Is that hope I see shining over there? Nah, just the pennies in Epinion's hoard!Sep 01 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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Once again, I’ve come back to the advice section of Epinions. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t think it was necessary. But all those articles (mostly whinings and pinings) that cascaded in after the changes hit didn’t really address the problem or, more importantly, advise us on how to respond. (Maybe because all the people writing were the people who were no longer advisors, and therefore subconsciously felt no longer worthy to give advice?) I can see the question trickling into your mind at this point. What is the real problem? To begin with, the symptoms: August 11th, 2001, Epinions changes the Advisor System to a new hierarchy of Editors and Top Reviewers whose names and positions are emblazoned on every boxpost. Epinions also adds a “Most Helpful” rating option to be given to one review per product. August 30th, 2001, Epinions changes the entire look of the review screen. Something is dramatically different. And dramatically wrong. Why? Because a number of worthwhile people were demoted, because the new layout is tacky, and because… THE PROBLEM!!!! Here it is folks. Epinions no longer respects us. Yepper. Of course, the wiser folks around knew that, or suspected it, from the beginning. But all of a sudden the rest of us were enlightened. By giving demotions right and left, Epinions has made wonderful writers feel worthless. Like they weren’t good enough. It makes me feel so sad to think of all the former advisors who are now “non experts” in a field they know very well, simply because Epinions decided on a whim to be extremely selective in their “good enough” criteria. We’ve known for months that Epinions is struggling monetarily. The paycuts, the disappearance of pennies from Epinions advice articles, and the ads everywhere were big red flags. And I can sympathize. I’ve been saving my pennies too. Yet the changes made recently have not helped the site make any more money that I can see. It would have been far more profitable (and far less humiliatory) to explain the real problem to folks here, and I bet many of them would understand completely! Then put any changes on the table for members to vote on. Isn’t that much better than reinventing the wheel, putting a small group of people on a pedestal, and throwing the rest of us out on our collective ear? The mysterious siblinghood: Editors and Top Reviewers In the remotest case that you haven’t noticed, Epinions has now dubbed various and sundry persons Editors, who rate reviews and leave comments, and Top Reviewers, who review many products in their special category. This classification has replaced the Advisor system. A number of Advisors were left in the cold with no title, while others who had both more and less qualifications were given honors galore. Nobody actually knows exactly what the holders of these enigmatic roles do different than the rest of us. I have no theory as to how Epinions chose who got to be an E or TR. My guess is that it was a random computer bot thing. (Since I don’t even know exactly what a bot is – a body part maybe? – my guess is as good as anything. Because nothing else makes sense either.) Here’s my take on this system: I think it was a mistake to split up the reading and writing part of Epinions. How can you be a valuable member if you never look at anybody else’s work? Similarly, how can you contribute much to the consumer decision-making process without writing reviews? Editors are recognized for rating and commenting on a lot of reviews in their category. That’s great…but that means I could become an Editor in Electronics just by meeting the criteria. Yikes. Someone may see this as sour grapes, since I was among the – cough cough – selected demotees. I’ve thought about how I would feel if I had kept my hat in Books. Would I still have been as hard on the new system? I don’t see many Editors or Top Reviewers complaining about it. I truly believe, however, that I still would have been upset over it even if I had remained important. Because I would know there were many, many worthy people who were passed over. And I hate the thought of an elite group who is “better” and “more worthy” than the others. “Recognizing” their positions through those buttons is just another way of separating us. It’s like saying that’s the only important quality to that member, not to mention how that makes the other people on the rating lists look. I don’t want it to sound like I’m dissing the current Es and TRs. Probably half of the people on my WOT have one or both positions. I’m happy for them. Truly. They deserve it. Yet…are they the only ones who deserve it? Everything changed, nothing gained In the old system, it was fairly easy to become an advisor. (I know, I know, there were some great writers who slipped through the cracks, but even I somehow managed to slither into advisorhood!) You simply had to write well and write a lot in one particular category. Sometimes even the “writing well” part wasn’t necessary. Perhaps this was what caused Epinions to think they should overhaul the system. Well, good. The whole advisor issue was becoming far too abusive and confusing. But ditch advisors altogether? And replace it with an even worse system? This confirms my theory that Epinions has no grip on the widely accepted truth that change should equal improvement. Change should be for the better. The changes that took place this month were almost unquestionably for the worse. As my friend Dan (pedantic) and others have pointed out, Epinions isn’t cracking down on the real problem. They’re making arbitrary and pointless changes that don’t address the real issues. Bottom line for this site is that they’re not making enough money. I can accept that. I can accept a drastic paycheck cut from $.10 to $.1 a hit. I can accept not making money on editorials. What I can’t accept is meaningless system swapping that doesn’t even earn more money for Epinions or its members! They’ve slid further backwards, and they aren’t even profiting from it! Wait. It’s coming in. It’s