What makes a crown worthy review ?

helencbradshaw wrote:

...It made me cringe when I learned a member on here had walked out of a hotel in Colchester (that belongs to my last employer) because of the Desert Menu. (She was disgusted..!)

Guilty as charged on desserts and deserts - I got caught out saying I slept out under the stars in the desserts of Morocco and India. I always think those two should be the other way round.

It's always easier just to say pudding!

I slept out under the stars in a pudding? No, I'm not so sure about that one.

koshkha wrote:

I slept out under the stars in a pudding? No, I'm not so sure about that one.

Ooh I don't know, sounds idyllic (depending on said pudding)...

Oooh...a nice nutty banana type pudding would be entirely suitable.

This is just a TINY bit off topic, isn't it?

Not if you can find a way to use a banana dessert to make a crown-worthy review.

Paul99ine wrote:

This is just a TINY bit off topic, isn't it?

Do you think...

Perhaps Rachel needs it to dump the whole thread into a little virtual-bin somewhere, and we can start all over again...

I promise to contribute creatively to answer the question at hand..!

Just no one mention Spell Checkers...we've done Spell Checkers!!

I hate Banana Deserts.

lisa2062 wrote:

Going back to what makes a review crown worthy, what puts me off nominating is when a review goes all around the houses to get to the point. While I don't mean a review should be 2 or 3 sentences long, I don't what to read too much about how when they washed they hair one day reminded them they had to by a Bread maker. While a funny stories make an interesting read and can at times enhance the review, I prefer that on the whole the review stays on track. Lisa x

I agree so much. There have been reviews that i have marked down as SH (although some people rated them VH or E on Ciao) just becasuwe I could not find the product information due to the waffle

helencbradshaw wrote:

I don't think reviews need headings either. I can read quite well without them...reviews don't need headings for me to nominate, personally. In fact they often detract (especially when a five line paragraph appears at the end called "Opinion" )

Oh the my opinion header really annoys me. Shouldn't the review be all oinion not just thwe little bit after the address, the website, the ingridents etc etc

Headings can have their uses, if used properly and sparingly. However, like opinions, each person's idea of what falls under each heading is different and can result in people not getting the information if they pick and choose headed sections to read and ignore others.

...or can they be old favourites you've particularly enjoyed - or classics?

I like putting headings in. I can recall looking up reviews well before I joined Ciao or Dooyoo and the nature of wanting instant research info was better with sub headings to hone in on the info I wanted and not have to travel down a massive paragraph to get what I needed to know. That's another factor to what makes a review crown worthy.

However info has to be succinct, precise, well developed and rewarding to read in my opinion.

When I was at my most active on Ciao, I used headings quite a bit. If I read those reviews now, I think they look utterly ridiculous really. (Mind you, most of those reviews are ridiculous with hindsight.) I think headings are a habit that people have adopted in the belief that they bring greater rewards. This may well be the case ( I got diamonds for twenty-odd months in a row on that basis) but I don't think it should be.

If and when you stop reading / writing reviews as a reviewer and read / write them as a real / normal member of the public, I think you quickly realise that in a forum such as Dooyoo or Ciao then headings are unwelcome.

In terms of accessibility to "information" I would question whether anybody would come to Dooyoo or Ciao for this. They'd go to the product manufacturer's website or perhaps a price comparison portal. For most products, Dooyoo provides a summary of this outside the review anyway. In terms of accessibility to "opinion" then they should want to read the lot and would therefore be unguided by headings.

Headings are a mental tick in the box to the skim reader / rater that the skimmed writer should probably be nominated for a diamond or a crown because they tried ever so hard, thank you sir. They are irrelevant to the consumer. Indeed, in many circumstances, what comes under the heading is as irrelevant as the heading itself.

I would - and do - down rate opinions where the headings add little value or actually distract the reader.

plipplop wrote:

This may well be the case ( I got diamonds for twenty-odd months in a row on that basis) but I don't think it should be

I now realise where I went wrong...insufficient heading usage...

I still disagree with the requirement for their use (even though I have used them on occasion), and I have yet to pick up an intelligent newspaper article with headings...and unfortunately most consumer review sites are not that articulate.

