I'm a 28-year-old female with a B.A. in English (2007) and two partial Master's degrees in teaching (one geared toward the community college level and one toward high school). I've worked as a paralegal, substitute teacher, and direct support professional (current). My hobbies include books, music, sports, and video games.
Epinions.com History
From 2002 to 2003, I was an Advisor and Top Reviewer in Music under the name shadesofblue. I took 2004 and part of 2005 off because of college obligations (my user name and reviews went away as well). I came back under my current moniker, thewisefool, in May 2005. I mostly just rated reviews in 2005 before returning with actual reviews of my own in the summer of 2006. College once again took up too much time for me to write in 2007, but I returned with reviews in 2008.
Epinions.com Rating Policies
I don't rubber-stamp under any circumstances. At the very least, I skim reviews and look for essential descriptions and personal opinions on the product at hand.
My rating tendencies are fairly lenient. However, I take grammar and spelling into account when rating reviews. A few minor errors don't bother me, but if a review has numerous mistakes (or very egregious ones if the review is short), I will give a rating lower than what I otherwise would have given. Since this is a writing site, I think it's reasonable to consider language technicalities when giving out ratings (you could also say my English major mentality creeps in here). A thorough approach is admirable, and creativity in writing is certainly important, but grammar and spelling are objective, quantifiable elements, so I believe they should also be considered when assessing reviews.
If you have any questions about any of my ratings, or if you want me to re-rate something you've updated, feel free to send me a comment so I can get back to you. I don't always check back on comments I've left, so if I haven't gotten back to you, you can go ahead and leave a comment on one of my reviews.
