How to rate and comment

...the entire review which was how he knew the entire plot was divulged. He went on to say that my review was useless. I will gladly admit that my Antibodies DVD review did reveal the whole plot but I felt that this was necessary due to the horrific nature of the film, I certainly do not write all my DVD or film reviews in this way as I know that some people wish to have a surprise when they watch the film. Despite this fact, I do not think that rating ...
...members wondering the same thing, how do you know when a review has been copied? This is not an insight which can be taught, slowly over time you will begin to see when things are a bit fishy. If you do think a review has been copied, try pasting a line into google and if an exact match is found, look for a few more lines. Copying lowers the overall helpfulness of Ciao as a consumer site and will do you no favours as an individual. I currently rate ... more

Although it's nice to receive helpful, very helpful and exceptional ratings, we must all face facts that when everyone sees things differently, we are unlikely to receive just these ratings. The truth is receiving lower ratings can be the key to improving your writing, the truth is most people don't set out to be nasty, they just want to help you improve.

I was inspired to write this review after recently receiving a rather confusing comment on my latest review of Possession on DVD. My Possession DVD review totalled 2119 words and included information about the plot, the cast, the crew, the director, the writer, the soundtrack and of course my opinion of the film. As with all my reviews I included a small post script statement "If there is any additional information you would like or think would improve this review, please let me know." as I am aware that some members feel that certain information should be included and I am also aware that I do sometimes forget what members regard as necessary details. A few days after publishing this review member X left me a helpful rating as I had simply listed the DVD options rather than included any detail of them, I had published as a DVD review rather than a film review. After receiving the comment I updated my review and made member X aware of the update, asking him to have another look and re-rate if my update was worthy. Luckily for me he came back, very promptly, and increased his rating of the review. Many thanks

However member Y recently rated my Possession DVD review as helpful leaving a comment which in no uncertain terms made me aware that they did not think that small biographies of the director and writer were useful to the review and in fact these additions made it a bore to read. This is what really inspired me to write this review; at the time that this rating and comment were left 17 members had rated the review as exceptional and 64 had rated as very helpful, evidently all these members did not feel that there was a problem with the content of my review. Now, this poses a bit of a dilemma for me, what on Earth am I supposed to do?! Should I remove the additional information I have added and include more 'opinion' in the hope that member Y may change his rating, although this may mean other members change their rating to a lower one. My other option is to leave the review, although then I still feel I am letting someone down, which I really don't want to do.

I have had other rating problems with another member, strangely enough, regarding another film review, but not for the same reasons. On my Anitibodies review member Z rated as somewhat helpful while 67 other members rated as very helpful, leaving the comment that he had not read the review as it was going to spoil the story for him. I subsequently confronted him to which he claimed he had read the entire review which was how he knew the entire plot was divulged. He went on to say that my review was useless. I will gladly admit that my Antibodies DVD review did reveal the whole plot but I felt that this was necessary due to the horrific nature of the film, I certainly do not write all my DVD or film reviews in this way as I know that some people wish to have a surprise when they watch the film. Despite this fact, I do not think that rating without reading simply because the plot is spoiled is good enough, many members find it far easier to write reviews which include spoilers and should not receive lower ratings for using this style.

I have also had a few other rating problems on Ciao, some of you may remember a member called pelak18, last month this member rated a large number of my reviews within minutes, each one was rated as very helpful and the same comment of "Quality review" was left. This is not a helpful way to use Ciao as reviews are sorted for members of the public the way in which we rate each other's work. This is a classic case of people simply clicking to get points for themselves. This member was quickly removed from the site, this will always happen if it is found that you have been rating without reading, this practice is not advised.

My final grumble about the way I have been rated is about a member who lasted just a few days after rating several members vindictively. scratholiks wrote a number of reviews with limited information, as most members would I rated accordingly and left comments which indicated that more information would improve the reviews and the ratings. This was not adequate to this particular member who rated two of my reviews, AA Personal Loan and Top Ten Green Day Songs, off topic. I reported this to Ciao and had the ratings removed from the reviews. The member was also removed though this was not due to me, I suspect multiple complaints were to blame,

Obviously everyone rates using different methods, but this is my take and I'll start from the top.
To get an EXCEPTIONAL from me
To receive an exceptional rating your review must contain a lot of information, I usually go by the categories at the bottom of the review. Film reviews must contain information on the plot, the cast, the acting, the direction, etc. Travel reviews must include history, experience, culture, people, etc. Although for me this is not enough to warrant an exceptional, I think there should also be something a bit special. I often rate reviews in the Ciao Café, those which detail real life events or trauma as exceptional because I think writing these sort of experiences for the world to see as very brave. An exceptional rating pushes the boundaries of reviewing a little bit and goes that extra mile. I currently rate approximately 7.5% of the reviews I read as exceptional, so you can see that this is a right reserved for the very best. There are of course limitations to using the exceptional ratings, you can only rate 5 reviews as exceptional within a 24 hour period.
Ciao's advice on this rating is "The review covers all aspects of the product and its user-friendliness which would be relevant to making a product choice. All remarks are founded on evidence from personal experience and the author remains objective throughout. A reader could find sufficient information here to base his/her purchase decision on this review alone."
If you want to write an exceptional review I would ask for advice from members such as
- Strood
- Bollinger28
- eve6kickass
Sorry to all those with exceptional reviews, could have made a list 50 times this big but these were the first names that occurred to me

To get a VERY HELPFUL from me
To receive a very helpful rating you must include a large amount of necessary information. The review must also be easy to read, far too often I see reviews with plenty of information but when there is a thousand words in one chunk it is hard to follow. It must also clearly show the author's final position and show me why they feel as they do. It should be enough to strongly influence a purchasing decision. I currently rate 51.5% of reviews I read as very helpful, I try to be generous but fair with this rating as it can encourage fellow members, but I think it is important not let people get complaisant as they come to expect very helpful's.
Ciao's advice on this rating is "The review covers a wide range of product features and the author's position is clearly-explained, well-structured and founded, for the most part, on solid evidence. This review would be of great use to somebody making a product choice, but would have to be used in conjunction with other information sources."

