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Topic ClosedStanding up for the 3 star rating
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smartpatrol View Drop Down
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Points: 14169 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:49
How it works in my eyes:

5 or 10 - Masterpiece
4.5 or 9 - Either what would be a masterpiece if it weren't for a certain track or a 4 or 8 that I'm especially affectionate of
4 or 8 - Doesn't disappoint; sold all the way through but not amazing
3.5 or 7 - Would be a four if it weren't for a track or two, or the production, or something like that
3 or 6 - Pretty flawed but has enough overall good material to be worth a buy.
2.5 or 5 - Pretty flawed and doesn't quite have enough good material to be worth a buy.
2 or 4 - Bad
1.5 or 3 - Bad and offensive
1 or 2 - Horrible
0.5 or 1 - Horrible and offensive
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bloodnarfer View Drop Down
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Points: 2162 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:42
People seem to be overly concerned with influencing the rating an album gets.  They drop 1 or 5 stars since it has a stonger pull on the rating the album gets. Another problem is on PA an album with a 3.0 looks REALLY bad so its difficult for some to give an album they enjoy 3 stars.  Which is a shame because that really limits the granularity you get to work with when rating. I give albums that I enjoy and think are good 3 stars.  (even though it 'hurts' the album's rating). I give 4 stars to great albums I would recommend to others and 5 to those that are the best of the best of my collection.

Edited by bloodnarfer - March 07 2014 at 11:47
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Barbu View Drop Down
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Points: 30845 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:39
Originally posted by The T The T wrote:

A fantastic album needs a 5, a great album a 4. A good album warrants a 3 and yes, 3 is enough to merit some recommendation.  

As simple as that.
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Points: 13293 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:26
It is a difficult one, although it helps if one doesn't get too uptight about it. You will never change these things. For some, anything that is really good suddenly morphs into a "masterpiece", easily as overused as are the words overrated and underrated on this site. 

One and five star ratings and reviews should be sparing. David is right that three stars means GOOD, and is not a slight at all, although it should be appreciated that some artists who send reviewers work do put them under quite a bit of pressure. I am rather sparing about accepting such submissions nowadays, I can't be bothered, to be honest.

The answer, as always, is that people who regularly use the site do pretty quickly get to know those reviewers who they can trust to give an honest, and decent, appraisal of an album.that is the important thing.
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Points: 26133 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:22
3 is the lowest you can rate an album you don't really like without someone getting mad at you.
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The T View Drop Down
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Points: 17493 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:19
For me 3 is like the perfect middle of the road album, one that is definitely not bad but that probably isn't really memorable or groundbreaking or perfectly crafted in any single way. A 3 star album doesn't hurt my collection but doesn't really brighten it much either. As life is always better with more music in it than with less, then of course it's always good to have even an average album in one's collection (something that can't be said of 2 or 1 start albums, which have a place in a collection only for a completionist or for the seeker of weird and bizarro things - count me in sometimes). 

A fantastic album needs a 5, a great album a 4. A good album warrants a 3 and yes, 3 is enough to merit some recommendation.  
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Points: 23098 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: March 07 2014 at 11:13
3 stars means a good album on here, yet there are a lot of people who rate stuff they don't like with 3 stars. Hell, I've even come across folks who get their panties in a twist because their music was awarded with 3 stars by a reviewer, who they themselves asked for a write-up. Insane....
If we can't be honest about the music we're supposed to be writing about, what can we? And as an artist one should brace oneself for critique - even, or especially, if it's coming from a friend.

To some 'good' basically equates a 5 star rating, whereas something they don't particularly like gets 3 (there are of course also those irritating buggers who rate everything they haven't heard but think they know to suck with 1 star. Oh yes and then there are all those inane folks who think PA is all about the big competition: Who gets the gold on the archives? Music is sports). What do they do, when they encounter something that positively sends them flying through the room without socks and thermal g-string? They've already run out of stars.

I don't think I've ever written a 3 star review without it being a recommendation. Sure, often I bring out the age ol 3.5 stars, but I never round up. 
This problem (yes I see this as a problem - not because I put to much stock into ratings, but because almost everyone else do, and I'm a part of the site - now even more so since I metamorphosed into deputy janitor) is now viewable to everyone who reads the frontpage. Now it seems as if the only artists featured in reviews, that stay on the POPULAR ARTISTS (TOP 50, LAST 24H) : , are those who receive either a 4 or 5 star write-up. So even the readers seem to have bought into the notion that 3 stars simply isn't worth the mustard. 
So I thought it was about time to resurrect the honour, as well as the meaning, of the 3 star rating.  
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