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Antennas View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 12 2010 at 20:32
My current pet peeve with reviews is that a lot of folks don't seem to understand that giving three stars to an album actually means that it is GOOD, hence why there are so many 4- and 5- star ratings being given out - even when in the actual review, there's a complete litany of 'why this album isn't perfect'-reasons given! 
 
Even I myself have fallen into that trap more than once (will adjust it when I feel like doing so), as I feared I wouldn't get rightly understood if I'd give a 'GOOD' album 'only' three stars...


Edited by Antennas - October 12 2010 at 20:33

Jesus never managed to figure out the theremin either
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 12 2010 at 21:10
Originally posted by Antennas Antennas wrote:

My current pet peeve with reviews is that a lot of folks don't seem to understand that giving three stars to an album actually means that it is GOOD, hence why there are so many 4- and 5- star ratings being given out - even when in the actual review, there's a complete litany of 'why this album isn't perfect'-reasons given! 
 
Even I myself have fallen into that trap more than once (will adjust it when I feel like doing so), as I feared I wouldn't get rightly understood if I'd give a 'GOOD' album 'only' three stars...


I feel your pain man, been saying that since I got here.  Some folks feel like 3 stars is a diss and pretty much start at 4 for anything they like.  But don't lose sleep, just stick to  your own system.  Eventually regular users figure out how people rate and they can pretty much predict what that persons rating means to them.  They might say....oh that guy gave it a 4, so its probably a 3 for me, etc.

I know I've both under-rated and over-rated albums myself based on excitement or disappointment, we all make mistakes, but eventually I check albums again and "adjust' as necessary to what I believe the real rating to be.   This is kind of an ongoing thing, there's probably still a few clunker ratings out there.  Time can change your views, some albums hold up over the years, others not so much.

Some people just rate more conservatively, others less so.  But the important thing is to try to follow the guidelines and use 3 for a Good album, 4 for excellent/awesome, and 5 for the super-rare masterpiece. My view is that 5% generally, of a large and diverse collection, is 5 stars.  Sure that could vary, but thinking of the best/top 5% of all albums gives one general definition of "masterpiece" for people to consider. 






Edited by Finnforest - October 13 2010 at 20:55

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kenethlevine View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2010 at 20:49
it's not really a pet peeve, but I notice some reviewers consider an album rating to be the average rating of an individual song on the album, as if the album does not really exist as an entity in and of itself
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 13 2010 at 22:46
The last one is definitely a pet peeve of mine too. It's actually a bad habit I've gotten into that I'm doing my best to break. 
Heaven's made a cesspool of us all.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 14 2010 at 05:28
"Don't read reviews that bug you" cracks me up. How do you know if a review will bug you before you read it?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 14 2010 at 05:38
Originally posted by Textbook Textbook wrote:

"Don't read reviews that bug you" cracks me up. How do you know if a review will bug you before you read it?

See, there's this little thing known as 'skimming' . . . 
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 14 2010 at 05:56

But that won't tell you whether you like it or not either. Do you skim a CD or movie or book before you experience it properly? No because it doesn't give an accurate impression of what it's like.

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 14 2010 at 05:57
Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

Don't read reviews.
[/thread]
Fixed.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 14 2010 at 07:56
Originally posted by JLocke JLocke wrote:

Originally posted by Textbook Textbook wrote:

"Don't read reviews that bug you" cracks me up. How do you know if a review will bug you before you read it?

See, there's this little thing known as 'skimming' . . . 
How the hecky-thump do you skim a 1 paragraph 250 word revie
What?
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