Ratings Solution

I think the only solution for the excess of five stars albums is the possibility of rate "half star". I mean: 3,5 or 4,5 albums. Actually is something that a lot of people do. Making it "official" I hope the votes of masterpieces will decrease; furthermore, like we all know there are albums more than essentials but not masterpieces. On this way we can erase (or minimaze) the rating problem (if it's tecnically possible, of course). 

What do you say?

Yes, nice idea 

but then 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 should also be introduced.

I prefer a three star rating system.

1 star bad album, only for fans of the band
2 stars average album, nice for fans of the subgenre
3 stars good album, a must for fans of the subgenre, and a good introduction to the subgenre

tuxon wrote: I prefer a three star rating system. 1 star bad album, only for fans of the band 2 stars average album, nice for fans of the subgenre 3 stars good album, a must for fans of the subgenre, and a good introduction to the subgenre

nah, a bit too obscure

goose wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: goose wrote: Mike, is the collage of pictures on your signature generate by audioscrobbler like the link suggests? If so how? Ooops, tad offtopic. No, I made it myself. I only linked it to last.fm together with the playlist histroy. I think I'll skip that, I don't feel like any effort . Looks good, though. Even if it is marred by Ayreon etc.

Nobody's Perfect.

It wouldn't stop the idiots who seem only able to give 1* or 5* (and there are several to whom it's either "I like it , it's a masterpiece, give it 5*" or "I don't like it, it's s**t, give it 1*" with virtually nothing in between - I could name and shame because they are missing the point of the ratings system). A lot of people start off giving lots of 5* because, naturally, they review their favourite albums first. There will also be a shortage of 1* reviews because if you don't like it, you probably won't own it so you won't review it. But most reviews should be 3 or 4 stars with some 2s and 5s and the occasional 1 for the real rubbish.

What worries me about allowing ratings without reviews is that you don't even have to have heard the album. If you review it, at least you will have had to have listened to it in order to talk sense. I'm suspicious that some raters simply give all the albums by one band a rating on the basis of having heard a small selection of albums by them and assuming all others will be the same.

But a 10 point scale would stop the "do I stick with a safe 4 or bump it up to a 5 it might not really deserve" dilemma we've all wrestled with.