*rant alert* - why mark other people's reviews down if you don't have the balls to do one yourself?

[ariston]

The reviews are completely useless and should be dropped from KVR.........all they do is cause problems (Exhibit A this thread).

Well, the only reason I'm so passionately advocating a better standard is: I've found some reviews here to be extremely helpful. I've pm'ed some reviewers and have given them good feedback. I have even demoed and eventually bought a few plugins solely based on reading KVR user reviews.

So I wouldn't agree with that; the more unhelpful reviews pop up, however, the harder it is to find the good ones, which would eventually make that section completely useless.

[Gamma-UT]

However, the other half is that if someone wants to vote negatively because they found a review to be unhelpful, then why don't they do a more helpful review instead - particularly of a product that has a demo and so is easily tested?

Horses for courses I guess, but I haven't voted negatively on any site - I'd rather offer a review that I thought provided my own take on proceedings.

Why would someone reading a review be in a position to review the product? They're probably reading the review to find out whether they want to buy/try it or not. If the review doesn't help them make that decision, they may well answer: "No, this isn't helpful". Would you prefer: "Looks great, haven't tried it yet"?

It might be useful to have a second question for people who have actually used the product in question: score the review out of ten perhaps on how accurate or fair you feel the review is. That might help offset the grade inflation that's happened with the ratings although it's still open to gaming.

[VitaminD]

It could be useful to have a 'why did you vote yes/no?' box after a person votes so they can share why a review was helpful or unhelpful.. and it needs to log who voted, how they voted, and display it.

I suspect some people vote no just to be different or difficult. Or as a means to defend a product (observe this behavior way more on retail sites such as Amazon) when someone gives a negative review.

It seems a majority of people don't accept negative news.. even when the negative news is honest.

[Doug1978]

...
Why would someone reading a review be in a position to review the product?

To answer you straight, a) they would be in a position to review the product themselves if a demo is available at the time they are reading a review, and b) maybe they have already bought a product and are interested to see what other people think of it (and before you think this is so absurd, ask yourself why so many of us come to threads at KVR and discuss products that we have already bought).

However, I am happy to accept that this is more likely overall:

They're probably reading the review to find out whether they want to buy/try it or not.

However, it is reasonable to suggest that if a demo is available (as it is on many, many of these products under review at KVR) then this will be more useful than a review in allowing them to ultimately decide if they want to spend some money on a product.

If the review doesn't help them make that decision, they may well answer: "No, this isn't helpful". Would you prefer: "Looks great, haven't tried it yet"?

No, I would not prefer that. Please read my previous posts to decipher my preference.

It might be useful to have a second question for people who have actually used the product in question: score the review out of ten perhaps on how accurate or fair you feel the review is. That might help offset the grade inflation that's happened with the ratings although it's still open to gaming.

Maybe, but this is possibly over-complicating matters?

[Sendy]

I have to admit, when I saw your review giving the Zap synth a 10 I did roll my eyes a bit. If a bargain bin sine sweep synth gets the same mark as envelope-pushing synths like Aalto, Diva and Sylenth, and also freebie godsends like SQ8L and Charlatan, then IMO there simply is no perspective.

I didn't click the "no" button, though, as I only do that on the rare occaision that a review says something I think is fatally misguided. I think we're all aware that the numerical marking system is a bit on the arbitrary side, should be taken with a pinch of salt, and is even worse now that there's one number instead of a few different scores to give out.

[Dean Aka Nekro]

I have never taken the time to do a review of anything. I shall consider doing some in the future. To be honest I have never even read any of the reviews myself either so certainly never thumbed either way I doubt I'd give 'em all a 10 accross the board very much though if I ever do get around to doing some. So yeah rant helpful for looking at an area that I have never looked at before, If it seems worthwhile then I will do some for sure but with so many threads about stuff and also demos available I do wonder if that many KVR users actually use the reviews thing, Like Teksonik said last page

But yeah as said I will give it a look and add what is all in all just my 2 pence when there have probably been multiple threads on the same thing already...Spirals?

Dean

[Doug1978]

It could be useful to have a 'why did you vote yes/no?' box after a person votes so they can share why a review was helpful or unhelpful.. and it needs to log who voted, how they voted, and display it.

