Rubber stamp

LorinSilver · #1 10-02-2001, 04:48 AM

Yesterday my wife wanted to write a review "Peace of Mind" in my name. She did so, and it got a couple of "Helpful" ratings. It also got a couple of comments, stating how to make it better.

Another epinions member informed us that it was against policy for her to write in my account. So I took her review, added helpful information, and re-wrote the whole thing in my own words.

Now, although the review is up to my normal standards (or so I think), people read it - or shall I say 'glance' at it - and see the other "Helpful" ratings and simply rubber stamp another "Helpful" on it. A couple of members who I know do read the reviews thoroughly, were nice enough to rate it "Very Helpful" though.

This isn't a plea to go out and read my review, this is just something I'd like you to ask yourself. If you read a review with ten "Helpful" ratings next to it, would you be more inclined to rate it "Helpful" yourself than if it had ten "Very Helpful" ratings next to it?

magenta321 · #2 10-02-2001, 08:34 AM

I rate on the merit of the review itself.

That being said... forgive me, but I am curious how someone else wrote a review under your screenname? And personally, if I was violated like that, I think I'd tear down any trace of the intruder review and change my password, pronto

queenofallevil · #3 10-02-2001, 08:57 AM

Quote:

That being said... forgive me, but I am curious how someone else wrote a review under your screenname? And personally, if I was violated like that, I think I'd tear down any trace of the intruder review and change my password, pronto

Margaret , read the post again...it was his wife who wanted to write on his account. I assume he was the one who logged her in.

Anyway, I too agree with you...I read the reviews and decide which button I push. Most of the time I end up agreeing with the majority, but I've been known to be the only one who stamps a "majority VH" review with an "H" and vice versa. The way others rate don't have much influence on me, unless I notice someone who I recognize give a majority VH review a big fat NH. That's when I start peeping over the comments section before deciding my rating. (Usually this is due to a copied review, or another good reason I wasn't aware of.) Good raters don't slap NH's on reviews (that aren't obvious) without reasons given in the comments section. If I feel I am way out of the majority, I'll check the comments before I click...sometimes the comments left can even be more valuable than the review itself. :p

Val

vania · #4 10-02-2001, 10:18 AM

I've noticed the same sort of problem as I've been editing my oldest reviews. Some of them have a bunch of Helpfuls and *gasp* even several SHs!! Now they've all been fixed and-- I think anyway-- they're all pretty good and worthy of VHs.

But I'm thinking people looking at them will take one look at all the Hs and SHs and just rubberstamp it that way again without reading.

Oh well.

vania

LorinSilver · #5 10-02-2001, 11:26 AM

I wish everybody at Epinions rated like you, Magenta, val & vania.

I've noticed that one or two reviewers who have a huge web of trust, are starting to get a little lazy and they don't write as well as they used to (while still managing to write two reviews a day). Of course almost everybody gives this a rating of "Very Helpful", while I only give it a "Helpful" rating...

nicholmere · #6 10-02-2001, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LorinSilver
Yesterday my wife wanted to write a review "Peace of Mind" in my name....

One of the things that I like about Epinions is the each member has their own style of writing and brings their personality to each piece. If I was following a writer I'd feel somehow cheated to discover that reviews posted under their name were not written by them, even if the member had given their approval to the other person.

Quote:

Originally posted by LorinSilver
...Another epinions member informed us that it was against policy for her to write in my account. So I took her review, added helpful information, and re-wrote the whole thing in my own words....

If your wife still wants to write I hope she was able to open her own account.

Quote:

Originally posted by LorinSilver
... or shall I say 'glance' at it - and see the other "Helpful" ratings and simply rubber stamp another "Helpful" on it. A couple of members who I know do read the reviews thoroughly, were nice enough to rate it "Very Helpful" though....

Ah, I do that too: assume that the people who rate me highly are thorough while the low raters just skim/rubber stamp.

But, you may be right, my ego hopes you are, that the low raters are rubber stampers.

