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Rating on Dooyoo seems to be a complex issue - it opens up a can of worms but I wanted to share my take on it. Some (or perhaps all!) might not agree but it's just my view on things and how I personally rate.
New Members
I always try to rate some new members in my day - after all every person including myself have been in that position at some stage in their Dooyoo time. I also always try to rate as fairly as I can. I sometimes feel that new members are rated lower than if the same review had been posted by another more established writer. I have no idea why! I also think that low rates, if undeserved, might put a perfectly good contributor off posting in the future. So with that in mind, I always rate in the exact same manner as I would with any member.
Rating Back
I am not someone who thinks it should be a 'I rated you, so you should have rated me back right away' in a 'keep a tally' sort of way. That said, I always try to rate those people who have rated me using the 'members that have rated me' last 50 people list first as they are the ones that have taken the time out of their day to read my postings and in my view deserve the same effort back from me. If however I can't find one after a couple of minutes that I've not read - I'm really sorry but I haven't the time to sit for hours trying to find that illusive one (and I don't expect people to do that for me either). I used to but I was spending hours with very little rating to show for it so have had to give it a miss and instead wait until their next review is posted and take a look at that.
I rate as many as I can from the new review list too but if after several rates, I never seem to get one back then I'll eventually give up and stop rating them. Now I've said that, I do think some newer members (that perhaps don't understand the site as well as others), need to take a note that rates are required in order to earn themselves some in return too. I've come across a few new members who have received hundreds of rates yet haven't rated anyone else's reviews at all. To keep the community feel of the site alive, I feel that all users should be contributing by rating other people's reviews. As I say, I mean that generally and not in a 'one for one' rate sort of way. I know that rating isn't a compulsory thing but I assume others will do like me after a while and stop rating theirs and then they'll eventually stop earning their miles.
I don't agree so it's Not Useful?
Rating down if views don't agree. Something I will never understand. I often haven't had the same experience with a product as others on the site have. An example recently being the Tesco value bin liners. I thought that they were tripe yet others rave about them. I never once and never would rate reviews like this down because I think completely differently about something than others. It's the piece of writing that is being rated, rather than if you agree with the writer's points. I feel that it's completely unfair that someone's views are rated rather than their review writing skills.
Nasty comments
Ok, that's not strictly about dooyoo rating but it goes hand in hand with it. There have been several times over the last few months that I've seen what can only be described as rude and unnecessary comments. My view is that the comments box should only be used to leave either constructive advice or positive comments - plain nasty ones are just not necessary. Additionally, if you feel that someone has broken the dooyoo rules, I would advise that you rate accordingly and then contact Dooyoo's HQ directly rather than get into a slanging match via the comments boxes. It doesn't reflect well to others accessing the site for consumer opinion before making a purchase.
So that's it - hope you don't think I've gone all serious now but I felt that I wanted to share my rating ways with you. Thanks to everyone who has ever rated, commented or nominated me for a crown since my time on here - they are all really appreciated! Happy rating everyone!
Thanks for reading :o)
Alright I just have to climb on my soap box for a minute as thing here are really beginning to get me mad.
Since the Dooyoo change of rewards has happened I have noticed lots of reviews that are being rated very helpful yet they only just scrape through the 150 word allotment, not only do they do this but it is clearly obvious that they are not very helpful as on reading the review there is hardly any information on the product.
Do people just come on here and click the very helpful button without reading, I think maybe.
Yet just take a second to think about it, rating reviews very helpful that are not will eventually become the downfall of the site.
Earning money may seem quick and easy as you can load up as many reviews as you like in the level 1 catagory or any other catagory, but is this going to last ?.
Do you think Dooyoo will carry on paying for low rate reviews at the top price, I don't think so. I have been here 8 years and seen many changes. So by rating a very helful to a low quality review will only make this site have unreliable information and unhelpful reviews when people really need good information and it will be the ruin of the site. So please think and read before you rate.
Also I have noticed and reported three new members so far as they are writting reviews in the level 1 catagory, then rating them with a second account very helful.
How do I know this well your ratings are shown on your review page and if you have someone rating your reviews very helpful every time you write a review YET that person hasn't written any reviews and has never rated anyone elses review just yours then it is quite obvious to me that something is wrong and I will report it as suspicious.
Like I said I have been here 8 years and don't want to see the site closed down by people who abuse the system.
A very helpful rating in my opinion should be given for a well written thought about review full of helpful information about the product, how it performs, how much it cost, where to buy and what you think of it.
Sometimes people take hours to write a very helpful review so give them their credit for the effort and information and remember the nominate button it is there for the excellent reviews and many members deserve to be rewarded.
A helpful rating in my opinion is a review which just about covers the basics but needs something added.
A somewhat helful rating in my opinion is a review that has obviously been added without thought is short and has not much information. Added with the obvious intention of getting money without the work that other members put in.
You can tell a very helful rating review by the effort, time and information a person has put into their review, please think carefully about rating as this is one of the best sites online and it is being ruined by people not reading the reviews and just clicking the very helful button.
After all I love this site as do many long term members and don't want it to change or close lets keep the standard high by rating properly.
Ok getting off my soap box xx .....see you soon.
I've been a member of the Dooyoo community for a while now & tend to spend at least 2 hours a day reading, rating & commenting on others' reviews & try to write one when I'm in a writing mood.
I didn't really have a system when I first started - I read the newest reviews at the time I first logged on, then worked my way down the list finding those that sounded interesting & then wrote a review about a product I wanted to tell others about.
I now have a routine - better late than never - which rarely changes.
When I first log into my account I see who's rated me & read any comments I may have received - personally I think if people have spent time kindly rating & commenting then the least I should do is return the favour & read & rate.
Next I go to the newest reviews to r & r - I like to be fair to all & don't have unlimited time so rarely read more than 4 reviews written by the same person in the same day ( I don't know how some Dooyooers find the time to write up to 30 reviews a day!).
Next I go to my circle of friends - very important to me - to see if there are any new reviews I may have missed so I can rate them.
After I've (maybe) written a review of my own I regularly check to see if I need to return any rates. Finally, it's a matter of keeping up with the ongoing reviews which need reading on this busy, busy site!
As it's a time-consuming process I've found myself being a bit more selective in what I rate - eg if I start reading an incredibly long one which isn't paragraphed & I find I'm not actually being told anything interesting or new I move onto another which is easier to read because it's laid out better, entertaining & informative.
I tend not to read very short reviews as much as I used to - don't get me wrong as some are great - but others give me no opinion, just description, & seem to have just been written to achieve the minimum wording required for 50p (unfair imho).
I tend not to comment very often un;ess I have something to say or if the review has been about personal battles against illness or major problems - it's not that I don't bother - more that I realise how little time folk have to read maybe dozens in a day.
So that's me really ...
My experience of receiving ratings & comments has been pretty positive to date even though, however hard I try, I know I'll never match any of the many superb writers on here.
I've sometimes received a 'useful' from a member but not understood why & even got a 'useful' on a crowned review - but hey, life's too short to be upset about ratings!
Luckily I don't seem to have been on the receiving end of any revenge raters (at least not yet!) but I've read about people being 'victimised' & it sounds highly unpleasant - I hate bullying & unpleasant people but I notice that the Dooyoo team seem pretty good as sorting out the 'bad eggs' lol.
I think Dooyoo is a brilliant site which is why I've never thought of writing anywhere else. On the whole I think most people play fair which makes it the warm community it is.
I have been on Dooyoo for several months now and dip in and out of it according to how busy I am at work. I have found people on Dooyoo to be quite nice, on the whole, and happy to rate most reviews at a 'Really Useful' or 'Useful' level. I feel that there are very few reasons why a 'Not Useful' rating would ever need to be given, unless it literally is complete gibberish. Even a review on a slightly different product can still be considered 'Somewhat useful' in my opinion, if the products are very similar in nature. Anyway, on the whole I do not have any beef with the rating system on Dooyoo. I almost always give people a 'Very Useful' rating if I have read their review. They have bothered to sit and write it and I have almost certainly found it interesting (because it will be a review on something which I have been interested in) so a VU is fair. To be honest though, I'm not sure if 'useful' is really the right word for the ratings. I don't think it necessarily sums up how people feel about reviews. Sometimes a review can be 'interesting' without being of particular 'use'. Does this then mean it warrants a 'Not Useful' rating?
Rant Number One
What I do not appreciate is someone emailing me and saying "I have just rated 10 of your reviews so can you please do the same for me." No I will not. I do not take instruction from you and I rate reviews which I have actually read and have been genuinely interested in. Not only that, but this email also suggests that you did not look at my review because you were interested, but for what you thought you could get in return. What it also suggests is that you in fact haven't read my review at all, so what was the point in blindly rating it?
Rant Number Two
Another thing which has been getting my back up rather a lot is the number of completely pointless comments that are placed on mine and other peoples' reviews. Case in point; on one review of a type of potato crisp, someone wrote "Haven't heard of these at all". That is not constructive, interesting or entertaining. In fact, what a waste of time it was for you to write that, not to mention me reading it. I also hate it when people comment just to disagree with what you've said. If that is your opinion then write a review to tell us so. Don't try to belittle my reviews with your opposing viewpoint. Surely the main characteristic of reviews is that it is one person's opinion or experience and the fact that you may disagree with what you have read does not make it any less relevant, worthy or true for them.
