General Discussion Board

Organizing reviews

AnnaBanana — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:34:10 GMT

I've noticed that sometimes some of us tend to overdo movie reviews. When reviewing a movie, especially one which has aroused our emotions, one has to be careful not to get too carried away. For instance, I tend to start blocking out on long movies reviews when someone starts quoting a whole scene of dialogue, word for word. I would rather have something left to discover for myself when I actually see the film.

Organizing reviews

cmohr80 — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:24:37 GMT

You know though, I don't appreciate reviews that have too little to say. When I'm trying to make a decision in purchasing a product. I like to know details. Like Product features: what features work well, what don't and such. I don't like, and this is just my opinion, "quick reviews," they are to vague and general. I take great time in putting my reviews together, because, as a fellow consumer, I like to give readers enough details to help them in their decision buying. Don't get me wrong, to long is not good either because I don't want to leave readers bored, but I like to know specific details in what is liked and disliked about a product. Just a thought . . .

Organizing reviews

cmohr80 — Tue, 12 May 2009 00:54:01 GMT

I'm glad I hoped in here and read this. Helpful info! Thanks for sharing!

Organizing reviews

kevin — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:19:16 GMT

Jo, helpful votes trump review length when it comes to sorting. In your example, the helpful, short review would be above the un-helpful, long review.

Organizing reviews

Jo — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:12:31 GMT

However and it's been said (I think) there is no control over a not very helpful but very long review over a very helpful but short review if I'm understanding this?

Organizing reviews

kevin — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:27:56 GMT

"Not helpful" votes are accounted for when sorting.

Also, if you find reviews/posts/etc that are against our terms of service (racist, etc) please mark them as inappropriate. Voting un-helpful will lower their placement in the sort, but leaves the offending content on the site. Marking them as inappropriate allows one of our admins to review the content and take steps to remove it completely from the site, if they deem that is truly is against our terms and guidelines.

Organizing reviews

AnnaBanana — Sat, 09 May 2009 19:47:57 GMT

Yah, how about those people who sign up just to say something nasty. I always suspect that they are secretly affiliated with whatever product I may have complained about. You notice, most people like that never actually do reviews of their own. HUMMMMMMMM.....................................

Organizing reviews

PattyTherre — Sat, 09 May 2009 06:44:27 GMT

I use the NO button. If it isn't helpful at all or seems like the person is talking about something completely different, I hit NO. It's not that they are abusive but I have seen a "review" say "This book was great" under a shampoo heading. Um, what? No idea if the NO vote does anything though. Wish I knew how many I have. I know some people vote No when they disagree with me. (Usually new people who sign up to yell at me.)

Organizing reviews

AnnaBanana — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:21:50 GMT

Say, Bob -- that's a good point. Once or twice, I've tried hitting "No" for not helpful but nothing happened! I had assumed that hitting "No" would detract from whatever Helpful Votes were there but I guess not.

Organizing reviews

bkovacs — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:59:55 GMT

kevin said…

Bob, it's been a while since we implemented that sorting, so I'm may be a little off in the following explanation...In the absense of helpful votes or a tie in helpful votes you are 100% correct. Once helpful votes are left on reviews, we use those to sort them; breaking ties with length of text.

Kevin, do "No" votes affect placement at all? I've voted "No" on many reviews, including ones with profanity, racism and other inappropriate language. I also hit "No" if the review consists of "This car is awsome!" If someone can't write at least 10 words about a $30,000 car, it gets a "No" vote from me. However, I have no idea if "No" votes have any effect.

--Bob

Organizing reviews

bkovacs — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:54:36 GMT

AnnaBanana said…

I'm sorry to disagree with you, but sometimes I think that there is something to the saying "Less is More". Quantity does not necessarily equate with quality. Of course, there are a lot of lengthy reviews that I have enjoyed but I might as well admit that sometimes I've just given up in the middle of some because something went on and on after everything of value had really been said.

I actually agree with you more than disagree. In this particular case, the top review had three solid paragraphs, was well-written and had good detail both about the product and the author's use of the product. It was probably about 400 words, which is far from what I consider too long.

I certainly agree that reviews can be too long. Then again, some people can write a long review and make it interesting. Others can write a long review and it's just so much verbal Ambien. In this case, none of the reviews came close to being too long. I've really seen very little "too long" on Viewpoints.

--Bob

Organizing reviews

kevin — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:22:03 GMT

Bob, it's been a while since we implemented that sorting, so I'm may be a little off in the following explanation...In the absense of helpful votes or a tie in helpful votes you are 100% correct. Once helpful votes are left on reviews, we use those to sort them; breaking ties with length of text.

Organizing reviews

AnnaBanana — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:37:11 GMT

And let me add here that I speak as one who sometimes does write long reviews. After I'm done with a review, the last thing I do is to go back over it and try to take OUT what doesn't really need to be there. Sometimes what you leave out is as important as what you put in.

Organizing reviews

AnnaBanana — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:33:38 GMT

I'm sorry to disagree with you, but sometimes I think that there is something to the saying "Less is More". Quantity does not necessarily equate with quality. Of course, there are a lot of lengthy reviews that I have enjoyed but I might as well admit that sometimes I've just given up in the middle of some because something went on and on after everything of value had really been said.

Organizing reviews

bkovacs — Fri, 08 May 2009 20:03:51 GMT

Forgive me if I'm the last to notice this, but just today I realized that Viewpoints organizes reviews by favoring reviews that have the most text. For example, I just looked up reviews on an electronic item and there were 13 reviews. None had any "Helpful" votes, so they were all equal in that regard. Yet the review shown at the top of the stack had the most text and was the best review, as far as I'm concerned. As I went down the list of 13, there was progressively less and less text in the body of the review, until the final "review" was actually a rating with only a headline and no actual text for the review.

I left a couple of Helpful votes, so that may stir things differently. However, I'm very much in favor of Viewpoints organizing the reviews in this way. It makes a lot of sense to favor reviews that have the most text. Of course, this presumes these reviews are still readable and not text overload.

Thanks, Viewpoints!

--Bob