We Need More Reviews!!!

[sanosuke]

i must say i am quite concerned that some dvds lack reviews despite being sold out of stock once and in some cases several times. in order to solve this problem i propose that JJ introduce some kind of reward scheme for those who write lots of reviews or the first review of a set. however it would be hard to suggest what kind of reward scheme he should introduce as his site is already dirt cheap and i dont think it would be possible for him to give away free dvds as it would probably make it impossible for him to make any kind of profit.

any suggestions?

its a good idea, right?

[SirChico]

Possibly, but I think the qualtiy (experience) should determine it. Some reviews can be quite lacking... I've noticed experience is linked to the quality of the review... if your review is short then you don't get as much. The FAQ says something about "doing more with it" (as in experience). I think it's a good idea, not as an incentive to review... but to reward those reviews who have quality in their reviews.

I feel I write good reviews, but I like reviewing regardless.

[sanosuke]

i think my reviews were quite good but i couldnt really be arsed doin most of the time. im gonna go and write some now!!!

[Last Exile]

how do you post a review i tried and it wouldnt let me !
im trying to do them for titles that dont have any for them yet.

-LE

[Schultz]

Originally posted by Last Exile
how do you post a review i tried and it wouldnt let me !
im trying to do them for titles that dont have any for them yet.

-LE

You have to sign up with the main part of the site.. The forums and site where integrated at two different times.. So thats why they are seperate logins.. Once you sign up with the main part login and then go to the item you wish to review... If there is no review you will get a link that says "add review" which then you can add a review.. If there is already one then all you have to do is go to the reviews and at the top of the review listing there will be a link "Add Review" which from there you can add a review..

[matthewmalay]

More reviews would be nice if I'm worried that if a reward system would be in place that people would start writing lousy or copy cat reviews based on what other reviewers wrote.

[dvd_master]

Sounds good, didn't you once mention something about discounts? Maybe it's time to bring free Pocky into the scene?!

Suggestions:
DON'T do it based on the "Was This Review Helpful" things. I thought my review for D.C. 1 was very detailed and clear with what you'll get, but because I bashed the series so much I got poor feedback. Bleeeh. Same story with MI's Gravitation. Apparently a homophobe disliked the fact that I enjoyed the series and rated my review down. That pissed me off, and made me feel like not writing reviews for a while. This might be a good time to suggest trashing that feature?

Don't do it on the points, because anyone can take 40 screenshots and upload them all, when no more then 15 will be sufficient.

If you are going to do it, personally go through some of the reviews from the user(s) and see that their reviews are helpful and their's.

[Sheky]

I been meaning to write some reviews more but I'm kind of backlogged. I've only done one review so far but at least someone thought that was useful so that was time well spent IMO. But yeah, a reward system would be nice so long as people don't submit dubious reviews. I second that Pocky reward! free Pocky + anime = JOY!

[NightRayne]

wait do you get anything for writing reviews or do you just feel good about yourself

[Zagatto]

All you get is to feel good about yourself and know that you help shape the purchases of other people. The best part is that other people will contribute as well and help shape your purchases.

I personally try to make a point of sitting down and banging out a reasonable review as soon as I've watched something. I'll even do an interim review if there's information that may help people before I've finished watching a series (which reminds me that I have to finish watching PataPata Airship soon).

I like the idea of rewarding people who write good quality reviews but think it would be very hard to determine who those people are because "good quality" is a subjective term. Then this circles back to the question: what makes a review good? I can point to Peter's reveiws as some of the best I've read but I don't think that people need to go to the extreme that he does to make a good review.

[Shinn Asuka]

DVD_Master:

I happen to like uploading 40 screenshots I typically make ten or so screenshots per DVD, through random points of episodes. That way people can get a feel for the subs [outside of the spots where there may be errors.]

[Prophet Hero]

I think a reward scheme would be a bad idea or perhaps more accurately a not very helpful idea, particularly if it's for writing lots of reviews. I think that would lead to an increase of short, 'empty' reviews.

Let's face it there are plenty of bad reviews floating around at the moment. The majority are probably written with the best intentions, but are incredibly lacking in some areas making them nothing other "I like...because..." pieces. That's nice, but it's no help as a buying guide.

It takes me bloody ages to write a review, particularly if I didn't make notes during the series (usually the case when it's an engrossing series!) so I have to go back and review and record all the observations I remembered and half-remembered such as spelling mistakes, grammar, missing lines, etc. I'm particular when it comes to subs so I'm just as particular when it comes to reviewing them. Then it's a case of finding the scenes for screenshots to illustrate all the points I made in my review, e.g. spellings, font sizes, colours, etc. Quite often writing a review takes me an hour or more. My MI GTO review took me longer because I wrote in the style of a compare and contrast with the FX set.

Anyway, getting back to the point. What I think would be more useful than a reward scheme is focusing on the reviews as an altruistic act - that reviews should act as a Buying Guide. My ideas is that when you click to add a review you are first taken to a Review Guidelines page, which would offer some tips on writing a useful review. I don't know how difficult this would be to implement, but it might be a way of making people more aware. It seems obvious some people are not reading the Reviews FAQ.

Now, these Guidelines wouldn't ask for intense technical detail - that wouldn't be fair - but suggesting that a reviewer includes simple, useful information such as what DVD player was used to watch the series on. Also handy would be a new Not Rated option for the Subtitle Rating to hopefully eliminate the useless reviews from those who watched a show in English and say: "I only watched five mins subbed. R1 perfect rip!" which personally pisses me right off.

I'm sure others could come up with more helpful tips to writing useful reviews, perhaps enough to get JJ and Schultz interested?

[sanosuke]

lots of good points made. it certainly would be hard to implement a reward scheme without people being pricks and abusing the system with shitty rewiews for free stuff. hmmmmmmm, perhaps there should be a a middle man that read reviews before thay are posted to insure they are valuble?

[Schultz]

Ok just to let everyone know.. ;o)
As far as the reviews go

I have on my list to do.
1.) Titles that don't have Subs will not have a Subtitle option to review.. Thus won't count into the Rating's

2.) I am going to make it so that each of the sections video , audio, sub, comments has to be at least 100 in length.. so won't have the R1 rip enuf said.. Which the Admins should not approve since there is also an approval system already in..

3.) Another idea i have pondered and wonder how to implement in the system is "Trusted Reviewer" basically they have some way to distinguish there reviews and they are known for having very good reviews..

And i could see about that reviews guidelines but don't wanna make too many clicks for people to add reviews..

[dvd_master]

Originally posted by Schultz

Another idea i have pondered and wonder how to implement in the system is "Trusted Reviewer"

That's what I think you should do. And #1 sound good also.