The New Intimacy

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Contributor: Lady Evyl Lady Evyl
Hi all,

Is it me or in the last months the number of people commenting has gone down...a lot. There are so many new reviews coming in at once you barely stay in the New Reviews Listing like a few minutes sometimes.

So no one even sees you added a review, no comments, rating does not budge.

And yes I comment on reviews and make friends, so it is not because I am not making contact with others ;-)

Have you noticed the same thing?

Lady Evyl
06/23/2011
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Contributor: Dusk Dusk
Yeah, I've noticed this too.
06/23/2011
Contributor: indiglo indiglo
I've noticed this also. I assume it's partly due to summer being busy for a lot of people (so they don't have time to rate and comment as much), and then also maybe a big influx of members and/or reviews.
06/23/2011
Contributor: Redboxbaby Redboxbaby
I've noticed this for the past 2 months or so. I chalked it up to so many new members though. I can post a review and it is gone from the pages in less than 2 hours. I hate the RSS feed format, so I don't even bother with that.
06/23/2011
Contributor: PassionQT PassionQT
I've been so busy, but I'm trying to get on and vote/comment on at least 5 reviews a day.
06/23/2011
Contributor: potstickers potstickers
I've noticed that some reviews get few (sometimes zero) rates and comments, while others get 20 or more comments and rates. I think people choose which reviews to look at based on the product.
06/23/2011
Contributor: Taylor Taylor
Quote:
Originally posted by potstickers
I've noticed that some reviews get few (sometimes zero) rates and comments, while others get 20 or more comments and rates. I think people choose which reviews to look at based on the product.
yeah I've noticed this too
06/23/2011
Contributor: kelaaa33wish kelaaa33wish
I have had reviews that not many comment on as well.
06/23/2011
Contributor: Alan & Michele Alan & Michele
I've noticed the lack of comments being left but am also guilty of it now, for 3 reasons. The first is that time is short lately, so when I sign on my #1 priority is to check on our students, and sometimes I don't make it past that before I have to go tend to other things. I feel bad about not being more active in other ways sometimes, but really I don't mind putting the bulk of my time into them.
The other reason is that there isn't always anything to say about a review, particularly if I have no questions or don't own the product. And I hesitate to just put "nice review" since that has wound up being labeled as a tactic used by the Point Farmers.
The last reason is that sometimes the review is really bad, and I'm not the type who gets off on telling peeps that their writing makes no sense and they could benefit from a tour through basic English class. Somebody slammed the first review Alan & I ever wrote on here and made us feel like shit, and I don't want to be like her. Usually I just vote.

Alan only votes too, unless it's something that we're thinking about buying and he has a question that wasn't covered in the review.
06/24/2011
Contributor: Acorn Acorn
Quote:
Originally posted by PassionQT
I've been so busy, but I'm trying to get on and vote/comment on at least 5 reviews a day.
That's a good idea for keeping the community active.
06/24/2011
Contributor: CuteDee CuteDee
I notice comments on my reviews right after i post them. I try to go through my followers list and comment on reviews i like. But then i just really like knowing what others thought of new toys! = )
06/24/2011
Contributor: KnK KnK
Quote:
Originally posted by Lady Evyl
Hi all,

Is it me or in the last months the number of people commenting has gone down...a lot. There are so many new reviews coming in at once you barely stay in the New Reviews Listing like a few minutes sometimes.

So no one even sees ... more
Yep. One of my reviews took over a month to get more than one vote on it. I've noticed that it also seems to be somewhat related to what day of the week it gets published. For instance, Sundays are horrible for reviews. I did this at least twice because I was trying to submit a review last minute so it could be included in that week's edition of Pleasurists (off-site weekly review round-up).

Never publish on Sundays. No one seems to see it.
06/24/2011
Contributor: El-Jaro El-Jaro
It's a quantity thing too. About a year and a half ago we'd be stoked at 200 reviews a week. Now we're in the 400's on a somewhat regular basis, so there are a LOT of reviews coming in.
06/24/2011
Contributor: CafeSabroso CafeSabroso
Quote:
Originally posted by El-Jaro
It's a quantity thing too. About a year and a half ago we'd be stoked at 200 reviews a week. Now we're in the 400's on a somewhat regular basis, so there are a LOT of reviews coming in.
It would be a lot of fun to take the review statistics and look for principle components. Maybe looking at date/time submitted, product category, number of comments, and number of view (if possible). Would be interesting to check for correlation between when the review is submitted and the number or proportion of comments the review receives. Could also see whether there are days that have a higher burden of review submissions.
06/27/2011
Contributor: padmeamidala padmeamidala
Quote:
Originally posted by Lady Evyl
Hi all,

Is it me or in the last months the number of people commenting has gone down...a lot. There are so many new reviews coming in at once you barely stay in the New Reviews Listing like a few minutes sometimes.

