Nov 20, 2006 08:07 PM
2011 Views
I think I had enough of it, it’s just too much for me to tolerate. I am referring to the quality of reviews that are nowadays coming on Mouthshut. And to say that the quality is deteriorating would be an understatement, its positively getting worse. And contests like “Go To Goa” and “ Inox Movie” are simply increasing the quantity of junk reviews. I had earlier pointed out how the rating system in MS has degenerated into a farce, and it can never be taken as a reliable indicator of the quality of the review. People rate only to get points, and too often reviews are rated as “Very Useful” without even looking into it’s content. The same with comments, which have become more like “I scratch your back, you scratch mine”,rather than any genuine attempt to provide some input.
Some of the best writers on MS have already quit the site in disgust or are not actively writing. Doesn’t that say something? Its not that there were no junk reviews before on Mouthshut, a site like this would always have it. But previously where the ratio of the good to junk reviews was 60-40, nowadays it has become 40-60. That is the bitter truth.
Nowadays I am wondering if Mouthshut is a consumer review site or a internet graffiti board. Hell, I think even graffiti makes much more sense, than some of the reviews I have seen here. To call them as reviews would be an insult to the intelligence. Even a high school kid, could write a better essay, than some of the people here. My question is simple and plain- if guidelines are not to be followed, why publish them at all. Why don’t we make it a free for all site, where you are welcome to write whatever you want. Sometimes I just wonder if I am a fool, trying to do some ensure that my facts are correct, putting my review in an order and trying to think how effectively I can communicate the message. Why do all the hard work, when most of the reviews which come out are “Me and my girlfriend went to movie” types?
What’s my problem with the junk reviews?Let me ask you something, you go to a shop to purchase some fruits, and you find that 60% of the fruit you are looking at is spoilt or of useless quality. Would you care to look at the rest 40% of the fruit, which might be of a better quality? You certainly wouldn’t. So what is happening is, the shopkeeper, is unable to sell the good quality fruits he has, because most of his stock is of predominantly bad quality. And who loses, the shopkeeper in the long run.
And that’s what happening here, some one browses the home page, and he sees that out of 5 reviews published, 4 are crap. What happens, he might not read the 5th review, which could be a really good one? And when many people do the same, the review gets less attention, and the writer feels frustrated, that his effort is not getting appreciated. Mind you all these look like small issues, but when you add up such small issues, it snowballs into something which affects the very site itself.
How do you define quality of the review? A standard argument advanced by some“free thinking types”, who say that quality is a subjective thing. Ok let me put it this way, what is a review? Basically something which informs the customer of the quality of the product, whether he should have it or not, what are it’s Pro’s and Con’s?It need not influence the costumer to buy it or read it or watch it, but it should give information which is useful. It’s nice to publish your personal experiences, but that should not deviate from the original purpose of the review. If you want to write a “I went with my chacha chachi to Goa” or “ I went to see the movie with my girlfriend”,please start your own blog and unburden all your personal angst there. But for heaven’s sake don’t call it a review. And here when the guidelines for each review have been specified, the quality is defined there itself. Basically let the review follow the standard guidelines set. Simple and straight.
I have written on other sites also before, and most of the sites never publish your article immediately. It is reviewed, and published only if it’s considered suitable. It’s high time, Mouthshut, comes up with a similar concept. There are people writing here only because they love to write, but seriously, many are getting fed up with things around. Also I would like to know on what basis the Review of the Day is selected. It seems to be pretty arbitrary and whimsical. I can tell it when my review on “The Day of the Jackal” was selected as one, because that was one of the worst reviews which I had written, and I would be embarrassed to be associated with that.
Or Mouthshut, could up with a more comprehensive registration process, which other consumer review sites do. Let the user enter more details about himself/herself. This would in one way, eliminate, frivolous members, who bring no value addition to Moutshut. The bottom line is clear, Mouthshut has to do some serious quality control, with respect to reviews, else it would end up losing it’s credibility soon.
