Apr 07, 2002 09:44 PM
1318 Views
(Updated Apr 08, 2002 05:28 AM)
I am not satisfied with the rating system. People can write comments or rate by their choice. The criteria for rating normally followed is...
its my choice...ok its an open forum. Anybody can rate it by their choice. But it leads to chaos. If I dont like anybody I may rate his review low..I know most of the people here are nice and decent. They do not do it, but there are a few who do it. For me this criteria should not be on the list of rating.
Content...this is a reasonable reason. When we read review we are looking for information, that helps us to decide.But should not we consider the fact, how good and accurate is the information. I have seen the reviews with nothing substantial, long but not concluding anything. For example on Soft drinks....information was not correct and was just taken on some preliminary knowledge of facts without any indepth look at the facts. It causes myths which is not healthy.
How about revised reviews...Option of being able to revise,is good but of no use. You have to contact each and every person to re rate your reviews. But this is not an issue on the top of my list. May be better is to write a good review in the very first place. It will save people time also which they will spend in rerating reviews.
Just a long review with lots of information thrown in from here and there does not help. It should be abstract thinking. Something which helps you in deciding about the product.
I dont like the fact that a long review, may be well written, ends up in a wrong conclusion. I have specially seen it in movies. All those I have chosen based on Mouthshut, turned out to be a big disappointment. May be the main criteria for rating review should be if you agree with the person who has written the review. I dont bother how good written is the review, how much is the information about how much money was spent in the movie, who died who live,...i mean to say all this information is fine, but the main issue for me is, if I choose a product based on these reviews, it should turn out to be right. I will not like a review which misguides me.
But this raises the issue of different choices and freedom to express your views. many of you will suggest about trusted circle, or my freedom of rating review.....but one thing about all this is, suppose I want an opinion on something...I do not know about.....how do I know, how good is the information. Its also possible people in my trusted circle do not know about product. There are so many other reasons..which you will also come up with.
WHAT TO DO......
Need to come up with some consistent criteria. There should be given consideration to the fact that how accurate your conclusion is about the product. People should be able to find out that this guy know about this kind of product. There should be categories, which classify people about there knowledge for the products. Above all we all need to participate in coming up with a criteria like that. Mouthshut should not be just an open forum but should serve the purpose of guiding people in making their choices.
Right now the HR rating does not mean that the review really gives you an honest opinion about the product. But that's the way it should be.
These all are just preliminary thoughts, I will appreciate if you guys add your thoughts on it to come up with something more concrete.
Anyway, Keep Writing!