So no one even sees ... more
I've noticed this too.
06/27/2011
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Quote:
Originally posted by Lady Evyl
Hi all,

Is it me or in the last months the number of people commenting has gone down...a lot. There are so many new reviews coming in at once you barely stay in the New Reviews Listing like a few minutes sometimes.

So no one even sees ... more
I have noticed.

We want Eden to have lots of good reviews, but the key is GOOD reviews. There are a few members who seem to vote on every single person who applies for Advanced Reviewer. After reading some of these applicants reviews, there is no way I'd vote for some of them, but a few reviewers ALWAYS vote every single request in. WHY? It always seems to be the same 4 or 5 people. I don't get it.

This means, if someone is voted in before they are writing quality reviews that 1)there will less product available for reviewers who do a great job, 2)the review page will scroll down SO quickly that it is impossible to get to every review every day 3) too many mediocre or worse reviews will represent Eden to the world.

I ask nicely; please, with a critical eye read the reviews of those who apply for Advanced Status, before you vote them Advanced.

Before voting for Advanced Reviewers make sure they are NOT working with a Mentor (because ethically, they shouldn't be applying for Advanced Reviewer if they are working with a Mentor, the Mentor should decide when they are ready for Advanced Status) Please STOP voting every single person who asks into the AR program. (You know who you are.) People should EARN this distinction, and when less than great reviews and haven't worked with a Mentor are voted in, it helps no one.
06/27/2011
Contributor: Lady Evyl Lady Evyl
@ PassionQT that is a good idea indeed

@Alan & Michele, totally agree that not all reviews are worth a comment if it is bad. Yet before it got over crowded I got 90% of the time 'extremely useful' that would bump up my score. Now I can barely get a 0.1 point up because I am not always online building my popularity factor. And I think that is what it comes down too.

@JR yes there are many new reviews, good we are growing...but the site and technology should be growing and accommodating the reflected change....any way of EF developing a better way to give us all a chance?
07/09/2011
Contributor: El-Jaro El-Jaro
Quote:
Originally posted by Lady Evyl
@ PassionQT that is a good idea indeed

@Alan & Michele, totally agree that not all reviews are worth a comment if it is bad. Yet before it got over crowded I got 90% of the time 'extremely useful' that would bump up my score. Now ... more
Interesting idea, any suggestions?
07/11/2011
Contributor: Kindred Kindred
Quote:
Originally posted by Lady Evyl
@ PassionQT that is a good idea indeed

@Alan & Michele, totally agree that not all reviews are worth a comment if it is bad. Yet before it got over crowded I got 90% of the time 'extremely useful' that would bump up my score. Now ... more
I agree that there are more reviews weekly, and I assume this is in part due to an increase in the number of new reviewers. However, logic would dictate that this increase in numbers would also translate into more people reading reviews overall, resulting in an equal wash. However, this does not seem to be the case.
07/11/2011
Contributor: Kindred Kindred
Quote:
Originally posted by El-Jaro
Interesting idea, any suggestions?
The only incentive I can think of (in our current system) would be to increase the point value for rating reviews and increasing the daily number allowed. However, this is likely to also increase the number of complaints about point farmers and seemingly random voting.
07/11/2011
Contributor: Ansley Ansley
Quote:
Originally posted by Kindred
The only incentive I can think of (in our current system) would be to increase the point value for rating reviews and increasing the daily number allowed. However, this is likely to also increase the number of complaints about point farmers and ... more
Yep. I really loathe how quick people are to accuse others of point farming.


I read faster than you...so what? This is turning into a huge mess, but I think Ms. Spice has the solution over in Kisses and Kinks post.
07/11/2011
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Quote:
Originally posted by El-Jaro
Interesting idea, any suggestions?
1~ Make it more difficult, and a bit more effort for reviewers to reach Advanced Status.