Quote:

Originally posted by LorinSilver
....If you read a review with ten "Helpful" ratings next to it, would you be more inclined to rate it "Helpful" yourself than if it had ten "Very Helpful" ratings next to it?

No. If I find a review VH then I'll rate it that way.

The only time I might be influenced by other ratings would be the opposite of what you described: if I came across a review with ten VHs, but I didn't consider it a VH review. Seeing the VHs might make me think a couple of things: 1 - are the VHs by people whose rating I respect? If not then I'll just leave my rating (H/SH/NH) and move on. 2 - If I respect the other raters then I might wonder if I missed something, so I'll go back and reread it, and I'll rate based on the second reading (sometimes my rating increases, sometimes not).

queenofallevil · #7 10-02-2001, 11:46 AM

Quote:

Vania wrote: I've noticed the same sort of problem as I've been editing my oldest reviews. Some of them have a bunch of Helpfuls and *gasp* even several SHs!! Now they've all been fixed and-- I think anyway-- they're all pretty good and worthy of VHs.

Hey Vania...I've been peering over some of your older reviews, and came across one on Norway (the country), but I saw the one you had written about was about the "Norway" at Epcot Center. Was there not a WDW category when you posted it? If not, there is one now, I was thinking about writing a review about it myself but decided it would be waaaaaay too long for me to dedicate myself to. Just letting you know about the availability of the category....I recently went through and replaced an article of mine because it was so old there wasn't a listing at the time I wrote it.

Of course, if you ment to put it in that category...my apologies. I just wanted to be helpful and let you know since I saw that category was open this week.

All the best!,

Val

nicholmere · #8 10-02-2001, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vania
...But I'm thinking people looking at them will take one look at all the Hs and SHs and just rubberstamp it that way again without reading...

If I come across an old review with low ratings I'll still rate based on what I've just read. If I consider the review VH/H then I'll rate it that way. If I'm curious about the low ratings I'll probably check the date of the last edit and the dates of the low ratings. Usually it's easy to tell that the review was updated after the low ratings were given - especially on the really old stuff.

elzora · #9 10-02-2001, 01:00 PM

lorinsilver-

I just read and rated your review on the baby formula this morning. You gave some very helpful information, but I have a lot of friends whose babies cannot tolerate certain foods, and I agree with the one commenter who said you should list the ingredients.

I am one who reads labels of everything I buy, so ingredients listings are a "stickler" for me. Had they been included, I would have given you a VH, but for ME it just wasn't quite complete.

Is that as clear as mud? Your other reviews are good, and I r/r them higher.

Sue
http://www.epinions.com/user-elzora

vania · #10 10-02-2001, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by queenofallevil

Hey Vania...I've been peering over some of your older reviews, and came across one on Norway (the country), but I saw the one you had written about was about the "Norway" at Epcot Center. Was there not a WDW category when you posted it?

Hi Val--

Actually, this IS the WDW category for Norway.... or at least it used to be. It's all very confusing. Epinions used to have all attractions at WDW as subheadings (or sub-destinations) under the Walt Disney World category. Which makes sense. Duh. You could go to "Walt Disney World," click on "Epcot," click on "World Showcase," and then click on "Norway," which is how I posted this long ago.

Now, for some reason all of WDW's attractions are randomly jumbled into the Travel Destinations category, and there is really no way to find them unless you do a specific search.

If you do an actual search for "Norway," you will find two "Norways." One is WDW's version, one is the actual country, with no way to distinguish between the two except for the small picture!

It's highly annoying. I've reported this to Epinions, but you know they don't care!!!!

Thanks for reading! If you've found a better link, let me know!

valerie

queenofallevil · #11 10-02-2001, 03:44 PM

Vania...

Wow...that is annoying! How confusing is that? I feel bad for all the people who visit the fjords based on their research on epinions, only to find Mickey Mouse isn't there!

Someone really has to get busy categorizing at home plate...my guess though is I'll get to visit WDW again waaaay before that happens!

Bummer...well, I'll let you know if I spot anything that could help you out. I've been searching around the disney categories, if I find something I could really enjoy writing about I might join the WOAS write off....which has been why I've been looking.

