I just noticed this morning that reviews on some product pages are showing up in a new way: we're shown a list of how many 5 star, 4 star, 3 star, 2 star, and 1 star reviews exist for each product, and then we're also shown the most helpful positive review and the most helpful negative review.

This is a really neat way to show our reviews to casual shoppers, and I think it's a great advancement. It lets them get an instant picture of how well the majority of users liked the item.

I do have one question, though: the new format counts 5 and 4 star reviews as positive, and 3, 2, and 1 star reviews as negative. I've always seen "stars" in the same ways as I see letter grades- with A(5) and B(4) being very good and good, with D(2) and F(1) being bad with some redeeming qualities and very bad, and with C(3) being neutral. I think of a three star rating as something that lacks very much distinction, or has a minor flaw or two, but which is still an okay product.

I wonder if I'm alone in thinking that, or if the 3-star reviews could be considered "neutral" reviews instead of positive or negative? It might get too cluttered, so maybe it's best to leave them in the "negative" category---but I just wanted to check and see what other people think.


EDIT: I wish I had typed "on product pages" in the title---I hope you all will understand!