I'm stressed about rating. (Rating other's reviews: on dooyoo and beyond)

Member Name: StephenPhillips

Product:	Rating other's reviews: on dooyoo and beyond
Date:	13/10/09 (173 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gives people an indication about the quality of their review.

Disadvantages: So many different "rules" people have about how they go about it.

I will keep this short and sweet as I am really confused and bewildered about the whole rating system and would like to hear about how you all rate.

I see the whole revenge rate issue has been discussed in this category a lot, so I will just add a little note to say that I have been given low rates contradicting all other high rates for a particular review in the past, usually by very new members who see it as an offence to rate them low. After this I do admit I have given some VU ratings to reviews that deserve a U rating or below but not anymore.

The system that Dooyou has means that people should respect the rating that person has given them, they have still made money whether it is a high or low rating and should use a low rating as a wakeup call (as I do). The method Dooyou has of giving the same amount of miles for a VU and NU rating is excellent, as money then doesn't influence people's choice of rate and therefore shouldn't in theory result in a revenge rating culture. After all, money is the route of all evil, as we all know.

The main point I want to make here is that I am confused on how to rate without causing other members to throw toys out their prams. I have changed my style of rating so many times from:

1. Only rating those who rate me.
2. Rating all new reviews only.
3. Rating only reviews that interest me.
4. Rating everything and anything.
5. A mixture of rating all those who have rated me and few additional reviews that interest me.

Currently I am using the latter method.

I don't want to feel stressed every morning when I open up Dooyou and see I haven't rated a raft of members who have rated me when I only have a few minutes to spend on the site that day. But equally I do not want to upset those members that have taken time to read my review when I do not do the same back.

The whole mentality of "I am only going to rate you if you rate me" method is annoying. It is a nice neat little method that doesn't upset anyone but someone has to make the first move (first effort) otherwise no one would rate anything. Equally I see why members do it as many members have spent time and effort reading hundreds of reviews not to be given the same level of effort back.

May be I am thinking about this a little too much?

In an ideal world I would just casually browse through the newsiest reviews and pick and choose what interested me but I think a balance is required, after all, we are all in a community trying to earn a few extra pennies and voice our opinions.

I feel the way forward is to keep tabs on who has taken time to read your efforts (the good, bad and the ugly) and do the same for them, as well as reading additional reviews from new and more established members alike. I think new members shouldn't be avoided, after all we started on here as a new members. If the new members don't rate back it doesn't matter, just give them a chance and encourage them.

So if I don't rate a review when you have rated mine within the first 5 minutes don't be offended, it's all good, I will get back to you and I will always read reviews from new members and established members I haven't come across yet.

Finally, how do you all go about rating?

Summary: Raving on about rating.