Review inflation on ENworld

[tleilaxu]

Well, all that I am proposing for actual changes is to add a percentile ranking. For example, if Manual of the Planes gets a better rating than 98% of products reviewed on ENworld then I pretty much know it is a must have. We all have limited amounts of money here and the only game store in HK shrink wraps the books! I need to economize.

Now, the main negative to this suggestion is that it would add some work for the admins. That is the biggest barrier to it happening AFAI can tell. Does anyone object to having a percentile ranking for any other reason?

Umbran: I bow to your somantic arguements, but for me this is a casual medium of communication, meaning

I am lazy with puncuation, grammer and word use. I'm not writing my doctoral thesis, just Idally discussing something that doesn't matter all that much in the 'grand scheme of things'*

*fnord

 

[tleilaxu]

When I look through the product lists, I find that not only do I avoid products with low scores -- I also avoid products that have been out for a while and have not garnered even one review. To me that says a) people aren't buying it or b) people didn't care for it.

Eric: is there any list of titles that have never been reviewed? A wanted list for products no one has commented on?

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I go by the Empire Film magazine system for rating things.
5*) A movie masterpiece, like LotR, Star Wars Ep4...films that are generally agreed to be incredible pieces of work.
4*) A very good film. Almost everyone should go and see it, but for some reason it isn't quite a masterpiece.
3*) It's worth seeing, if you like the genre, or one of the actors, and don't mind a few clunky bits. Not a dud, but not a waste of money.
2*) Only go and see it if you really like the genre, actor etc etc
1*) No one should see this film. It is awful.

This scale of things has served me fairly well so far, but it does tend towards 3 or 4 star reviews, mostly because in my case I'm a nice person that can enjoy most things. However, if it is a 1* film it gets mercilessly hacked to death.

 

[Umbran]

When I say code, I'm talking more about some minimium requirements for the review. Sort of like a word length of a couple hundred words. There are many reviews of about 4 lines or so, and I haven't read any of that length that get the job done.

Oops. Sorry, my bad. I used the word "code" to refer to two different things. One was a code for writing a review - meaning the full text of the review, the other a code for giving the numeric rating. Sorry for the confusion.

I don't think there should be a code for the numeric ratings. That measure is best left as user defined. I think that's the way it's most useful.

 

[Umbran]

... Does anyone object to having a percentile ranking for any other reason?

Umbran: I bow to your somantic arguements, but for me this is a casual medium of communication, meaning

Well, amid all the formal argument, there's a simple, casual meaning. A percentile ranking doesn't mean much, and can actually be misleading in this context.

While perhaps being in the 95th percentile means it's a "must have", depending on the shape of the distribution, you can still have "must haves" down in the 70th percentile. You can wind up giving really good products a bad reputation.

I think that constitutes a good argument against percentile ratings.

 

[Crothian]

I don't think you can ever have a number rating system that means the same thing to everyone. My 3 might not be your 3, and this guys 3 might be different from both your and mine. Having a scale from 1-10, percentage, or stars isn't going to change that. I think most people who use the reviews realize that reading the review is the best way to get actual information. That's why I think we need to trime the reviews and cull the ones that just don't cut it. I like how the reviews are done by the fans for the fans, but I think the standards need to be raised.

 

[Krug]

What's the point of looking for a mathematical average? For the staff reviewers, they get a lot of product sent by companies. Undoubtedly most companies will send good or excellent products, and as the reviewers do more reviews, the companies will try to send products they are confident the reviewers will like. As long as I read the review and get the information I want, I'm satisfied.

 

[Umbran]

What's the point of looking for a mathematical average? For the staff reviewers, they get a lot of product sent by companies. Undoubtedly most companies will send good or excellent products...

Not all the reviews are done from free copy, and not all reviews are done by the staff reviewers. People can and do freely review things they have bought.

 

[Dragongirl]

Well I don't think we are going to see any major changes in how the reviews are graded.

1) Too many reviews in there now to go back and change to a new system.
2) Last time I talked to Liquide about it, he was finding it hard to get the time to tinker with the code (programming). Or had timing conflicts with Morrus since the the whole review section would have to come down to be tinkered with.

 

[Dragongirl]

I go by the Empire Film magazine system for rating things.
5*) A movie . . .

Hey, I like the the way you put that!