Chewing the Fat....? (reviewwritersforum.co.uk)

Member Name: helencb

Product:	reviewwritersforum.co.uk
Date:	01/03/07 (233 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Friendly place, most of the time, good debate thread

Disadvantages: some may take debate personally, difficulty in maintaining fairness in moderating

Despite having been a regular Review writer for a few large sites for almost six years, I never really got into the off-site community aspects. Over the years there have been quite a few different offshoots in their various guises, where regular review writers would gather over a virtual coffee and generally put the review writing world to rights, as well as solve world hunger and other matters.

I first joined www.reviewwritersforum.co.uk about 11 months ago now. The site is run by our very own Rachel (thingywhatsit) who has given up a lot of time and commitment to keep the site running for us so we can have our daily blether. The rest of the admin team are Drewboy who I have met in the flesh in Glasgow for a small glass of real and not virtual wine; and Debbie, another review writer from north of the border, who have been joined by a small number of forum moderators.

The site benefited from a bit of a facelift at some time last year. I forget the details, but I do remember that it used to be a very dark blue place, hence its other nickname FOIB (Forum of Infinite Blueness). Now it has the same light blue of every other forum in cyberspace, but the beauty is it is much easier to read.

Sites like this do have a habit of waxing and waning, but Review Writers Forum has remained relatively buoyant in terms of member contribution. There are currently 365 members, one for every day of the year, although I suspect most are lurkers or inactive. There are around 50 posters who have posted more than 100 times, and could generally be regarded as more active. I am about ninth in the list of active posters with over 1000 posts currently, which could be attributed to the fact I have too much to say on occasion.

So what on earth do people talk about? Well not surprisingly, one of the key areas of discussion is review writing sites themselves. This includes forums for both Ciao and Dooyoo, as well as Trivago (Travel Site) and Helium ("Where Knowledge Matters"). Things can get very heated at times, particularly if subjects such as rating are being discussed, as you would expect with opinionated people. Of course payment and issues, such as site downtime are frequently the topic of conversation, but often people just like to come and have a light banter.

The Helium and Trivago sites are a little different. I am not particularly into the Helium way of things yet, although I have joined, but contributing to Trivago is very complicated compared to ciao and Dooyoo and some regular members have contributed some excellent articles which were invaluable in helping me find my way around. Alas time has got in the way, and I haven't got the time for Trivago very often.

For those that like their reward and survey sites, RWF has a dedicated thread, which is updated with member experience of different types of sites. I don't join too many of these, simply because I cannot keep up with them all but I am amazed at the volume of sites that are available.

The members fun area on RWF is by far the greater area in terms of different activities, and there is probably something for everyone. The Current affairs thread is particularly buoyant and is usually my first port of call when I log in. Anything and everything current/political has been discussed here, and it can get VERY heated at times! I quite like a debate and I enjoy following and taking part in the more contentious threads - quite an insight into how other people think and lead their lives!

There are other threads which I read occasionally, including a "Which" consumer thread, book thead, technical thread and there is a popular games thread - although not one of my own favourites, this seems to get a lot of hits. There are monthly competitions including reviews, (which I have judged once or twice) and monthly Avatar type competitions, although where people find fresh supplies of those is beyond me at times!

The site has been criticised in the past for being (a) too fluffy; or (b) inconsistent moderation. I am not quite sure about the fluffiness aspect, as it can be anything but fluffy at times, depending on who is active on the site and joining in the day's debate. I think it is fair to say that moderation is a particularly difficult task, especially for a site that is ran by part time volunteers and while there may have been incidences that have been questioned in the past, and even things I have personally voiced privately as a concern, as well as challenged publicly on occasion...I think most sites of this type will have challenges and the real key is not to take it too seriously.

Overall it is a fairly active place, and you will find something new every day. I think if I had a general criticism about sites of this nature is that they may at first seem a little daunting to someone new, as the regulars have adapted to styles of communication and banter. I know I always found some of the earlier sites quite cliquey and elusive (whether they were or not). However I have found that Review Writers Forum is a nice little place to debate and discuss both political and review writing matters on those days when you don't want to spend time on the sites themselves.

Www.reviewwritersforum.co.uk

Summary: It's not for everyone, but RWF is great for chatting away from review sites.