Rant Number Three
Lastly (for now!) I have also noticed that some comments seem to demonstrate that the reader has either not read or has not understood the review. Case in point: on one review on Weight Watchers puddings, someone had written words to the effect of "I would've thought that the calorie content would be very relevant in a Weight Watchers product." What an absolute idiot. This poor reviewer had not said that this kind of information was 'irrelevant'. Surely if that is what she had thought then she wouldn't have included it in her review. What she had done is listed it under a sub-heading of 'boring' information. Well, fair enough really. Who can say that calorie information is ever interesting? I wanted to tell that commentator that s/he needed to invest in a good dictionary in order to look up the difference between 'boring' and 'irrelevant'.
Sadly, despite promising myself I wouldn't, I have found myself caring too much about some of the comments that people make on Dooyoo. At first my attitude was 'don't take it so seriously' and 'your life must be very dull indeed if you have nothing better to do than write pointless comments'. But here I am, doing what could be considered the same thing (albeit perhaps I am worse because I have spent longer writing this and considering what I would say). I did resolve to no longer read any comments that people wrote on my reviews, but I'm ashamed to say that curiosity got the better of me. But perhaps it is a sad reflection of the negative commentators on here than now when I notice a comment has been made on one of my reviews my heart sinks a little because I am completely expecting it to be something negative. It's a shame really that some people have spoiled Dooyoo for me a bit, because I have actually had some nice feedback from some members.
This article won't come with a fatigue warning, nor will it make members flock to my 'heavily charged scripts of opinion' that has caused a few murmurings among certain groups on this community; that obviously was the purpose. - A few enjoy the stances that I frequent the articles with, the liquidity and self conscious scripts, stroke valid opinion of words that descends on to you 'Dooyoo the community'. Why us? I here you ask, well, you're a knowledgeable lot and the interactivity is superior to many other online sites that crave people like me. - Dooyoo is a responsive self orientated site that allows such content to explore personal knowledge and credits you for it, even if it isn't valid anywhere else in society. That is unique. My articles are now available in Westminster locker rooms, thanks to online community websites; helping with the nesting of vermin that resides along the corridors of power. I'm talking about the increasing numbers of water rats that have been water logged out of their apartments and sleep rough because they can't now claim for second homes. It's hard for the little mites, now winter has now made an entrance.
I'm baffled how the bloggers among us who publish articles have actually made the centre stage in the world we live in. The deluded and infamous '45 minute' claim was about a published article that was downloaded and the MI5 downloaded it and sent it to the PM for actual evidence as a stance for our fight against terror. Frightening isn't it. Since then more publish works 'online' has been used for credible information to help run this country, so the importance of ratings being accurate is paramount. It really makes a huge difference. Dooyoo has the over-riding decision to 'crown' or not, and as they're superior officials they actually indirectly help the governing of this country by rewarding superior content of vital importance as a whole, especially in the 'Dooyoo Lounge'; where scholars practice their carol singing while simultaneously drinking Old Speckled Hen. It is a great place to offload flatulence after a super rich Christmas dinner, in this case 'silent night ones are not necessarily the most deadly'. It is good, to not hold back in the lounge as it helps when throwing in your penny's worth of tidings when relaying a comment. It adds to the atmosphere and ambiance.
Product articles are looked at differently. I reward content rather than a witty phrase, or just because the article envelopes quality. Over-using certain words exasperates me more than actual spelling. I tend to hate the 'de ja vu' essence to articles that seem to echo similar trends within product stances. The ones that do carry clout and a unique approach do get a nomination. - Voicing an opinion on products is vital for the mechanics of Dooyoo; it is difficult to do that effectively under 500 words, so the 150 is actually bringing down the standards; though I know why Dooyoo do it. It is a manageable amount for new members to get their heads around. Smaller paragraph pieces do get more reads and rates; that is also the case with crowns. Who wants to view a piece with a 20 lined paragraph that makes you sigh with annoyance?
Format is important for a write-up and that doesn't mean loads of headings either. Quips are necessary, but not imperative. Usually members will skip through such clever phrases and you can be left feeling deflated. I've learnt to not include these time consuming, deep and meaningful anecdotes is often overlooked by a sub heading that catches the attention of the reader. Captivating your audience is probably more important than highly technical details. I never actually read lists, so I tend to look for buzz words that then re-valuate my interest. That counts for the end rating that I give. Intrigue and fascination with member styles do play a part with rates. I comment on reviews 29% of all the rates I give out. Personalising the rate with a comment and praising members for articles doesn't take much time out; nor does actual quips or concise views relevant to write-ups.
Whether a comment is helpful to the article or member is another story. I look for trends via the rates and there are more numbers of lower rates giveth from our 'Guides', than any other members. Coincidence, or is it just a 'guide thing?' - I do feel that there appears to be a 'them and us'; - Though it does seem the green band underneath the picture badge saying 'guide' embeds a licence to denote blight on perfectly place Freudian slip ups that frequents my ramblings. I do feel a tinge of hot air from a 'guide' whenever I smirk silently to myself at an anecdote. The therapy is working as I'm still remotely sane. For those of you who get the normal revenge rates from new members, forgive them as they're young naïve and still have their blue 'L' plates on. It is no reason, to pull your hair out on an inadvertent rate.
- On a last note, if you have to justify your comments, the consensus tells you that the initial comment was unjust. This is something I try to think about while rating and commenting; even for you budding Germaine Greer's that garnish me with your thought provoking ways that makes my heart beat that little bit faster. Come here, let me embrace you.
Ok rating and commenting makes up a large proportion of what DooYoo is about, although some people do not always do this fairly.
¸.*´¸.**¨) ¸.**¨)How My Approach Changed
(¸.*´ (¸.*´ .*´ ¸¸.*¨¯`*.
Ok, I admit... I used to rate everyone's review Very Useful, but surely everyone did when they were new and trying to fit in... Then one day after checking my account page I noticed that my 'Useful' counter ticked up by one. Immediately I went hunting for this rebel who dared to grace me with anything other than a 'Very Useful'. This user whose name rhymes with flipflop had a biography, which enlightened me.... And my Bio changed thus:
'Now I'm trying to look at the reviews of people who rate mine and I will give them a rating that reflects the quality of the review. When I rate I really try to use the full spectrum of rating options, there needs to be a way to distinguish between the quality of reviews. Remember that 'Useful' isn't a bad rating.'
There is an exception to this however... If I see an abysmal attempt at a review written by a fairly new member I will not rate at all, for the simple reason that I'm scared of reciprocation.
When commenting I try and only comment when I feel it is necessary and that I'd add something to the piece, I rarely post generic "Great review!" comments. I will also never tell people when I've nominated their review for a crown.
On the subject of crowns, I rarely nominate for crowns because I have only ever seen three of so that I feel are deserving of one (i.e. it is perfect and has a fine blend of factual information and useful consumer experience).
¸.*´¸.**¨) ¸.**¨) Tips on Rating
(¸.*´ (¸.*´ .*´ ¸¸.*¨¯`*.
Give a review the rating you think it deserves, have a mental checklist and tick off your own personal criteria in your mind.
e.g. Price? Packaging? Specifications? Problems? Tips? GENUINE USEFUL CONSUMER OPINION?
Don't restrict yourself to one rating when you have a choice of four (plus nominations for exceptional ones)
In the time since I first started using dooyoo I have developed a finely tuned rating system. I have to admit to a tendancy to over-rate in my early weeks, simply because I found that most reviews were just that bit better than mine and as such I thought them to be worthy of a VU. In refining my own work and reading so many more reviews, if I was to go back and re-rate those that I rated in my first month I think 30-40% of my ratings would change. And I'm sure that many dooyooers feel the same way. But that is part of the dooyoo learning curve and I think we can all be forgiven for a little initial over-rating.
So here is my personal rating system, from NU upwards. I expect some people will think it a harsh system, I would argue that the insane amount of over-rating on dooyoo will make it look harsh in comparison but it is fair in my mind and it is how I would hope people judge my work. Feel totally free to comment any disagreements, I would love to hear others opinions. This is aimed especially to newer members who are afraid of the buttons!
Unlike a lot of members, When I rate I use the entire range of rating options available. I am not afraid of the NU button. Why? First and foremost, I value truth above all else. It is extremely important to me that the opinions I give are honest and that the ratings I receive are similarly honest. I am not afraid of receiving a retaliation of a string of NUs or SUs. It probably helps that I have no issues with confrontation. I will happily message a revenge-rater telling them that they're being daft and that my rating is a true representation of how useful I found their review and how useful I think potential buyers will find it when researching a product.
So what qualifies an NU rating from me? It has to have one or more of the following (some are more serious than others).
-Contains zero (or very little irrelevant) personal opinion. Facts on a product can be found from a manufacturers website, what I want in a review is evidence that you've used the product, and used it well.
-Plagarism without reference will earn an automatic NU unless I believe it to be an oversight in which case I'll PM. I recently read a review on GHD's that was around 80% plagiarised from a website review with a few random words thrown in. Not cool guys.
-A rant based on a singular negative experience. If all that's written is don't use x because they have crap customer service and a list of who said/did what (especially an instant message transcript), to me that's is a totally useless review. By all means tell me the bad, but give it some context, give some detail about the product, about the purchase, etc.
-Bad grammar or non-native English. It might seem a little unfair to penalise for bad grammar or bad punctuation or bad English, but to me readability is fundamental to a good review.
