I vote "no" on all of yours Bob. Just kidding. You know your numbers roll up when I stop by. You always do great reviews.

You bet.  There are a couple of reviews that are not really reviews at all. 

There are at least two movie reviews where the people didn't see the movie but complained about the subject matter and the trailer--yet rated the movie as if they had seen it.

I find this very dishonest and it's actually very bad for Viewpoints because the review may pop up as an example of what we write here at Viewpoints.  The rating is also part of the rating averages.

Then there's another supposed movie review--where it's a statement that the writer claimes to know as fact the screenplay was plagerized...  (in this case she's full of it).  It's the only thing she's ever written at Viewpoints.  It gives a link to her website and a couple of people have made comments as if she is a credible source and knows what she is writing about.  She does not.   This is not a movie review and should have been excised from the sight long ago.   When the buttons appeared.. finally.. you bet on voted NO on it.  It's not okay to spread rumors about people, even famous people and pretend that you are reviewing a movie.   It's terrible to do this and call it an essay or gossip....but a movie review?

There's also a review that is more a personal introduction than review and is full of terrible spelling and grammar mistakes.   A few people commented nicely to this person--but the review is terrible.

Yes, I've No'd a few but only a handful.

Don't think I've done a "No" vote. Was wondering though if "No" votes actually count against a review somehow or if they're just ignored.

I sincerely hope it's the latter simply because one of the nice things about Viewpoints as opposed to some other opinion sites is that there's not really any head-bustin' review police here to go making up dumbass personal policies and "formats" that they then mindlessly enforce via negative ratings.

I have. Once.  The review read like someone was drunk when they wrote it.  I felt like they wasted their time and, well, there was a minute of my life I'll never get back!! 

And I agree with Mark.

An effort to write a review to help someone make a decision is a good thing.  I would never NO vote a review just because I did not agree with the opinion or because it was written in a completely non-professional manner.  

Our community is uniquely supportive and stays away from the negative...

bkovacs said…

Have you voted "No" on any review yet? I did today. There was absolutely no helpful information in the three-sentence review. Some short-short reviews can have good helpful information but this one simply said that the writer had the product and it was good. That was it.

Anyway, have you used the "No" selection yet? Or do you just back out of such reviews?

--Bob

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I avoided voting "No" on one review that I didn't think was very enlightening but voted "No" on another one which barely qualifies as a "review." If it had been a rating (and I'm not gonna try doing those much myself) I'd have let it go and even given it a "Yes."  But I get impatient with short little blurbs....reviews that are one sentence long just don't cut it for me.

I have voted NO a few times but for very good reason. One person wrote that lip balm makes men pregnant and I felt that deserved a NO vote. Yes, we have a few trolls here. I never, ever would vote NO if someone disagreed with my opinion (or I disagreed with theirs) or even if they wrote poorly but were seriously trying to convey an opinion. I really don't know what happens when we vote NO. I know it doesn't show up anywhere. I wonder if people vote me NO if I write something they don't agree with. (Not the usual writers but new people who are not acquainted with the voting process.)

At any rate, I have voted NO but only if I could make a clear case as to why I felt the review was totally unhelpful.

I haven't voted "no" yet.  On reviews that I feel deserved a "no" I just didn't vote.  I thought about it but then felt bad, so I didn't go through with it. lol

Am I the resident "softie"?

You win the "Resident Softy Award" Crysta! ;) I voted no a few times on those 2 to 3 sentence reviews that don't even mention anything other than "I like it" or "I hate it" you know the ones that look like a 2 year old wrote them! I hope that voting no on them keeps them from showing up on any list that counts. I have faith they will get buried real deep because they don't belong here representing an actual review.

Hi!  I just HAD to dive in, didn't I! 

I've never voted "No" yet mostly because my idea of giving something a negative is not to hit the "Helpful Vote" button or anything else at all, just to back out.  I think that our votes won't mean very much if we just nice-guy every single thing that comes down the pike.  I will say that most of the things I read are pretty good but there are some that aren't and a VERY few have outright annoyed me. 

For instance, a little autobiographical info is one thing and vital to the readibility and entertainment value of a review.  I love reviews that tell me something about what life is like for the reviewer and what he or she is like.  By the same token afterall, it IS supposed to be a review of something besides the reviewer.  Forgetting that might tend to work against the purpose of the site, which is to give each other a chance to benefit from the wisdom we have accumulated about some product or service by dint of first hand experience. 

Here's something that REALLY drives me crazy -- how about these people who review something (especially a movie) and then all they say is "I really enjoyed this!" or words to that effect!   DUH!

