Bunch of work-shy gob shites (opinionators.co.uk)

Member Name: freediveheaven

Product:	opinionators.co.uk
Date:	07/08/06 (234 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can be informative and entertaining

Disadvantages: Does get personal occasionally

Like many people I started my review writing days on Ciao and then gravitated to Dooyoo as the rewards were better and eventually I came to enjoy the fact that compared with Ciao it was a relatively small community of active writers on the site. I had heard about a couple of message board sites and even received an invite to join one of them but at the time I had never really understood the purpose of them. I assumed that they were similar to chat rooms which when I visited them I found totally confusing and not the great place to groom young girls that I had been led to believe them to be.

What is Opinionators?

Basically it is a place where you can voice your own views and read the opinions of others on a whole range of topics however it is the main review writing sites of Ciao and Dooyoo that dominate the debate. On the site there are a number of forums that are set up, under each forum someone will posts a topic subject and then people will add their own views and messages beneath this topic so that effectively a conversation takes place.

The site was set up by a member of Dooyoo and Ciao and is still run by an existing member of Dooyoo and if you sign up you will notice a lot of familiar names as most people tend to use either their Ciao or Dooyoo name on the site.

Signing Up and Navigation

Joining the site is easy. All you need is to decide on a user name which for most people is their Ciao or Dooyoo name and a password. The only other information you need to provide is an e-mail address and then you are off and running on the site.

You can personalise your messages with a few features. These are set up from the profile page and you can record your location, occupation and interests. Some take this seriously others do not however I feel that it is a good way to tell people a bit about yourself, so I have included my interest in stalking within my profile. You can also add links to your own website or any messenger facilities that you use as well as personalising a signature that will appear on each message that you post and finally you can have a little picture next t your message called an avatar. This can either be from the available gallery on the site or one you have uploaded from elsewhere on the net.

Within the profile page you can also select whether or not to receive an e-mail when you get a personal message or a new post is added to a thread you are watching as well as a number of other features.

I like the fact that on Opinionators the site is fast to load up and quick to navigate around with no lengthy download times. Navigating around the site is easy and quick either by returning to the homepage each time or using the drop down options at the bottom of each page which allow you to move to different category headings.

If you are interested in a particular subject within a category you can choose to receive e-mail alerts whenever another message is added, you will only get one e-mail until you return to the subject so you will not get multiple e-mails if a number of posts are placed in between the times you view the subject. Also when you return to Opinionators any categories that have had new messages posted under them have a flag against them so that you can go directly to the ones listed.

In all there are eleven category headings grouped into three sections. The first three cover Site Information, Forum Guidelines and these basically provide what is said in the title while the third is called New Members and is a place for new people to say hello or to be greeted by other members.

The second section covers Opinion Sites. There are separate headings for Ciao and Dooyoo and these are probably the most active of headings and the place for quite a lot of debate and advice on the two sites. There is also a category called Opinion Sites in General for subjects that cross over all opinion sites and finally there is a category called Opinion Sites 101 which is more of an advice category and to be honest has very little use as people tend to post mostly in either the Dooyoo or Ciao categories if they have particular questions.

The third section is called Everything Else and is a place to post pretty much anything that takes your fancy. This area is for those who have no interest in opinion sites or just want a change of scene. There are four main categories called Entertainment where films, music, TV and books are commented upon, Other Stuff which has pretty much anything on but often the content is quite light hearted, The Soapbox which is more about current affairs and a good place to have a rant and finally Lifestyle which is more about general health topics and given that most of the people on the site spend most of their spare time (and probably working time) in front of a PC it does not attract many posts.

Why take part and what is in it for me?

I guess a lot of the review has been on the "what" so now it is time to talk about the "why", why you should join and for me to say why I like the site. I must admit there are times that I find the site quite frustrating however that is mostly to do with the fact that I’m quite an opinionated person who is always right so it can be quite hard to have a debate with people when they do not know what they are talking about or are plainly wrong. I did get something wrong once but that was someone else fault so does not really count.

The first thing I enjoy about the site is the amount of banter that goes on. If I did not get enjoyment from the site then I would not bother to visit. I also like the fact that there is a wide range of subjects posted on the site; naturally I’m not interested in all of them and these I ignore particularly when the subject matter revolves around sci-fi TV shows yawn!

In the early days before I became a guide it was also a useful place to find out what was going on with Dooyoo. When my miles suddenly started to disappear is was a thread on opinionators that explained what was happening a number of days before Dooyoo got around to explaining the situation. The reason for this is that the site does boast a decent number of both current and former Dooyoo guides on the site some of whom were able to get answers quicker from Dooyoo than us mere mortals. There is however a downside to this in that at times the old conspiracy theorists do tend to run away with themselves a bit and you do not always get the whole truth first time round and you do get to read some pretty wild posturing on the site, sometimes from people who should know better. Now that I’m a guide I have a better insight into these conspiracy theories and also I’m too busy making sure all the conspiracies work anyway.

What I do get from the site is a useful insight into what other people like and dislike about different ways of reviewing a product, it is a good place to debate what people consider to be crown worthy in a review, to debate the ongoing confusing issue about DVD and movie reviews and also the guide system within Dooyoo.

Finally the thing I enjoy is the fact that the site does make me laugh at times, there are some very funny intelligent people who I could name however one of the things you cannot do on the site is name people, it is not a place to slag someone off or to even post in such a way that any moderately intelligent person could find out who or what review you are referring to.

This does bring me to one of the downsides of the site in that at times the debate can get a bit heated and also quite personal. Now I have no problem with this as I’m a big boy who to be honest is not likely to take to heart the opinion of someone I only met through the net, who I will never meet in person and in the grand scheme of things is not my equal (did I mention I’m quite arrogant) however some people do get affected by such comments aimed at them. There are some strong characters on the site and at times they can appear to be ganging up on individuals, which can discourage new members, fortunately there are moderators on the site who can step in and edit posts but they are not there all the time and sometimes the damage can already be done.

These heated debates can put members off and certainly the site appears to be a lot quieter than it used to be, I’m on the site primarily through my connection with Dooyoo and it is this category that the most debate seems to take place, initially I viewed the site as containing a lot of what I called Dooyoo apologists who tended to spout the Dooyoo line however when a number of members were caught up in an issue over guide appointments the tone of the site became quite anti Dooyoo and rather heated and other debates over the issuing of crowns and editing of reviews further raised the hackles of some members however these days a more moderate balanced attitude seems to prevail.

On the whole I would recommend this site and it can be a very welcoming place and a useful resource to further your understanding of opinion sites as well as a place to debate other issues and even learn the odd useful bit of information along the way. Just as there are people in the staff room at work or in the pub who talk out of their arse so there are those same people on Opinionators but thankfully they are in the minority and you always have to remember that talking out of your arse is still a skill.

Thanks for reading and rating my review. If you do join the site say hello on the members page or in a private message to me (that is another feature I forgot to mention, you can message other members directly) as even though my days as a work-shy gob-shite are soon to come to an end soon as I embark on a new career I will still be on the site occasionally.

“It's hard enough for me to remember my opinions let alone my reasons for having them.”

Summary: Message board based around opinion sites and related topics