Got anything to backup the 'users find sliders troublesome' assertion? I’d agree with you if you said developers, but I haven’t heard about any user problems.
I don't have any evidence of users disliking sliders for ratings nor do I claim to. I only said I "think/believe" (as in imho). But for a fact, sliders takes more time and energy - both physical (you have to hold your mouse button) and mental (you need to think more about it) than selection buttons. Thus unless the use case calls for it, users are less likely to prefer it than buttons. Some use cases may be user settings that have more than a few choices or selecting from a number scale.
Now, the new steepster slider definitely calls for it since he uses 100 points rating scale. However, you have to look at the alternative, which for a product rating is normally a 5 point clicking UI w/o a slider. Thus, you have to look at both solutions and see if this new rating system that requires the slider is "better". If the number of user ratings does not decline, it would show that users are not bother by the slider, which means the steepster slider may be "better" for your product rating. But if a typical user finds the slider too troublesome and not bother with leaving a rating, would this new system be better than a simple 5 start system with a better distribution of samples? Steepster may have logs that shows that there isn't a decline in user ratings, but that is only 1 company (sample) with unique sets of users. Before another company follows, I believe it may be wise to ponder or do some testing/research on use of sliders vs. clicks for ratings.
Now, the new steepster slider definitely calls for it since he uses 100 points rating scale. However, you have to look at the alternative, which for a product rating is normally a 5 point clicking UI w/o a slider. Thus, you have to look at both solutions and see if this new rating system that requires the slider is "better". If the number of user ratings does not decline, it would show that users are not bother by the slider, which means the steepster slider may be "better" for your product rating. But if a typical user finds the slider too troublesome and not bother with leaving a rating, would this new system be better than a simple 5 start system with a better distribution of samples? Steepster may have logs that shows that there isn't a decline in user ratings, but that is only 1 company (sample) with unique sets of users. Before another company follows, I believe it may be wise to ponder or do some testing/research on use of sliders vs. clicks for ratings.