2~Limit the ability to vote for someone into Advanced Reviewer to only one or two votes per month. Four or five people vote for virtually EVERY person who asks to be upgraded, and some of these people (the people requesting) are already working with Mentors and they do these requests without the knowledge of their mentors!

~3 Require a minimum score before people can advance to Advanced Reviewer. Five seems to be a workable number, or a bit lower if the person is working with a Mentor and their mentor has graduated them.

Just food for thought. It does seem to be becoming a problem as more reviews of lesser quality are flooding the site. I think we should abandon the glee at the quantity of reviews each week, and applaud the quality of the reviews more.
07/11/2011
Contributor: Kindred Kindred
Quote:
Originally posted by P'Gell
1~ Make it more difficult, and a bit more effort for reviewers to reach Advanced Status.

2~Limit the ability to vote for someone into Advanced Reviewer to only one or two votes per month. Four or five people vote for virtually EVERY person ... more
Is it your suggestion that the increase in the number of weekly reviews is due to the ease by which people become advanced? And so by making it more difficult, we decrease the number of weekly reviews? Because if so, as I said above, it doesn't make sense. More reviewers should also translate into more people reading reviews weekly. We need to determine why more people aren't reading/rating/comment ing on reviews than previously.

Also, EF has stated before that these lower ranked reviewers serve a purpose because their rank limits them to lower valued items. Many advanced reviewers become something of a toy snob (I'm no exception) and don't care to review cheaper toys made of materials I don't like. The lower ranked reviewers fill this need. I would think EF prefers even a somewhat useful review on a product to none at all.
07/11/2011
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Quote:
Originally posted by Kindred
Is it your suggestion that the increase in the number of weekly reviews is due to the ease by which people become advanced? And so by making it more difficult, we decrease the number of weekly reviews? Because if so, as I said above, it doesn't ... more
But, don't you think people who write consistently poor reviews mess up the entire system? I still review lower priced toys (but no jelly) despite a higher ranking. My second to last request was for a bottle of toy cleaner, because it needed to be done. I also requested a lower priced lipstick vibe, but they were all gone!

The math might say more reviewers means more people reading the reviews, but reality doesn't. Because we're dealing with human nature, not just numbers.

When I look at reviews I did 9 month to a year ago, there are MUCH more votes and comments on them than most of the reviews today. The pages that list the reviews go down SO quickly, and reviews sometimes drop out of sight in hours, that I often miss reviews that I wanted to read and comment on, and often my reviews are overlooked, because SO many are being cranked out. If they were all stellar, and the raters understood what they were voting on, it would be fine, but that isn't the fact.

I've have reviews rated lower, and the once or twice I did ask someone why I have been on occasion told, "I wouldn't buy that toy, so the review wasn't helpful." THAT isn't what the review was meant to rated on. That means a lot of people voting don't even realize what they are judging the review on.

It's frustrating. With more and more reviews each week do you see a trend towards quantity rather than quality in some cases?
07/11/2011
Contributor: Kindred Kindred
Quote:
Originally posted by P'Gell
But, don't you think people who write consistently poor reviews mess up the entire system? I still review lower priced toys (but no jelly) despite a higher ranking. My second to last request was for a bottle of toy cleaner, because it needed to ... more
My personal solution is that I subscribe to the RSS feed for new reviews. I never miss a review. When I first started reviewing almost a year ago, I literally read every review. Now I simply can not based on the sheer volume. However, the RSS feed allows me to pick and choose what items I am interested in reading. I also have notifications for a few select reviewers that sens me an email every time one of them posts a new review.

And yes, we all occasionally write reviews for lower priced items, but I would bet that the lower priced category dominates and is the bread and butter for EF.

Do I think there is a trend towards quantity rather tan quality? I'm not sure. But I have noticed a trend of fewer votes/comments overall, and that I don't understand. We may be dealing with human nature, but we were dealing with human nature before as well, so something else has change. For example, if we had 100 reviewers but only 50% read/rated reviews, that would mean 50 were reading/rating. If we now have 200 reviewers pumping out reviews, human nature says that still 50% should be reading/rating which translate to 100. But that does not seem to be the reality. The alternative is that there are not necessarily more new reviewers, but that each individual reviewer is writing more reviews.
07/11/2011
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Quote:
Originally posted by Kindred
My personal solution is that I subscribe to the RSS feed for new reviews. I never miss a review. When I first started reviewing almost a year ago, I literally read every review. Now I simply can not based on the sheer volume. However, the RSS ... more
I think what we are dealing with is the 200 hundred people (just a guess) and only 25 to 50 reviews being read/rated.

