To narrow your choice, (...) sort the results by number of downloads. This number is not a guarantee but surely a guide.
This is an (often made) wrong assumption. Reality might be even contrary to this assumption.
Think about it:
- Typically, the first upload will have the most downloads.
- On top of that, many users think that most downloads refers to best quality, so those subs will get even more downloads.
- It is easier and thus FASTER to make a mediocre subtitle than to make a good subtitle. So the mediocre subtitle will be uploaded before the good subtitle.
If you want to look at these kind of data, then better consider the
latest subtitle. This might be a corrected version of earlier subs, or it might be made by a better subtitler who has spent more time on making it.
A better method, possibly a 'step 2', would be to load the subtitle into subtitling software like Subtitle Edit and have a look at technical aspects, like line length, CPS-ratio and durations. Typically, beginner subtitlers will focus only on the translation and text, while more advanced subtitlers also consider these mentioned technical aspects.
That being said, subtitles uploaded by a badged
Trusted member or
Sub Translator are often better than subs uploaded by other users, including 1-2-3-star uploaders, which is a badge automatically assigned to users after a certain number of uploads.