Rate Not, Want Not (Rating other's reviews: on dooyoo and beyond)

Member Name: grahamt

Product:	Rating other's reviews: on dooyoo and beyond
Date:	22/07/08 (164 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Honest ratings guide readers to the best reviews and avoids wastig valuable time

Disadvantages: Not being honest devalues Dooyoo

During the nearly 8 years that I've been here on Dooyoo I have read over 5,500 reviews. That may perhaps not sound to you like a very high number of reads. As I say in my Bio, I am not a "serial reader". I read what interests me and nothing else. My apologies if I haven't returned the compliment of your read of a review of mine, especially if you've been kind enough to add me to your Circle of Friends. If your thing is X-Box games, lipsticks, Heavy Metal Bands, baby-wear or a host of other subjects, it is highly unlikely I will read a review of it. It's just not my thing. I do have fairly divers interests though.

That does mean that I have rated over 5,500 reviews because I [almost] without fail rate what I read. However, I never ceases to amaze me that people will read but not bother to rate.

Why should they?

Well, it's not just a matter of courtesy, it actually helps, well it helps me, to understand when I've written something that has been helpful to the reader and when I haven't. Fortunately it would appear that most time I have but how can you be sure. How can you be certain that that very gratifying Very Useful (VU) is the genuine article?

Why shouldn't it be?

Well, maybe it's because there seem to be some readers who are "serial VUers"! I really don't understand why. Perhaps it's because they are nervous about giving offence? Perhaps they want to avoid "Revenge Ratings"? Maybe they're easily satisfied? Maybe they didn't even read the review and just want to entice the writer to read one or two of theirs? Bearing in mind some of the reviews I've seen rated as VU, the last possibility seems highly likely. I've seen reviews bordering on Not Useful (NU) that have end-to-end VUs (until I came along)!

Let's get one thing absolutely clear before we go any further. The rating you give to a review makes absolutely no difference to the writer's pot of Dooyoo Miles. If that wasn't clear then let's just repeat that. There are no extra Dooyoo Miles for a VU nor an NU, nor anything in between. It's not about the money.

You may have noticed that I tend to "rate low", if I have so rated one of your reviews. I believe that that's the way it should be. There is absolutely no justification for rating a review VU that patently doesn't deserve it. If that p****s off the writer, Tough! But, if it does deserve it then I am more than happy to award a VU. No one is going to improve the quality of their work if they get nothing but VUs that they don't deserve. Why should they? What you're telling them is that they are producing great stuff.

Why try any harder?

Well, because it reflects on the quality of what can be found on Dooyoo in general. If a new visitor comes to read a review that is patently sub-standard, only to find that it has been unfailingly rated VU, what are they to think about the sort of reviews that they are likely to find elsewhere on Dooyoo? Are they not likely to go elsewhere, to Ciao or, Heaven forbid, ePinions? Dooyoo would much rather they stayed here and that will only happen when we are honest in our ratings and take them to heart and improve the quality of what we write rather than going off in a huff or, worse still, NUing everything the rater has written, in revenge.

Let me give you an idea about what I use as my guidelines for rating reviews. Then, if I rated one of yours Useful (U) or Somewhat Useful (SU), you'll know why.

First let's get another thing clear; it's not about the length (as the Actress said to the Bishop - Sorry, old joke; couldn't resist). The length of the review should, in my opinion, be relevant to the subject being reviewed. I've rated U or even SU reviews of over 2,000 words. I've rated VU reviews of under 300 words.

Firstly, if your are reviewing a product or a service, something that has a price, you will not get a VU from me if you fail to tell me how much you paid for it. I've seen reviews raving about a product and saying what great value for money it is, and then not telling me how much it is! It drives me round the bend.

So, say you're reviewing an Ink Cartridge (though why the hell we even have categories for these defeats me! It's probably a result of Dooyoo's ill-advised outsourcing of the adding of new categories a while back, that resulted in the site being littered, and I mean that literally, with complete rubbish) then what I want to know is how well it prints, how accurate the colour is, how long it lasts and how much it costs. You can do that in a couple of hundred words. Do so and you'll get a VU from me (I have to read these as Dooyoo Guide for the Computer category!)

But, write a review about a laptop computer that raves about how good it is and what wonderful software comes with it and what great value for money it is in a couple of hundred words and you'll be lucky if I give it an SU. It's a computer! Is that really all you can tell me about it? What about the size of the screen and its maximum resolution? What about how many USB ports it has and to which standard? How about Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support? Tell me about the CD/DVD drive. Read only or is it a writer? How big is the hard drive? How much memory is installed? It's a bit like reviewing a car and simply telling me what colour it is. What use is that?

I doubt a decent review of any computer can be accomplished in less than a thousand words, probably double that. Any less information and you will not get a VU from me. Sorry, but that's the way it is. OK, mention the software but I do not want to read a computer review that talks all about the software. That's what Dooyoo's Software category is for. The Duke wants to read that stuff.

I also believe that the rating you assign should not depend upon whether or not you agree with the writer's opinions. As an atheist I tend to read reviews on the subject of religion, simply because I am interested in what others believe and why. I may vehemently disagree with the the writer's views but, as long as they are not actually incorrect, so long as they have been well presented I will rate accordingly and that may well include a VU.

One thing is absolutely certain, if I discover that your work is plagiarised from the Internet then not only will you get an NU from me but I WILL report you to Dooyoo, whether it's in my category or not. I will also write to you and tell you so. I don't believe in doing things behind people's backs, no matter how deplorable their actions. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. OK, you've already got a few more Dooyoo Miles simply from my reading the review but you will soon lose those and probably your membership as well once Dooyoo catches up with you. An NU on top makes no difference other than to tell you you've been sussed. I rarely find it necessary to assign NU for anything else, fortunately.

I hope that's given you an idea. I'm not saying that you must follow these guidelines but I do hope that next time you read a review you rate it and that you really give some serious thought about what the review has told you, what it could have told you that would have made it even more useful and rate accordingly. Only then will we get some credibility for Dooyoo and its content.

Rate on, Tommy!!!!!!

Summary: Why can't we be honest?