I'm a loser why don't you block me... Aug 12 '03 (Updated Aug 26 '03)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line This is my 25th review written after almost three years of Epinions membership. 1) My "career" on Epinions I still remember how it all began: Back in 2000, I was looking for some nifty web sites about ultra vivid scene, one of my favorite bands, and I stumbled on noisey's stunning review of Joy 1967-1990. This review was good enough to be printed in a magazine, nicely written, extremely accurate, but still with a personal touch. Some time later, I decided to write something myself. I chose something quite obscure even for my standards, an almost twenty year old Japanese import album. I tried to do my best, but the review still was a bit poor. (I have rewritten this review some time ago). Anyway, I received some not too bad ratings and decided to carry on with some more music reviews and even some short articles for the Community Center. There were several things that bothered me though: - I rarely managed to get a VH, and a part of the VH's was apparently coming from rubber stampers. - Even with 0,01 $ for each member view and about the same amount as Income Share, I didn't manage to earn more than half a dollar for each review. In other words, I couldn't expect to get my first check before having written forty or fifty reviews, and only if Epinions would last long enough and keep paying that much. I continued to write, but decided not to put too much expectations and work into the site. Well, as everybody knows, Epinions was there to last, but the writer's income was drastically reduced, just when I finally had managed to improve my reviews and to get some more good ratings. My first review that really was worth a VH was my second Can review. Since I'm German and had lived in Cologne (the band's home town) for quite a while, I considered this band as my specialty, and therefore I just couldn't accept not to be among the best rated Can reviewers. For my Monster Movie review I tried really hard and was rewarded by a vast majority of VH's. If have to admit that I left some harsh comments for Musical_Guru, but he was kind enough to talk things out and we even ended on our mutual WOT's. From this time on, I became more ambitious. I was constantly aiming for the best overall rating, and every time I failed, it was a major letdown. It was only some months ago that I finally succeeded to write a series of very helpful reviews, only interrupted by a helpful review that I've deleted after a day or two. Well, this brings us to part two: 2) Why the hell am I writing so few reviews? In a certain extent, it is just laziness and frustration. Why should I continue to write as long as my reviews are only noticed by between 50 and 100 persons and just make a cent or two? I admit that I get a fair amount of attention given my contribution to the site, but it should be a bit more to keep me motivated. But there are other reasons. I wouldn't call it a writer's block, but I never know in advance if I will manage to write another review. Quite often, I think it would be nice to write about this or that album and then I feel unable to describe how it sounds, why I like it and what makes the artists interesting to me. I just can't explain it all. Sure, I would always be able to write two or three hundred words about it, but not enough to make up a VH review. Paradoxically, the more I love an artist, the more I feel unable to write about him. I guess I never will write a review about Tago Mago or about David Sylvian's solo albums. All the facts and all the background suddenly seems almost unimportant. It is like I was merely enumerating the ingredients instead of describing the taste or at least explaining the recipe. 3) Epinions 2000 - Epinions 2003 The most evident modification is the drastically reduced income. As far as the music section and not too recent albums are concerned, the amounts paid nowadays might be around 5% of the amount paid in 2000. Many talented writers stopped to write or even left the site. Fortunately, a huge number of rubber stampers and abusers left as well. Nowadays the advisors are doing a great job, since they rate practically every review and keep the standards high. There seems to be a large consensus about the ratings, which makes revenge ratings and other erratic behaviors quite easy to detect. As far as I am concerned, I would sometimes like to see a bit more diversity in the ratings, but that's not a big issue. Thanks for reading, rating and providing input for Epinions.

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