Community Discussion Board

Thee star reviews

RudiXeno — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:23:38 GMT

PattyTherre said…
I am the queen of writing reviews of average products or services. I don't have to have a strong like or dislike to review something. I know many people say that it's a waste of time to review something that isn't either horrible or outstanding but I think, if someone owns a product or has used a service and it's average, it's fine to review it.

Do you write reviews of things that are just average or do you favor reviewing things you love or things you hate?

My only issue is whether to recommend an average product. I have to really think about it and then give a reason why I do or don't. Otherwise, I have a load of three star reviews and I hope they're as helpful as the 1 and 5 star ones.

I'm usually moved to write about things I either love or hate. But, I find that there are products that are merely average and frankly for the type product it is, average is good enough. Does that make sense?

Rudi

Thee star reviews

Fardreamer — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:17:29 GMT

PattyTherre said…
I am the queen of writing reviews of average products or services. I don't have to have a strong like or dislike to review something. I know many people say that it's a waste of time to review something that isn't either horrible or outstanding but I think, if someone owns a product or has used a service and it's average, it's fine to review it.

Do you write reviews of things that are just average or do you favor reviewing things you love or things you hate?

My only issue is whether to recommend an average product. I have to really think about it and then give a reason why I do or don't. Otherwise, I have a load of three star reviews and I hope they're as helpful as the 1 and 5 star ones.

I usually go with the flow and review things randomly in a spur-of-the-moment fashion; here (and elsewhere) I tend to review lots of things I like a lot, but if you delve really deeply "elsewhere," you'll notice that there's a healthy amount of three-star reviews scattered among all the 4- and 5-star ones.

Edited to add this: I just looked at my home page and noticed that one-third of my 10 latest reviews are three-star ones!

Thee star reviews

JazzSinger — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:31:50 GMT

My rating of something is not affected by the number of stars I would give it. I like to review things that I feel people might come here to get a review for (which is a lot of stuff). The stuff I don't bother to review is stuff that is so common, well known, and well understood that reviewing it would be a waste of time. For example, I would never review Coca-Cola.

Thee star reviews

AWESOMEMOM88 — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:44:28 GMT

Middle of the road is a valid opinion. In most opinion survey sites, they have a category that basically says it makes no difference, or that they are neutral on that aspect. And if we are averaging the thoughts of all the people caring to comment, then that three star does have an impact on the overall impression. It is valuable in and of itself. Products can be perfectly useful and perfectly mediocre-suited to their purpose adequately but not stellar-we need to share and know those things too...

Thee star reviews

CrystaBush — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:05:38 GMT

That's a good question.

I tend to be a 2 or 4 star reviewer. 2 being pretty bad, 4 being I liked it....of course, 5 is outstanding!

Thee star reviews

ChrisJarmick — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:58:12 GMT

If a product or service does what it is expected or what it is advertised to do... that's a 3 star. If it does more and extra that's a 4 star. Sometimes we might push things up a star because products and services don't always do what they are supposed to do. It skews the ratings but it's what many many people do.

Very good point about how many 5 star reviews do not point out any cons to a product. I mean if you are rating something 5 stars.. you are saying it's really superb... and it should mean there are not any flaws or problems or major cons.... but.. often there are a few...and people don't mention them. Most things have pros and cons. Good to know about both.

Thee star reviews

vivasuzi — Mon, 12 May 2008 02:04:38 GMT

I tend to be very black and white when it comes to rating things meaning almost everything I review is either Low (1-2 stars) or High (4-5 stars) without question. It is rare I give 3 stars but when I do, I usually still say Recommended. To me 3 stars means there was at least some redeeming qualities about the product. I think all reviews are helpful regardless if you rate 1, 3, or 5. In fact, 3 star reviews are more helpful sometimes because the reviewer will state the pros and cons of the product where as a lot of 5 star reviews just praise the product and don't point out any cons at all.

Thee star reviews

RudiXeno — Sun, 11 May 2008 03:53:46 GMT

Like most here I really get into a product that moves me (either good or bad). But for a lot of things in our daily lives "Average" is sufficient. No reason not to review or recommend them.