I think you hit the nail on the head there Helen - where else do you read stuff split into little sections with headings?

Yes, most headings indeed are superfluous and unnecessary and, more often than not, ill used. I used to add headings quite a bit too, but I've since edited most of them out apart from a couple I still feel have a slight benefit.

I se them for some reviews, helps my structure as I'm too lazy to plan before I start writing. Not something I would lose sleep over either way.

I quite like headings, although not too many and I really don't like all those little characters that get put either side of the header.

Surely headings are purely a matter of style - some like them, some don't but it shouldn't be a reason to up-rate or down-rate someone.

I really don't think they are used as cynically as some posters have suggested. Personally I'm not about to stop using them.

plipplop wrote:

In terms of accessibility to "information" I would question whether anybody would come to Dooyoo or Ciao for this. They'd go to the product manufacturer's website or perhaps a price comparison portal. For most products, Dooyoo provides a summary of this outside the review anyway. In terms of accessibility to "opinion" then they should want to read the lot and would therefore be unguided by headings.

Sorry I totally disagree with this. In my experience company websites who clearly present info about their products aren't always true. Then this info is put into product biog which Dooyoo, Ciao and other companies use as data product info. When it gets passed to the consumer the experience of reality often goes against the grain of what companies would have you believe.

I can give you countless examples of errors of product biogs, most of which Dooyoo and Ciao aren't even aware of - if reviewers put in headings to hone in on the important info in their reviews, then what better way than putting a heading in, so that the outside consumer (meaning, a non member of either review site) can hone in on the info they need rather than believe what the official stats suggest? Headings also cut down the amount of paragraphs if consumers want quick, instant information on specific info; a fact which seems to have gone missing from your opinions regarding headings and what they are purposefully for.

But if we make a purchase then we DO go by manufacturer claims - Goods need to be as described and the law protects that.

I think the problem with reviews chunked out like this is they become templates for some people and we see lots of duplicate superfluous information in reviews - when a true purchaser will have done that already. If I want to buy a car I go to the manufacturer's website first - then I look for opinion..

If there are errors in those biogs, then yes this would be valid information in an opinion - but merely trotting out lots of facts is not exactly review writing.

Headings for me are usually a way to get your head round about how you want to structure a review. I also use to use them a lot but I then found that if I finished my review and then removed all the headings it looked better, flowed better and made a hell of a lot more sense.

I can see why people feel a need to use headings but I often think people use them to help themselves rather than members/consumers.

Also, it pads a review out a bit making a perfectly acceptable five hundred worder that will get inevitably U'd by some skimmer a VU. Some people need the VU more than others I suppose.

Vax wrote:

Sorry I totally disagree with this. In my experience company websites who clearly present info about their products aren't always true. Then this info is put into product biog which Dooyoo, Ciao and other companies use as data product info. When it gets passed to the consumer the experience of reality often goes against the grain of what companies would have you believe.

I can give you countless examples of errors of product biogs, most of which Dooyoo and Ciao aren't even aware of - if reviewers put in headings to hone in on the important info in their reviews, then what better way than putting a heading in, so that the outside consumer (meaning, a non member of either review site) can hone in on the info they need rather than believe what the official stats suggest? Headings also cut down the amount of paragraphs if consumers want quick, instant information on specific info; a fact which seems to have gone missing from your opinions regarding headings and what they are purposefully for.

What a load of rubbish! If the manufacturer quotes, for example, a wattage output at say 1600W and it's actually 1800W, what normal consumer would notice? And the manufacturer has to get it right by law (as Helen says). Besides, most reviewers on Dooyoo are only copying from the original source anyway!

What information would these "real" consumers be honing in on? Does anyone REALLY believe that consumers come to Dooyoo looking for a specific fact and then move off? I ain't convinced!

Headings normally increase the number of paragraphs. For example:

Price

I paid £9.99

Colour

It's red.

Finish

It's made of plastic.

My opinion

It's lovely really.

dididave wrote:

I can see why people feel a need to use headings but I often think people use them to help themselves rather than members/consumers.

Agreed and fine - just hate the pretence they do it for the consumer. Yeah, whatever!