Some hints or why it's best not to speak nerd. (How To Write A Good Computers Review)

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	How To Write A Good Computers Review
Date:	30/01/04 (160 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Makes better opinions according to my point of view

Disadvantages: You don't have to pay attention.

There are generally two extremes of Computers opinion on Dooyoo. The first type lists all the specifications of the equipment and tells you in minute detail about every single component. It mentions DDR, CPU, Northbridges, Southbridges, Serial-ATA, AGP, USB, PCX, PCI Express and a million other acronyms and pieces of jargon that you've got no idea about. The other type of opinion is very short, and barely says anything to help you.

You may be surprised to hear that the first type of opinion can be as useless as the second type. This opinion will concentrate purely on Computers opinions and my feelings about what makes a good Computers opinion and hopefully banish the myth that only 'nerds' can write good Computer opinions. I don't believe this is the case and certainly a lot of the things that make a good Food and Drink review or a good Movies review can be applied to Computers and Software reviews.

The aim of any good review on Dooyoo is to offer the reader your thoughts and experiences on the items you are reviewing. It's this information, your personal thoughts, opinions and experiences that set your review apart from anything else available on the internet. People can get product specifications from many places on the web, not least the manufacturer's web site, but not everyone's in a position to mention how a printer, a keyboard, a DVD writer etc. performs after prolonged use.

Step 1:

The first step to a good opinion is the same first step for any opinion on Dooyoo. Put yourself in a position where you can write an opinion with the least amount of spelling and grammatical errors possible. This might mean using something which has a built-in spell checker like Microsoft Word or Outlook Express. If you don't have access to either of these, don't worry, there are plenty of alternatives. Have you heard of Open Office? It's a free Office-like software package that's available for PCs that's really quite good indeed. If you don't like all that fancy dan software, then you can use a traditional paper dictionary or even trot along to www.dictionary.com to help you out.

Writing your review offline (i.e. in a word processor rather than Dooyoo's review submission box) is always helpful. You can write reviews, save them, alter them and even leave them be for a few hours before coming back with a fresh set of eyes. It's amazing what you can pick up if you leave a review alone for a few hours and go off and do something else.

There are plenty of opinions dedicated to writing general opinions on Dooyoo, and you can go to: http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/internet/internet_sites/th e_site_in_general/ to read a selection of them.

Step 2:

It's vitally important to understand your subject, or at the very least, not to be intimidated by it. Computer opinions can (but not necessarily) include lots of technical specifications, jargon and information. In these cases, you must be able to determine what to include and what's not necessary. If you are in any doubt, leave them out. It's a rare thing that adding complicated jargon on a consumer site such as Dooyoo will improve an opinion over one which is written in good old plain English. A good understanding of your subject will always be incredibly useful in Step 3 too, although it is still possible to write a good opinion without being a complete nerd and obsessed with the detailed workings of computer equipment. If you've bought a computer, component or peripheral yourself then you're off to a good start as you'll be able to describe why you bought that particular item and what exactly made you choose that over other items on the market.

Step 3:

Apply the KISS principle. The KISS principle, for those who are unaware, is "Keep It Simple, Stupid". Dooyoo is primarily a general consumer review resource. The theory behind it means that people come to Dooyoo looking for information on various things. In order for people to make the best use of Dooyoo, we have to supply this information in a manner that's as accessible as we can make it to as many people as possible. In my opinion, that means that jargon has to be eliminated, where feasible. A good description and review in plain English should always gain better ratings than those from nerds trying to show off, which can actually happen on Dooyoo at times.

This will invariably mean that your opinion will be longer than if you used the fancy computer acronyms, but the benefit will be that lots of people will be able to understand your opinions. The down side (to those that care about such things) is that you might not immediately appear to be as clever as you would like, but the benefit will be that your opinions will make sense to more people, hence more reads and perhaps even further rewards in the shape of Crowns!

There's nothing worse than an author trying to look clever by cramming as many pieces of jargon as they can into an opinion and making the whole thing unreadable and difficult to understand. It doesn't help the writer and it certainly doesn't help your fellow member or a non-member consumer.

Step 4:

As hinted at in Step 2, keep to the essential information that pertains to you. People don't need to hear your story about how you went to the shop, bought the item, returned home etc. We don't need to hear about the packaging unless there's something important you need to tell us - perhaps it wasn't adequate for the product or it was indestructible. Think about what you considered before you made the purchase and put yourself in the buyer's situation again.

Why did you buy the item? Is it because you wanted something new or because your current item wasn't good enough? Was it broken/worn out and needed replaced? If you got the help of someone who knows computers better than you, did they explain why they suggested one piece of equipment over another? If so, then let us know! Don't try and claim it as your own because it could be apparent that you have no clue (or they could be wrong!). Don't be afraid to say "Big Jim said that this mcguffin is better than that other one because I don't play games and it was better value for money" if that's what Big Jim said.

Step 5:

Keep specifications lists to a bare minimum. If you're referring to complete PC systems, a brief overview of the important components is all that's necessary (for example, graphics card, sound card, processor, memory and one or two other pieces). If it's a single component, then it's probably best not to mention specifications at all and link to the manufacturer's website so that those who require the specifications can find them by themselves and the people who don't care can get on with reading. In the case of a software package, I try to include the minimum specifications under which the software will run plus the relevant specifications of my own PC to give people a better idea of how things work. You might come up with a better way of doing this, but it certainly helps to provide "real world" experiences in all the aspects of computing I've referred to above.

Step 6 (an aside):
This is kind of off the beaten track for computers a bit, but does overlap into Internet and Shopping while still being slightly relevant to this category. If you're doing any shopping for PC stuff on the internet or in the High Street and you're telling us about it, then please give us as balanced an account as you can. Feel free to go off on a huge rant at the end of your opinion, but it helps people a lot more if they find out why you chose that particular shop or site over any other. Give your experiences of the actual buying process and then what happened afterwards (if anything). It's rather like writing complaining letters to companies - if you write it in a calm, controlled way, you'll get better results and it's exactly the same for opinions too. Rants rarely help anyone, whereas a calm, but ultimately negative review is a lot more trustworthy in my opinion.

The end bit:

These are my tips for what I believe make up a good Computers opinion. Of course, you might disagree and I must state that these are my views, not necessarily those of Dooyoo or of any other member. However, please keep in mind that the people who read here on Dooyoo are more than likely, going to be less technically aware than those who go off to the specialised nerd sites for their information. If you write with these people in mind, then you're probably not going to go too far wrong.

Summary: Some advice on writing reviews within the Computers category.