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The Pandora's Box of Epinions.com - Chapter IIIAug 22 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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“In those times of imperfection and poor managing, all you have to do is start bitc#ing as much as you can in order to be listened, at least try, it won't kill you” That’s not a real or popular saying; I just came up with it thinking it might help to introduce you to what is my 3rd and final editorial about the messed up issues of some people at epinions.com. (Staff primarily). On the first one I talked about “The Web of Trust” and how does it affect everyone in here, how I use it, how I think you –should- use it, and I also commented about the injustices this website offers to great writers like “Xeno3998” –not being an “advisor” having a vast range of trustees and a long list of quality reviews-. It did well, had some people nodding at my review, had some people leaving nice comments…I felt I was not that mistaken… On Chapter II the discussion was about the “errors” or “mistakes” epinions.com tends to have toward its members, the way they treat us –like if we were getting paid millions here, I wish-, and how someone who used to be a great writer is no longer with us thanks to that kind of mistakes –I said used cause his account was suspended for using multiple accounts, thing I find hard to believe but oh well, no respond yet from the staff-, and basically that…”errors” committed by the incredible and brilliant staff of this website. Let’s talk about changes this time, humanity have had a rough path when it comes to accepting changes in general…I’m sure most of you know what the hell I’m talking about –if not, let me just remind you a few…the way parents used to treat their kids when they were teenagers back in the late 80’s…things have changed, now they are still “parents” but a lot more giving (when it comes to permits like going out, dating, clothing, etc). Or simply how society have been treating homosexuals for the past 2 decades, a long and painful progress (according to my gay brother…I’m sure he knows about that subject). Now a time of change has come to epinions.com –again- it seems like they just can’t stay with a mechanic for way too long they just have to change something in order to be completely satisfied or so it seems. Change for me is not always a problem, being a 20 year old I think my mind is more adjusted to them –comparing it with a 30yr old who has different patterns of living-, but the ones that troubles me are the “useless” kind and those made in order to cause some harm…let me get into further details: Top Reviewer The definition of a top reviewer according to the staff here is: …to help shoppers find the best products on Epinions by writing high quality opinions in their category of expertise. Top Reviewers' opinions have received the highest ratings from the Epinions community… If I apply that concept to a few people I’ve come to know (primarily members here that I’ve talked to on AIM), then a few ones qualifies for that…yet somehow I still see them without the “stamp”, it makes me wonder why. 160 reviews (most of them rated very helpful) and 276 trustees = meeting the criteria in said definition. Don’t you think? Yes? We are just plain wrong people, it doesn’t fit it. Why? I wish I knew. That numbers came from Xeno3998’s profile (yes I won’t stop), pretty impressive huh? I know. Yet somehow she managed to get skipped in every single “advisor selection” process, oh…maybe it’s because she appears in many members “block list” and the bot doesn’t like users who are hugely blocked. But why is she blocked? Because she is damn good and people just feel envy, because she rates fairly without giving a cr*p of how the user will feel, if she believes it’s a not helpful, then it’s a not helpful (without paying attention to previous rating). She simply READS the review and rate it according to her own mind, she doesn’t follow the same path I’ve seen in a lot of members which is “this it’s way too long…I won’t read it, but it was rated VH by a lot of people, let’s just click on the cute orange button”…so…does she have to become a crappy rating member in order to achieve the title she deserves? Ask yourself that. If you’re going to apply new titles to people, at least choose the right people that fits the criteria required, don’t let a bot decide which one it’s best, and which isn’t. They said some people “intervened” in the process…oh please, BS someone else…it was clearly bot picked. In addition to that, the new icons are just messy and plain ugly looking. Huge and misplaced they just make things worst –interface wise-, but of course, they are everywhere in order to give the deserved attention to the tiny list of “top” reviewers, how ironic is that? Top Editor The folks who are condemned to read and rate (without skipping paragraphs –I have my eyes on you people-, and