Rating reviews is something every MS member is involved in for most of his or her stay here. While it is really important to rate reviews, what really is more important to accord the rating the review truly deserves. However trivial it might seem , in reality it can be quite an involving affair. While most of the reviews on MS fall into the VU (Very Useful) or U (Useful) category, sometimes it is difficult to discern the quality and material between them, I guess it is mostly upto the perspective of the user to make that distinction.
Some observations on the ratings that are often seen on Mouthshut
A review often ends up with a High Rating if any of the following are true.
1.Others have ranked it high, and perhaps for a reason. Why question the majority, just go with the flow.
2.It was written by someone who has over a hundred reviews to his/her credit. If he/she has been here for such a long time, there is little wrong they can do with the review, it is bound to be useful anyways.
3.The writer has dozens of fans and has his/her name in the 'Five best writers on mouthshut'. How can so many people be wrong? Blame yourself for bunking the english lecture in school and ending up as a dunce. Rate it a VU on relative merit.
4.The writer is in your trusted circle You rate the review high to get into their TC. C'mon, you are here to make friends, why rate someone's reviews low and jeopardize that relationship? Akhir dosti bhi nibhani hai!!
5.The writer has a pretty face, maybe rating the review high may get you in his/her good books. Dil da mamla hai!!
6.The review is so long that it probably contains something useful in it anyways, so why waste time reading it. After all size does matter !!
7.If it has a few words, that you can't understand, it is useful. Remember, you are building your vocabulary for that all important CAT/GRE. Keep that high fundu, smart alec english prof on alert. This is your easiest source for your expanded wordlist. Don't forget to send an M2M or leave a comment on his or her writing skills and how their reviews helped you improve your language.
What is Useful and what is not?
So many reviews cannot be very useful to everybody. And if they have been, then there is every chance that one of the seven reasons mentioned above have been in action. So while many accomplished writers can get away with a VU for sub standard reviews merely on the basis of their reputation, it is really not fair on those who have to come up with some thought provoking reviews to grab the attention the hard way. It is fair in giving everybody the benefit of doubt in the beginning. Before reading a review, try to take it for granted that it is going to be useful. Read the review but not the comments. Comments can influence your decision as far as ratings are concerned. After reading the review give it a fair thought, about how this review can change your initial assumption that it was going to be useful anyways. If it was better than you had expected, then perhaps it deserves a VU rating, if it was worse then maybe you should commit to a SU rating. If it was written well and confirmed to your expectations, then perhaps it deserves to stick to the Useful category.
Very Useful - A life changing review??
Going by most people's ratings, it is generally the case that the number of reviews that were rated as 'Very Useful' far exceeds the number of 'Useful' or 'Somewhat Useful' ratings. Well, if you cared to look beyond the seven distractions, then perhaps you would rate a review 'Very Useful' if and only if
1.The writer has put in some work into it and looked it in a general perspective rather than paraphrasing a personal experience.
2.The review really contains some useful material, some thing that you can really use.
3.It was really well written in the sense that you actually paused to think about it, thus building on your knowledge base.
4.The review was thoroughly entertaining. You really don't care if the author catered to the category or not, but just made your day with a few lines of interesting info and anecdotes. It made me laugh, it is useful.
5.It was perhaps written by a newcomer, so perhaps you can rate it VU and leave a few comments about how to make it better next time. Lyla does that, I appreciate it, but it builds on a fake sense of achievement when your review is not that great. It is great if the writer picks up on the comments and makes a genuine effort to improve upon it or write better reviews the next time. If someone gets an A without much effort, then perhaps he or she would take it for granted.
Not Useful to you? Spare a thought before punishing the writer
Most of the reviews don't really deserve to fall into the infamous 'Not Useful' category. Please restrain yourself before committing to the NU option. A lot of such ratings can really shatter a writer's confidence and may result in him or her stop writing altogether.
A review perhaps deserves a NU if
1.The review is plagiarized as in copied from an external source. Such behavior should not be tolerated and the reviewer along with his reviews should be relegated to the coolers.
2.The review is totally off track. I mean a review in a category meant for cat hair products keeps talking about American soldiers in Iraq. I haven't seen any such reviews that were completely off the mark on mouthshut as of now, but if I see something as absurd as that, it perhaps deserves a bad rating.
3.The reviewer resorts to cheap gimmicks as finger pointing, raises unnecessary controversial issues or gets too personal then it is time to make him or her realize that this is not the place for that. This is no place to abuse your freedom of speech.
4.The reviewer resorts to vile stunts or filthy language to make his or her point. You are not Al Pacino in Scarface and you better know it.
5.Some issues with substandard language can be tolerated but a review written in extremely poor grammar perhaps does not deserve any kind of useful status. I know it sounds a bit harsh, but then it is not really fair.
Rate because you care
Whatever be the other reasons for rating a review, most of the people over here rate because they read and think for a while about the review. Opinions do matter and are respected. Each review is worthy of positive or negative criticism. So, while rating is important, leaving a comment wherever applicable is no less significant. But then, that is a different category altogether.
Well, these are just my opinions. I know it is easy to get carried away by the reputation of the writer, or the length of the essay and let it influence our judgment. I am not trying to claim that I stick to all these norms while rating a review, but try to make an attempt each time. It perhaps would be fair on all the great writers out here if the only criteria for rating a review was the quality of the review itself and nothing else. Ratings are symbolic of the matter contained in the review, and it is important that a fair approach was adopted each time, someone attempts to rate a review.
--damo--