--Rudi

Thee star reviews

Jo — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:18:43 GMT

PattyTherre said…
I am the queen of writing reviews of average products or services. I don't have to have a strong like or dislike to review something. I know many people say that it's a waste of time to review something that isn't either horrible or outstanding but I think, if someone owns a product or has used a service and it's average, it's fine to review it.

Do you write reviews of things that are just average or do you favor reviewing things you love or things you hate?

My only issue is whether to recommend an average product. I have to really think about it and then give a reason why I do or don't. Otherwise, I have a load of three star reviews and I hope they're as helpful as the 1 and 5 star ones.

I often write
3 star reviews but more often than not I would recommend it. I think if I weren't going to then I'd go with 2 stars but I probably take it review by review. There are many items I write about that are just average but I still think they're worthy of reviewing. Jo

Thee star reviews

AWESOMEMOM88 — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:56:50 GMT

An average product just doesn't get my juices flowing or my energy up. It is kind of like the favorite old sweatshirt in the closet, comforting, well used, but nothing that you would take an ad out for, and perhaps not even be willing to be seen in....I think that is why I have a real passion for the things that I have tried to review-either positive or negative, but you do make a valid point that people may well want to have their thinking confirmed by the experiences of others with a product that isn't stellar, but does the job. It is definitely food for thought. Thanks

Thee star reviews

ChrisJarmick — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:37:58 GMT

In a 5 star system... 3 star is above average. A lot of what I would think of three star I will rate up because of how people think of 3 star being average.

2 and a half is middle of the road and average.... but you rate up to 3...I assume making that the new average.. skewing everything higher.

5 star should actually be used very very sparingly as you are essentially saying this is just about perfect and it could not get any better than this...

of course that is almost never true and could not be.

All ratings are subjective and are in various stages of being rendered less meaningful every moment of every passing minute. Proceed with extreme speculation and watch your back.

Thee star reviews

BayouBengal — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:25:20 GMT

I usually recommed a product that I find middle of the road as "average" and back this up with my comments in the review. That way the consumer knows that it really isn't anything to gloat on but it is a fair product and does pretty much what the manufacturer claims. I reserve 5 stars for products that I really love that work beyond what is claimed. On the other hand, if a product fails to perform, I go with one or two stars. --Karen

Thee star reviews

kevin — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:49:28 GMT

I agree with the comments here so far. A 3 star review is a valid addition to the discussion surrounding the product.

I often find it harder to write about something I really love compared to writing about something that's just so so. I think that's because if I'm really into something I have a fear that I'm not being objective enough. So I tend to write more 3s and 4s than 5s.

So that's 2 cents from a casual reviewer.

Thee star reviews

bkovacs — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:39:24 GMT

I also do three-star reviews and it can be tough to give a recommendation one way or another. I recently reviewed a movie that could have swung either way, but I ultimately gave it a thumbs-up. I may be doing another of those today.

My reads on three-star reviews are as good as for any other product. In fact, I have one three-star review that I knew would be popular because I could find no other reviews of that men's hair-care product on the Internet. None. Since I posted my review on Viewpoints, several other reviews have surfaced, mostly reinforcing the plusses and minuses I spelled out in my review. My review of this product is one of my most popular.

Three-star reviews are useful.

--Bob

Thee star reviews

SpokaneMan — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:47:56 GMT

I think that the "middle-of-the-road" articles tend to be some of the best ones that I write. It ends up showing both my lies and dis-likes of a product, rather than just really not liking it, or really liking it a lot. Seems a lot less biased too if you ask me. I will always write those 3 star reviews even if half are not-recommended and half are recommended products. Sometimes it's good to be average :)

Thee star reviews

PattyTherre — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:34:00 GMT

I am the queen of writing reviews of average products or services. I don't have to have a strong like or dislike to review something. I know many people say that it's a waste of time to review something that isn't either horrible or outstanding but I think, if someone owns a product or has used a service and it's average, it's fine to review it.

Do you write reviews of things that are just average or do you favor reviewing things you love or things you hate?

My only issue is whether to recommend an average product. I have to really think about it and then give a reason why I do or don't. Otherwise, I have a load of three star reviews and I hope they're as helpful as the 1 and 5 star ones.