Standing up for the 3 star rating

rogerthat wrote:  If I want to buy an album, I am obviously going to prioritise and go for one that's already rated 4-plus and where the reviews also seem to justify the rating.

Looking at all the posts here I can't find anyone who dosen't like the idea of half stars. So who exactly do we need to convince?

Bonus tracks and remasters are also a big headache. I'm in the process of reviewing Opeth's Heritage and the 10 track version is only worth 2 stars, but the bonus tracks are just about good enough to bump it to 3 (I would give it 2.5 if I could). I am also reviewing Maudlin Of The Well's debut album which was bashed by many reviwers due to its poor sound quality. However I have the 2012 remaster and it sounds fine (except for the bonus tracks which were not remastered).

Everyone has their own rules on how to rate this stuff because there are no site rules. Personally I don't count bonus tracks when I give my star rating (but I will specify that it would have been 3 stars if the bonus tracks were part of the standard version). And I don't bother about sound quality as long as a good newer version of the album exists.

Edited by LakeGlade12 - March 12 2014 at 07:39

ExittheLemming wrote: LakeGlade12 wrote: Looking at all the posts here I can't find anyone who dosen't like the idea of half stars. So who exactly do we need to convince? Cal it a wild stab in the dark if you like, but how about the site owner?

Just him (MAX)? I thought there would be some upper circle of Prog forum masters or something like that?

I have just got a stong mental image of people wearing capes in some super secret room and a photograph of 2112 in the centre of the room   

Edited by LakeGlade12 - March 12 2014 at 08:47

LakeGlade12 wrote: I have just got a stong mental image of people wearing capes in some super secret room and a photograph of 2112 in the centre of the room

I wouldn't speculate about it so publicly. They don't appreciate it.

ShW1 wrote: rogerthat wrote:  If I want to buy an album, I am obviously going to prioritise and go for one that's already rated 4-plus and where the reviews also seem to justify the rating.   I think it is much more fruitful to develope one's taste, instead of just following the 'crowd'.

A 3 star rating to me is often an album that features elements I think are quality elements, but also features elements that prevent me from thinking of it as a top tier release (which in my book is 4 stars or above). I don´t necessarily have to enjoy listening to the release myself. Hell...I often give our 4 star ratings to albums I don´t particularly enjoy. I might be a bit pretentious, but I do pride myself of being able to spot what´s a quality release and what´s not. It´s all subjective of course...

rogerthat wrote: Er, thank you very much for assuming I do not have my own tastes

I apologize. And I didn't mean to say you don't have your own taste etc.
I just meant that sometimves it's nice to discover a good obscure band and recommand it to others.

Also I came to conclusion that there is a difference between giving a priority to albums that rated OVERALL above 4 stars, or priority to albums that have SOME nice 4 stars, but the overall rating is lower, let's say 3.4-4 rating. The second option is really OK, and very reasonable.

And finnaly, I appriciate anyone who buy music nowadays. I'm also buying, and also not that rich I can afford myself any disk in the world.



Edited by ShW1 - March 12 2014 at 16:56

Finnforest wrote: LakeGlade12 wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: LakeGlade12 wrote: Looking at all the posts here I can't find anyone who dosen't like the idea of half stars. So who exactly do we need to convince? Cal it a wild stab in the dark if you like, but how about the site owner? Just him (MAX)? I thought there would be some upper circle of Prog forum masters or something like that? I have just got a stong mental image of people wearing capes in some super secret room and a photograph of 2112 in the centre of the room    Don't let Dean and David throw you off.  That room does exist...and there are capes.  In fact, David walks around in **only** his cape....he's been talked to about it by HR but he still does it.  It sometimes takes days to get those images to flush from your brain.

I too have seen that. It's almost gotten to a point where no holiday feels complete without the above taking place.

Now that you mentioned RYM, that reminds me after I started rating here I wish that you could give half-stars on PA too. (and GoodReads for that matter)

Progmind wrote: Warthur wrote: I agree with those upthread who've said that the actual words of a reviewer are more meaningful than the precise number of stars they give an album - not least because it's those words which give you some idea of whether the reviewer's tastes are compatible with yours. That said, here's how I tend to apply stars on Rate Your Music: 5 - Superb, marvellous, this is the sort of gem we strive to find. 4.5 - I'm very impressed by the album and do genuinely like it, but at the same time I just can't quite bring myself to give it the fifth star - not because there's any glaring flaws to the album, but simply because it doesn't move me to the extent that a five star album would. 4 - A very good album which deserves people's attention. 3.5 - A good, solid album, anything scoring this or above is a "keeper" and anything scoring less won't necessarily stick around in my collection for long. 3 - A decent album which doesn't do anything for me personally, but I can see how other people might like it. 2.5 - There's clear flaws to the work but fans of this particular genre or band might still like it. May well still be worth checking out if there's a standout song or two that are head and shoulders above the others. 2 - We got problems. Doesn't preclude there being good songs on the album, but the good songs probably aren't very good and the less good material is off-putting. 1.5/<span style="line-height: 1.2;">1/0.5 - Stuff down here I basically can't stand. 1.5ish if the album is merely dull or uninteresting, lower if it's actively irritating.</span> Over here, where we don't have half-stars, I usually round the star ratings up simply because any prog-based album is slightly more likely to be enjoyed by this website's readers than it is by a general audience. The exception is 4.5 stars, which I round down to 4 to keep 5s special. Totally agree with you Warthur<span id="result_" ="" lang="en"><span ="hps">The</span> <span ="hps">problem I see</span> <span ="hps">with the current system</span> <span ="hps">is that it is</span> <span ="hps">unbalanced</span></span>. 5, 4 and 3 stars are good ratings, 2 stars mediocre (or for fans only) and 1 star <span id="result_" ="" lang="en"><span ="hps">represent the</span> <span ="hps">segment between</span> <span ="hps">the bad and the</span> <span ="hps">horrible</span></span>

Hello Progmind, in regards to your post/comment above, I too agree that a great and most articulate review means more compared to the star rating, however here on PA I have noticed that a plus 0.5 rating is reduced to the smaller number, this in math's sense is not correct because anything rated with another half should be upgraded to the next number above meanwhile here if one rates an album i.e. 4.5 it will be downgraded and reduced to 4
Anyway hugs to you