Take care!,

Val

elzora · #12 10-03-2001, 03:09 PM

What bugs me is the rubber stampers who rate my reviews seconds after they are published - there's NO WAY they had time to read even half of it!

Sue

mtbat · #13 10-03-2001, 04:33 PM

Lorin-I set my page so that I can't see the other ratings while I read the review, that way my rating is based on only my thoughts-not the thoughts of others-

I do occasionally look at the ratings if I'm having a hard time deciding between say VH and H or H and SH. NH's are rarely questionalble-they are or they aren't.

Fridai

LorinSilver · #14 10-04-2001, 05:14 AM

I'd like to thank all of you for your responses.

Fridai, I ususally do the same thing for new reviews. When reading reviews from people that I know and trust, I don't bother hiding the ratings.

Elzora, since this product isn't available in Belgium, she couldn't list the ingredients off a bottle - we just can't get one here! Instead she added a link to the website where you can get more "technical" information - this was meant to be a review concerning her experiences (when I review a movie, I don't include a cast list either).

My "piece of mind" review now got about 11 "Very Helpful" ratings (and 12 "Helpful"), thanks to the fact that many people have rated the review on its merits, and not on the ratings next to the review.

As I said in the beginning, it started out as a review that my wife wanted to write. Although I've tried to persuade her otherwise, she's said it was the last review she'd write.
She isn't interested in signing up herself, and claims she's caused too many problems for me - she feels guilty for ruining my "very helpful"-streak, and even getting me a "not helpful" in there. I've tried telling her I don't mind, but to no avail - she's lost faith in epinions

Anyway, thanks for all your support.

Hans

kurt_messick · #15 10-05-2001, 10:36 PM

I am an independent thinker, but must admit that if someone known to me has rated the article I'm reading, that can have a subtle influence on the way I rate. But there are only a handful of such people.

Some days, I must admit, I am an easy grader. Other days I'm more strict. I tend to get to read only two or three times a week, so I can't linger over many reviews for very long.

dreamlab · #16 10-08-2001, 04:11 PM

It makes me wonder if there's any point in rewriting "so-so-" reviews because of this rubber-stamping.

I had one which I thought really needed some work (in its defense, the ePinion was published in Jan 00 and so I think what's considered decent then probably will be considered "not helpful" now). I spent some time re-writing it and I am sure there will still be plenty of people giving it a "H" just because it is "H" right now.

Which reminds me - if you run across a review that was written ages ago, how do you rate? According to today's standard? Just curious. I tend to cut them a bit more slack. Of course, if someone emails me and ask me to re-read/rate a review because it's been updated, then it's a different story!

nicholmere · #17 10-08-2001, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by dreamlab
It makes me wonder if there's any point in rewriting "so-so-" reviews because of this rubber-stamping....

If your re-write is significant enough then you could post it in the EA just-in with an explanation of what's been improved. That might bring you new readers prepared to assess the review using their current standards.

Earning new low ratings on a recently revised review could be frustrating, but at least you'd know that you'd improved the review for the consumer. You could always ask the new raters for their feedback, if you wanted to earn a higher rating from them. Obligatory statement: H is a good rating. If you think they're rubber stampers, then don't worry about it.

Quote:

Originally posted by dreamlab
...if you run across a review that was written ages ago, how do you rate? According to today's standard?...

If I rate the review at all then I rate by my current standards. I don't always rate the old ones anymore, although I used to all the time. Now I'm only inclined to rate old stuff if I've been doing product research and I've found an old, not so great, review sitting at the top of the heap while other newer (or recently revised!) and better reviews are stuck underneath.

suzer · #18 10-08-2001, 11:18 PM

Why doesn't your wife get her own epinions' ID? Are you hogging the computer? Just kidding, but really. And most of us start out on the site with SH or Helpful reviews.