This is a tricky one. A generally ok review with one or more of the above list will get an SU. As will a review with some personal opinion but a lot of padding, or if it is obvious that the writer has minimal experience with the product. I find reviews often come on the NU/SU or U/SU borderline. When that happens I will look at how useful it is to a non dooyooer and use that view to choose the rating, because I've noticed (and I am guilty of this some times too!) that we all get sucked into the dooyoo community spirit and sometimes forget the rest of the world, as the new "thank the author" button has recently brought to our attention.
It is important to put non-opinion information in the review to allow readers to make get the whole picture. Put simply, if I need to read more reviews to get enough information on a product (I'll want to read more for opinion anyway) then I'll probably rate SU.
U is my "default" rating for a good review. Generally it has to be well written. An average review will get this rating if the amount of usable opinion is higher than the amount of filler or background.
-Easy to read is a bonus
-A lot of personal opinion compared to factual info.
-Obvious that the reviewer has in depth experience with the product.
-I should be able to make an informed decision on a purchase from a review for it to get a U.
A VU review doesn't have to be perfect, but it has to be well written. There needs to be clear effort put into the review. It doesn't have to be long, often the consise opinions are the best ones.
-Wit/humour isn't essential but it is helpful especially in a long review, there's nothing worse than struggling through 1000 words totally relevant information if it's really dry and a b*tch to read.
-Extreme familiarity with the product is important here.
-Absolutely none of the NU points.
In short it has to leave me with no further questions on a product.
I've noticed a few dooyooers stating on their page that a comment of "good review" etc annoys them. To me, if someone's taken the extra time to write that after voting VU then it's clear to me that they've enjoyed reading it. I don't feel this is abuse of the commenting system. I feel it is a sign of extra appreciation. Admittedly, I don't leave many small comments, mine tend to be huge, and I am more likely to leave a comment when I've rated low explaining my rating, or when I have a differing opinion, or when I have questions.
-Word length.
-Other peoples ratings and comments.
-My rating of a review is independent of my rating of another review by the same reviewer.
-My own personal opinion of the product.
I thought it important to point out what I don't consider when rating. I find that people often open one of my longer reviews and give it an automatic VU without reading. I'd much prefer fewer ratings from people who have taken the time to read and critique my work than hundreds of auto-clicks. Long does not equate VU. Long = Long, nothing more. I think that I could write a totally useless repetative copy-pasted paragraph and still I'd get 30 VU's. I'm tempted to do that actually...
In saying all of this, I do have flexibility in my rating, it's not completely set in stone. All products are different, all reviewers are different and all reviews are different. My requirements in a review about, say, an energy supplier differ from my requirements from a review about the latest Lush soap. I do however keep my guidelines in mind, just because I've enjoyed a review a lot because it was funny doesn't mean it's a very useful review, and it can be hard to rate properly in such cases.
I feel that a lot of people are generous, and in most aspects in life this is a good thing, but the problem on dooyoo is the rating system has only 4 choices, and so any generosity in rating has a detrimental impact on the site as a whole (note the dooyoo team statistic of 95% VU-this is not an accurate portrayal of the quality of reviews posted on the site). If, for example, we rated on a scale of 1 to 10, an extra point here or there would have a negligible impact, but on a 1 to 4 rating system over rating adds at least 25%. We have a tendency as a community to be kind, but sometimes honesty is kinder in the long run, after all it's how we learn and improve.
Hope this has been informative. Feel free to comment!
© L Wade 2009 - submitted only on dooyoo.
I have been a member of Dooyoo for over four years now, (God is that all?), and have seen a few changes of late which have spurred me to add my two penn'orth to the debate about reading and rating. I've noticed a few people getting hot and bothered about rates. Dooyoo recently posted a piece on the community page about ratings which basically said there are too many VU's on reviews that don't merit them and people need to think more/be honest about their ratings. Here's what I do and why. I'll start at the bottom and work my way up, (oo er);
Not Useful ~
It's quite rare that I have pressed the NU button, I probably should have clicked on it more, but sometimes I think it's simpler just not to rate. On one occasion I rated NU on a review I found offensive and left a comment as to why I had done so, which resulted in me being sworn at by the member and told by a guide that it would have been better to act behind the scenes rather than rate and comment! (Dooyoo removed the member after my complaint, which wasn't the first). This sort of thing highlights why so many people seem scared to press the NU button, why stick your head above the parapet? Is it more important to have a quiet life and let these things pass or to stand up for yourself and say what you think in this little piece of cyberspace? Obviously it's a personal decision, but if you rate VU without even reading a piece properly you could seem to be agreeing with some rather dodgy things.
As a general rule I think anything obviously churned off the top of someones head which is full of glaringly obvious information should probably get an NU. Sometimes it's obvious that people have no experience of the product they are writing about, for example I've seen reviews for games that haven't been released yet, where the writer might just go on about, for example, The Sims, in general rather than the actual game in question. Obviously anything you know has been copied or anything unreadable should be NU'd too. Those reviews in the wrong category should also get NU's as they are useless to consumers, although it seems harsh to me to give a decent review NU when it's just been put in the wrong category and I might just check that they're going to get it moved and rate it at a later date.
Also, anything which I find to contain hateful sentiment such as racism, sexism or homophobia will get an NU from me. That's not to say I rate NU just because I disagree with someone, that's fine, even the most diametrically opposed views to my own can be very well, (if wrongly!), argued, but if I think a review is simply there to cause hurt I will NU it. Obviously, this doesn't happen much, if it did I wouldn't be here.
Somewhat Useful ~
I generally find that a lot of 'churners' merit this rating. By churners I mean people who are obviously trying to get as much money out of Dooyoo as possible by writing as many 150 word reviews as they can manage in a day. Unlike many, I think a 150 word review can actually be very useful and I will rate accordingly. However, I find most churned reviews have little to say, but if I think that little is relevant and could add to someone's purchasing decision I'll rate it SU.
I'm not a fan of ingredient lists copied from the label, unless there's a point to it such as showing how different it is to seemingly similar products. Detailed descriptions of packaging I also find a bit bizarre, unless they are brief and to the point as a guideline perhaps for actually finding the product on the shelf, but I don't think anyone needs to read an in depth decription of a Mars Bar wrapper. I find a lot of reviews I rate SU have too much of this type of padding.
Useful ~
Useful reviews will tell me most or all of the basic information required to help me in a purchasing decision as well as contain some personal opinion/experience. Sometimes a useful review will lack enough personal opinion to make it a VU in my eyes or it will be full of personal opinion and just lack a few facts. Sometimes I will rate a very long review U rather than VU, as I think some reviewers just waffle on about all kinds of irrelevant rubbish and think they deserve a crown for it. I would much rather see a short well written review that tells me everything I need to know than to wade through a mire of unneccessary stuff. Too much information can be worse than not enough. In fact, thinking about it, I am no doubt too generous and should probably rate more of these SU, because after all a useful rating is meant to reflect a good review.
I think some subjects are difficult to write an in depth review about, there's just not a lot to say about them and I find it strange that these reviews often seem to be judged by their shorter length and given a U when they say enough, (in my eyes), for a VU, but more about length later. Just to repeat because not many people seem to believe it - a Useful rating is a good rating.
Very Useful ~
We are meant to rate a review VU if it tells us all we need to know "to reach a well informed purchasing decision", (Dooyoo guidelines). For products I would say this is basically all the pro's and cons of the product based around the reviewers experience. Unless it's stinkingly obvious, I also like to know where I can buy it and how much I can expect to pay. It needs to be well structured, thorough, relevant, interesting and easy to read. I do rate most reviews I read VU because I think most of the people I regularly read, tend to write VU reviews.
Nominating ~
I seem to have some days where I nominate quite a few reviews and others where I find there's nothing that strikes me as crownworthy. I will nominate a review that meets all the requirements for a VU plus it does one or more of the following; it makes me laugh a lot (intentional humour!), it moves my emotions in some other way - I think I nominate a high proportion of personal experience reviews, it's clever and witty, it contains a high level of thoughtful analysis and/or original insight, it is obvious that a lot of care, thought, some research and attention to detail have gone into it. To paraphrase Ms Austen; "I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six nominated reviews. I rather wonder now at your knowing any." : ) I usually leave a comment on a review I've nominated but occasionally not, as I just can't think of anything to say that hasn't already been said. In this case perhaps I should just say 'nominated', but more on that later.
Difficult Rating Areas ~
I think there are some reviews that don't really need a ratings button as they are more about the community. A lot of reviews in the discussion area fall into this category for me, those in the Dooyoo Lounge which are based around personal opinion on issues rather than about products. In this case I usually press the VU button if I think there's been some attempt to write a half decent piece. Another area I have problems with rating is some travel reviews, particularly those which encompass whole cities or countries. How can you fit everything in? I suppose they are a bit like personal experience reviews. I know some Dooyooers write hugely comprehensive, interesting, entertaining travel pieces, but I wonder how useful they really are to the average consumer? If I was going to visit somewhere I would rely on a guidebook rather than Dooyoo reviews for the necessary information and although I might be interested to read reviews of a place on here if I had the time, I would never base any sort of purchasing decision on them. I don't think about it too much though, I just rate well written pieces highly and less well written ones more lowly.
