Rating opinions - how and why
Dec 22 '99 (Updated Apr 11 '01)
The Bottom Line Don't just say that you like or dislike something. Tell the people why, and tell them with a nominal amount of clarity.
I just finished reading another reviewer's take on how he rates opinions at this site. It's a subject worth considering, and so I'll opine just a little on how and why I rate and "trust" people the way I do.
When I read an opinion, I'm looking for a reason why I should like or dislike a product, service or travel destination based on what this person is telling me. I don't require that their English be perfect - Epinions is, after all, asking everyone to submit opinions, including those with imperfect writing skills.
I do count off for bad spelling. Epinions notifies you precisely which words in your opinion are misspelled prior to the time your review is posted. Because of that, there's just no excuse for bad spelling. If, at that point, you don't have enough respect for your readers to pick up a dictionary, or write your review in a word processor that can offer you the proper spelling for the words in question, or just go in and correct the spelling errors, I'm not going to reward your laziness with the highest rating, though I will still give you a "R" (or "H," these days) if the review is otherwise o.k.
So. Even if the writer doesn't have perfect writing skills, their ability must still be competent enough to communicate their intent to me. The writer also (as I mentioned before) needs to be able to tell me why they like or dislike the thing they're reviewing. And (I'm sorry) it needs to be just a bit more detailed than "I really liked/disliked it, it really turned me on/off, made me happy/sad/mad/contented" or whatever. How will that kind of information help me? What if I don't like the same things you do? Why did it turn you on/off? Just what was it about this thing that made you happy or sad? I believe that readers need to know not just that it affected you a certain way or made you dissatisfied - they need to know the details behind your rating - what caused those feelings?
Why do readers need to know that? Because it's those details that are going to give people clues about how they will react to that product or service - and that is the only real purpose for these opinions, after all. Y'see, the reasons you like something may be exactly the reasons I would dislike it. Or vice versa. But by giving me your reasoning, I'll learn enough to make a decision - might be a different decision than yours, but I'll still be able to make one. Telling me you like it tells me nothing. Telling me why you like it tells me everything.
I can't tell you how frustrating it is to read (for instance) a review on an album that goes something like this: "Wow! I really liked the Backstreet Boyz! They are the coolest band out there right now! There (sic) stuff really rocks! Each and every song brings a glow in my heart! If I could listen to the Backstreet Boys all day long, I would! I just know that if you get the new album by them you will like them too - they are cosmic!" And so on.
This kind of opinion gets a "Somewhat Helpful" or "Not Helpful" rating from me. Basically, that person has told me about five different ways that they like the Backstreet Boys, and not once why they liked them. If I knew why, I might be able to determine whether I would like them - which, again, is the purpose of Epinions. I tend to suspect that an opinion like this was submitted in the vain hope of getting a few hits and making a little money - not for the purpose of truly informing anyone about anything.
If they do an adequate job of telling me why they feel as they do, I rate their opinion with an "H" or "VH".
Now - trusting a person. It's simple, really - if I find that a person writes opinions with their "whys" explained on a consistent basis, I add them to my "Trusted" list. There's a broad range of writing talent on my trusted list - from barely adequate to stellar - but all of them, at least when I added them to my list, were able to tell me why they felt or believed as they did. I don't have to agree with them; what I'm trusting is their ability to honestly and ably rate something and give their reasons for their rating.
And that's all I have to say about that.
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Epinions.com ID:
counsel
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Dwight
Location: Houston
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 501 members
About Me:
If I smell flowers, I start looking around for a coffin.
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