -
fewer points are awarded for using only self-uploaded products
So , we are essentially punished for creating and often offering unique graphics to the collection of available graphic items available for use on UrStyle? -
New users (those who created an account less than a week ago) will receive a bonus.
Any account LESS than a week-old gets a boost. Most of us can never get that “boost”. And who cares? It only lasts for a VERY short time and then it's over. Kind of a waste of ya ask me. -
More followers at URSTYLE means more likes and comments under your sets.
More followers does not mean more Likes within 24-hours of a Set’s publication, nor does it promise more UNIQUE comments on your Sets. It does promise that IF you place products offered under the Shop Tab in your Sets, more people will see (and hopefully buy) those products.
I believe this supports my opinion that ‘Artist Popularity' and ‘Member Participation of a Certain Kind’ (Timing of Likes, Unique Comments, etc.) are going to get ya Featured. @sustainablejaney, I hope this explains exactly why you: “see the same people on the "featured list with 2 or 3 sets being featured”.
I agree with @curekitty when she states that “the Algorithm kind of sucks” and that it may be “too arbitrary in how the sets are chosen.” I also agree that it’s best, as she said, to “not get too caught up in being in the Featured Page as it is determined by an Algorithm that I don't think works all that great and is chosen essentially by a computer”. I’m with ya Sister! The algorithm, which @Admin tells us will be revised, does us no favors.
Yet, I’m glad there isn’t a panel of people selecting the Featured Sets, @curekitty. Different styles and art forms appeal to different people. The same panel would be selecting Sets based on their own individual preferences. An algorithm is more impartial than that, but the present one, as you said, sucks. I hope that when @Admin revises it, “Points” can be awarded in a more realistic way.
I also find placing in a Group Contest (and getting Honorable Mentions!) to be far more exciting and rewarding because our Sets are being examined and considered regarding a variety of factors. Yes, judges may find that they are drawn to certain styles, but I feel they all do their very best to be fair and impartial. (In fact, I’m so concerned about this tendency that I have Mystery/Guest Judges in our Twisted Gypsies group!)
Your words, @curekitty; “an actual member of the website liked what I made no matter how many likes I got, comments I had or what items I used! They valued my style, hard work and creativity and that is more satisfying than showing up on the Featured Page!!!” are very well-said and inspiring!
I do understand why @sustainablejaney wants her work to be displayed on the Featured Page more often, however. And if a large amount of Followers is what you need to get there, what better place for your Sets to appear than on the “home” page of UrStyle? Even understanding how meaningless being Featured seems to be with the current algorithm, if the coding is more balanced, being Featured will have more impact.
And speaking of attaining balance, I think Polyvore was both a site to promote goods and an artistic venue. I may be wrong. (I thought I was wrong once, but I was wrong. 🤪) I expect that they had to focus on selling because they didn’t have the proper balance between Sales and Rewarding User Experience. I’ve been in sales for over 35 years and the rule of thumb is this: “When you help others get what they want, you’ll get what you want.” When applied to UrStyle, this principle means that when attention is made to creating a quality, satisfying User Experience, the products offered will generate the desired revenue.
URSTYLE, it seems, is trying to create the right balance, but is currently leaning on the side of the “online store”. Revenue, is, without question, essential in keeping a platform like this running. (I know you know this, @sustainablejaney. I’m just kind of reiterating what @Admin said in their reply to you. To me, it came across as a little condescending, but having communicated with Damien over the years, and knowing there’s a bit of a language barrier, I believe I can tell when his tone is light-hearted and in the spirit of community.) I appreciate that he followed up with an extensive explanation of URSTYLE operations for those not familiar with what goes on behind the scenes. Being in your industry, I realize that you are very familiar with such. I can also see why you feel that the Almighty Dollar is now more important to the UrStyle Powers That Be than their members…
@Admin stated that “the most important thing is motivation and consistency in action, and the motivation is given to me by users like you - active users”.
@sustainablejaney, you asked a question and you were answered. Yet, I didn’t like the answer you got. We have less of a chance of earning Points (exposure on the Featured Page) UNLESS we incorporate products offered under the Shop Tab in our Sets. That isn’t always possible.
And what constitutes an ACTIVE User?
Does one have to be on UrStyle a certain number of hours a day, or in a week?
And what kind of activity is considered “active?” If we're busy Liking Sets with 24-hours of their publication and leaving “Unique Comments” on those Set while responding to Contest Announcements, comments on our own Sets, and our messages, when do we busy folks have time to create???People who are busier than others, people who may work full-time or have other matters to attend to, should NOT be punished because they are unable to contribute to the mass activity UrStyle seems to require (at present) in order to be Featured. Either the Featured page remains a farce OR @Admin should come up with fairer, more reasonable, and more realistic requirements when it comes to being granted “Points”. It should be all inclusive. (I’d love User Suggestions on this, and I bet @Admin would too!!!)
As I said before, selecting Sets to be Featured could be very problematic if people made those decisions. What is considered “Good” is relative to the person viewing the work; to their own likes and dislikes, to the styles and even the shapes and colors that appeal to them, as well as the genres. Anyone on Polyvore will likely remember that Contest Winners were determined by Likes and the same people kept winning top placements. That is an example of why I'm against having the same group of people decide what Set's get Featured. I create some pretty off-beat Sets. Sometimes, the only off-beat thing about it is the title, but my style is not for everyone. I doubt I would make the Front Page very often if a panel determined which Sets should be recognized and which should not. From a marketing perspective, my work should never be Featured, LOL!
Now, I must hand out a well-meaning Tsk-Tsk to my pal @Minerva. She can be insensitive at times. @Minerva! To say: “You're not that good I saw your sets. Don't be upset I'm just being honest.” is mean-spirited.
I know you sometimes act impulsively and say things that shouldn‘t be said. Heck! I publish Sets that shouldn’t be seen! 
LOL! Perhaps, after reading this and understanding that Sets are NOT Featured based on whether anyone considers them “good”, but based on an unfair algorithm, you will consider deleting your comment and offering an apology? When the algorithm is changed, as @Admin said they will be doing (hopefully for the better of both Sales and User Experience), how will you feel if your Sets don’t meet the new requirements of the revised algorithm and, as a result, are not Featured? And how would you feel if someone criticized your art and added insults? We all have the right to understand the workings of this website as it affects us.Lastly, like you, @sustainablejaney, I also would like to know UrStyle’s Mission Statement.
I can’t find it anywhere. Shout out to @Admin! -
@funkyjunkygypsy after looking at the #featuredsets I keep seeing with outside images, no comments, even double or triple sets of the same kind of cropped pictures from again outside images are only the only ones featured. Even some of the sets don't have comments, they don't have one item from URSTYLE & yet they are the featured artist of the days and days and days. I am not the greatest set maker nor will I ever be, I thank my friend @FunkyJunkyGypsy & stand right beside her & this statement. When someone tells you "You want to know what I really think, Your sets suck!" That is rude & not what a community of artists & creativity being alike would find ok. The Admin gave me a long explanation of his troubles keeping URSTYLE afloat. I'd like to know what his vision of this platform is for, what is the mission statement? What do they hope to provide. Still waiting. Thank you @FunkyJunkyGypsy for explaining this so very well.
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