Who I Read and Rate and Why ~
I usually return all reads and rates and I peruse the new reviews page when I have time which is not as often these days as it used to be. I like to check the community page and have a look at the reviews that seem to making a stir - the ones with the most comments are usually good for a nose. There are so many new members these days and so many of them churn and don't rate back that I usually only rate new members who I notice leaving an interesting comment somewhere else. I have favourite areas to read in; books, music and films being three of the best - it's always interesting finding out about these and Dooyooers have often influenced me in my choice of what to read, listen to and rent, items for young children interest me seeing as I have one, also the discussion area often contains some great reads. I'm not that interested in appliances and technical things unless it's something I'm in the market for, but then I suppose not many people would choose to spend their time reading about washing machines and the like unless they were looking for one. I am thinking about changing who and what I rate as I get a lot more rates these days and I can find returning them all too time consuming to be enjoyable.
When I first joined the site I was out of work and panicking and hoping Dooyoo would earn me a few extra pennies and this was my main reason for joining and why I chose to rate as many reviews as I could find time to, at that time you weren't paid to post a review but member reads paid 3 miles. My attitude towards the site has changed as time has gone on and I get different things out of it than I first anticipated. I like the, (mostly), friendly atmosphere and I spend more time reading reviews than I used to.
'Revenge Rating' ~
This is something which seems to have stirred up a lot of comments on site and some people also seem to be confused as to what it is. It means someone who is not happy with a rate then goes back to the member they received it from and rates them back based on the rate they received and not on the review. It's petty and reflects more on the person leaving the rate than on the review. I've had a few obvious ones, and probably more than I've noticed, but I think reviews speak for themselves and the odd bad rating here and there from someone who can't handle an honest opinion is not really important. If I remember who's done it I don't bother reading them again, but other than that I just ignore it.
Pressure to rate VU ~
I understand why a lot of people rate everything or almost everything VU. There is pressure to do this for a variety of reasons with the wish not to offend, I would think, being at the top. There are different reasons why people don't want to upset others on site - less return reads, 'revenge rates', hassle from someone who isn't happy about their rate, and so on. There is a 'scratch each others back' culture around here that seems to cause outrage to some when it's not adhered to. I think some people also do it out of a need for approval which is slightly different. The plethora of VU reviews can make this site seem a bit of a joke at times. I find it bizarre to stumble across reviews which are clearly unhelpful and find they have been largely rated VU.
I don't expect VU's on everything I write. I don't think everything I've written has been worth a VU, especially as I don't always write with the intention of producing a top class review - sometimes I just want to pop a few out towards a voucher. I'm aware a few Dooyooers look down on this attitude but I think it's fair enough, Dooyoo is a site for product reviews not for writers, there are other sites around for people who want to solely improve their writing skills. I could have been a churner, in fact much as it has been my ambition at times :-D, I find very difficult to do. I simply can't publish a piece without making sure I've checked all my facts and I usually get too involved in my subject and feel the need to do it some justice.
Length and Rates ~
Length for it's own sake is not good. In fact if I am looking for reviews on a product I am thinking of buying I would rather read a lot of short to the point reviews than wade through several essays on the subject. I think a lot of short reviews give a better flavour of a product than one huge one, which is after all just one person's opinion and I think most consumers just will not have the time to read some of the longer reviews that are posted on Dooyoo. Some long reviews are brilliant, obviously, but too many writers seem to confuse quantity with quality. Unless I am very interested in something, or it is obviously really well written and draws me in I don't read mega long reviews. I just don't have the time. I'm not saying long is bad, I can get a lot of enjoyment from both reading and writing long reviews, my point is just that when it comes to reviews - length CAN be very bad and brevity CAN be very good.
Leaving Comments ~
Like most of us I like to get a few comments, feedback is always good, although I'm not so keen on the ones where it's obvious that people have just done the rounds and said something like 'great review' on everything they've been near that day. That's not to say I don't appreciate people saying they like something I've written, I do, I just prefer to think it's a genuine comment. I have had some bizarre comments where it's obvious people haven't read the review properly. I leave comments for a variety of reasons, usually just because something about the review has struck me and I want to say something about that.
People who write 'nominated' in the comments section often get a lot of stick. It's not something I've ever done and I can see why some people think it's tacky, but there are valid reasons for writing it as well and I don't like the preachy superior attitude some people take to other Dooyooers on this subject. I think part of the problem is that a lot of people think it's an ingenuine thing to say, or that it's just done to get a nomination in return, but if you've nominated someone and you're telling them as a reflection of how good you think their review is, then why not? Don't be intimidated, say what the hell you like. I'm happy enough to get, (honest), nominated comments, even if I don't go throwing them around myself. The point is sometimes made that people expect crowns if they get nominated, but I think it's those faulty expectations that should be addressed rather than people being told not to say things.
conclusion ~
So, there you have my take on how to read, rate and comment within the Dooyoo community. To roughly summarise; if a review tells you everything you want to know about a product in order to buy it then it's probably worth a VU. Remember Dooyoo is a community and it's best to be both honest and polite in order for it to work well. You will almost certainly cross paths with some people who you would avoid in real life - so I say be aware of that and try to have a bit of tolerance rather than making an issue out of it. Everyone has their own style and their own way of going about things. As long as you are not abusing the site you should never feel that you have to justify yourself. If you rate honestly you might get a handful of lower ratings back, or one or two less reads, but on the whole I think most people wouldn't bother. Your own reviews review will stand up for themselves, so as long as you are happy with them then that should be the most important thing.
When it comes to rating and commenting on a review. The first and most fundamental rule is, one should rate only if they feel they are qualified to do so. This means, if you're reading a review about a product you know little about, it may be best to do some research before rating. For example rating someone's plasma television review "somewhat useful" because you have no plans to buy a plasma and didn't quite understand the technical jargon is a bit unfair. The usefulness of a review will vary depending on who it's aimed at which is where a problem lies with the rating system on this site.
Dooyoo users tend to rate everything and anything, even products they have never used or have no knowledge. As a result we end up with detailed descriptions on products rather than opinions. Personally I base my opinion based on how much personal opinion there is in a review. It doesn't matter how someone criticizes a product if that's how they feel and they can back up their opinions with facts, then I will give a good rating.
With regard to commenting, one should only comment if they've read the whole review. At the end of the day one shouldn't be too obsessed with the system, these are just guidelines.
A strange category this one, how do I give anyone advice on how to rate and comment? We all have our own little quirks when it comes to using the site, none of us read or rate in the same way (or that is we shouldn't) so I won't be giving some sort of magic formula to turn us all into rating clones. Perhaps I could start with giving some reasons as to why some of us read and rate, and use my own rather strange (to some) behaviour on site as a starting point. But before I even get to rating I'm going to start with how I choose what I'm going to rate.
So why do we read, and to be specific why do we read reviews here on Dooyoo? Well I can't talk for anybody else, but I read reviews because I like to find out what other people think about certain products. Whenever I'm looking to buy something that's going to cost more than a few quid, I'll look for reviews on it. I also enjoy reading about books and films (especially DVDs), even if I've already watched/read them, I just want to know if everyone's agreed with me on whether they're any good or not. The important point is I never read reviews because I feel I have to, I only read reviews on topics that interest me and never read for the sake of it.
So how do I find all the reviews I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy reading? Well I have several methods, I do receive alerts, informing me that one of a select few have produced a new review. But, even if I receive one of these alerts, it doesn't automatically mean that I'll read the review, sorry but if it's about the contents of your handbag then I just won't be bothering. As well as reading from my alerts, I'll often take a stroll through the "new-in" list, picking out topics that interest me, and then there are the times when I've a particular product or service in mind, and then the search function comes into it's own.
Now that's just how I choose which reviews to read, and the one thing that virtually never figures in which reviews I read is who wrote them. You probably have a totally different way of finding reading matter on the site, and that's fine, just try to make sure you don't stick to consistently reading the same group of people, otherwise you'll miss out on some wonderful writers. I would also suggest that you don't open up reviews on subjects that simply don't interest you, I personally don't read car reviews, as not only would I find them boring, but I really wouldn't know what information would make them helpful.
So you've chosen which reviews you want to read, the next thing is to make sure you actually read them. How you read is up to you, I know some people that are fantastic speed readers and can read much faster than me (and I'm considered a fast reader), the important thing is to make sure you read the whole review. If you end up feeling that you can't get to the end of a review, then surely you couldn't say that the review was as helpful as it could have been. Sometimes I need to read a review more than once, just to make sure that my eyes didn't miss anything the first time round.
So you now know why I read reviews and how I choose my reading matter, so how do we rate and more importantly why do we rate? Let's take the second half of the question first, why do we rate? Well, I suppose there are two reasons that rating takes place on the site, the most important (to the site) is that peer rating 'should' help sort all the reviews in order of their usefulness. This in turn allows that mythical consumer to make his/her choice on which reviews to read. That's how it's supposed to work, I'm not sure whether it actually does or not, but that's another matter. The other, far less selfless, reason for rating is it means that your username becomes visible on the site and gives the possibility of being rated back, if you're rating for this reason then that's your choice, but it's sort of smells of 'scratch my back' syndrome to me.
