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Posting reviews

Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Site News, Newbies, Help and Improvements
Forum Name: Help us improve the site
Forum Description: Help us improve the forums, and the site as a whole
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=88148
Printed Date: November 26 2024 at 17:44
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.01 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Posting reviews
Posted By: wilmon91
Subject: Posting reviews
Date Posted: July 06 2012 at 15:10
Hi!
 
I have some questions regarding posting reviews that maybe someone who controls the posting of reviews could answer.
 
I posted a review some months ago, and it was a great surprise that there was no preview button, and no way of changing text style into bold for example, which would really create a better looking text, especially if it's a very long text.
 
My very long review was immediately posted, and the result was that some lines of text came out wrong, and there was a lot of question mark signs that appeared maybe due to some special formatted letters that couldn't be shown.
 
I would have liked to mark text in italics or bold, and even use colors to mark specific songs.
 
When you are about to rate an album there's a text saying that posting a review is strongly adviced (or something like that). That's why I haven't rated any album. But to me , reviewing an album is a big project. It's not just scribbling down a few thoughts and impressions. That would be called a "comment". If it is so strongly encouraged, how can it be that the conditions for posting are so bad? You can't even preview the text!?
 
I have written a lengthy review of a Tony Banks album. But I won't post it if I can't preview the text. I 'd also like to be able use bold text and stuff....
 



Replies:
Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 06 2012 at 15:14
First, you can edit your review.  Smile

The question marks are, as you say, specially formatted characters (if you wrote in Word, some of the characters are auto-formatted in a way that makes them incompatible with PA's software).  Previewing your post in Notepad may highlight any invalid characters.

While I don't use it myself, my understanding is that you can use <b> text </b> and <i> text </i> for italics in reviews.

As far as colors are concerned, I do not think that is possible.




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Posted By: wilmon91
Date Posted: July 06 2012 at 17:13
Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

First, you can edit your review.  Smile

I have to ask....how? Smile

Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

While I don't use it myself, my understanding is that you can use <b> text </b> and <i> text </i> for italics in reviews.

As far as colors are concerned, I do not think that is possible.

That can be a good workaround. But then it is even more important to preview the text before sending. I think PA should provide more tools when submitting a review. It's like the site says to the visitor, we want you to review, but we don't care if it will look like crap. It's contradictory.

I would have considered to use colors to highlight my own recommended songs on an album with a very large number of tracks (20-30 or more).



Posted By: Epignosis
Date Posted: July 06 2012 at 17:16
Originally posted by wilmon91 wilmon91 wrote:

Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

First, you can edit your review.  Smile

I have to ask....how? Smile


Go to the album's page.  Scroll down to the bottom, and there will be a link that says something like "Edit your reviews and ratings."  Click that, and click the review you wish to edit.  Edit it and save.  Hope this helps!

Originally posted by wilmon91 wilmon91 wrote:


Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

While I don't use it myself, my understanding is that you can use <b> text </b> and <i> text </i> for italics in reviews.

As far as colors are concerned, I do not think that is possible.

That can be a good workaround. But then it is even more important to preview the text before sending. I think PA should provide more tools when submitting a review. It's like the site says to the visitor, we want you to review, but we don't care if it will look like crap. It's contradictory.

I would have considered to use colors to highlight my own recommended songs on an album with a very large number of tracks (20-30 or more).



Above my pay grade.  Wink


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https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays" rel="nofollow - https://epignosis.bandcamp.com/album/a-month-of-sundays


Posted By: wilmon91
Date Posted: July 06 2012 at 17:41
Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

Originally posted by wilmon91 wilmon91 wrote:

Originally posted by Epignosis Epignosis wrote:

First, you can edit your review.  Smile

I have to ask....how? Smile


Go to the album's page.  Scroll down to the bottom, and there will be a link that says something like "Edit your reviews and ratings."  Click that, and click the review you wish to edit.  Edit it and save.  Hope this helps!

Thanks for the quick reply and thanks for the info!!

Why would you scroll down to the bottom of the album page? It's a secret edit function no doubt. I think it should be available on the bottom of the actual review, not the album page, and also through the member control panel . Just my opinion.
 
So the method is to submit the review and then make corrections and resubmit.
 
And PA strongly encourages everyone to write reviews....well..not very credible.


Posted By: Tapfret
Date Posted: July 07 2012 at 18:29
Ha! My reviews are littered with those punky little question marks. Made my reviews look like inquiries.

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https://www.last.fm/user/Tapfret" rel="nofollow">
https://bandcamp.com/tapfret" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp


Posted By: Andy Webb
Date Posted: July 07 2012 at 21:59
It's the em dashes that Word makes automatically mostly for me. 

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http://ow.ly/8ymqg" rel="nofollow">


Posted By: Anthony H.
Date Posted: July 07 2012 at 22:29
Indeed, the review editing interface on this site is absolute garbage.

This has been brought up before. Do I see it changing anytime soon? No.

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Posted By: Tapfret
Date Posted: July 08 2012 at 00:43
Originally posted by Andy Webb Andy Webb wrote:

It's the em dashes that Word makes automatically mostly for me. 


Egg zackily.

Its my fault for being in this weird phase of my life where I'm reading Dickens, king of dashes.


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https://www.last.fm/user/Tapfret" rel="nofollow">
https://bandcamp.com/tapfret" rel="nofollow - Bandcamp


Posted By: Gerinski
Date Posted: July 08 2012 at 01:49
The review writing / editing interface is indeed crap, it has been pointed out a few times before.
 
For editing your reviews you don't need to go to the album page, the easiest way is go to the Collaborators / Mambers Login tab in the front page, there (if you are logged in) you have a link to Edit Your Old Reviews And Ratings were all you reviews are listed, just click on the small icon on the right side of the review you want to edit, but the interface is the same as when you wrote it..
 
The FAQ section says this about getting paragraphs, bold font or italics:
 
How do I format my reviews?
If you wish to format your reviews with paragraphs use a space followed by a <p> sign followed by a space in between paragraphs when you submit the review. Alternatively, hit the return key twice. To add bold, italics or underlines to your reviews, the syntax is <b> (text in bold) </b> , <i> (text in italics) </i> , or <u> (underlined text) </u> .
 
 
It does not say how to avoid that your ellispsis are converted into a question mark though Confused
 


Posted By: Guldbamsen
Date Posted: July 08 2012 at 01:59
I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading that the format for reviewing is kept like this, Jurassic, because it is harder to hack. Otherwise it would be obvious to use the current box we have in the forum.

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Posted By: wilmon91
Date Posted: July 08 2012 at 10:07
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

go to the Collaborators / Mambers Login tab in the front page, there (if you are logged in) you have a link to Edit Your Old Reviews And Ratings were all you reviews are listed,
  
 
Okay, I didn't realize that the forum area is separate from the member area of the main site. I can see that when you log in on an album page , you see the welcome sign and the "edit old reviews" link after all. But I guess it could be a bit more clear anyway. A clearer login tab and a link to "my member page" or something, which would be the same as "edit old reviews"
 
  I have overlooked the login on the front page, maube because it is among other tabs and not by itself, and because it says "collaborators", I just didnt take notice of it...
 
Originally posted by Guldbamsen Guldbamsen wrote:

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading that the format for reviewing is kept like this, Jurassic, because it is harder to hack. Otherwise it would be obvious to use the current box we have in the forum.
 
Could be, but a preview function, I think it's a must. Smile



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