Has the MH rating option changed your rating style

[AmyLEnsor]

In the past when I read a lot more reviews than I currently do, one of my practices was to read all the reviews in one category. When I did that, I found I would rate a little more critically. Sometimes one review was really good and covered all the points, but some of the others seemed lacking in comparison. I might not have known that, however, if I wasn't familiar with the product; reading a wide range of reviews on one product would help me understand it better. Now I'm wondering if I should give Most Helpful for the best review and be a little less critical in the way I distribute the very helpfuls as opposed to the helpfuls. Honestly, I hate rating which is probably why I've given up reading.

I just got e-mail today from someone wanting to know why I rated her review as helpful. I went to check it out and found out that it was a review I read and rated a year ago, and was one of those where I read all the reviews in the category. The review is only 135 words long and the reviewer wants tips on how to improve it and I feel a little put out by everything. I guess in the time I've spent typing this out, I could have responded to her by now, but dang, all she would have to do is read the other reviews on the same subject and see how I rated them to get a feeling for how her review was lacking. I mean, it was a helpful, not a somewhat helpful that I gave.

But the Helpful reviews are the ones that can usually use the help... or at least benefit from the help a lot. Unless you are totally hard on people to give them SH's...

Personally I kinda find the Somewhat Helpfuls a whole lot tougher to help... You kinda have to go from the ground up with them...

Shrug. Don't stress out too much on it.

No I haven't modified my ratings since the MH came out. I have only given it three times...

Ander

[AmyLEnsor]

I tend to be rather liberal in granting the H rating over the SH rating. If I think the review could help me make a decision in any sense, even if it is just the person's description of how the product worked for her, I give a Helpful. If I can see that the person tried, but left out enough info as to leave me confused, I give a Somewhat Helpful and leave a comment. If a review is really good and I think it would honestly be the only one that someone needed to read, I give a Very Helpful. Well, I should say that that is what I did in the past, before there was a Most Helpful option. I haven't changed that practice yet, but I may. If a person wrote a comprehensive review, but left out a detail or two, I would still give a Very Helpful. My feeling has been that some people write experience based reviews that can be helpful or even very helpful even if some details are left out. However, if a person does not want to put the time in to write a thorough review, but still wants to give their experience, she should expect to get a helpful instead of a very helpful. But then I get questioned on this, and of course to respond with suggestions is to criticize and I was hoping that giving a positive rating (helpful) would save me from doing that. As you can see, I am just too much of a wimp.

Ah well...

I pretty much have my ratings down pretty well.

Ummm... Well... Movies at least. I have rated a LOT of movie reviews. If I ever rate one of y'all's movie reviews lower than you think it should have been rated, I can tell you why I rated it that way

Note that when I said 'don't stress on it,' I meant that you should still tell the person why you rated it the way that you did but you shouldn't stress out too much on the fact that you are doing it. The person asked for help, give them help (ummm... If it *is* a movie review, feel free to refer them to me

I had thought that I was a pretty easy rater in the past but I really don't think I am right now. I still sometimes give ratings higher than most people that rate something but more frequently I rate them less than everyone else.

Ander

[AmyLEnsor]

Movie and book ratings are hard, I think. I believe I am more critical in that regard. I hate when I click on a movie review, see it is a nice long one, then commence reading only to find out that it is a detailed description of the plot with very little attention paid to other aspects. If I wanted a detailed synopsis, I'd read the Cliff's Notes or the movie equivalent.

In any event, I just did reply to the reviewer as she requested. I feel that it is a duty I must discharge and I can't just ignore it. I guess my resentment comes in to play because I wrote a 326 comment on a 135 word review. Not that quantity is more important than quality, but in some cases you need a certain number of words to be able to adequately describe something. If you are only going to use the minimum, you'd better make darn sure every word counts. Succinct yet comprehensive reviews are worth their weight in gold and I will rate them highly, but the useful information has got to be there.


I have to examine my hidden feelings and acknowledge them. I find it time consuming to write a review. I don't just sit and write them off the top of my head. Probably why I only have 60 reviews in the year and 9 months I've been here. Sometimes the entire bulk of the article comes easily, but then I have to fine tune it incessantly to make sure it is easy to understand and that I'm saying what I think I'm saying. Then after proofreading it 50 times, correcting all the typos and most of the awkard sentence constructions (it wouldn't be my work if there weren't some in there), I submit it. Then my husband reads it the next day and points out things that he finds unclear or that are wrong, so I go back and fix it again. So maybe I am just the tiniest bit annoyed that someone can dash off a minimum length review and not even question that it might actually deserve a lower than VH rating. All of a sudden the burden on me to tell the person because he doesn't have the time to go and read the other reviews that are more highly rated.

[AmyLEnsor]

Anyway, I guess I started thinking that maybe I should give the best review in the category the MH and give the benefit of the doubt to the ones that were borderline VH/H. In looking over the ratings I gave, there is one where the H seems a little harsh. Not the review in question, but another review.

[kurt_messick]

Actually, unless I have time (and interest) to pursue all the epinions on a particular topic/product, I rate as if the Most Helpful option wasn't there. I don't really like the idea of that anyway -- what happens if I rate a review most helpful, and a week later some review much better gets posted, and I never see it?

Welll...

I have been using the Most Helpful like this:

If I was thinking about writing a review on the subject and the review that the other person wrote said everything that I wanted to say about it (so much so that I would just be repeating them when I wrote the review) then the review gets the MH.

If the review convinced me on the spot that I have to purchase the product (see the movie, whatever) then it gets a Most Helpful (well, obviously it would be graded down if the product turned out to not work right though:p)

Shrug. Really subjective stuff but really the Most Helpful thing is terribly subjective anyhow. Yeah this means that the positive reviews probably have the upper hand for the most part

Ander

[mtbat]

I've only used the MH button a few times, for most reviews, it just doesn't make sence to me-

What if I rate something MH then a month latter read something that is better? if I change the MH on the other review-I'll hurt someones feelings-and I'd hate to do that-

as for someone asking advice-I try to leave Nice comments when I think it might help, but if something is H it's H and if someone takes the time to read other epinions in the same catagorys then they will figure out what is VH material-I am not their mommy or their teacher-

Sorry-I guess I'm having one of those days where I just don't feel very Helpful

Fridai

[AmyLEnsor]

Originally posted by mtbat
Sorry-I guess I'm having one of those days where I just don't feel very Helpful

Fridai

I know where you're coming from!

[zzJulia]

I like to write in restaurants and beauty, and read almost exclusively in those categories unless I'm actively doing some shopping research.

Since I tend to have read a significant volume on one product (ie, the 185th review on The Olive Garden), I sometimes go back into that category where I VH'ed one long ago and re-rate it an MH as a standard that others should be reviewed against. It's pretty time consuming though to do it that way. Still, it helps out people who trust me when they go into that category.

:p

[erik_kosberg]

I’ve yet to give an MH and doubt if I ever will, primarily for the reasoning that Fr. Kurt mentioned. FWIW, I think that the MH rating is an ill-concieved idea.

[lambchops]

I rate the same as I did before the MH. I rarely (if ever) use the MH button. IT's reserved for an opinion that is amazing in every way (including my agreeing with it ) That aside, I still use the same scale and if I use the VH button for the best reviews.

BTW, I think I've used teh MH twice.

[scmrak]

I'm with Fr. Kurt and Erik; except more blunt: it's a stupid idea.

Now, if they came out with a "LEAST HELPFUL" button, I'd be happy to employ it (assuming I could read anything to rate, which I can't)

Rex