Ok, so that's why we rate, so how do we decide which of those four buttons to press. . Not Useful (NU) is, I suppose, a pretty clear cut rate, that I personally reserve for copied, nonsense reviews, huge plot spoilers, or reviews placed in the wrong category (plus the occasional list of features without any opinion). With the other three rates, it's all a matter of our own judgement. The important thing is to decide for yourself which rate the review deserves. What may be Very Useful (VU) to me, may only be Somewhat Useful (SU) to you, and vice versa. We all look for different information when we're looking to buy something new, so it's hardly likely that everybody will find a review VU is it? Don't think that just because everyone else has rated differently to you that you're doing something wrong. Before anyone asks, yes I do have certain things I look for in certain categories, things that for me make a review more (or less) useful but these are personal to me. For example : when I read a review about a mobile phone, I like to know about the call quality as I make a lot of calls, but to someone that only uses their phone for texting that information wouldn't be as essential. Likewise, I'm a geek and enjoy watching special features on DVDs, so a review without opinion on them would be less than VU to me, however my finance thinks special features are boring and a waste of time so the same review will be more useful to him. See we're all different and find different information useful.
Final point on rating, don't allow yourself to fall into the trap of rating everybody VU because it's the nice thing to do. If you think a review is VU then give it that rate, but if you only ever rate VU then it will be noticed. The rates I really appreciate on my reviews come from those who I know use the complete range of rates appropriately, and a high rate from one of these people is worth ten times as much as from someone who only used the rate. Ok that wasn't my final point, but I promise this is, don't bother revenge rating either, it'll just make you look foolish, and you've given that rate to a seasoned member it won't bother them, we've seen it all before.
I personally leave very few comments here on Dooyoo (unlike Ciao where I often find myself forced to explain my rate. Very occasionally, I'll read a review and find that I'm actually inspired to leave a comment. What I never do is write comments along the 'good op' vein, how exactly does that help anybody (except yourself), another unhelpful comment is the type that says 'needs more info'. Ok so how does anyone know exactly what information you're looking for? Ok I do occasionally leave comments when I'm rating very differently from everybody else especially if I feel that a book or film will be ruined for the potential consumer. Let's get one thing straight, I'm not going to condone leaving a comment on every review that you've rated lower than VU (or even U), there's only so many times that a reviewer can be given the same information. If someone has already made the points you want to make then don't bother.
Ok that's my thoughts on this r,r,c (reading, rating and commenting) business over and done with so in true business-like fashion I'm going to leave you with the salient points :
* Only read topics that interest you.
* Actually read the whole review
* Rate on how useful YOU found the review
* Leave a comment if you have something to say
This is potentially going to turn into a little bit of a rant , so please forgive me .
I write a fair amount of reviews - typically, I'll have a couple of months of binge reviewing, then vanish off for a bit as some new computer game takes hold,then come back and binge review again .
Recently, I've noticed something that annoys me . Most of my reviews are pretty brief, but every so often, a particular product will really hit a nerve, and inspire me to write a longer, more detailed, more passionate review . I can't get too passionate about a packet of noodles for example, but I might about a moving film, or a really good book .
Tonight, at 21.53 I posted a review of over a thousand words . It took me ages to write, and I put my heart into it. I posted it on Dooyoo, feeling pretty proud of my work. I felt I'd done the product justice, and that (for once) I managed to put across exactly what I wanted to say . I refreshed the page, and had 2 very helpful ratings, both submitted at 21.53.
I don't believe anyone can read a 1000 word review in less than a minute . I really don't , and I'm actually incredibly annoyed by those ratings . Sure, a very helpful rating is great - it means I'm getting paid, but I feel almost as though my work in writing that review is wasted if people are going to simply glance at is, say 'Yup, that's nice and long, VH for you!' without reading it .
I would rather have 1 rating of any kind from someone who had genuinely read my review, than a bunch from people who clearly simply opened it and judged it on length.
Reading rating and commenting is simple on Dooyoo . It's so easy even a baboon could do it, so it really annoys me that well established members are not doing it properly.
Let me break it down .
Step 1 ) Read!
Now, this doesn't mean look how long it is and rate on length. This means ACTUALLY read the review . Every word . Someone has taken the time to put their feelings down, the least you could do is pay attention . Rating a review without actually reading it properly is not at all in the spirit of things - it's the equivalent of having your friend telling you all about the crappy day she has had at work, and you just nodding along going 'Yup, that's nice' every so often while actually trying to decide what colour to repaint your bedroom .
If I talk to my friends, I expect them to listen . Now, you folks have a big advantage in that you can see what I'm talking about before opening my reviews . You can choose not to read all the reviews that don't interest you. Its like being able to talk to your friend, but making certain subjects such as their horrible ex or the amount of period pain they are having taboo .
If what I talk about does not interest you - don't read my review . Pass over it, no harm done. This applies not to me, but to any writer- if you read their review, READ it . Don't skim, and don't just rate on length .
Step 2) Rate
Rate according to how helpful the review would be to you if you were thinking of buying the product. Think about what you would want to know, and then see if the review covered it .
Long reviews are not neccessarily the most helpful - and short reviews are not in themselves bad . Some people are brilliantly able to get their point across concisely , whereas some people take an awfully long time to talk about nothing .
Don't rate on how much you agree with the view expressed either - some people like Marmite, some people hate it . Either viewpoint is equally valid - the point is, did they express their reasons clearly and give you a sound understanding of what Marmite is ?
If you do disagree though - you don't have to be silent!
Step 2 ) Comment
If you agree, or disagree, this is the place to say so. It is perfectly okay to leave your own feedback on a product in a comment box. I see it as a way to get a tiny bit more information. Just because someone things British Gas are incompetent muppets, does not mean you can't leave a comment saying 'My experience was different'. People reading Dooyoo want consumer experience, and your experience counts just as much as that of the person writing the review .
Step 4) Nominate (optional)
If you think a review particularly stands out, feel free to nominate it for a crown . Its always a nice thing to do, and is anonymous (although you can , if you like, let the reviewer know you have done so.) I don't think it is necessary really, but it is nice to know when someone likes my review a lot.
Well, there is my viewpoint, admittedly probably rather ranty.
Now, lets publish this and see how many people rate me within 30 seconds!
I have only just become a member of dooyoo a friend informed me about this site, I still have some teething problems on how it works but I am getting the hang of it.
Every review that I read is worth while, while I may not get problems with certain things that I have invested in other people do and it is good to know those problems incase it may happen to me.
I have found that it is good to have opinions on things and to give people your opinions too people should be aware of the things they are going to invest in.
It doesnt really matter how much people write about the product as long as it has sufficient information and alot of personal experiance with what they are talking about. I will then rate the review on how useful it would be to myself.
Thank everyone for that information the bad reviews are the best ones because I know I have less chance of wasting my money.
Having been a member of this site for some eight years, I do wonder why, after all that time, I'm bothering to write this. The ratings system on all opinion sites seems to be the most divisive element of all and is normally at the heart of nearly every conflict taking place. There's nothing wrong in wanting to write good quality reviews, of course, but there is something deeply worrying about the hysterical reactions to anything less than a very useful rating that we're now seeing here on Dooyoo on a daily basis.
Somewhere along the line, I think somebody decided that the word 'useful' doesn't mean useful any more and whenever they see a sentence containing it, they translate it to mean good. So a very useful rating is now seen as a very good rating, a somewhat useful rating as somewhat good and so on. Intrinsically, this seems to result in Catherine Tate style inward sucking of breath and proclamations of "f***ing liberty!" whenever something other than very good, I mean useful appears on a review. Whether this is the result of an unhealthy user mentality (i.e. they're nuts) or a lack of understanding of the system I'm not sure. The first one can't really be addressed by me, but there's scope to add some meat to the bones of the second one here and I guess that's what I'm going to try and do.
In principle, a rating is a personal response to something that a member has written. As consumers, as members or even just as people, we are all different. We have different aspirations, different interests and different needs and, as such, we should expect different reactions to the things that we say. This shouldn't be attacked nor should it be feared. We should consider this to be a good thing. This isn't, after all, a real community if it only contains one way of doing or saying things. A rating, however, is NOT a grading nor is it a marking. We left those behind at school and inherently a 'marking' is an assessment of all things considered about the writing. On a review site, a rating is only an assessment of one thing and that is how useful the opinion was or could be to an individual. There are things that will influence that, for sure, but personally, I'm not here to tell you off for being unable to spell. I'm really only interested in what you have to say about something and, provided that I can gather that from what you write, this is the only thing that will affect my rating.
A rating doesn't mean that the recipient is expected to do anything with it. I'm not, for example, a big fan of those 'add more and I'll come back and re-rate this" type threats that you often see on reviews. I use the word 'threat' here quite purposefully, because for me it is a slightly threatening tactic. It's basically saying that the author hasn't done something the way that the rater would like it, and the rater is largely instructing the writer to do something about it. This doesn't really work for me. If I am rating a review, it is without prejudice around what you will do about it. I don't feel that you should do anything. That's not for me to say. If you decide to change something in response to what I say, then that is your right but it's not a requirement. This is a critical point. Rating a review should not be an instruction that the writer should do something differently, nor is it an attempt to bully the writer into conforming to a certain standard. Many members seem to misunderstand this.
I don't have a ratings system. I'd question the flexibility of anyone that does. I don't start at useful and work up or down according to a complicated system of criteria. I simply read the review and then consider whether that review helped (or would help) me make an informed decision about that product if I were interested in it. This is another important point. A rating should reflect the outcome of having read the review. On this basis, a very useful review would probably mean that I could now decide whether the product was for me, or not. A useful rating would mean that I might still need to read around further. A somewhat useful rating would mean that I would need to read around quite a bit more. A not useful rating means that my reaction to the product hasn't changed since I read the review. I think it's really as simple as that. There will be lots of factors that influence that, and those will/should vary from person to person, but the premise should remain fundamentally the same.