When I read a review, I don't want to just scan it, when I start doing that, it's time to log off, spend a few minutes on Stumbleupon.com and then get off line and do some housework or run errands. So, I read maybe a few more reviews per week than I did a year ago, but not the same percentage more than there are increase in reviewers, if that makes any sense.

Hugs.

And, with that I am off to look at baby animals and funny stuff and then clean my kitchen. *sigh*
07/11/2011
Contributor: Lady Evyl Lady Evyl
Thank you Kindred for mentioning the RSS feed of reviews, I did not even know it existed.

A couple of opinions: I agree some medium reviews are needed but I write good reviews and I am stuck a 5.9 for like 3 months. So it is not fair for good reviews in my situation to be stuck with lower priced toys. Honestly I feel less motivation to review because I am writing my heart out for a good review and it get's me nowhere. How are people in my position able to move up the ladder i f we get no comments?

Why are comments not augmenting at the same rate then new reviewers? Because the program is becoming a victim of it's own success. the more crowded a place becomes the less the community feel disappears. I look at the 10 listed new reviews and they are usually from people I never heard off.

So now for possible solutions:

Totally agree with P'Gell, way to easy to become an advanced reviewer. instead of having 2 reviews under your belt how about 5 before you can apply for advanced. I agree with limiting the ability to vote for someone into Advanced Reviewer to only one or two votes per month. and I agree with requiring a minimum score before people can advance to Advanced Reviewer.

now suggestions for how EF displays the new reviews. Currently you cannot see more then 10 at a time and that section is in the bottom half of the page. really I think it should take precedence over the up-coming events and upgrade requests for one. Also 10 items only displayed at a time is way to low with so many reviews. Maybe have a dedicated page for it? And have it as a drop-down to choose from the Community News tab so we can go directly to this dedicated page?

The whole Community News section needs to be redesigned in my opinion...there is just too much info it gets lost.

Some ideas...and back to work for me
07/11/2011
Contributor: Antipova Antipova
Quote:
Originally posted by Kindred
My personal solution is that I subscribe to the RSS feed for new reviews. I never miss a review. When I first started reviewing almost a year ago, I literally read every review. Now I simply can not based on the sheer volume. However, the RSS ... more
One other possibility that fits me, but not necessarily others --- a lot of times I'll read a review, and not vote and not comment, because I don't want to hurt a reviewer's rankings. I don't know if anybody else is the same way, but if voting was anonymous, or if I didn't have the idea (mistaken or accurate) that every reviewer expects to get only EU votes, I would vote more frequently. I do tend to leave comments most of the time, even if I don't vote, though.


+1 to many of P'Gell's suggestions.

And, to Lady Evyl---I'm pretty new around here (I think I joined in March?) and I was able to make it to 6.0 --- part of getting lots of votes and comments is choosing to review products that are more interesting. A book or lube review? Almost never going to get even double digits of comments. A review of a new luxury toy? Lots and lots of votes and comments.

I've been pretty active in the forums, too, and I do like to interact with the people who leave me comments and check out their reviews, so I get a little bit of baseline interest from the people who like my reviews in general, and then there are breadcrumb trails on contributor walls, and people find your review and think it's useful.

Kisses and Kinks makes a good point about day of the week, too---usually if you post a review on a weekend it goes almost unnoticed. You can always write something and save it in drafts until a different day, if you prefer writing on weekends.

Beyond that? I haven't actually seen your name around, so I'm going to check out some of your reviews right now. Good luck!
07/11/2011
Contributor: ToyTimeTim ToyTimeTim
Quote:
Originally posted by El-Jaro
Interesting idea, any suggestions?
How about more reviews up at one time. Right now at any given time there are 60 reviews that can be seen. Sounds like a lot, but when you think of 400 reviews a week going through, it is not that much time for each review to be seen. The "Review" page is even less at 30.

Now I realize the Community page is loaded down pretty good so there may not be room there but what about revamping the Review page? Surly it could be redone to include more reviews and let them stay up for a longer period. It might take some getting use to but I would bet that folks would be happy to see there reviews up for a longer time.
07/11/2011