To get a HELPFUL from me
To receive a helpful rating there must be enough information to influence the purchasing decision of potential consumers. In general I would say that helpful reviews are usually a bit shorter than those with higher ratings but this is not always true, I have seen reviews that contain what I would consider to be useless information making the review bulky. I currently rate 28.4% of reviews I read as helpful.
Ciao's advice on this rating is "The review is accurate and clear. The author may not provide complete information but what (s)he does say is useful. The review would give readers an idea of the quality of the product."

To get a SOMEWHAT HELPFUL from me
Somewhat helpful reviews contain some useful information, although may be a little patchy or incomplete. The review will slightly influence your purchasing decision, but this review alone would not be sufficient to affect shopping choices. We are now moving in to the nerve wracking world of lower ratings. Some members are hesitant to give lower ratings for fear of vindictive rates from other members. However, I don't think that this should stop people giving these ratings as it is far more to be honest about what you think. I currently rate 2.5% of the reviews I read as somewhat helpful
Ciao's advice on this rating is "The review is not always objective or founded on evidence from the author's experience. The presentation and structure are unclear."

To get a NOT HELPFUL from me
I tend to reserve this rating for those reviews which have been copied, as these are neither helpful to potential consumers or to the site. When I first joined Ciao and I still see members wondering the same thing, how do you know when a review has been copied? This is not an insight which can be taught, slowly over time you will begin to see when things are a bit fishy. If you do think a review has been copied, try pasting a line into google and if an exact match is found, look for a few more lines. Copying lowers the overall helpfulness of Ciao as a consumer site and will do you no favours as an individual. I currently rate 1.1% of the reviews I read as not helpful
Ciao's advice on this rating is "The review is not a helpful decision-making aid. The information it provides is subjective and lacks foundation. Perhaps the content contains comments which do not relate to the product and may be offensive to other members."

To get an OFF TOPIC from me
I use this one when a review either contains no information, we have all seen the reviews which say things like "meow meow meow" a thousand times. I also use this rating for reviews which have been put in the incorrect category. I currently rate 0.2% of reviews I read as off topic
Ciao's advice on this rating is "Reviews relating to products in other categories, or those which stray onto unrelated subjects should be rated "off topic". This will let other readers know that they need not read the review when seeking information that would be useful in a purchase decision."

My top tips about rating
- Always read thoroughly before you rate
- Rate honestly, don't worry about vindictive ratings
- Rate fairly, don't give an exceptional because you have received one
- Don't base your ratings on other members
- Don't rate poorly because you have received a low rating
- Don't participate in click cartels

Ciao's rating guidelines can be found at
http://www.ciao.co.uk/faq.php/Id/4/Idx/3

There are a number of reasons for leaving a comment after you have rated.
1. Most people leave comments to mention a particular point raised in the review. I like to read reviews I own or have used, thus I like to mention my own experiences. I always find it interesting to hear how other people's experiences with the same product have been similar and differing from my own. It is also nice to know, if other members have not yet used the product or service, that you have educated them. I often find myself leaving comments which include the phrase "not heard of this before…". By itself this would be a satisfactory comment by any means.
2. To leave additional praise or criticism relating to the review, the information included or lack of it. When I leave a lower rating I always try to leave a comment to let people know what is missing from their review or how to improve. I do also try to offer some sort of encouragement, after all the members Ciao has the bigger and better it will get for all of us. So, I am not just trying to get people to give up, we need to learn to be critical in a polite and helpful manner. It is also important to follow through with these comments. If you have commented on a somewhat helpful review indicating that more info is needed, you must go back and re-read and re-rate when there have been updates.
3. Of course some people leave a comment to say, good review, now come and read mine, literally. The commenting option is not intended for this purpose and this is abuse of the system, for which you may be removed from the site. There is nothing to say that you should not read, rate and comment on the reviews of other members in the hope that they will return the favour and the truth is that most members will be courteous. Have a little trust in human kindness, you may even be pleasantly surprised.
4. Some members only comment to gain additional points, this is also wrong, these are usually the members who rate and comment without reading. Although nobody really objects to the fact that points are received for reading, rating and commenting, this should certainly not be the reason you leave a comment. You may well find that members who are clicking simply for points for themselves will leave a very generic comment i.e. "Quality review".
5. I have seen a few members who leave comments on reviews and the comment is completely irrelevant to the review. If you simply wish to speak to a fellow member we all have two guestbooks for this, please don't use a comment on a review. Although, having said this I will often read a new member's first review and leave a comment which includes the statement "Welcome to Ciao", this is not directly related to the review, but I still feel that this relevant. Some members would disagree with me and say that this should be left in the member's guestbook. When I was a new member I liked these comments as it made me aware that I had been noticed, it gave me a bit of a boast.

Ciao's commenting guidelines can be found at
http://www.ciao.co.uk/faq.php/Id/4/Idx/2

Hope to have helped, especially new members, those struggling with the Ciao'ing processes

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If there is any additional information you would like or think would improve this review, please let me know. 

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