To rate a review based on how you felt about the product before you read the review is generally inappropriate. To rate a horror film review as not useful because, for example, you don't like horror films is silly. If you don't like horror films, then don't read reviews of them. There's a requirement of peer reviewing that, by reading the review, you are indicating that you have or will have some level of consumer interest or are prepared to consider how you would feel if you did have some consumer interest. I don't, for example, use perfume, but I can read and rate a review fairly based on my interest as somebody who might purchase perfume as a gift. Rating based on personal knowledge of a product should be treated with caution. Rating a film, for example, as somewhat useful because you thought it was great and they said it was rubbish would be unfair. Explain that in the comments, but rate based on how well they conveyed the idea that it was rubbish. But if somebody writes a review and gives information that you know to be incorrect then a lower rating would almost certainly be inappropriate.
Some community members and consumers may have very specific items of interest. This is not pedantry and should not be seen as such. If, for example, you only use a Mac, then a review of a software product may not be entirely useful if the writer doesn't mention whether the product is compatible with a Mac. This isn't an error on the writer's part, as he/she may not know this information. Nonetheless, it will mean that to the Mac consumer, the review may be less than very useful. This is one of the fundamental principles of the rating system that many members fail to understand. These requirements may seem impossibly precise. A favoured example is a member who might need to know whether a hotel is dog friendly and may rate reviews as useful unless you tell them this. That is their prerogative. You can argue that it's petty or unreasonable and you are entitled to that opinion, but as long as that member rates this way because this is fundamentally important to them, then their rating is an appropriate one. This can apply to style, as well as content. Members who find that they lose the will to live with very long reviews have a perfectly valid point in rating appropriately. Regardless of content, a review can only be useful if that content is accessible to an individual. It's equally acceptable to rate on the basis that you personally found the format very helpful in accessing the information. A review written in rhyming prose, for example, might be a fun, quick and simple way to absorb what the writer wants to say. There's nothing wrong with rating that very useful when others rate it useful or lower. It always works both ways.
I don't hold to the concept of revenge rating. For me, it's a rather childish term that reflects more on the recipient that the sender. There's something inherently arrogant about suggesting that somebody revenge rated your review because you rated them a certain way. You can't really be certain, after all. Even if it appears to have been left in malice, only the rater will know that. If somebody rates ten of your reviews in ten seconds, then you know that they haven't read them properly and that is a form of abuse. It's called speed clicking. Strangely enough, the community is far less willing to report speed clicking when the speed clicker leaves them a very useful rating but it's exactly the same thing. If you spot speed clicking, then report it, but if you don't wish to be a hypocrite then report it regardless of the rating that you receive. I generally ignore members who rate more than a certain number of reviews in a 30-day period (identified in the community centre.) My personal view is that a member can only really properly read and rate a certain number of reviews in a day and over a certain threshold, they're just clicking to get reads in return.
I don't generally hold to the idea of leaving a comment to explain a rating, either. The suggestion that it is only common courtesy doesn't really hold water. Why is it courteous? In my experience, the percentage of the community that asks you to explain a rating is not interested why you rated a certain way, only that you did. Inherently averse to anything less than a very useful rating, your explanation will be of little interest to them and will simply stir up conflict. If I am requested by a member privately to explain a rating then, as long as the request seems sensible or is made politely, then I will return to the review and leave a comment. Feedback is only useful when welcomed by the recipient. You quickly learn who is actually interested in feedback and who wants a fight. The 'block sender' function within your messages generally enables you to ignore the latter group, which would always be my advice. You simply cannot win in a struggle with this group of members and the community is more than big enough to give them a wide berth. Leave them and their persecution complex to fester alone. Life really is too short.
I normally leave comments on a review where the review has catalysed a thought in my mind, however random that might be. More often than not, for me, it's something smutty and for that I apologise with limited sincerity. Very, very rarely will that thought be something as banal as "great review" and there's something a bit icky about members who comment like this as a rule. Generally, your comment should be appropriate to the review but this is widely open to interpretation and probably rightfully so. I'm not normally a fan of commenting on my own reviews. It looks a little needy and desperate to me, particularly when directed simply to thank an individual as it would be more appropriate to send that individual a private message. Where a conversation about the product kicks off then a reply by the author would seem to be more appropriate and this can stimulate some interesting discussion. I'd recommend reading other people's comments before you write one. I've occasionally written a comment, only to see the answer to a question already there or to see that someone has already made the point that I have.
There's a debate that says it's against the rules to mention another member in your comment, directly or otherwise. I think this needs careful consideration. If somebody comments on a review and you want to reply to that comment, it might be better to message that person privately. That aside, provided your response is constructive and relevant I can't imagine that the member would be particularly offended.
My final piece of advice would be to become unconditionally unaware of how other members have rated your reviews. Don't set your alerts up so that you are emailed when somebody rates your reviews and don't pour over the lists of who has rated your opinion. Personally, I'm very happy with my writing style, for example, and whenever I submit a review, I am confident that it says what I wanted to say how I wanted to say it. As such, any rating from a member is a fair rating. I almost certainly wouldn't change anything (unless I have made an error) and couldn't be offended by any rating left by a member. I struggle to understand why anyone would feel differently. A quick glimpse at my profile tells me I have 24 not useful ratings. I haven't a clue on which review or from whom, and I don't intend to find out. Indeed, I think it's a suspiciously low figure. I can't help thinking that if the ratings system were to be used properly then we'd all have far more ratings that were less than very useful. It's not, however, hard to see why people are generally reluctant to rate and comment honestly. The very public, very obvious backlash to anything less than very useful from a very vocal minority is enough to put anyone off and I wouldn't criticise anyone for going for the quiet life. It is as it always has been and, sadly, probably always will be.
A big part of being an active member of dooyoo is reading and rating other peoples reviews,
When rating someone elses reviews i read the review through from start to finish no matter how long or short the review may be, then i read the comments already given on the review and rate it accordingly to how useful i have found the review to be.
To me it doesnt matter to me if your review is just over the 150 word limit or enough to make itself into a book as long as you have covered all of the areas apropriate to the product you are reviewing, have told me about the product and your opinion of it in enough detail then i will rate it as it deserves a very useful rating.
Reviews that get a useful rating from me are usually the ones where you have 140 words telling me about the item and only 10 words of your own opinion of it as i can find all the item details elsewhere on other sites, what i realy want to know is what you thought of it and how well you think it worked,
it is very rare i give a somewhat usefull rating and only tend to do this if the review has very little detail or opinion about the item supposed to be being reviewed, like for instance the other day i read a review of a perfume that the reviewer just told me they didnt like the perfume, one sentence about it then went on to tell me about the perfume they did like rather than telling me what they didnt like about this particular perfume.
The only reviews i recall ever rating as not useful are the ones where they have a few sentences only and the rest has been made up to the 150 word limit by adding in dots or other symbols.
I think i am quite fair on the way i rate revews and all reviews get rated according to the content and how useful it is to me, i find it very irritating when people rate reviews down due to a few small spelling mistakes or grammer errors after all we are here to give our opinion not write an english essay.
Instead of "How to Rate and Comment" I would prefer "How I Rate and Comment" as I don't feel qualified enough, or bossy enough to tell you what to do.
This is a subject I have given a lot of thought to of late. The new payment system has made the site different and has caused me to think again about how I use Dooyoo. Many members dislike the changes and many like them, I think there is good and bad in everything but overall I am happy with the changes.
I think the main reason people are upset is because something they are used to and they feel comfortable with has changed. We, (humans), seem to be pre-programmed to resist change and hate anything that is different. Any way I digress back to the point in hand.
*** A Few Points before I Begin ***
Length does not equal quality in my opinion. I actually prefer shorter reviews unless the product requires it such as a holiday destination, hobby etc. 2000 words on a Mars Bar is taking things too far!
Churn is okay as long as the reviews are still meeting the basic requirements and the people churning don't expect me to read each and every review they publish. If I subscribe to your reviews and you write more than five a day I may have to ignore the odd one here and there because of time constraints and to give other people a chance!
I do not expect people to read every review I write! If you don't care about my latest bubble bath or what I have in my handbag just don't read it, I won't be offended in the slightest and you won't be bored! I write for the enjoyment of it and the odd Amazon voucher not to get on any most read authors lists!
To as in "I am going to the zoo," has one O in it; Too as in "Too many people use the wrong 'to' in sentences on Dooyoo," has two O's in it. Your as in "Your reviews rock," is spelled y-o-u-r; You're as in "You're going to think this is patronising but it really is amazing how often these words are misused," is spelled y-o-u-'-r-e. Don't make me get my big red pen out!
If English is not your first language then I applaud you for writing on Dooyoo but if your English is so fractured that it makes reading hard then I will down rate for that reason.
I really believe you should not mark a review down because you do not agree with the opinion of the writer. That really gets my goat and has been happening a lot recently. If someone was reviewing the devil himself and said he was the best thing since sliced bread and wrote a great review full of information and gave the reasons for their opinions then it a great review whether or not you like the big red fellow!
*** My NEW System for Rating ***
> Very Useful:
From now on I will give this rating to reviews that I enjoy reading. They should contain plenty of information about the product and have plenty of opinion too.
