You need a personality to begin with to develop one on epinions...
Jun 30 '04
The Bottom Line It's short, it's sweet, it's by me.
What more could you possibly want?!?!?
This is going ot be quite short, because simply, the best advice I can give you about developing an epinions personality is:
Be yourself.
The question is not so much how to develop your epinions personality, but how to display your personality to the epinions community. (Ok that might be nit-picky, but I still think it’s true!) If you’re looking for a complete guide on how to get hits, money, peoples’ trust, etc… then look elsewhere. This is about how to let your personality shine through to other epinions members. Which can, of course, be helpful for getting hits, etc…
Writing
Accept advice from others, but make sure you retain your own style. Your writing should be unique – don’t try to copy anyone else’s style. Remember that a really good review should include personal insight, not just a description or specifications. Posting in Writers’ Corner allows you more freedom to express yourself – so use it.
Rating
By honest about how you rate – don’t rate something “Very Helpful” just because everyone else has unless you personally feel that it is – and vice-versa with badly-rated pieces if you think they’re good. Lots of rating means your name will start to be recognised – though it doesn’t ensure that your personality will become known. However, if you’re a “rubber stamper” (rate everything VH) or a “revenge rater” (rate people badly just because they gave you a bad rating), people will pick up on it very quickly.
Commenting
This is the main area where your personality shines through – I would say that your comments account for well over 50% of peoples’ opinion of you. QED – if you never comment, you have little or no epinions personality. Be as mad as you like, as complimentary, or as critical – as long as you explain why, your personality will come through. Once you get to “know” other members, occasionally leaving comments just to say “hi” is common practice (if you have nothing else to say!). Naturally if someone comments on your own reviews a lot, you’ll be more inclined to do the same for them – and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. But don’t always wait for someone else to take the initiative.
Trusting
Don’t just trust people because they trust you – trust them because you enjoy reading their reviews. However, if someone trust you, then you read some of their reviews and like them, don’t be afraid to trust them back – that’s not trust-slutting, it’s mutual admiration.
Message Boards
There are epinions’ own message boards (still not live for most members at the time of writing this), and various user groups – which you can either find and apply to join or, more likely, will get invited to at one time or another. Depending on the board you’re posting on, various things will be discussed – from epinions to what’s going on in peoples’ lives. (You know, the ones they lead in the real world. Being willing to spend some time just chatting about various issues or sympathising with peoples’ problems, offering help, or anything that’s not directly pimping your reviews, it shows that you have a personality. (Not that you have to leave out the pimping of your reviews, of course, but if that’s all you do, it doesn’t add to peoples’ perception of your personality – not in a positive way, anyway!)
Emails
Sometimes I just email someone I know if I see that they’re getting married or whatever to congratulate them (I’ve still got mine from when I got my first Top Reviewer and Advisor hats! :-D), or for whatever reason really. It’s just nicer than a “we happen to write on the same website” kind of mentality. A lot of members tend to mention major events in their lives in their short biog, so you;ll see them when you’re reading their reviews.
That’s It!
I’ve deliberately kept this short as, while I could go on for hours, I could really add nothing else of real value. And you lot have got a load of other reading, rating, and commenting to do, haven’t you!?!??!
Thanks for reading!
CaptainD
Other Member Advice Articles
These are my articles I've written to help members (mainly new ones, but not necessarily) to make the most of their stay at epinions, and to share what I laughingly call my wisdom...
CaptainD’s Guide to Epinions – Second Edition - a general guide to epinions, what it is, how to be a success here, etc.
CaptainD’s Guide to Writing A Really Bad Review - self-explantory really - what not to do when you're writing a review!
CaptainD’s Guide to Building a WOT - What is a WOT? How do you build one? And why should you? All is revealed...
The Ten Commandments of Epinions - well okay, there are 11 - things that'll help you be a success and most of all enjoy being part of the epinions community.
CaptainD's Guide to Hosting A Write Off - everything you ever wanted to know about hosting a WO (apart from anything I've forgotten...)
CaptainD's Guide to Joining A Write Off - everything you ever wanted to know about joining a WO...
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