starting to show up clear…now…I’VE GOT IT!!!! Epinions wants people to go away, so that Epinions doesn’t have to fork over as many pennies, so Epinions gets to keep more of its mula. Therefore, Epinions has created a new system that is so abhorrent that not even the “a a a a” crowd wants to deal with it! And since the really good writers are the ones who get a lot of hits and make a lot of money (comparatively), by alienating them Epinions is saving even more of their precious greenstuff! Doesn’t it all make sense now? Unfortunately, not even this theory solves the true reasons that Epinions is slipping. You know, like customer service, quality control, respecting its members and customers, little things like that. When obvious and terrible abuse is occurring and Epinions just ignores it, then all the “rightsizing” of advisors in the world won’t save this mess. Just for *fun* (ahem) I went to the Advisor Transition FAQ, which you can find at this link: http://www.epinions.com/help/faq/?show=faq_transition And I read Epinions’ own version of the story. (I know, they sent me an email explaining it, but I was in paralysis from the main point of their message – you’re dead meat – and I didn’t truly get it.) I wanted to know just what exactly they thought changing the system would do for them. They addressed the different issues they were solving (or thought they were solving) by the replacement. Yet none of their reasons, even if the solutions had worked, seemed to justify the rudeness of dropping some of their great writers. The Most Helpful Button Several months ago, a few of us Epinionators mentioned in the comment section that an article was so good it went beyond Very Helpful, and we jokingly said there should be a “Most Helpful” option to recognize the very best stuff at the site. Little did we know how it would come back to haunt us. Epinions evidently snooped around and filched our suggestion. Not only that, but they twisted and tortured it beyond recognizability. Our original idea for the Most Helpful rating was for it to be a mark of distinctiveness given to absolutely wonderful articles that edge on divine. *Not* on the “best” review of each product. I checked out Epinions’ statement for use of the Most Helpful button (and of course, since they don’t actually want me to know what’s going on, they gave me an error message saying the member center was inaccessible! I persevered and finally broke through the dark veil to find the true truth!) The only thing I found out was that, quite simply, “---.” Um, yeah. We guessed that. Unfortunately, Epinions didn’t stop to think about the implications of the Most Helpful rating. It eliminates rubberstamping in a category to some degree – now the readers have to actually think about what makes a review the best and compare the different reviews – but people continue to be dumb and/or selfish and give a random article the MH and everything else VHs. Not only that, but many don’t even bother to read the other reviews before administering the MH rating. (I’ve been doing my own clinical study. Just for fun.) And so earlier reviews don’t stand a chance. They get passed over as people assume that the latest one is the best. (Of course, there are those who still have standards, but those seem to be getting fewer…) To my horror (and a little relief), I have grown reconciled – but not accepting! Never accepting! – to the MH. It is nice to have it when you want it. Here’s how I’m using my Most Helpful privilege (it’s about the only privilege I have at Epinions these days!), and I feel this is a fairly good method, since a few other members I know have some of the same principles: q I read all of the reviews of a product before EVER giving one MH. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. q If I am wowed by an article, that pretty much guarantees a MH q Any review that stands out as being extraordinarily good. The ones that you finish reading, sit back, and wish you could give a better rating than VH because the review was so exquisite. Or the ones you wish you had written. q When I’m researching a product and one of the reviews is not only better than the others but is a superb epinion in its own right. q No “automatic ratings.” Just because the epinion is the only one in the category, or just because it’s better than the other ones, does not mean I’m gonna rate it MH! I think that anything of that nature opens the door to applauding cruddy or mediocre reviews while slamming the door on someone who might want to write a great review of the product. What if a review that you would normally rate SH is the only one on the item? Does it get a MH? (Not from me.) Does it deserve a MH? That’s what I’m going to do. However, if you intend on using the Most Helpful button in the way Epinions intended, I have a few suggestions: 1. Don’t use blindly. Hate to be simplistic here, but you shouldn’t use the MH rating if you haven’t read all the reviews in the category. Duh! Some people think that MH is something they can use on a whim. Hello!!! It’s there to tell consumers looking for quality information that this article does the best job of giving it to them. If you aren’t sure that this review IS the best, why are you saying it’s the best? 2. Do invest when rating. If you’re reading an article by someone you really enjoy and/or trust, take the time to check out the other articles in the category so that you can give that author the MH rating if they deserve it. What I find so stupid is that some people who would otherwise give an article a MH see that there’s another review of the product and so they just sail off, leaving a boring VH in their wake. We’re not talking sixty million other reviews, just maybe one or two other reviews. Would it cost them that many precious seconds to take a peek at everyone else’s reviews? And then wouldn’t it be nice to have the satisfaction of giving a writer you like an informed MH? (P.S. I’ve noticed that very few of the Editors use the MH rating. Coincidence?) The new format Now, is it just me, or does the new Epinions layout stink like spilled milk in a car on a hot summer day? Change, as I mentioned, can be frustrating, but they could make it easier for