Should Ratings Be Abolished?

...Or maybe just ratings without reviews.

Inspired by micky's (and my own) longstanding misgivings about star ratings, particularly when unaccompanied by a written review, I thought it might be ripe to have a serious chat about it.   Allowing stars only if accompanied by written material would bring focus more on to content rather than status, and might compel more people to actually compose a writeup.   I know a lot of non-English speakers use the site and can't or prefer not to submit a review, and that's a valid issue.   And getting rid of ratings-only could impact the top 100 Prog Albums.   Not to mention the fact that, well, people like their stars.   Heck, so do I  .

No.

^ I don't know about that; the ownership may want ratings, but the leadership would probably be fine either way.

someone_else wrote: I don't have anything against star ratings, but I refuse to give them unless accompanied by a review. If I was to decide whether ratings without reviews were to be abolished, I'd say yes. Anyway, the weighting system helps to correct the rating-only effect a bit.

Bamse what are you dooing here, shouldent you be wastet at the festival by now ?

Keep the ratings but separate them from reviews. 

there really is no reason now to keep ratings without reviews.

The world is a different place today than it was 10+ years ago and the foundations of the site were being laid down.

The proliferation of review sites and of course personal reviewing blogs have taken many (potential) reviewing voices from the site.  Anyone incapable of writing a review here can, and likely is, writing them elsewhere.  Get rid of ratings without reviews definitely.. zero need for them. Also removes the persistant headache the admins have faced for years in combating ratings abuse/manipulation.

I see no one picked up what I had proposed..  so I'll try yet again. 

This thread came out of the what would you change thread. The basis of change.. is improvement.

What does the site really lack.. Passion and purpose. The forum has settled into domestic bliss of getting up a 6am.. catching the bus to work,  arriving home, having dinner with the wife, watching the boobtube for a few hours before retiring to bed.. to start the whole process again the next day.

What the forum need..  a purpose.  The RS top list generated a lot of interest and discussion. I came here to PA's from a site that created directly in response to the infamous RS Guitarist list of 2002. We worked to objectively as humanly possible rank these things. That is what the forum needs..  involve everyone a giant project to replace the current ratings driven album list with a comprehensive and definitive album list. We have a lot of smart people here.. engage them.. make use of them. Bring some life and purpose to forum other than silly polls and oft done discussion topics.

get rid of ratings altogether as the first step to doing something to improve the site in a larger sense. A grand crusade of prog fans to create THE list. If RS can do it, this site can.. and one a helluva lot better as well.


Edited by micky - July 03 2015 at 07:39

micky wrote: get rid of ratings altogether as the first step to doing something to improve the site in a larger sense. A grand crusade of prog fans to create THE list. If RS can do it, this site can.. and one a helluva lot better as well.

Edited by Sean Trane - July 03 2015 at 08:53

Personally I don't think rating should be terminated, for reasons other have stated already. Ratings and lists are both expected, both features need to be present. Even dedicated, hardcore fans use them as a means of navigation, at least the ratings.

What is lacking are reviewers. New reviewers, quality reviewers. If this site had a reviewing team, it would soon be swimming in enough promos to fill up a swimming hall. Or three. Especially if said reviews were highlighted in some manner - upper half of the front page for instance. That would also, hopefully, create a drive for the ordinary reviewers to develop their skills well enough to become official reviewers. In this age of music streaming left, right, up and down as well as in the middle, those who would need pointers for material to try out on, the unreviewed album list for instance, could get easy guidance to those.

Something that over time would lead to more reviews and better reviews.

If this site needs it? That's another thing of course. Personally I'm not all that impressed by neither blogs or even some sites in terms of how reviews are written. Then again, my mentor in that department is an old fashioned writer, who learned the craft when reviews were still an art form and not just a case of merely stating how much you like an album or not, and at best with some some reasons as to why that is the case.

^ ahh... the elephant in the room.. exposed. As I noted.. it is a different world out there.  I applaud the reviewers here... but how many are really read.  There is a wealth of information out there by hard core dedicated reviewers in blogs and professsion(or not) review sites.

WE have great reviewers here, but sadly are often submerged quickly beneath amateur hour.. that is why I stopped. I sucked....


Edited by micky - July 03 2015 at 09:26