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Topic ClosedA Serious Poll: Reviews
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Poll Question: How do you like your reviews
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
4 [11.43%]
1 [2.86%]
1 [2.86%]
2 [5.71%]
3 [8.57%]
5 [14.29%]
15 [42.86%]
4 [11.43%]
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Pnoom! View Drop Down
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Points: 4981 		Direct Link To This Post Topic: A Serious Poll: Reviews
    Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:17
When I first PMed Peter Rideout to say that I liked one of his reviews, he was surprised, since it was a rather long one. Well, I tend to write and like long reviews (my Final Cut review is 6 pages in word double spaced), but I wondered about everyone else here.
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Points: 28057 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:24
My view varies quite a lot depending on the reviewer/review, but generally:
 
"medium, only talking highlights, and maybe lowlights, too"
 
The history of the album history I could care less about. If I wanted to hear about it, I'd read a bio of the band. I like a review to be clever, and if the reviewer drones on and on going through the same old formula with seemingly no inspiration, I'll just close it and ignore the review.
 
I've written one very long and in-depth review for Pendragon's Believe, and I do believe it is just an average review of mine. I explain the songs well, I believe, but usually just an overview and feel of the album is fine. Picking out two or three songs that best represent the album and explaining why they represent the album is just fine.
 
For me, the ideal review is no less than 100 words but no more than 500, depending on how well the reviewer can connect his thoughts and feelings.
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Points: 46301 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:37
I like them so elaborated and so challenging, you simply have to call them...masterliness. Evil Smile
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Points: 4659 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:42
For me size matters .

My reviews are usually long. Some people read them, some don't - I get comments both good and bad. Meh...

I like a review that puts the album in context, either historically or with respect to the development of a particular genre or idea, or just within the context of that band's career.

The song-by-song descriptions are usually worthwhile as well, but if the description of the album's context sells itself, I'm going to buy the album and listen to it and form my own opinion about the specific songs.

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Points: 20521 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:47
I favor short reviews. They should contain just enough info to give the reader an ideaof where the author is coming from, and what to expect of the album.

I used to write very long reviews ... but today I think it's better to write 10 short reviews than one long one.
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Points: 46301 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:50
Originally posted by MikeEnRegalia MikeEnRegalia wrote:

I favor short reviews. They should contain just enough info to give the reader an ideaof where the author is coming from, and what to expect of the album.

I used to write very long reviews ... but today I think it's better to write 10 short reviews than one long one.


by the highlighted principles, short and simple and astute enough is all it takes. Smile

but I'm not by that main rule...
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Points: 24391 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 15:53
I voted for "Other", which means I like reviews that are not excessively long, or give a song-by-song analysis, but which manage to convey both the history of the album and some description of the individual tracks (or at least of the most representative ones). My reviews (when I still wrote them... now suffering from a sort of writer's blockCry) fall much in this category - they're rarely too long, but hopefully they manage to give a good overview of the album in question.
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Points: 5308 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 16:00
I prefer reading for "substance".
 
Myself, I do not concentrate to accomplish on a specific length when I am writing my review, I just try to express myself as thoroughly and detailed as I can, it just always happen that they do not turn out short. However, I would never allow myself to write a review without an introductory part or a conclusion, so you can say it is a well-thought process.
 
The length does not matter, the content does.
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Points: 67381 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 16:01
"Medium, only talking highlights, and maybe lowlights, too." I prefer long reviews to very short ones, but usually it's not necessary to give a precise description of every song.
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Points: 3089 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 16:38
hot, short and no sugar, boy!
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Points: 7374 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 16:45
Keep them short and sweet. Tell me something good and something not so good, but if it's a really good album, tell me two good things.


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MikeEnRegalia View Drop Down
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Points: 20521 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 17:03
Originally posted by Arsillus Arsillus wrote:

Keep them short and sweet. Tell me something good and something not so good, but if it's a really good album, tell me two good things.


Exactly. The most important info for me is:

"Why is it good/bad?"

A brief, two sentence answer to this sentence gives the reader a good idea of whether he can trust the review or not. For example, if the review says "I don't like this album because it contains growling", someone who likes growling can immediatelly dismiss the review, as it doesn't apply to his own preferences.

I think that usually people read reviews because they are trying to find out whether they should further investigate an album or not - so the pattern is (IMO):

- Looking at the rating
- Reading the review, trying to find out whether the rating applies
- If it does, either download/buy the album and listen to it (high rating), or find another album (low rating)
- If it doesn't, find a review that shows more "compatibility" to one's own tastes

 
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Points: 3278 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 17:37

I usually write reviews around 600 words. Actually it depends how many songs the album has…

Albums I really like get really long reviews.
 
No one has ever given me a negative comment, that can be attributed to fact that I pull arms off when I lose. *Wookie Growl* Honestly guys, let the wookie win!!


Edited by Australian - November 11 2006 at 17:41
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Points: 12288 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 11 2006 at 17:54
As a Reviews Moderator, I prefer those that are in accordance with PA Guidelines! Wink
 
As a reader, I prefer the medium-size ones with a bit of history (if necessary) and comments about the production and tracks. Some hidden information and the way that particular album was received in the reviewer's country are welcome too. Humour (not gaiety or outrageous sarcasm) in small doses counts especially for longer reviews in order to allow us to breathe. Smile
 
As a reviewer, I'm only a student since I have to do reviews in a non-native language (English). I can assure you that if I had to do reviews in my native language (Portuguese) they should sound fair. Tongue
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Points: 55 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 13 2006 at 01:57
medium reviews are the best, i like to read personal opinions and ideas about an certain album, to get a introduction to an album what is it and what emotions it brought up in different listeners.
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Points: 31157 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 13 2006 at 05:21
200-350 words, a good overview does it for me!
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Points: 1377 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 13 2006 at 08:09
one word can paint a thousand pictures .... concise astute observations are best .... it is a rare skill

but I do like some background ....


Edited by Joolz - November 13 2006 at 08:10
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Points: 5109 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 13 2006 at 09:39
    It all depends on what it calls for with me. Most of my reviews are brief, but sometimes I have gone into more detail. I just let the case dictate what I will do.
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Points: 16449 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 13 2006 at 09:53
In general I like the longer reviews (about 600 words, which is about how long my own are) and for the review to give a good overview of what the album is like, both good and bad points, without giving away too much of what the music is like.

I must admit I detest the plethora of really short reviews that almost everyone seems to be posting these days, they just give me no idea about what the album is like. I also like to get a bit of background information on the band/album, but not too much as its not totaly necassary.
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Points: 8238 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: November 13 2006 at 11:32
I go with medium, including short descriptions of each song.  I want to feel like the reviewer listened to the work more than once or twice before coming to conclusions about it.  I rely on the reviews posted here to give me a consensus about something I'm considering as a purchase and if they are long-winded with a paragraph about each song I tend to skip over them and read something I have time to digest.
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