I like good grammar and spelling - use a word processor; you can download something like Open Office from openoffice.org if you don't want to line Bill Gates' bulging pockets! It's not like I am a teacher or something, (maybe I should have been, that big red pen would have been handy), but poor grammar and/or spelling make a review hard to read and when you are reading 30+ a day it can get annoying! Spacing your review out nicely makes reading easier too.
Basically if I think your review would be very useful if I was making a purchasing decision then I will rate VU.
> Useful:
This rating goes to review that cover the basics but don't offer a lot of opinion or vice versa, reviews that contain both information and opinion but have significant spelling or grammar mistakes, or reviews that aren't interesting or that are difficult to read.
> Somewhat Useful:
Ooh now we get into the territory of annoyed Dooyooers! No-one likes getting a SU but sometimes reviews are simply "somewhat useful". I will rate SU if the review isn't complete drivel but lacks both enough information and enough opinion and that isn't easy to read and enjoyable.
> Not Useful:
I am unlikely to rate a review as NU; I will more likely just leave a comment and leave it at that.
*** Return Rates ***
I will not always return rates because I have too many alerts to catch up on, (over 1000) and I am not always in the mood to read and rate. I would rather not insult you and the effort you have put into your review by only half reading it when I am not in the mood as it isn't fair on you. I do try and read as much as possible!
*** Comments ***
I really only comment when I have something to say, my rating tells you that I found a review "great" or "okay" so I won't always comment to that effect. I do sometimes but not often usually when I wish I had something constructive to say!
*** Nominations ***
I nominate reviews that I really like, if they are enjoyable, factual and opinionated chances are I will nominate them. I won't tell you though as I feel that adds fuel to the feelings of disappointment we are feeling due to the decline in crowns and also make people feel like they have to nominate me which they don't.
Ahh now that feels better; getting all that off my chest has spurred me on to read and rate. Thanks for reading.


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56649 Community Colleges
- There is 1 community college in 56649, International Falls, Minnesota, serving 325 students.
- Minority enrollment is 18% of the student body (majority Black).
- The student:teacher ratio of 25:1 is less than the state average of 30:1.
56649, MN Community Colleges:
- College Location Students
- 1501 Hwy 71
International Falls,  MN 56649
325 students
Recent Articles
September 13, 2017
Learn about the different financial options you have for affording community college.
September 13, 2017
If you are starting community college as an adult, there are certain challenges you can expect to face. Understanding and anticipating those challenges will help you to face them head-on with the greatest chance for success.
September 13, 2017
Do you feel stuck in a career you don't enjoy? Are you considering making a switch? If so, keep reading to learn about community college for changing careers.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Scratching Your Automotive Itch! 102nd Chicago Auto Show Set for Feb. 12-21 Run January 24, 2010 12:00 AM Feeling the need more excitement in your life? Has your automotive relationship become boring, without the fire and sparks you had at the beginning? Do you crave the passion of the convertible, but feel constrained to keep the relationship with your 4-door sedan? Is the reliability and devotion to frugality from your econobox in constant competition with the siren song of something racy, curvy and utterly frivolous? Well, pssst—Here's a secret. As they say everywhere from eHarmony to Match.com: "It's OK to look!" But how do you know what's right? Where do you turn? It's simple. The Chicago Auto Show, Feb. 12-21, is poised to give show goers the ability to test their compatibility on at least 29 different levels. In a time when everything appears to be going virtual, the auto show remains a tool that is valued far beyond its electronic counterparts. The visual, tactile and social components of massive displays that assault the senses will again delight and motivate huge crowds who visit McCormick Place for this year's edition of the Chicago Auto Show, Feb. 12-21. "There's no single element or event considered to be the most effective sales tool in the automotive purchasing process," says John Phelan, chairman of the 2010 edition of the nation's biggest automotive exposition. "But the concept of the auto show has proven itself to be one of the best--and nowhere else is that concept executed better than right here in Chicago." The Windy City's expansive lakefront exposition center will feature the industry's latest range of vehicles during the show's 10-day run and include cars, trucks, concepts, sport utility, crossover and competition vehicles, all available for side-by-side comparison for those in the market or simply to drool over by those seeking a diversion from the winter doldrums. "The other critical component is the simple enjoyment of going to a family-oriented event," says auto show co-chairman Kevin Mize, who also is the current chairman of the Chicago Automobile Trade Association. "It's a terrific value for a family to visit the show, and in times like these, value is always a consideration. Additionally, we never lose sight of the fact that the second word in 'auto show' is 'show'! A family can have a great time together and enjoy it on a variety of interest levels." Phelan concurred with Mize, saying: "You'd expect to see families at our show, but one of the really fun parts for us is the generational aspect. I can remember coming to the show as a boy with my father and now I look forward to my children and grandchildren visiting. This is a wonderful Chicago tradition. Two generations of the same family coming to the show is commonplace, with three not unusual at all, as well. We enjoy a history and tradition in Chicago that dates back to 1901." The show's expansive displays will allow patrons to comparison shop with a short walk rather than having to drive from dealership to dealership. Additionally, information gathered by many prospective buyers on the Internet can be augmented by talking to product specialists and sales people who populate the displays. Inquisitive show visitors might find it interesting to discover that the people from one manufacturer also know a great deal about the competition in order to help the decision process move down the line. Admission Tickets for the auto show are $11 for adults; $7 for children 7-12, children 6 and under free when they accompany a paying parent; senior citizens age 62 and older, $7. Advance ticket sales available online at www.DriveChicago.com. Weekday discount tickets ($4 off the regular adult admission) available at area new-car dealers and from participating banks. Weekday group discounts are available. Special Days While always a great value for the price, the 2010 Chicago Auto Show will again offer special weekday price reductions for a reduced rate, such as Women's Day, Tuesday, February 16. Admission price is $7 for all women. Manufacturers will present special women-oriented programs on vehicle purchasing, leasing, maintenance, upkeep and sports activities. Chicago Auto Show Food Drive will be held Wednesday, February 17 - Friday, February 19, Show patrons who bring three cans of food, donated to the Chicago Christian Industrial League, will be admitted for $7. Additionally, the Chicago Auto Show has partnered with local organizations to offer Weekday Discount coupons to the 2010 Chicago Auto Show that can be redeemed for $4 off a full-price adult admission to the Chicago Auto Show on Friday, February 12 and Monday, February 15 through Friday, February 19. Show patrons can obtain coupons at the following participating locations: • CATA Member New-Car Dealers (while supplies last) • Chicagoland State Farm Insurance Offices (while supplies last) • Chicagoland Shell Gas Stations, with $15 purchase. (while supplies last) Patrons can also use specially marked Pepsi cans to obtain the Weekday Discount. The Pepsi can showing the promotion must be brought to the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place to be redeemed. Special redemption desks will be located adjacent to the two ticket box office locations where the can will be redeemed for a coupon good for one $4 discount off the regular adult admission ticket. Web Site: www.ChicagoAutoShow.com The auto show's extensive Web site is a landslide of information for anyone heading to the show or in need of information about it. Everything from ticket prices to parking; from live Web cams to Chicago Transit Authority routes and schedules; from our history to detailed maps of the show floor, it's all there on www.ChicagoAutoShow.com/ "Our site provides a wealth of options for anyone heading to McCormick Place for the show," said Jerry Cizek, co-general manager of event. "Not only is it a great resource for information, but it's convenient, too. We even make it simple to avoid box office lines by offering tickets online, too. Patrons can print them at home as you would an airline boarding pass and make your auto show experience almost effortless." Tickets purchased online are valid for any public day of the 2010 Chicago Auto Show, Feb. 12- 21. Online ticket sales will conclude at 6:00 p.m., February 21, 2010 and are not refundable. 102 Editions and Still Running Strong Why is the auto show such a success? What keeps people returning year after year? "It's a combination of factors," concluded show chairman Phelan. "But mainly I think it's because it's a fun day with the family at an affordable price. We connect with our audiences on so many levels. Whether it's searching for that new vehicle, enjoying the fantasy of the exotic cars, the spectacle of incredible exhibits—some even where you can take a ride on an off-trail track—with astounding graphics, colors and sounds, it's just plain fun. Family memories are made and renewed on our show floor every year." Co-chairman Kevin Mize added: "When making the decision for what many consider to be their second biggest investment, the Internet is clearly a useful tool, but there's nothing that compares to the 'laying on of hands'—and eyes—to pique the interest of consumers and turn potential buyers into happy new-car owners. That's the magic that's made the Chicago Auto Show a hit with Chicagoans for more than a century and for many years to come." About the Chicago Auto Show: Sanctioned by International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), the Chicago Auto Show is the largest auto show in North America and has been held more times than any other auto exposition on the continent. First staged in 1901, 2010 will mark the 102nd edition of the show. The Chicago Auto Show will open to the public Feb. 12-21. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. (Feb. 12-20) and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (Feb. 21). For additional information visit: www.ChicagoAutoShow.com About the Chicago Automobile Trade Association: Founded in 1904, the Chicago Automobile Trade Association (CATA) is the nation's oldest and largest metropolitan dealer organization. The CATA is comprised of more than 400 franchised new-car dealers and allied members. Dealer members employ over 20,000 people in the metropolitan area. For additional information visit: www.cata.info -end- CONTACT: Paul Brian Director of Communications Chicago Automobile Trade Association 630-424-6069 Direct 630-495-2282 Main firstname.lastname@example.com Email Back to News


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A core function of TekMedia is media transcoding. The TekMedia platform enables any user to publish a form on their end and allow it's users to upload videos. The videos are ingested by the TekMedia servers and transcoded to flash (flv) formats. Transcoding is a CPU intensive operation and can occur in bursts. Hence we needed a methodology to handle the burst loads and provide an experience to our customers where the wait time for the time a file is uploaded to when it is available for viewing was minimum. Have dedicated servers for handling the transcoding was proving to be quite expensive. Moreover there needed to be a better way to handle surges in traffic, without compromising on the user experience.
