I have a similar mindset which is why the 1-5 system bugs me. 4/5 is a good story, but there are better stories which aren't perfect and thus don't get a 5/5 from me. I would like the ability to give 9/10 or 90% or whatever.

Very very few stories will ever get 5/5 from me. I only very recently started rating stories for the library so this only recently occurred to me.

 

But as the 'rate this thread' description itself says, a 5 is not 'perfect'. A 5 is 'excellent'.

This is why I actually like our 5 star system and prefer it to a 10-scale rating: on a 10 scale rating a 10 really does mean perfect, and as such is pretty much unattainable. Using our 5-scale system means you can actually feel comfortable rating as highly as possible, because 'excellent' is just the next step above 'good'.

 

Yeah, if you're not rating any stories at a 5 you're using the rating system wrong.

A 5 is not 'This is the best any fiction can get, ever', it's a 'This is, relative to what has come before, the best fanfiction has to offer.'

 

I think the 5 star system we have now is better than a 10 star one. While a 10 star system might give a finer level of detail, I don't think it adds any real value to the someone searching for a fic.

I think the .5s are a way of adding in a finer level of detail, but ultimately the choice of rounding up or down says a lot more about what the reviewer thinks about the fic than the unnecessary level of detail in a 10 star system. 5 star rating with .5s rounded up or down is more than good enough.