dididave..Defender of the Crown! (dooyoo Crowns)

Member Name: dididave

Product:	dooyoo Crowns
Date:	20/03/09 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Comparatively transparent system.

Disadvantages: You may believe a review deserves one and doesn't get it.

The Crown System is such a simple and well-implemented one that it has remained one of my major reasons for keeping dooyoo as my number one review site for over four years. Dooyoo crowns are a source of contention for many dooyooers but I really don't see why.

Let us look at how the system is implemented as described in dooyoo's own help pages.

"Members of the dooyoo community nominate reviews for Crowns. dooyoo will read all of these reviews and then decide which reviews should be awarded a Crown. This is the only way dooyoo can be sure that Crowns are awarded objectively.

Crowns are NOT awarded according to ratings, members, dooyoo Guides or by the number of nominations they receive."

This all seems very straightforward to me. Dooyoo look at all nominated reviews by members and staff decide which reviews are awarded a Crown. Can't say fairer than that surely? It is clearly stated that Crowns are not decided by other members or even Guides but only dooyoo. Every review nominated by a member is considered so you can't even argue that reviews that get few reads in unpopular categories will miss out.

Many members argue that the system simply doesn't work that way and that preferential treatment is rife on dooyoo. I have heard the "Guides get preferential treatment arguement a million times but I still believe it to be absolute rubbish. People will quote statistics at me endlessly but the fact of the matter is the majority of the Guides have had millions of years experience in review writing and write to the highest standards. Is it really such a massive surprise that they get a lot of Crowns? After all would you want crap writers as Guides? I know I wouldn't. Oh, and I know that ten people said "nominated" in your comments thread, but that doesn't automatically entitle you to a Crown, it is also likely those people are just after a return read. Don't believe me? It came striaght from an old dooyoo staffer's mouth that some members write it but don't actually do it!

Dooyoo describe a crowned review as:

"An exceptionally well-written review. For a review to be awarded a Crown it must be helpful. It should provide all the information required for a consumer to make an informed purchasing decision, it's insightful, full of character and above all it's entertaining and enjoyable to read."

This is again straightforward enough isn't it? I agree with most of dooyoo's decisions regarding who gets crowned and even when I don't it is rare I can argue that the reviews do not at least offer something of the above criteria. I think it is important to remember that dooyoo are a group of staff with opinions as subjective as our own. Despite their attempts at objectivity, they will see something in reviews and reviewers that I may not. We all look at our own reviews and others and wonder how the hell it did or did not get crowned but one person's rubbish is anothers treasure. I can't really see the point of three-thousand word epics for example but that does not make all long reviews unworthy of crowns. I would also presume that dooyoo only have so many crowns to go round so if you miss out one week maybe that category was full of great reviews?

A lot is made of how you get a Crown and whether there is some sort of magic formula to it all. If there is I have yet to find it! My reviewing style has barely changed for years but for every review that gets a Crown, one I would class as equal or better to it does not. I have seen long and short reviews crowned, track by track music reviews and reviews just describing musical style and even reviews with headings (bleugh). There really is no way of guaranteeing yourself that elusive next pointy hat so I just keep writing and if I see that glint of metal, it is an added bonus.

Much moaning goes on about the unfairness of it all but I would say dooyoo definitely offer the most transparent rewards available on any review site. Would you prefer the random variables of ciao.uk or .com's mysterious premium fund and Diamond system? How about the bizarre epinions "income share"? For me the joy of dooyoo is the relative transparency of the rewards system and the 1500 miles/£1.50 awarded for a dooyoo Crown are shining golden example of that.

Summary: A better system than most.