us to adapt to it by making changes for the BETTER! The formatting is a case in point. Epinions has flip-flopped the review screen, added a whole bunch more ads and boxes up top, and made the overall aspect so confusing that if I wasn’t familiar with the basic stuff at this site, I would give up in disgust. (They did fix the little “You’ve written an review of this product” statement. Small consolation.) And it isn’t just that I’ve been moved out of my “comfort zone.” I admit, I did like it the way it was. That’s not the reason I detest the new format. The reason is that it’s going to drive consumers away! (And if they’re not careful, me too!) But that brings us full circle to my statement earlier. Epinions is no longer about helping the consumer. It’s about being profitable. So they really don’t care whether I'm here or not! Practical Suggestion: Um, do you have any ideas? My mind is a freshly cleaned chalkboard waiting to be screeched with the nails of fresh new horrors. My only tip would be to navigate around all those ads. Yeah, I know it brings Epinions more money…but if they had only made the site work in the first place, they could have avoided the need to plaster an ad everywhere. So what should we do? Since I don’t want this to be a complaining, seethe-and-no-solution article, I’ve provided this section to shed some light on ways of responding to these changes. 1. Decide whether you’re going to head for the EXIT sign. I apologize, but I cannot make this decision for you. You simply must weigh the pros and cons, just like you do when writing a review. Do you get out of Epinions more than what this site takes from you? Stop and think about that for a minute. I’m not being biased, but does Epinions’ abyss of abuse and political gobbledygook make you want to collapse in agony? {Grin} Or does the pleasure of publishing your writing and reading the work of the wonderful writers on this site make up for all the faults? The final and most important question: is Epinions worth your time and talent? 2. Change what you can’t accept, and accept what you can’t change. If you’re still in the boat with me, flood Epinions’ mailbox with your thoughts! Emails from all the upset, disappointed, and/or irate members will, or should, get Epinions’ attention if there’s any hope left for the site at all. Express in clear, logical, but firmly stated terms what you think about the new changes and what you would like to see improved or scrapped. And that’s basically all you can do to change the changes. If you aren’t willing to get used to it, then perhaps it’s time for you to move on in your pursuits. Jumping ship now might save you a whole lot of headache in the days to come if Epinions continues to make these kinds of “improvements.” On the other hand, it’s possible that they will get their act together and then keep it that way. Once again, you decide. 3. Decide what your attitude will be. I have allowing myself from August till today to rant and rave about the new Epinions, and then I will force myself to get over it and be positive, no matter how much I hate it. It’s okay to be hurt for now. But don’t plop yourself down in the land of self-pity and bitterness and make us all come with you. Resentful attitudes will NOT help the state of Epinions! Express your feelings in some way, whether it be an article, an email, or a conversation with a fellow Epinionator. And then move on. 4. Decide where your focus will be. I realized this when I read an email from one of my Epinions friends. The people who stay on this site will either be focused on becoming (or remaining) a big cheese E or TR; OR they will simply relax and have fun, to heck with politics! One goal is not necessarily better than the other. However, I have the feeling that one will definitely be more rewarding than the other! I’ve pretty much given up hope for ever attaining even Top Reviewer status, much less Editor. That frees me up so much! I don’t have to worry about meeting any quotas or fitting in boxes. I can write about whatever I want whenever I want. I will admit, I would have liked to be a Someone who was recognized by Epinions. But you know what? I am someone. Yeah, Epinions doesn’t think so…but I think so, and what’s more, other people think so. I get emails daily that encourage me in my writing. I treasure every single one. I see them as my confirmation that I’m doing what I should be doing – writing well. As long as I’m doing that, status is truly unimportant. (At this point you’re probably saying “Ohh-kayyy. When is the sappy peptalk going to end?” Really, I promise that I will give no more of either bitter rants or bubbly spirit-boosters.) 5. Keep doing what you did before the changes! Like I explained with the Most Helpful thing, I am basically implementing what I like about the new system (I don’t have to implement much!) and ignoring the rest. What, is Epinions going to MAKE me look at the screaming title buttons or use the Most Helpful rating? My policy will be to continue producing high-quality articles, interacting with and encouraging other Epinionators, and to lighten up for heaven’s sake! 6. Redeem your earnings NOW!!! Uncertain the future is. To Greatpilgrim you listen. Do not count on Epinions to have the funds to pay you in several months. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, and that goes for money too. Bottom line Let’s face it: Epinions isn’t what it used to be. They have discovered that whizbang and technology can’t make up for respect and decency. But we, yes we, can HELP! Either by removing our talent from its abysmal depths (if you believe the site’s going down) in order to encourage the misery to end sooner, or by continuing to write with excellence, style, and knowledge (if you believe the site can tough it out). MAKE YOUR CHOICE! P.S. My mom advised me not to write this article. Her thought was that the Epinions would be so mad at me for dissing the system that they would do something dramatically bad to me. Well, it can’t get much worse than this! And Epinions is not the thought police….or is it? I sincerely hope that all these problems will get straightened out. Soon.  |
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