After three months of the launch of AWS, in July 2007, TekMedia (a finalist at Proto.in) was launched, working completely off Amazon Web Services. Building on S3 for media storage and streaming, EC2 for dynamic computing and instance spawning for transcoding and SQS for storing the transcoding requests in a queue, TekMedia had scalability built into the entire architecture.
The following architecture was built to introduce a new paradigm to the computing world which was "The response time of the application is inversely proportional to the load or response = 1/web-server load".
The above simply meant that the more the load on the system, the more the number of instances which will process the media to transcode the output.
"What the above allowed us to do was to sleep easy. We did not have to worry about scaling the infrastructure, while our sales team went about going and acquiring customers," says Gaurav Bhatnagar, Director Tekriti Software.
"Our intelligent algorithm automatically created new instances in the cloud, from a pre-built AMI, which was configured to poll the simple queue service as soon as it came into the running state. Once up the instance would read the message from the queue, fetch the video from the input S3 bucket, transcode the video, insert it into the output bucket, write a new message in the output queue, check for any pending messages in the input queue, or shutdown if none were pending," says Manish Dhingra, Director Tekriti Software .More importantly we were creating and releasing instances JIT (Just in Time) which further allowed us to work of a very tight budget. The fixed costs were only for the web and database server.
At this time, TekMedia is powering the media publishing features of numerous web based platforms. TekMedia is an integral part of PeopleAggregator platform for video publishing. Besides this TekMedia powers the media publishing functionality of SocialWorld.com and MyCollegeVid.com. We have been able to extend significant cost advantages to our customers because of the cost savings we have had using the AWS stack.
For more on TekMedia visit http://www.tekritisoftware.com/?q=tekmedia and its Web Services visit http://www.tekmedia.info .


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Let's go band: 'We say music is our life, but it's true'
EUGENE, Ore. - The Sheldon Irish won the state football championship last season, and the band played on.
When the Irish take the field at Dennis Ludwig Stadium September 6 for their first home game, the soundtrack will come courtesy of the Sheldon High School band.
The band started 2 weeks of preparation for the coming season. The work they put in now sets the stage for halftime shows, fight songs and other performances.
From drums to tubas, saxophones to trumpets, the units that make up the band are serious about putting on a good show.
"For a lot of us, it's our life," said Alex Nelson. "We say music is our life, but it's true because we put so much time and effort into it. It wouldn't be worth it if it wasn't our life.
"I think a lot of people don't realize how much work goes into it," Nelson added. "Once they find out, they're very surprised and have a lot more respect for us."
The band plans to sell concessions at the Oregon Duck's opening football game Saturday as a fundraiser.


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Re: SENSITIVE-Dreaming & Talking
I've been away from the board since before Thanksgiving. It was a tough time for our family not having Mom here for the holiday, and I've been keeping my mind busy with work and Christmas preparation, not much internet time.
But I wanted to share what we experienced... What you describe sounds very similar to what my mother did the two weeks or so before she died. The confusion was first, which actually started when we were still on the family cruise. Once we were back home and she was in her comfy hospital bed, she slept a lot that first day, then more confusion, babbling, talking coherently but not making a lot of sense, calling out "Daddy." Later that week she was staring more, almost like asleep with her eyes open. Agitation increased, she kept telling us to get her out of bed so she could go sit in the chair, which would've been impossible due to her weakness. By Friday, she spent most of her time asleep, which could have partially been due to all the medication. She died late Sunday afternoon, and we didn't see any bluish signs until an hour or two before, and even then it was just her fingernail beds. Also that last day her hands and feet were cold.
I don't want to make anyone sad or worried, I just thought sharing our experiences may help someone reading now or down the road.
my mother lost her 16 month battle with CC 9/26/10
"Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations as all other earthly causes combined."


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Wycliffe Preparatory School has earned national acclaim for its support of gifted and talented children.
It is one of only 10 schools in the UK to be awarded a One Star Gold Schools Membership by Potential Plus UK.
Potential Plus is the UK's only organisation that provides support to help children and young people with high learning potential to develop and thrive.
Wycliffe had to meet 19 key criteria to prove the school is committed to working with parents and carers to maximise the potential of their gifted and talented children.
Headmaster, Mr Adrian Palmer, said Wycliffe Prep had been a member of the Potential Plus UK since 2011.
"We decided to apply for the gold membership as it is proof of our commitment to supporting all of our Gifted & Talented pupils," said Mr Palmer. "We want to continue to develop and build on the opportunities we can provide."
The school runs specific events for pupils who excel in sports, the arts and in academic subjects. It also provides special online resources.
For 12-year-old striker Blake Cowling, of Slad, support has helped him secure a place in the Independent Schools Football Association South West Under 13 representative team.
"I like football because it is a team sport," he said. "I would someday like to play for Arsenal."
Rebecca Taphouse, a 13-year-old academic gifted student, says she enjoys the special Saturday activities. "The events challenge me and make me try harder, and help to develop my skills," she said.
The extra trips to art galleries has helped 13-year-old artist Lowri Clarke to focus on her drawing skills.
"Playwright Samuel Beckett is my inspiration. I would never have tried to sketch his portrait without the encouragement I have had to develop my skills," added Lowri.


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Hello my name is Tony Deutsch from Watchthetramcarplease.com and it is my pleasure to be a guest blogger on the Beachfront Blog. I see that my good friend Jack Morey is a blogger now, so this blog is for you, Jack.
Today let me take you on a magic journey back in time to the spring of 1977, when Mariner's Landing was born. After the Morey's sold the Ocean Holiday, where I worked with Lee Brash and Barry Gehring, all three of us were on our way to the heart of the Wildwood boardwalk to open the Morey's new amusement pier. It was an exciting time for me. The face of the boardwalk was going to change forever. The former Marine Pier was still standing on the first day we arrived, and like a rag-tag army we started disassembling the old, tired rides and installing new planking. Everything was changing so fast- every day a new office, dressing rooms, game stands, ticket booths, Hitchcock Manor and a new restaurant were being built. The restaurant was where Jumbo's stands today. It was called WUVS and they had great burgers. Their deal was 3 burgers for .99 or a coke, fries, and burger for .99! So, I would buy both for 1.98, and eat 4 burgers, a coke and fries! And who could forget the WUV juice – a signature fruity non-carbonated drink.
Ok… lunch is over. Let's get back to work! Bob and Ed, our ace carpenters, built the new entryway and put up our new Mariners Landing flags. These guys could have built you a roller coaster out of Popsicle sticks. They were extraordinarily talented craftsmen who two years later would build me two portable bumper boat pools so I could assemble the ride in Puerto Rico.
The pier was taking shape and I could not wait to arrive at work every day. Now we were ready to place and assemble the new rides on the pier. Many of us stood on the end of the pier, (where the waterpark stands now) anxiously looking to the north for any sight of Harry Kane of Kane's Cranes, driving a large crane down the beach towards us. Then we heard a faint noise in the distance and people hollered, "I hear him!! He's here! He's here! I see him!!"
Like Kris Kringle, he just appeared out of nowhere, lifted the rides onto the pier and we started assembling them. Every day a new ride was rising up. We were looking good and getting excited about opening day. There was no waterpark yet, but I would help build that the following year and be among the first riders to test the new slides.
We opened in the summer of 1977. Donna Summer and the Bee Gees topped the charts and disco filled the ocean air on the pier. I remember the first day we opened. The pier had a contest to find a treasure chest buried on the beach containing a voucher for a thousand dollars. I remember playing Percy the Pelican and standing with Will Morey Sr., his Wife Jackie and her brother Barry Gehring as they gave the winning contestants the prize.
That summer I worked 7 days a week, 12 hours a day and loved every minute of it. One day I remember walking to the back of the pier and Will Sr. was in front of me. I saw him bend over and pick up a napkin and put it in the trash. I was ashamed, because I must admit that I walked past the same napkin a few minutes earlier. But Will Sr. picked it up.
"Hmmm," I thought to myself, "I should have picked up that napkin." Today I walk on the pier and it's spotless; you never see even a napkin on the ground. I can see Will Sr. smiling in appreciation.
Tony Deutsch moved to North Wildwood in 1975 to spend his sophomore, junior, and senior years at Wildwood Catholic High School. He went to work for the Morey's as a pool boy at the Ocean Holiday Motel in Wildwood Crest, NJ, with Lee Brash and Barry Gehring. In 1977, the Ocean Holiday was sold to purchase Marine Pier, which today is Mariner's Landing where Tony worked for Will Morey Sr and Barry Gehring.
Tony owned an Auto Body Repair shop for 14 years, has been married to his wife Joanne for 25 years, and has one son, Anthony, who works for the Morey's at Mariners Arcade. After his business was sold, Tony went to back to college to pursue a career in Information Technology. He works as an Information Technology Specialist and Network Administrator.
In the summer of 2011 Tony designed and created The Boardwalk Blog, a blog about the Island of Wildwood and the people.