Jun 04, 2007 08:15 AM
4543 Views
Am I attracting more readers by using such a controversial title? I think I am, and I guess that’s my purpose too. This review is not about why people rate and comment on a review, rather it is about how people rate a select few member reviews. Puzzled? I will show you what I am talking about. Let me pick 5 members and show how people rate their reviews: -
AFRANK
Come on lets face it, she is the most famous member Mouthshut has ever seen. Well, time and again people have challenged her popularity but she has stood still, alone at the top. Why? It’s because of the colossal number of VUs she gets. She has openly acknowledged the fact that she is just an ordinary writer with ordinary writing skills. So why do you, you and you there, give VUs to her all the time? Can’t you see that she is as human as the rest of us? I’m not questioning her writing skills, I’m questioning you readers’ rating skills. You rate her reviews with a pre-conceived notion that she’s some big shot writer who should always get a VU. I know its going to be a little difficult for her to get VUs after this review but folks tell me one thing – whatever happened to the age old adage of rate the review according to its merits?
FLYINGELEPHANT
How do you think this writer has been able to notch up century after century in recent months? Well actually the century was only half his own effort. The better half was created by you commentators. The staggering number of comments makes him another big shot writer. But tell me honestly, did you rate him equally well? Were you being non-judgemental when you rated his review after looking at the hundred plus comments on his previous review? Just because his mug shot is seen on the homepage every now and then, you think he is suitable enough to get a VU all the time? Wait, I hear a few murmurs in the back. Come on! Speak up! Why did you VU his review without reading it? Why did you skip to the comments section before reading the review? Got any explanations?
JBZ7879
For a writer as new as him on this forum to be embroiled in so many controversies is no mean feat. And you know the reason why? It is because he faced personal attacks from people who want to create a sensation. His spars with alk_ranjan are well known but it only happened because he faced personal attacks. So why do you readers attack a writer personally? Would you not be defensive in your approach if you yourself faced a personal attack? That’s what he actually did. Why rate his reviews out of spite? His reviews have in recent times been labelled as an encyclopaedia of Bollywood on Mouthshut. If that’s the case then why do you worry about his punctuation-less reviews? He openly says that he appreciates constructive criticism. Just read the review, rate it, comment on it(if you have anything to offer) and then leave. Why make a big fuss about something as trivial as spelling and grammar as long as you’re able to understand the gist of his review?
MAGICALSUMMER
This is perhaps the best example of why a person should get VUs for her reviews. Many a times I have heard(especially from female members) that once you put your mug shot on your profile you’re destined to get VUs. If that had been true in her case she would’ve been a star writer right from her first review itself. Old timers would easily recall her black/white photo where her face is hidden just a little bit. What did that photo say about her? Probably that she is hell bent on safeguarding her identity on this forum. It can put off those people who like to look at the mug shot first and then rate the review but thankfully members of this community didn’t do that to her and rated her reviews according to their content. Some good work done, finally!
MIMI_MOU
It looks like she is another afrank in the making. Come on please, she’s just a class 10 passout. She has reasonable writing skills and she like every one of you likes to create a network of friends on this forum. In my honest opinion, some of her reviews have been good and some plain ordinary. So why is it that she continues to get VUs all the time despite writing seemingly simple articles in schoolgirl language? I can imagine pretty soon she will be getting VUs for pathetic reviews as well. Is it that because she is young you have no right to criticize her? If you think that her articles are ordinary then why don’t you let her know? Tell her that criticism is not always bad. I am not asking you to discourage her from writing on this forum; rather I am asking you to say it in subtle words that if her reviews are bad then they deserve a bad rating. It’s as simple as that!
Many a times I have observed people writing for their own friend circle. What do I mean by that? I simply say that people expect their friend circle to give them a good rating no matter how well or bad their reviews may be. To them I have another example – SUYOG. A blast from the(glorious) past, he had his own big circle of friends. But the difference between him and some of the current writers is that when his circle of friends contradicted him or criticized him, he took it well and appreciated every counterpoint on his reviews. They did not believe in the present view of I scratch your back, you scratch mine. Why can’t this crop of current writers do that now?
Many people say that ratings do not matter to them. But I disagree, at some point of time they do realize that some readers differ from their point of view. If you closely watch the ratings on the reviews of a particular writer then you will realize that there are a lot of shortcomings in the way they write. It becomes apparent when they start getting bad ratings for what they believe are good articles. It calls for a reality check. They try to improve upon whatever they write. All I’m trying to say is that when that happens, it automatically raises the standards of the reviews. Well written reviews are inevitably appreciated. Ratings serve as the starting block for improving yourself. Are you willing to do it?