without caring if it’s a 100 words review or a 1000 words review), they just have to READ it and RATE IT FAIRLY (or so I read somewhere in the help section of the website). There’s no real problem here, except the facts that they just have to read way too much in order to maintain said title, and not only that but also leaving some kind of feedback (as if, I read the “Just In” section of games everyday, and I just don’t see way too many comments on reviews –a lot of them just find it boring-, but perhaps my I.E it’s just screwed up). And the fact that in between roles transition, some really good people was lost due to stupidity in the bots mind. Alkaiser was changed from “Advisor in games” to “Editor in games”, so not only he lost his title but got condemned by the cute new roles to do a task that perhaps he doesn’t like (I dunno that fact, just stating a point), so after all the mess I’ve seen in the last couple of days, I really have to wonder why…and think which ones are the new improvements in the website, cause I’ve just seen conflict on it. Oh...and I almost forgot to mention how adorable the button looks in the "ratings box”. NOT! PEOPLE!!! They are way too huge...they look out of place and inadequate, making the rating system a pain in the @ss, and so hurtful to my eyes. I just think a little star or something more mmm…small would have been better. And to stab people one more time…Nirav (epinions big fish) felt the need to create what I think it’s the bullet that will finally kill this website: Most Helpful Out of 200 reviews on a product, can you really read them all and rate them all? I think not. And if you do, can you stamp a “Most Helpful” sign to one of them? I think not, but if you do…please don’t feel shy and share the right formula, because I sure need it. I don’t know how much impact this will have on the website but I just get the strange feeling that it won’t be helpful. It will only help to raise the social elite groups around and devastate other not-so-famous members within the community. I’ve used the button 3 times and only 3 times out of 100 reviews I’ve read the last 2 days. I highly think they are the most helpful reviews in each category, but perhaps that’s due to the fact that there’s not too many other reviews about the product to really make a comparison. Who knows? You see…I’m lost and a lot of people are as well. And if you created a MH button why you didn’t created one “LH” (Lest Helpful), to be mean with people…wouldn’t we just love that? That way you can elevate circles and destroy some other members. I know I will, so I can stamp it on Nirav’s mind, because for me, his changes and particular additions to the website are just LEST HELPFUL. Note: I don’t find the button to be completely useless; I believe that you can take a most helpful review out of 10 in a certain product, I just think that perhaps the button should deactivate itself when a product reach more than 20 reviews. Because I can cut a hand if someone here reads more than 20 or 30 reviews on the same product. Its way too annoying, and way too boring, we all know that. Shot me if I’m wrong, but that’s the way it is cause that’s the way I feel. Like I said in my previous “Pandora’s box of epinions.com”, I think some changes need to be made in order to keep this site alive…a lot of people is upset because their titles were removed (and some freak got it), a lot of people is upset because it seems that every single day “we are experiencing some issues, we apologize for the inconvenient”, there’s not a single day where eroyalties works correctly, and they just keep closing accounts, and letting crappy reviewers to post 20 (30 words) useless reviews a day without doing anything about it. But instead of that, they just create new titles (like if they really help or fix issues), they created a button that it might be a disaster when used incorrectly -I believe that some wise people will use it fairly, I do trust in user’s common sense here, but let’s face it, the sane portion of epinions.com resides within an 20-30%, the rest is yet to be determined- : ) I’m just expressing my mind here, I hold no grudges for people who rate MH a lot, I don’t hate the new Top Reviewers nor the Top Editors, I just believe this particular changes were not necessary at all…the site was “working ok” for me –taking aside the problems I mentioned before-, but now, a few other bad issues are just added to the core of the problems, which leads us to a huge demon with no fix found to date. Changes…when well done, can be a good thing. But the question will remain forever. Does epinions.com have a good sense when it comes to making changes? Contact the lord if you find the answer, perhaps he can skywrite it, and so all 1000+ members can see it. Thanks for your attention, we will meet another time –oh I’m sure of that, because epinions.com just like my bitc#ing- Antonio.  |
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