Rating algorithm overhaul - Have your say!

[Meg]

"Also if these charts were promoted and given higher attention  on the website they would hopefully be used more and users won't rely mostly on food scores."

With hindsight my word "mostly" would be written in italic as that is what I'm trying to put across albeit, clumsily.
The charts on the website follow list of ingredients and an old boot could prop up the protein (and be somewhat disguised in the list), and this shows where scoring should not be dismissed.
Yet it is invaluable to have the charts - having had a dog with specific needs that relied on low protein, low ash, low fat, moderate fibre.
Perhaps David will further promote the charts as they may be a building block to coding for dogs with specific dietary needs for health reasons.

[Meg]

David you did ask us to have our say......I wonder does this sound like it may help to 'tick' the boxes :-

Re solely the coding for the scoring based on the ingredients: 
That already seems to be an important criteria for many people, perhaps moreso now with greater awareness of  what we are feeding dogs; yet time is precious and it is so much easier to read a number (a score/rating) and when time becomes available to be able to read & see the reasoning behind the numbering as explained elsewhere on the site.
 So sticking with numbers....... once the results are ready  (and rated by whichever option the user choses, as is happening already),  then perhaps add code to perform further sorts on that database (of those results) to present a PROCESSING score/rating, and an ETHICAL score/rating and a COOKING/PREPARATION method, and a CARBON FOOTPRINT score/rating.
These 5 results could be presented to the user side by side or in tabular form. 
Again these are numbers, and again would be backed up by reasoning.

It may look like information overload yet the majority of information is there in a fairly understandable format to enable a user to make a more informed choice. This amounts to presenting all 5 results at once without offering further user choice.


Re the coding for the nutrients:
as you may know I am a great fan of those dials(!) and I'd really like more emphasis given to them. ie bigger dials, per variety (lots of work I know sorry), and brief explanations in text with links to your wonderful articles on feeding dogs with health issues (which you have written and are writing).
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It's too difficult for me to choose exactly my preferences as the ingredient scoring is as important to me as the processing and that is as important as the preparation and cooking! Ethically I'd want animal welfare at the top, carbon footprint is another biggy for now and the future generations.

[David]

Thanks Meg