Bitstrips employs user applied Ratings to any published strip. There are 4 rating buttons. These ratings were used
The ratings with their respective icons.
to determine placement on the Front Page, until the edit.
Kudos[]
The kudos, designated by a check mark, is the most versatile rating button in Bitstrips. A kudos is often awarded based on the craft of the strip. Character design, scene design, and layout can be the determining factor in awarding a kudos. If a strip is well put together, clever, or stands out in any other way is a candidate for a kudos. The kudos is an important rating, figuring into the formula for top rated strips.
Favorite[]
The favorite, designated by a star, will place a strip in a users My Favorites button on their My Bitstrips tab. It's uncommon to see a strip with only a favorite. Frequently, it is seen together with a Laugh and/or a Kudos applied. The favorite button is useful to keep track of a users favorite strips allowing you to easily keep them for future reference. Favorite strips are displayed in your profile.
Laugh[]
The laugh button, designated by a green smiley face, is used when the comic you applied it to is, in your opinion, humourous. In the case of other types of strips such as Drama or Experimental it can also mean "approval" for the strip that is not good enough for a Kudo but is still good. "people will often add a "Laugh" to a serious strip when they feel that a "Kudo" alone isn't enough. It just means that they really liked and/or agreed with the strip, not that they actually found it humorous." -Tancid
Groan[]
The groan button, designated by a red frowning face, was initially designed for bad jokes, sometimes known as groaners (for example puns, toilet humor, etc.) and was not intended to have a negative or punitive connotation. The groan button quickly took on a life of it's own, and began to be seen as a means of insulting a strip, or it's author, and likewise authors came to a see a groan as an indictment of them or their strip. You can ignore groans by clicking the appropriate radio button in your user settings. Due to the insulting nature of the groan button, it is far more polite to simply not rate a strip at all if you don't like it. Groans should reserved for strips that are extremely bad, especially if they are offensive to the reader personally especially since groans will not affect ratings at all unless they number more than the laughs, kudos and favorites combined.
LKF[]
LKF is Bitstrips jargon for Laugh, Kudos, Favorite, and is considered the highest compliment for a strip. Users who "LKF" a strip will frequently tell an author they have done so in a comment.
External Links[]
katfireblade's comic, explaining more about the 4 rating buttons
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