Review average member ratings worthless?

[Coda]

As I am new to wet shaving, and obviously I am trying out new equiptment, soaps, creams, etc, I find that I am spending a lot of time in the reviews section to see what tends to work for everyone, so I can lessen my chances in buying a 'lemon' so to speak. After buying Taylors Sandalwood soap, and not exactly getting on with it yet, to me thats $30 I cannot really waste. So, I decided to sort the forum based on 'Average Member Ratings' and work through from top to bottom, and make a few notes on which products seem worthy of trying out.

What I found, in fact I think an example is a better idea. Look at this review for Omega Shaving Soap (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=2782). This stuff is quite highly rated (by individuals) in the forum, but it appears on page 6 when sorted according to Average Member Ratings. The reason? Because there is one member 'review' in that thread which is basically a comment on the manufacturer, rather than an opinion of the soap, and the member (unintentionally?) rated every item a '0'. So instead of an average of 96+90+80 /3 = 89% we have 96+90+80+0 / 4 = 66%.

There are quite a few review threads that have this problem where users zero rated a product where I don't believe it was their intention, and IMO it really does reduce the usability of the review sections, and it's not fair to a manufacturer to have a 66% rating, instead of an 89% rating. A lot of people may just look at this Member Average, rather than reading the complete thread as a precursor to buying.

My proposal would be to make a list of all of the posts with all zero ratings, and either remove the ratings (so it becomes a plain comment) or consider deleting the post.

Thanks.

[Jim]

The review system was overhauled on the last major VB upgrade and is no longer subject to many of the shortcomings of the earlier versions.
Unfortunately the earlier posts are still with us.

A great amount of effort has been put into repairing the issues that are left , but it still is a work in progress. Please point out these issues by sending me a PM and we will address them as we can.

Thanks,

[jss]

Hi and welcome to B&B. Have you considered offering the remainder for sale or trade in the" Buy Sell Trade Forum" here At B&B. Try to determine a fair market amount for what's left and list it. If you are out of line someone will politely let you know that you need to adjust the amount a little. It may surprise you how quickly someone makes an offer.
Best regards,
jss

[Coda]

The review system was overhauled on the last major VB upgrade and is no longer subject to many of the shortcomings of the earlier versions.
Unfortunately the earlier posts are still with us.

A great amount of effort has been put into repairing the issues that are left , but it still is a work in progress. Please point out these issues by sending me a PM and we will address them as we can.

Thanks,

OK, PM sent.


Have you considered offering the remainder for sale or trade in the" Buy Sell Trade Forum" here At B&B


Thanks for the idea, but I will hold on to it for now. I'm not entirely sure my technique or el cheapo brush is to blame.

[bjrn]

I think the review numbers should be seen as rough indicators at best. Sure, there are posts without ratings that can bring the average down, but you have quite a lot of posts that give products 10/10 on all criteria, basically saying that there's nothing that can top that product. While the overall effect of the all 10s posts might not be as dramatic, I find it hard to believe that so many products are totally flawless and could not possibly be improved in any way.

IMO, just looking at the numbers won't help you one bit unless you read the reviews themselves as well.

[Dennis]

The numbers don't help me. What does help me, and this is not much help to you right now, is that I have tried a large number of products. There are many members on the board who I have found share many of the same opinions on various shave products that I do. These are now the people I trust when I evaluate if I want to try something new or not.

Dennis

[scorpion]

The numbers mean nothing to me other than a general indicator - and only then when they exist in sufficient numbers to balance the obvious outliers which skew the averages. Sure, something with two dozen 90% reviews piques my interest... but what has really helped me is reading threads and asking specific questions of people with more experience. I generally do searches on the product, read all the way through a thread or three, and then tune out the noise. There's no substitute for trying something yourself - that's why I invested heavily in cream and blade samplers at the beginning of this journey. My favorite blade ended up being among the cheapest (IP, Crystal) and my favorite creams are some of the most mass produced generic stuff you can get (musgo real and proraso - either flavor). The fancier creams performed well enough, but I'm somewhat scent averse and the high dollar creams smell like someone dumped a bottle of cheap perfume in there before putting the cap on.:001_rolle

[moses]

As Jim said, it's a long standing problem that we have had. I'm glad to hear that it is no longer an issue, with new reviews and posts. Did not know that. I know that there are a lot of reviews that still have the problem. Please understand that Jim has put an awful lot of time into trying to clean these up, but there are a lot of reviews out there.

Honestly, I don't pay much attention to the averages. I'm much more interesting in what specific people have thought, and what people in general have actually said. At the same time, I realize that for newer members, who have not been around for long enough to learn who's preferences are similar to theirs, this doesn't work as well.

-Mo

[ouch]

I don't like the idea of numerical ratings, as it tends to dissuade folks from doing something much more important- reading the reviews.

[rabidpotatochip]

I don't like the idea of numerical ratings, as it tends to dissuade folks from doing something much more important- reading the reviews.

Reading? Pfft... too much work. :tongue:

I like to use the numbers as a guide for determining whether I should read a review. If it's a short "everything's a ten!" review that's all well and good, but that opinion is reflected in the numbers. I really like the reviews where they take the time to say why they think the product was good/bad, you can usually tell by looking at their ratings in each category as the numbers vary a little more than the rate it and run types.