I suspect some people vote no just to be different or difficult. Or as a means to defend a product (observe this behavior way more on retail sites such as Amazon) when someone gives a negative review.

It seems a majority of people don't accept negative news.. even when the negative news is honest.

Your suggestion in the first paragraph could work - it would certainly deter the sort of people referred to in your second par.
However, it may also be over-complicating things (and tbh I'm not sure the KVR chiefs would plump for it, but I may be wrong?).

[Gamma-UT]

No, I would not prefer that. Please read my previous posts to decipher my preference.

I did. And the one you just wrote. And based on those comments, I can only assume you want people to write reviews of demos or stuff they haven't tried properly instead of answering a simple question just because you don't like the way people answer it.

[debra1rlo]

[Doug1978]

I have to admit, when I saw your review giving the Zap synth a 10 I did roll my eyes a bit. If a bargain bin sine sweep synth gets the same mark as envelope-pushing synths like Aalto, Diva and Sylenth, and also freebie godsends like SQ8L and Charlatan, then IMO there simply is no perspective.

I didn't click the "no" button, though, as I only do that on the rare occaision that a review says something I think is fatally misguided. I think we're all aware that the numerical marking system is a bit on the arbitrary side, should be taken with a pinch of salt, and is even worse now that there's one number instead of a few different scores to give out.

I think this is an excellent and restrained post Sendy (and not only because you avoided the temptation to mark me down!).
I've got four of those five synths you mention above (I don't have Charlatan), and I agree that they clearly offer a lot more scope and complexity than the 'zapper' Moon-Unit plug-in.
However, I make dub music (as specified in my review) and a good zapper sound often goes a long way in dub. Moon-Unit provides me with good zapper sounds in an instant and it is also a charming and easy to use interface.
More to the point at £1 it is a bargain I think - so it honestly does everything that I bought it for.

[Doug1978]

No, I would not prefer that. Please read my previous posts to decipher my preference.

I did. And the one you just wrote. And based on those comments, I can only assume you want people to write reviews of demos or stuff they haven't tried properly instead of answering a simple question just because you don't like the way people answer it.

You assume wrong.

[fisherKing]

Take this quote from a recent review, f.e.:

"my biggest concern is the architecture; this synth is quite different from what i'm used to, and i need to make time (a full day or two) to really explore the GUI; it's a bit of a foreign language right now, so…will get to that."

You need time to explore the GUI?? Then why the frack are you writing a review, if you haven't even explored the product fully? What are we supposed to learn from that?

I realize this comes across as being bad-tempered and spiteful, but the truth of the matter is:

a)I AM feeling bad-tempered because I have a head cold

and

b) I really like reading reviews, and I think this could be such a valuable resource on KVR. You've got some degree of power as a reviewer, and this power is being abused right now. Why not put some care and thought into it?

wow, that's from my review.
am not sure what the problem is; i went looking for new synth plugins, found one i really liked, and added it to my arsenal. was excited about it and wrote a review, wanted to share my enthusiasm and thoughts.

does this mean i should not write a review until i've lived with the plugin for a determined period of time?
what would that time be?

have no regrets, i made the observations i wanted to make, pointed out things i needed to point out. there's no harm in clearly stating "i'm new to this, and here are my thoughts".

i give your post a 4; informative, but ultimately pointless (and more about your head cold than my observations).

[Doug1978]

Yeah, well I'd give you one

[trimph1]

What I find interesting is that when an actual user of the product does a review of item Y there are individuals who will jump on the reviewer about this, that, or the other bias...or ask that review sections be deleted...then, will say that all magazine reviews are all hype and shillage from whoever...

Excuse me, I prefer someone who actually used the product write about their experience on a forum than to read a paid shill extol something on a magazine review thank you...

[fisherKing]

and, rereading my post above, i give myself a 8 (well-put but ultimately over-defensive).

will continue to write reviews here. i enjoy it, as much for getting clarity for myself about how a plugin works (or not), and to share my thoughts, which may (or may not) be useful to others. either way, i enjoy the process.