Inappropriate Ratings

Perhaps a member should not be allowed to rate 50 albums the first day they are here. It might cut down on this type of abuse??

I appreciate you taking him to task for his great introductory contribution.

^ I second that

It is a long way between 1 star and 3 stars

Partisan or otherwise, anyone who rates Love Beach above Talisma, French TV, Black Widow, Steven Wilson, Anubis and Umphrey's McGee has their head so far up their backside that we could probably see three adam's apples.

 HAKEN Visions (rating only) 
 DISCIPLINE To Shatter All Accord (rating only) 
 FREQUENCY DRIFT Ghosts (rating only) 
 DEEEXPUS The King Of Number 33 (rating only) 
 DODHEIMSGARD 666 International (rating only) 
 VITAL DUO Ex Tempore (rating only) 
 BANDA ELÁSTICA Banda Elastica 2 (rating only) 
 D SOUND Kisember (rating only) 
 AUTOGRAPH (AVTOGRAF) Autograph / Автограф (rating only) 
 RAM Where (In Conclusion) (rating only) 
 THORK Weila (rating only) 
 MOTORPSYCHO Timothy's Monster (rating only) 
 KBB Proof Of Concept (rating only) 
 KINGBATHMAT Fantastic Freak Show Carnival (rating only) 
 ALAS Mímame Bandoneón (rating only) 
 MIKE KENEALLY Hat. (rating only) 
 HAGGARD And Thou Shalt Trust.....the Seer (rating only) 
 SIDDHARTHA Trip to Innerself (rating only) 
 A BARCA DO SOL Durante O Verão (rating only) 
 5UU'S Abandonship (rating only) 
 TIPOGRAPHICA Floating Opera (rating only) 
 FAR CORNER Endangered (rating only) 
 ASTURIAS Bird Eyes View (rating only) 
 EDGAR FROESE Dalinetopia* (rating only) 
 KARDA ESTRA Constellations (rating only) 
 RISHLOO Eidolon (rating only) 
 BLACK WIDOW Return To The Sabbat (rating only) 
 2066 & THEN Reflections On The Past (rating only) 
 MIKE KENEALLY Boil That Dust Speck (rating only) 
 AMPLIFIER The Octopus (rating only) 
 MYRATH Tales Of The Sands (rating only) 
 SEAN FILKINS War and Peace and Other Stories (rating only) 
 INTROITUS Elements (rating only) 
 CREDO Against Reason (rating only) 
 KARFAGEN Lost symphony (rating only) 
 JOSEPH MAGAZINE Night Of The Red Sky (rating only) 
 SUNCHILD As Far As The Eye Can See (rating only) 
 ALBATROS Ursus (rating only) 
 LEPROUS Bilateral (rating only) 
 AGENTS OF MERCY The Black Forest (rating only) 
 WHITE WILLOW Terminal Twilight (rating only) 
 SANHEDRIN Ever After (rating only) 
 ARCH / MATHEOS Sympathetic Resonance (rating only) 
 CALOMITO Cane di Schiena (rating only) 
 GUY MANNING Margaret's Children (rating only) 
 HOSTSONATEN Summereve (rating only) 
 FEN Epoch (rating only) 
 THY CATAFALQUE Rengeteg (rating only) 
 VARIOUS ARTISTS (CONCEPT ALBUMS & THEMED COMPILATIONS) Decameron: Ten Days in 100 Novellas (Part 1)(rating only) 
 THE TANGENT COMM (rating only) 
 EGONON Risveglio (rating only) 
 AGORA Regresa Al Vértig

Evidently this guy does not get it.......I think he should be gone

The PA hit squads are on their way.  Oh wait, I wasn't suppo

OK Hugues, I overlook the part where you said that you haven't heard many of them. But you know, the two I mentioned seems to be somehow better for your tastes (it's a wild guess, as I don't know you well). Nevermind, it doesn't matter.

But about these ratings

Perhaps a thing I proposed in past - we have warning, of course

<www.progarchives.com> PROG ARCHIVES REVIEWS GUIDELINES WARNING Before assigning a star rating to an album, you should carefully consider what the differing numbers of stars stand for.Please use "one" and "five star" ratings very sparingly -- most albums you dislike will have at least some positive qualities, and not every album that you enjoy will be a perfect "masterpiece."

But it shows only for 5 stars, not for 1 star. It talks about 1 star and 5 star rating, but it should be shown for 1 star as well.

Here's my take on ratings:

Normally, I would be all for gauss curve (like you have for IQ), but here I don't think 3 stars should be the most used rating. That would be true if I (let's tell it from my perspective) was listening all kinds of albums, those I know I will like, but also those I know I WON'T LIKE. You get my point ? But I usually don't listen albums I think I will not like, I prefer those groups I know, those genres I like already and when I sink into unexplored waters, I do it carefully and usually pick the best loved of the genre, or those someone will recommend me.

The point here is that I don't listen all albums, mostly those I know I will like. Why not, there are thousands albums out there, so it's logical to chose those I think I will like over those I know I won't like. More so, I usually don't rate/review album I don't like, because it's simply not worth of it (only if I am very displeased by it), so I usually even don't get 1-2 star ratings, because I don't listen such albums ...

Then it's easy to get high average ratings of genres in my profile.

^ Yes, suspicious new releases ratings, too good to be truth :-) They're one of the worst thing here, because the devaluation of ratings is then big. We know such albums when we see them, but we usually don't have enough evidence (or any evidence at all) to put stop to it.

You know, Froese isn't the biggest problem, usually it's one of the more mainstream genres ... you know which ones.

Most of the times, I simply wait for someone from left column to make a review, those who were elected into some kind of status (proven themselves) are honorable enough not to be fanboys without critic eye (or in rare moments they at least admit it).

Honor to all those who are trying to make objective and honest reviews in a right column, but the number of fake ones breaks it all, unfortunately.

Marty McFly wrote: Here's my take on ratings: Normally, I would be all for gauss curve (like you have for IQ), but here I don't think 3 stars should be the most used rating. That would be true if I (let's tell it from my perspective) was listening all kinds of albums, those I know I will like, but also those I know I WON'T LIKE. You get my point ? But I usually don't listen albums I think I will not like, I prefer those groups I know, those genres I like already and when I sink into unexplored waters, I do it carefully and usually pick the best loved of the genre, or those someone will recommend me. The point here is that I don't listen all albums, mostly those I know I will like. Why not, there are thousands albums out there, so it's logical to chose those I think I will like over those I know I won't like. More so, I usually don't rate/review album I don't like, because it's simply not worth of it (only if I am very displeased by it), so I usually even don't get 1-2 star ratings, because I don't listen such albums ... Then it's easy to get high average ratings of genres in my profile.

I´m with you on this Marty. I don´t have any urge to listen to music that I know I won´t like. Simple as that. It shows in my reviews, because I tend to write about 4 star albums - and maybe the occasional 3 star. It´s not because I like everything, but because I use my reviews as recommendations - meaning I have to like it myself.
I think I´ve got around 4000 albums - and it would take me years upon years to write about them all - so I choose to write about the special ones, and try to store those magical masterpieces for a rainy day
Why spend your time listening to something that really isn´t your bag? To become a musical martyr and save the rest of us from such sonic crap? I don´t buy that at all...