I must add though (and I really mean this) that I can't recall ever voting "No" or not getting the "Helpful Vote" button for anyone on this discussion board.  Even though I may not always comment if I'm hurrying or something, I usually vote "Yes" for you guys.  Well, have a nice evening, everybody! and I'm looking forward to hearing more things about you all!

Anna 

 

 

bkovacs said…

Have you voted "No" on any review yet? I did today. There was absolutely no helpful information in the three-sentence review. Some short-short reviews can have good helpful information but this one simply said that the writer had the product and it was good. That was it.

Anyway, have you used the "No" selection yet? Or do you just back out of such reviews?

--Bob

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Yeah, unfortunately there have been times where I voted no.  I find that if the review contains at least a little helpful information that I can look past spelling errors and such, but there are things againt the TOS that I will always vote "no" on.  I am even o.k. if a review just says "I liked this film".  That in itself is actually helpful in the scheme of things in my humble opinion.

I've never voted "No", mostly because the one or two times I've been tempted to, it was obviour the poster was just a troll. The whole "do not feed the troll" thing makes sense to me.

There have been lots of reviews I've totally disagreed with, but the question isn't "do you agree?" it's "is this reveiw helpful?"

Actually I can't remember... seems I remember thinking I should on a few.  I recall reading a review where the writer gave the product 5 stars then completely bashed in in the body of the review.  Then there are also the kid that others have mentions that are riddled with spelling/grammatical errors that they aren't even readable.

LOL

PattyTherre said…
I have voted NO a few times but for very good reason. One person wrote that lip balm makes men pregnant and I felt that deserved a NO vote. Yes, we have a few trolls here. I never, ever would vote NO if someone disagreed with my opinion (or I disagreed with theirs) or even if they wrote poorly but were seriously trying to convey an opinion. I really don't know what happens when we vote NO. I know it doesn't show up anywhere. I wonder if people vote me NO if I write something they don't agree with. (Not the usual writers but new people who are not acquainted with the voting process.)

At any rate, I have voted NO but only if I could make a clear case as to why I felt the review was totally unhelpful.

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Men can't get pregnant? Hehehe. This was the hobo person, right? Hey- did anyone see the article about the "guy" (former woman) that is pregnant. Interesting.

SpokaneMan said…

bkovacs said…

Have you voted "No" on any review yet? I did today. There was absolutely no helpful information in the three-sentence review. Some short-short reviews can have good helpful information but this one simply said that the writer had the product and it was good. That was it.

Anyway, have you used the "No" selection yet? Or do you just back out of such reviews?

--Bob

---

Yeah, unfortunately there have been times where I voted no.  I find that if the review contains at least a little helpful information that I can look past spelling errors and such, but there are things againt the TOS that I will always vote "no" on.  I am even o.k. if a review just says "I liked this film".  That in itself is actually helpful in the scheme of things in my humble opinion.

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If it was a rating, and not a review, I'd have no quibble with "I liked this film."  But I'm perhaps a bit too "old school" as far as finding the four-word "review" helpful...but that's just me.

Jolie said…

PattyTherre said…
I have voted NO a few times but for very good reason. One person wrote that lip balm makes men pregnant and I felt that deserved a NO vote. Yes, we have a few trolls here. I never, ever would vote NO if someone disagreed with my opinion (or I disagreed with theirs) or even if they wrote poorly but were seriously trying to convey an opinion. I really don't know what happens when we vote NO. I know it doesn't show up anywhere. I wonder if people vote me NO if I write something they don't agree with. (Not the usual writers but new people who are not acquainted with the voting process.)

At any rate, I have voted NO but only if I could make a clear case as to why I felt the review was totally unhelpful.

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Men can't get pregnant? Hehehe. This was the hobo person, right? Hey- did anyone see the article about the "guy" (former woman) that is pregnant. Interesting.

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Yeah the hobo-ologist or whatever. We have a few hobo-trolls. lol.

I saw pics of the guy who is pregnant and really, I am very open but I was kind of grossed out by it all. This person looks exactly like a man in every respect (but one obviously) and then he/she is pregnant and sporting a big belly.

It seems kind of strange to me that a woman would go to such lengths like having her breasts removed and taking testosterone to be a man, then want to be pregnant. I would think anyone who TRULY felt like a man trapped in a woman's body would not want to perform the things that women traditionally do - like give birth.

All I can say is God bless the baby. I would hate to try to explain how Daddy gave birth to him because Mommy couldn't. Very strange situation.

I have voted "No" a couple of times but only because they were completely off topic. I don't let spelling errors (unless it is really bad) or my difference of opinion get in the way when giving good points. I have to admit though, I have backed out of a few that I didn't think deserved a good point. They weren't necessarily "not helpful" but they were very vague and offered little useful information.

