Epinions is more than reviews. Be sure you put your opinion in the correct catagory!
Jun 27 '00
I'm still a relative newbie to Epinions, but so far I'm having a blast writing and reading other people's opinions. I get the feeling, however, that some members aren't really paying attention to where they put their posts.
If you look for the item you want to review in the search engine, it may come up several times. Be careful not to click on the first one that matches. Look at the heading path to make sure your opinion will be placed in the most appropriate category.
Let's take, for example, Squaresoft's wildly popular RPG game Final Fantasy VIII. I'm choosing this for the obvious reason to anyone who's looked at my profile page that I cover quite a few aspects of this game, my personal video game obsession. Do a search for Final Fantasy VIII and you'll wind up with five exact matches listed in the search results. They all say Final Fantasy VIII, but each is for a different type of Epinion. Only two are for reviews of the game, one for the Playstation version and one for the PC version. Now this doesn't show up on the search results, but by following the link you can see the full category heading path. Two more are for the respective Official Strategy Guides, where you can put in a book review on the SGs for each version of the game. The fifth category is also called Final Fantasy VIII, but it's for a non-review category. That's right! Epinions is more than just product and service reviews! This one is for members to offer advice in the form of strategy, tips, and tricks to help other members get the most out of Final Fantasy VIII.
Clearly stated if you follow that link is the purpose for that topic. Share your best strategies, tips, and tricks for Final Fantasy. Yet the vast majority of opinions posted there are clearly reviews of the game and offer not a single hint on how to play the game. Why on Earth would people post their reviews there rather than in the appropriate game review topic? My only guesses are that they A) clicked on that link by mistake and didn't realize the purpose of that topic, B) are unable to understand and follow simple directions, or C) posted there so as to avoid competition on front page display amongst the 400 plus game reviews of Final Fantasy VIII. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say it's A, because the other two choices demonstrate incompetence or abuse and I don't want to assume that about fellow members.
The problem with posting your review in the wrong section is that it makes it more difficult for people to find while browsing. If they're looking for game reviews, they're going to look under that topic, not tips and tricks. There are many, many topics like Final Fantasy VIII that will come up under search in multiple categories. Do both yourself and your readers a favor by taking the time to make sure you have the most appropriate heading for your opinion.
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Epinions.com ID:
QueenLyssa
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Member: Lyssa Jaraba
Location: Riverside, CA
Reviews written: 64
Trusted by: 19 members
About Me:
It's good to be queen.
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