Way to reduce # of 5 star ratings

Edited by Peter Rideout - October 25 2006 at 02:34

I agree that this is a problem.  Of my 47ish reviews, I believe I've given 5 ***** ratings and 1 * rating.  The rest range from 2-4, and **s aren't necessarily bad.

One thing I have asked M@X to look at doing is to show for each reviewer (on their own page) the spread of their ratings. This would look the same as the bar chart shown on each album page. This may help to highlight to some reviewers that they are not using the full range of ratings available effectively enough.

except an abuse, we can't deal with the people's choice, even if they don't take seriously the balance of the scales from 1 to 5. of course there aren't too many albums of genuine 5 stars and there aren't too many artists having many 5 stars albums (and I understand you view, Opeth, since you yourself give 5 stars very reticently). but we can't just force a so-called or so-wanted correctitude. and neither to change things because of those who seems fishy (as you said, many people act balanced). 

Personally I prefer an absolutely free approach to rating: No guidelines, suggestions etc.. You have a certain scale (0-5, 1-5, 1-10, 1-20 etc) and then you assign a rating to an album just with the simple rule in mind that the rating should be higher than ratings of albums which you like less, and lower than ratings of albums which you like more.

I hope you understand what I'm trying to say ... I'm sure that there is no such thing as *one* perfect rating system. So why try to enforce it ... people won't listen and develop their own set of rules anyway. So by assigning deeper meanings to certain steps (like "2 stars = for fans only") all you achieve is to create misunderstandings. 2/5 means "bad", no matter how well you explain the meaning, people percieve it as "below par" intuitively.

That's a good idea, Heavyfreight!  It surprises me that nobody has thought about it yet.

To avoid any complications, let me just clarify that this post isn't aimed at anyone in particular and that it isn't supposed to sound negative in any way.

Personally, I think that the only "bad" rating is one star. An album rated two stars, according to how the site defines that rating (Collectors/fans only), might not be very enjoyable for a person who is only a casual fan or a person who is new to the band in question, but for a fan of the band it will be a good album. I rated Gentle Giant's debut two stars, but like I said in my review I don't think it's a bad album at all. As I am a fan of GG, I like it, and I listen to it every now and then. The reason I gave it two stars is because in my opinion it isn't the best GG has to offer, and it's not the best album to start with if one is new to GG (again, in my opinion that is). 

That's the other problem Rocktopus.

A lot of albums in my collection are 4.5/5 and my own personal feeling is that I should round up to a 5, rather than down to a 4.  It's mainly personal choice on my behalf.  Some 4.5's are 4's and some are 5's.

My Astrid Proll review shows that I rated it a 4/5, but I personally think it's a 4.5, but in this particular situation, I've rounded it down to a 4, as it's a debut album by a relatively unknown band (in which I have been promoting).  If others start to rate it a 5/5, then maybe I'll change my ranking, but I don't want to set a precedence with a new album.


Edited by Geck0 - October 23 2006 at 04:57

I agree Iván.  I don't think I have a "bad" album in my entire collection, but I do have albums that I'd rate around 3/5, but none lower than that.

I don't buy music I'm unlikely to like.  Also, even bad albums (mostly), have some good elements, so I don't think giving an album a 1 is a good decision.

I am not a huge fan of Dream Theater, but if I listened to an album of theirs in full, I'm sure I'd find merits and it's obvious they're talented musicians, so I couldn't give a DT album a 1. due to those reasons.

I am currently lacking reviews and that is due to mainly me being somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to writing reviews and also due to ratings.

I want to rate virtually all Van der Graaf Generator albums as a 5, but at the same time, I feel this is the wrong thing to do...

I also have a few albums in my collection that are 4/5 star albums, but they get more plays than a lot of 5/5 albums.  I prefer some 4/5 albums over 5/5 albums.

An example of the above is "Starless and Bible Black".  It's not as good an album as "Red", but I personally prefer it to it.