Welcome and enjoy (Helpful Advice for New Members)

Member Name: mrsgladwin

Product:	Helpful Advice for New Members
Date:	22/06/09 (103 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: n/a

Disadvantages: n/a

I have only recently stopped being a "Newbie" myself and so can't in any way claim to be a pro dooyoo-er. I have, however, learnt a lot from other members and would like to try and help other Newbies in the same way with my little list of do's and don'ts.

1) Read and rate

Ideally, it would be beneficial if everyone read other people's reviews before writing one of their own. I have to admit I was one of the many who had no idea what makes a good review and so waffled on for 150 words just to get my 50p and left it at that. It was only after reading others reviews that I realised that my "somewhat useful" ratings were actually pretty generous!

Also if someone reads and rates your reviews, rate theirs back. The online community is what makes this site work and if you appear to be selfish (i.e. happily accepting reads and rates but not returning the favour), you will notice people stop rating you.

2) Don't churn

I know that the financial rewards are appealing but churning out drivel won't gain you any respect. If you aim to write high quality, interesting reviews you'll probably find you'll hit your £50 target much quicker. I currently have 16500 dooyoo miles from reads alone and I know a lot of members must have much more. If you are only writing 150 words of rubbish, you won't get those regular readers. This is also goes for not reading and rating.

It's important to note that if you are in it for the long term, 150 words is not enough. A comprehensive, useful opinion cannot be done in 150 words. You should therefore think of the word limit as a bare minimum, not a target.

Try to only write reviews on something you have a real opinion on; something that you have something to say about, rather than finding something and trying to think of 150 words you can say about it.

3) Don't revenge rate

People don't rate you "somewhat useful" or "not useful" just to be mean, so please don't rush to their profile to rate theirs inappropriately. It's not big and it's not clever. Revenge raters are often reported and are not tolerated by anyone.

If you are receiving regularly poor ratings, ask yourself why. Many users are helpful and offer constructive criticism and/or advice explaining why they have rated you in the way they have. If they haven't, drop them a POLITE, friendly message, asking if they have any tips on what you should include next time. Please note this does not mean messaging them with abuse - that will get you nowhere, except possibly banned.

4) Rate honestly - don't follow the trend

In the same vain, don't just rate someone's review useful or very useful just because everyone else has. Everyone has different standards and views on what is, or is not useful and we should all be free to express that.

Saying this, please don't become one of those users who click on "very useful" without actually reading the review. I would much rather receive a genuine "useful" than a click happy "very useful".

5) Be original

If you are reviewing a popular item that has already been reviewed many times, such as Wii Fit or Facebook, try and say something that hasn't already been said before. This will just make your review that bit more interesting and original as often it can seem like reading the same review over and over again.

6) Don't plagiarise

I think this heading speaks for itself. Make sure all writing is your own work. You WILL get found out and WILL get kicked off the site. Don't waste your, and other member's time.

I don't really understand why people would want to plagiarise; the main appeal of this site to me is expressing my own opinion and speaking from my own experience. What's the point otherwise?

7) Ask for help

If you have a question, be it about writing reviews or about products in general, just ask. I have always found members to be very a pleasant and friendly bunch and have always received a response to any questions I have.

8) Accept constructive criticism

Although it is frustrating when someone rates you "somewhat useful" when you have put time and effort into a review that you think is fabulous, remember they have done it for a reason. No-one is perfect and you'll often find reviews that are missing just a small bit of information that you were looking for, such as price or where you can purchase said product. Constructive criticism can only make our reviews better and that has to be a good thing.

9) Add a bit of personality

This is a bit controversial at the moment. Some people want straight opinion, some people enjoying learning a bit about the writer themselves and what brought them to try the product they are reviewing. I fall into the latter category. I find that when the writer is someone I can relate to, I am much more likely to enjoy their review and find it useful (or very useful)

Even if you don't want to go into too much detail about yourself, try and inject a bit of charisma into your writing, just to help the readers find it a bit more entertaining and enjoyable to read. I know it's hard to be entertaining when you're reviewing a pack of peas, but trust me, its do-able!

10) Spell check

Your review may be full of useful opinion but if it is full of grammatical errors and spelling mistakes you will probably still receive a low rating. I have found it useful to re-read my reviews, as I often feel they make sense as I am writing it but read as a load of gibberish. Writing your review in Word is another good idea as it will highlight any mistakes you have made.

11) Opinion opinion opinion

Make sure your review is full of useful opinion, not just facts. For example if you are doing a food review, don't just list the ingredients and add "it's horrible" at the end. Why is it horrible? What's the consistency like? What does it smell of? Is it worth the price? The reader wants to know if they would enjoy the product themselves, and merely listing facts about the product doesn't tell them anything.

11) Have fun!

I have only been a member for just over a month and am already ever so slightly addicted. I did both English Lit and English Language A Levels 5 years ago and I had forgotten how much I loved writing, even if just for fun of it.

I have also found reading reviews especially helpful. I have tried all kind of products (particularly food) that I would never have thought of trying and it's teaching me to be slightly more adventurous and creative in the kitchen.

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So there you have it, my little list. As I said I am by no means an expert reviewer and in some ways I'm still finding my feet but I have found this list helpful in turning my cringe worthy reviews into slightly more readable ones.

Hope this helps!

Summary: Turn your "not useful" into "very useful"