I have voted no several times and reported inappropriate reviews a few times as well. Jo

I have not voted No yet, but I agree with those of you who have backed out of a few reviews.

I can't understand the point of a "no" vote.  Do the reviews get pulled if enough "no" votes come in?  Are there punitive actions?  Does anyone know if a "no" vote has come their way?  Are the point police observing and tracking these people who get "no" votes?   I come back to my original observation, in wondering what is the point other than anonymous venting to one's self.  Am I way out in left field being in this mindset?

I don't think voting "no" is a punitive action.  I didn't ask for VP to add the "No" option, nor do I have a clue as to what happens if a review gets a bunch of "No's" consistently.  All I know is this: I rarely use it, and I'm very wary of doing so.

I agree, I don't think a "no" vote is a punitive action either, just the opinion on the work before you.  I'm fine with it all.   My point is, what's the point. 

steve9631 said…
I can't understand the point of a "no" vote.  Do the reviews get pulled if enough "no" votes come in?  Are there punitive actions?  Does anyone know if a "no" vote has come their way?  Are the point police observing and tracking these people who get "no" votes?   I come back to my original observation, in wondering what is the point other than anonymous venting to one's self.  Am I way out in left field being in this mindset?

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As I understand it, the No vote if those really badly written or way out there reviews that make no sense, have no point, or simply are off topic, yet not inappropriate as far as obscene language, etc. By voting No, we tell VP that we don't want that review to be the first one people see when they look up a product or service because it doesn't help people and, in fact, makes the site look bad. I have no idea how it really works and whether the No votes have a lot of weight or what. I don't believe the review will be hidden or blocked from view. If you feel one should be, click the inappropriate button and explain why.

That is just what I was told when we got the option. I use it very sparingly but, if I feel a review is so unintelligible that, if a visitor read it first (or at all), they would think we run a unreliable site, I vote no. I have only done this a few times and I actively look for newbies and rate a lot.

I honestly don't think that it is a means for people to revenge rate or to hold back a good writer (which you didn't imply. I'm just thinking as I type.). It's truly for those reviews that you read and say..."WHAT?? That made no sense at all" when you get done.

Now, whether people are using it for other reasons, I have no idea.

Thanks Patty.  Your assessment makes perfect sense.  Being a "newbie" on a site that is predicated on judgments, I felt making the judgment on someone else's opinion, regardless of quality, was none of my business.  Some bright people, with a wealth of knowledge, can't put "pen to paper" so to speak, worth beans.  I feel, who am I to cast aspersions on their opinions, especially if there is negative repercussions to the action.  Apparently, there is not. 

But....I was posing the questions rather than making a statement.  Thanks for your input.  Much appreciated.  

To answer the question asked, no, I have not used the "no" button. 

No is reserved for extreme cases, so it is used by me sparingly, but I have given comments to reviewers where I found the review lacking in substance or information that is relavant to the topic, product or service....kind of a way to hopefully steer them back so their next effort is better.  Sometimes people are shorter, because they don't want to seem to just repeat what others have already stated, but rather to insert something new, and I would never negate that. 

I've not voted No that I recall, for the same reasons as many mentioned.  Most of the reviews I've read have been helpful in some way shape or form.  This is not to say I vote YES on every review I read.  Basically if I think it's really helpful, I say YES.  If I think it's just a bit helpful, I do nothing. 

I have, however, reported inapproriate reviews such as ones that were obviously plagarized and ones that were just nonsense (you know the aaaaaaa stuff or something similar), but these ones I feel were people who were obviously out to ruin the site so I don't feel bad about those. 

I would feel bad giving a NO to someone even if their review is just a few sentances.  If it has some helpful content or an opinion at all, I won't vote no.

Just tonite actually.  I ran into several "reviews" of a product the person out right stated they didn't even own.  Just would be a good idea to get it or were looking forward to getting it. 

To me the "No" button is for cases similar to this or have really no helpful information in them.  Cases like duplicate reviews, plagerism or inappropriate content to me get the "inappropriate review" button pushed.  Even reviews that are somehow mis-placed get the "inappropriate" click.

lilsquibb said…

To me the "No" button is for cases similar to this or have really no helpful information in them.  Cases like duplicate reviews, plagerism or inappropriate content to me get the "inappropriate review" button pushed.  Even reviews that are somehow mis-placed get the "inappropriate" click.

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This is how I have used it too.  I don't see how saying ''Luv it'' and nothing else, is helpful to anyone. BTW, does anyone know if mis-placed reviews will get removed if the author doesn't fix them?