Rating Query

It probably frustrates them as well, but to whoever queries rates, I would add that since I stopped doing so, my life has become much easier and less stressed. I put it into perspective. In the early days I wanted to know what would make the review better, because I like to learn and get better. Then I sat and thought about it one night and thought "you are quibbling about pennies" and it really did not seem woth it any more. Since not asking (or only asking where I feel justified because of inconsistency), none of this matters that much any more.

I have never queried a single rate I have received on Ciao.

What not even the exceptional one ?

Nope I never queried it. I accepted it, and said Thank you.

Hehe, I actually queried a couple of E ratings and said to the people concerned that I thought they had over rated and that the review was mediocre to say the least. They were old reviews that really were not exceptional. They replied that to me they were, so who can argue with that one.

why's my original post been 'moderated'?

I didn't say anything that needed 'moderating'!

pathetic.

All postings that are about specific reviews are modified. It's nothing personal at all. We had members complaining about how obvious postings were and edited.

kelr101 wrote:

Joe Bloggs stumbles across Ciao looking for a review on a fridge. Every review he reads is rated VH - so he automatically assumes the product is excellent and he won't have any problems. Remember Joe Bloggs doesn't have the time to sit and read every review because he's a working man.

He buys the fridge, and two weeks later it breaks, leaking and staining his brand new carpet. Joe Bloggs curses Ciao because he used the reviewers rates received to help with his decision. Now it isn't all Ciao's fault because the site is designed to reward the reviewer and not aid the purchaser....but if you were in Joe's position wouldn't you have been better informed if you had been able to review a scale of rates which people had left about the PRODUCT itself, and not how Ciao Reviewer manages to write and decent tale.

But Joe wouldn't look at the ratings at all...

If you log off, and search for a product, the first thing you will see is the overall STAR rating for the product. When I was researching several purchases recently, the things I looked for (on tripadvisor for example, as dooyoo and ciao are cr@p for travel research), were the overall star rating, and more importantly, how many people had contributed to that overall result.

If I liked that result (e.g. a hotel), and wanted to know some more, then I would go on and read some reviews.

If you read the review, you don't see the VHs ( I appreciate the highest rated listings will appear at the top of the pile, but equally, as a consumer, it is a quick glance down the list of reviews for the Star rating that is what most people will likely do.

I struggled to star rate or decide to "recommend" a recent service review, as the overall star rating on Ciao and Dooyoo was very poor, but my experience over several years has been good. When I looked at the other star ratings, one person had raved about them and yet rated one star, some were ranting for no reason other than they hadn't understood what they had purchased (which is crystal clear on the website!!) , there were some positive reviews hidden, from customers who had similar experiences to me, and the remainder of the poor ratings were down to two key areas, I had the opposite experience.

If someone decides to rate both my review and someone who had a negative experience, then surely both are "helpful" in making a balanced purchasing decision (in fact more so, than if there was only one review, whether the experience was good or bad) If you rate NH as your experience is different, that valid review will be pushed to the bottom of the list, which might be the one the consumer needs to read.

However, why we have to rate at all is worth debating......I have contributed to a couple of other sites where you don't! Or indeed why do they go to the bottom of the list on Ciao..on Dooyoo and trip advisor they are in date order, with the most recent review at the top (which is a good measure for gaining recent feeling)

kelr101 wrote:

But at the opposite end of the spectrum, if a person disagrees about the product - e.g. received food poisoning, upset stomach, caused problems elsewhere, damaged carpets etc etc then they are perfectly within their right to mark NH.

They are marking NH because they personally don't believe that the review would be helpful to the person making the purchasing decision because they are aware of alternate problems that may not have been experienced by the review writer.

I don't think this is right. You write the review from your personal experience and try and make it as accurate as possible. If someone has a different experience then rating NH is not the right way to deal with this. They should certainly comment on the review and state their objections. Ideally they should write their own review and put their side of the story.

Rating NH based on your own personal experience is not going to be helpful to others UNLESS there are factual inaccuracies to the review.

For instance in the example you give about food poisoning, the review that praised the product might be completely accurate and helpful to others. If the product gave you food poisoning it is worth commenting but you have to realise that the source of the food poisoning could be the shop that did not store the product properly or it could be you that didn't deal with the product properly. Thinsg that the other review would have no way of knowing or reson to include.

IMHO NH should be reserved for rating reviews that are abusive, copied or grossly factually innacurate.