"Star ratings are simply one way of voicing opinions on your work"

Opinions, in real life, are expressed in first person  (i hope it's the correct english phrase... sorry i'm italian) .

Anonymous opinions haven't any value, in any place in this world.

So, for what i can understand, you eventually don't want to explain or comment your rates... should be good... but i guess you would not be contrary to an automatic system that (it's only an hypothetical example) notify to me that Matrixworkz has rated my work 1 star...

That depends on whether or not you plan on sending me hostile emails or PM's because of my choice of star ratings. I can see down sides on both sides of the issue which is partly why I rate so few things with stars at all. If I wanted PM responses to my opinions on someone's work I'd leave a comment that they could reply to. The way I see it if I give a star at all it means I considered your work good enough to view and rate. If I give no star after viewing then you should worry about what I really think of your work.

"Anonymous opinions haven't any value, in any place in this world."

That itself is an opinion and I don't happen to share it. As I've already stated, any stars on my work whether it be 1 or 5 means someone thought enough of my work to rate it and that is how I view the star ratings. 

It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Albert Einstein

I'm not afraid to rate 1 star. Frankly if nobody ever rates less than 4 stars then the whole star rating system is suddenly skewed and irrelevant to begin with. This is why ratings systems always end up so controversial and useless in the end. If I can't rate something what I think it deserves then why rate it at all? It's not crap or I wouldn't rate it at all.

I don't know about everyone else, but Star ratings to me are completely Kindergarden in nature. When I was in grade school, any Star on my homework was "Above and Beyond" the grade itself. It was icing on my cake. It was the sweetness above it's grade!

I'm afraid.... but i suppose we'll never find a convergence point.

Because you haven't answered to my primary question... 

What is the useful thing in having a work rated by an anonymous without any explanation? Is it useful to me to improve my work? i don't think so.

Is it useful to other users or visitors, to valutate contents before downloading?

It should be, but only if previous ratings were honest and correct... and , just imho,  

an anonymous rating system is too subject to abuse to be right.

But i also understand where the fear is ... you could not be free to give me a 1 star (only the same example as before  ) if the rate was signed, 

because i could complain with you, or enter into your portfolio and rate all your works with a 1/2 star... it's a possibility! So, i think there is only a solution: 

eliminate the useless star rating system, and leave only the comments.

P.s.

"That itself is an opinion and I don't happen to share it"

yes , you are right, but it is not an anonymous opinion, so it has a value!

P.s.2 Hi Panthia! Thanks a lot for your comment on my Halloween image. I appreciate it very much. 

Get rid of ratings or force the person rating to comment and show that it is that person making the rating.

I don't believe ratings work I think that whole system is just open to abuse.

What I don't quite understand is why people seem to think star-ratings are only of value to the person whose work is being rated. When I go to YouTube, I immediately sort by ratings. The ratings are anonymous. The point is that now I can see how everyone else liked the item, which is usually a good predictor of how much I'll like it. It only takes a few people (no more than 5) for a good average score to come up.

Even with sites like Yelp.com (if you haven't already checked that site out, do), where people do leave comments, I rarely read them... I really just sort by rating, since that really helps (and I've found a lot of good restaurants that way).

I want the rating system to primarily serve that purpose. You watch it/view it/use it, and now, since you are a nice person, you want to let other people know to watch it/view it/use it too.

Not to mention, I'm a bit afraid that people will just not rate as much if they are forced to leave a named message. First, it's more of a hassle, so naturally people won't want to do it. Second, concerns about PMing/rate-backlashes are real, and will tend to decrease honesty on the site.

-Jake 

People have learnt to manipulate the rating system so its no use. It looks pretty and that's about it in my opinion.

We've all seen it happen at places like Rendo when really good art gets nowhere because the artisit is not a member of a clique and people who have produced really not very good art have shown in the top ten because they wee voted on by all their friends.

A lot of people have the feeling that if someone votes for them they have to automatically go and vote for that person whether or not their art is good. That's why rating sysems and particularly anonymous rating systems don't work.