I will generally look at what others rate, but make up my own mind because sometimes I simply don't agree. A little earlier tonight I saw a review that had several Somewhat Helpfuls and one Helpful. I read the review and thought it had a lot of important information in it. Not enough for Very Helpful, but certainly, in my opinion, for a Helpful. The people who gave it Somewhat Helpful were editors, so maybe I looked bad, but I have to rate as I see it. Sometimes I rate lower than everyone else. . .

I also saw a review tonight where a woman noted that the review was written by her 13 year old child. I certainly didn't want to discourage the child, but only one person is supposed to write on one account.

I would hope that when someone sees that a review is edited, that they would look at it objectively. Perhaps you could write a note at the top that you had edited it extensively and would appreciate people taking a look. I've had people email me with their link and ask me to look it over again. I'm happy to do it when they've edited it.

AmyLEnsor · #19 10-09-2001, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LorinSilver
This isn't a plea to go out and read my review, this is just something I'd like you to ask yourself. If you read a review with ten "Helpful" ratings next to it, would you be more inclined to rate it "Helpful" yourself than if it had ten "Very Helpful" ratings next to it?

Agh, this is tough situation as I know that sometimes I've been right on the border and have used the other ratings to help me justify the one I'm giving. I definitely think that once you have one helpful some raters will be more likely to give a helpful.

I try to give my rating without looking at all the other ratings first. It is very daunting when you read a review that has nothing but Most Helpfuls as the latest 10 ratings, and the raters are all editors no less. I start to feel that I will look like a tough rater (which I am not) if I give it less than a Most Helpful. But at least I can justify that rating--it is more difficult when the decision is between Helpful and Very Helpful. In that case I read the comments and see if any of the "flaws" mentioned by other raters have been corrected.

AmyLEnsor · #20 10-09-2001, 03:39 AM

I didn't realize it was against policy for two people to write under the same account. I've heard that the opposite sometimes happens and that a user is accused of having multiple accounts because they log onto their separate accounts from the same computer.

In fact, I thought there were at least a couple of husband and wife writing teams on Epinions.

#21 10-09-2001, 03:42 AM

No idea what Epinions' take on that is now...

Ander

suzer · #22 10-09-2001, 03:49 AM

Actually there is a very prominent writer on the site who shared his account with his wife initially. They had a unique reason for sharing the account, which I won't go into, but many of you will probably figure it out. At any rate, they were initially in trouble for using the same account. They ended up having individual ones.

AmyLEnsor · #23 10-09-2001, 03:56 AM

Speaking of first reviews, my very first epinion was a book review that was only 306 words. I cannot imagine writing such a short review today, but I'm not sure that my current style is a good change. I remember my friends were writing 4 or reviews in a day and one had raked in almost $200 in just a few days. This was back when Epinions paid 30 cents per member hit. I remember reading their reviews and being really torn about how to rate them. They barely said anything about the product so that their reviews seemed pointless. I decided to try and fully cover all the points I could think of when writing about the same products. I didn't write very many (although more than I write now, that is for sure), but I tried to be reasonably thorough. I'm not sure my earlier reviews would stand up to today's standards, but I have to admit I'm not ashamed of them. Of course, after the rates were changed, I will admit that I had written more reviews in a short period of time.

29th_Candidate · #24 10-09-2001, 08:29 AM

Unless its very clearly and visibly noted on the subject account's index page, the idea of two people using one "account entity" to write and publish reviews, seems analogous to identical twins switching classrooms (at school) during the day of a test, so that the more proficient twin in the relevant subject area can achieve a higher grade for the other. Aside from any petty concerns one might have with respect to "combined talents operating under one entity," a writer who has developed and cultivated a following, either of "trustees" or of trusting consumers, who then turns over her/his "pen" to a second, unknown writer, even for what s/he may believe are honorable purposes, has, by virtue of misrepresentation, compromised the trust of his/her readers.

Based on your (i.e., the person who previously noted having shared writing duties using the same account entity) apparent good will and candor, I don't question either your intended good faith or the ethical propriety of your motivation, but you might want to make visible note of it on your index page (i.e., assuming you have not done so already.)

Cheers--

29th