Let the master explain (How To Write A Good Computers Review)

Member Name: rob_writer

Product:	How To Write A Good Computers Review
Date:	04/04/02 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well, if you write better ops then you'll apparenty get read more, but you don't, so write better ops to get VU ops and feel better about yourself

Disadvantages: It probably takes longer, and it probably earns you more money to write lots of short useless ops, but then that's not the point!

But saying as the master can't do it, I'll have to try instead.

Being the category guide for the computers should make me have a pretty good idea of how to go about writing a good opinion. At least you'd hope so........wouldn't you?

Whether or not I'm a computer-lyrical genius is doubtful, but I have read enough about computers to give you a few pointers on what to write and what not to write.

I have a few things to say as a guide, things I've noticed when reading, then I have a few things to say in general, then I have a few unofficial things to say. So anyway, here goes

Top Tips - From a Guides Point of View
======================================

First of all my biggest tip would have to be don't write about stuff you don't understand or haven't got a clue about. Cos its worthless. Would I write an op about a breast milk pump thing? Hell no, to be honest I didn't know what they were till I read someone's op on one (I was curious, OK!). So if you don't know your floppy gigabyte from your USB drive then don't bother writing about them. There's really nothing worse than reading someone's op on a PC component, only to find they just bought their first PC and have never even switched on one before. Please don't write a review on your Pentium 4 chip in your PC saying 'It's really fast, it is' because anyone seriously looking for help on buying computer parts isn't going to find it much use. At all. If you've just got your new PC then review it, as a new PC. Tell everyone how well it works, how easy it was to set up, stuff like that.

Basically point number one is don't review something you haven't got a clue about.

Next up are the reviews that list the technical specifications. You know, the ones that buy a new graphics card and write 'This card has a 350Mhz RAMDAC, a revolutionary NX-401 processor with a cor
e speed of 200Mhz, 64Mb RAM and is capable of Direct3d, OpenGL, with support for FSAA and resolutions of up 1600x1200 @ 90Hz'. Or something like that. And I'll tell you what, I really like to know that kind of thing. Everyone who's going to buy something likes to know that too. But that isn't a review, or an opinion, that is stating facts. Do state facts, but then state opinion too. Guess that goes for all of Dooyoo.

Point 2 - Include opinions, don't just recite specifications.

Leading on from that, are the people who go the other way, and buy a new graphics card and write 'It is really good and it plays Quake 3 really really fast and it is brilliant'. That it maybe, but then the same thing could be said about tonnes of cards. If you've paid £300 for a top of the range GeForce then I'd bloody well hope it was good at playing games!

So point 3 has to be; don't just say something is great and leave it at that.

Next up are a set of reviews bordering on needing deleting. I call them 'generic reviews'. Computer are the kinda thing you can do it with, say you have the same graphics card chipset (GeForce 2MX 400 for example), it may be made by 8 different manufacturers, but at heart be the same card. You get people who write amazingly similar ops on similar products, if you know what I mean. Like those forms you have where you just fill in the blanks. Borderline cheating in my books, so.......

Point number 4 - Don't do generic reviews

Which leads me swiftly on to the next one, please don't review things you don't have, as a lot of people obviously do. I know you can string together a credible review by reading a review of something in a magazine, but it's pointless and defeats the point of Dooyoo

Point 5 - Own what you review.

Top Tips in General
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Ok. Quick few little tips on how to make your review better
.

1. Cover as much as you can. If I'm buying a graphics card I want to know what I get with it, how easy it is to install, and of course how well it works. Lots of people miss out the first couple of bits.

2. Say how much it costs. It's quite annoying to read a raving review, think 'I'd like that' and then not know how much it costs!

3. Make your opinion understandable to the masses. Not everyones a computer genius, so don;t baffle people with technical jargon.

4. On the other hand, don't make it too simple, find a balance.

5. I know Dooyoo's for personal opinion, but try not to get too worked up about a single experience. Say you bought a Seagate hard drive, and it broke, it doesn't mean they're all crap!

Unofficial Tips
===============

Things I probably shouldn't say as the guidey person.

1. NO MORE REVIEWS ON PC WORLD OR ELSE I'LL KILL YOU! Yes, we all know how crap it is, no we don't need one more person to tell us that the staff are stupid and that they always try to sell you warranties. Everyone knows that, at least 200 times over. Stop them, PLEASE I BEG YOU!

2. Don't pad. It's stupid. I've seen people write pages on a mouse. You can't do if you stick to relevant info. No one minds the odd deviation from the topic at hand, but people just set their sites on a long review and write tosh to get there. Do you really want to know 'The mouse comes in the standard beige PC colour, has 2 buttons on the left and right hand side and uses the traditional ball in the underbelly method of control. It connect to your PC via a beige lead about 1m long and uses a PS2 plug which connects to the mouse PS2 socket on the back of you PC' when you could say 'It's a bog standard mouse'. Some people even tell me what the GOD DAMN box looks like, colours and all. All in their struggle to write lots, and hopefully get
a crown. Well you won't get a nomination from me, infact you'll probably won't even get a VU!

3. I said before not to write on stuff you don't know about, but infact please do. It's hilarious to read someone writing, in complete confidence, about their new computer part, only to get it totally wrong and make a fool of themselves. Hilarious, really it is!

And um, that's it, apart from the general use decent English, spell check and try to make it make sense, don't use awful grammar. That applies to everything on Dooyoo though, so happy writing!

PS. Don't take offence if I've laughed at something you think you've done, I too have written an op on PC World, and the other stuff I complained about is usually done by the churners anyway. So it's not you I'm getting at!

Oh, and good luck with anything you choose to write (I really want an op on a Seagate 40Gb ATA-100 hard drive cos I might buy one!).

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