Expressing your opinion on an epinion in a word or two
Apr 12 '00 (Updated Jun 24 '03)
The Bottom Line Two words: Rate fairly!
Well...the title was long winded enough! However, how long the title is has nothing to do with this whatsoever!
All joking aside for the moment, I have to broach on a bit more serious subject than I am normally accustomed to writing on epinions. One of the most visible aspects of epinions is the rating of a review. It's prominently displayed next to the epinion, in one of four categories: Very Helpful (VH), Helpful (H), Somewhat Helpful (SH), and Not Helpful (NH).
When you rate an epinion, you are not just determining its quality, but you are literally staking your reputation as a person and a trusted member of the epinions community on it. I admit, when I first joined the epinions community, I was not quite up to speed on how the whole process worked. I rated reviews of people I knew as VH simply because they were friends of mine. Now, after looking back, most of those I would not change my rating whatsoever, because they were in fact written quite well. There were a couple, when I looked back, that were not quite up to standard.
Rule #1: Never be afraid to change your rating.
This is important to remember! Maybe, when you first read it, you felt to passionately about the subject, disagreed or agreed with, and gave it a mark it didn't deserve. Maybe you didn't read it well enough. There are many possibilities for why we don't rate these correctly. Oftentimes, one read isn't enough. Read it a second time, and then look in the top right corner and see how you rated it the first time. Do you agree with that statement? Remember that your rating is a reflection on yourself. If you agree with your first sentiment, great! If not, don't be afraid to change it. I have retracted and changed ratings before because I disagreed with myself.
Rule #2: Anonymity is bad. Don't leave anonymous ratings.
This is for a very simple point! If you leave an anonymous rating, then people can't see what you think. What is the whole purpose of epinions?
To see what YOU think!! Anonymous ratings don't help the writer/reviewer either. What if the person who wrote that review went and looked at their review and saw a rating of NH? Below that, they see "Anonymous." How in the world are they going to ask that person why their rating was marked NH so that they can fix the problem? In two words, "They can't." As a community, we MUST support each other. By showing your identity, you make yourself available to help when rating their reviews!
Rule #3: Vindictiveness is not a becoming trait. Rate epinions honestly and you will find yours rated honestly as well.
OK, well, most of the time, hopefully. Sometimes, we are going to find our reviews with a less than satisfying rating. This happens! To expect all of your reviews to have nothing but VH ratings is like expecting Publisher's Clearinghouse to show up on your doorstep everyday with a check for $10 Million. Let's face facts. It won't happen.
Now, the first step is not to "go out and do to them what they did to you." If you do, people will catch on quick. The first thing to do is to review your epinion. Why do you think they reviewed it the way they did? If you can't find it, then ask them!
Rule #4: Post a comment.
Posting comments is one of the best ways to:
a. put your name out there
b. Let people know what you think
c. Let people know HOW you think
d. Voice your opinion on something you may not be well-informed enough about to write an epinion on yourself.
There are some tricks to posting comments.
1. Post comments about both epinions regardless of how you rate them. If it was VH, H, SH, or NH, post your comment! Don't restrict them to certain categories. Let people know how you feel. Was the opinion written well? Tell them! People need to hear compliments. Was it written well, but do you disagree? Tell them! Let them hear your side! Does the epinion need some work? Tell them! That's how we learn.
2. Don't force your opinion on the person. If you disagree, balance your opinion like you would if you were posting it as YOUR epinion. In a way, they are one and the same.
3. Don't babble! I know this sounds silly, but there are some people who just rant on and on but say very little. (This also applies to their epinions too.)
4. Short isn't always sweet! Yes, thanks for telling me "It was a nice epinion." Is that all? Is there any more you could tell me that could help me improve?
Rule #5: Be honest and think on your own two feet.
I can't stress this enough. OK, so 50 other people rated it VH. So what? If you think it only deserves an H rating, rate it that way! Don't feel intimidated because you disagree with the masses. Hopefully, the person who wrote the epinion will find out why you rated it that way, and later thank you for it.
Rule #6: No back-scratching
Awww.......joebillybob gave you a VH for your epinion. That's great! When you read his epinion, forget that. Don't rate someone else's epinion high because they rated yours high. The same holds true for low ratings. (See Rule #3 about vindictiveness)
Now, the part you may be wondering about. How do I rate epinions? Well, in all honesty, how I rate epinions changes over time, as I not only continually develop my writing skills, but also how I critique them. I do attempt to maintain a rather consistent set of personal guidelines, but these are always subject to change as I improve myself.
Very Helpful
Wow! You did a very nice job of getting your point across to me. You have substantiated your opinion with facts, and it was portrayed in a coherent and educated manner. I never discredit a good epinion for spelling errors, unless they are so glaring they can't be ignored. Epinions with a rating of VH are held in high regard by me. If you have received a rating of VH from me, feel confident that you have certainly done good work.
Helpful
First, don't panic! Having an H rating does not mean I think you did a poor job. On the contrary, I think you did quite well. However, I think that there are some places for improvement. Epinions that get this rating may have glaring spelling errors (as other have said, there is a spell-check in preview mode) that can't be avoided. These epinions may have a lot of information, but may not be presented in a coherent manner. These epinions may have left out some information I felt was missing. Again, this is NOT a bad rating!
Somewhat Helpful
I have given these out quite a few times. This means any number of things, including:
Information is lacking. There is some there, but not enough to help me make an informed decision.
Ack! What are we talking about? I get the general idea, but I'm lost on what you are really trying to say. (I understand this feeling. I occasionally have "cluttered mind"-itis as well.)
Epinion strays off topic some.
Opinion not substantiated well.
Not Helpful
I hesitate to give these out on occasion, but will when they are warranted. If you receive a rating of NR from me, there is a problem.
Maybe you forgot what you were talking about? (Off-topic)
The opinion is there, but there is no support.
Not your epinion. (This will be turned in to epinions as it is also known as fraud and plagiarism.)
Is obviously not informed. (This means that you have written about something you know nothing about.)
The epinion contains hate text, improper language, or anything that is described in epinions.com's TOS as being disallowed in a person's epinion. (This stuff will also be forwarded to epinions abuse department.)
The epinion is padded. (You had to WORK for that 100 words, didn't you?)
Well, now that you know how the reviews are rated, maybe I should explain something else....
The Web of Trust...
This is an important aspect of epinions. The Web of Trust means that you stake YOUR credibility on these people. The first way to tell whether or not you should add someone to your list is to read some of their epinions. Do they write well? Do you rate most (if not all) of their epinions VH? Are you willing to vouch for their credibility as an epinion writer? If so, then maybe that person qualifies to be on your Web of Trust. Another thing you might want to consider is THAT person's Web of Trust. Do they trust people who write good epinions?
...and the Web of Distrust
Heaven help me if I will ever understand why they hide distrusted members. This is as important as the Web of Trust. If you have been put on my Web of Distrust, this means that I have looked at your epinions, have found the bulk of them to be not very good, and they are not showing much improvement.
I hope this helps those who read this understand me a bit better, and to also understand not only how I think, but why I rate certain things the way I do!
Good luck to all in writing your epinions. I look forward to reading them.
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Tigger1313
|
|
Member: Rob
Location: Reisterstown, MD
Reviews written: 56
Trusted by: 20 members
About Me:
Is bouncin' what Tiggers do the best? What a ridicerous question! Of course!
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.