Alpo Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 It doesn't matter what you buy, Amazon wants you to review it. And some things that's pretty easy to do. "I bought this widget, and when it arrived I found out that it was a crappily built widget, then apparently would fall apart the first time I tried to use it. I returned it. That's why I give it one star." "I bought this doohickey, and was pleasantly surprised to find out how well made it was. It fits my hand perfectly, and each time I use it I am happier that I bought it. I can't believe I waited this long to get one. Five stars, only because they don't give me an option of rating it ten stars." But a movie, or a TV show. How do you rate that? Do you give your opinion as to whether or not it was a good movie? That's simply an opinion, and your opinion might be quite different than mine. I recall Ziva one time talking to Tony about FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH. "Phoebe Cates is a babe, Sean Penn is a genius!" I can sort of agree on Miss Cates, but Penn? Genius? Not hardly. Opinion. Or do you give a review of the quality of the disc? Whether the details are sharp, or whether it looks like a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy. Whether it's easy to understand or it sounds like you're standing in a wind tunnel. Or, and this is especially prevalent in television shows, you can hear the dialogue or it is drowned out by the theme music and the laugh track. How would you review a video? Or would you just not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Personally I don't do any of those reviews on anything! I will complain to Amazon about something that's broken or faulty but I have yet to experience that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Father Kit Cool Gun Garth Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Interestingly enough, just recently I went on Amazon to see if the full set of Yellowstone CD's were available yet. In the reviews although I found some reviews about the series itself, most of them pertained to the quality of the CD collections condition and quality of the video. And NO, it did not purchase any of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-BAR #18287 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Rating a movie or tv series: if I enjoyed it enough to pay to see it again, I rate it high. If the quality of the dvd/cd is poor, it gets the lowest rating, 0 if allowed. Product/ gizmo/book: if I would give it as a gift, high rating. If not, 0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyesa Horg Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 A tad off topic,but, I am always amazed when I give a business a very poor review and it gets a lot of views, no one from the business ever tried to contact me for more information. Yes, I do provide my contact info if there is spot for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I don't see why anyone's opinion about a movie/television show is better or worse than anyone else's, as you said, it's purely subjective. If I do review a show I comment on what I thought of the acting, the diction of the actors, the sound levels (Why are the special effects sounds and "background music" always so loud that they make it impossible to hear the dialog? Why is all the lighting, even outdoors, at noon, in an Arizona summer that of an interior, windowless room in which a large fire has just been extinguished?) , costuming (Um....that "bunny barb" supposed armor would be useless....it's built on the survivor bias model. Yes, she's hot as a MG42 after 1000 rounds, but stil...). I had to look up Ms. Cates, I don't think I've watched any of the movies she was in. Yep, a babe. Moreso now than then in my opinion, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Dan Dawkins Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I seldom read reviews. Especially the ad nauseum essay length ones in bullet point format. I look for products with at least several hundred reviews and a 4-5 stars. That’s it. That’s my purchasing protocol. If the product is acceptable, I keep it. If not, I generally send back but sometimes trash, give away or repurpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I almost always write reviews for products I buy, including DVDs, but I do not rate the contents or show in the DVDs, I rate the quality of the DVDs and the packaging. I watch Amazon Prime videos. They don’t have a 5 star rating system. They have a “like it” or “don’t like it” type of system. I always read reviews on products. Just because reviews tally up to 4.5 stars it doesn’t mean it meets my needs. I read the 1 star, then 2, then 3 star reviews first. That’s where I make my decisions to buy or not buy. I do, of course, throw out 10-15% of all reviews just because I don’t think all people are honest in their reviews. If I see lots of 5 star reviews in broken English or using incorrect syntax I pass on the product as I feel those reviews are false and made by friends of the maker or employees of the product. Without reviews how would one know if what they’re buying is what they expect to receive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 12 minutes ago, Pat Riot said: read the 1 star, then 2, then 3 star reviews first. I look at the total number of reviews and the detail chart, then read some of the 1 star, especially if there are a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews. I discount the "product did not meet my needs/expectations" because those seem to be mostly from people who didn't read or understand the product description or had unreasonable expectations of $2 ratchets or ceiling fans. If the review is "was not as described" I take notice. "Description and photos show 16 gauge steel and what I got was 1/16" silver plastic." Also if there are lots of 1 and 2 stars that say it broke on the first use, didn't work out of the box, or they were unable to get satisfaction from the company. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirty Dan Dawkins Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 If you buy local you eliminate most all doubt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat Riot Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 31 minutes ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said: If you buy local you eliminate most all doubt If I can find it local I will buy it local. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 3 hours ago, Dirty Dan Dawkins said: If you buy local you eliminate most all doubt If I could find it local, I WOULD buy it local. Sometimes you just can't. Either that, (car parts come to mind), any local place costs significantly more. 3 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said: I look at the total number of reviews and the detail chart, then read some of the 1 star, especially if there are a lot of 1 and 2 star reviews. I discount the "product did not meet my needs/expectations" because those seem to be mostly from people who didn't read or understand the product description or had unreasonable expectations of $2 ratchets or ceiling fans. If the review is "was not as described" I take notice. "Description and photos show 16 gauge steel and what I got was 1/16" silver plastic." Also if there are lots of 1 and 2 stars that say it broke on the first use, didn't work out of the box, or they were unable to get satisfaction from the company. I do the same thing. Even if there are a lot of positive reviews, As Subdeacon Joe said, a bunch of broke on the first use, didn't work out of the box, will make me not buy it. Several years ago I wanted a new radio for my Jeep. I cheaped out and got a Walmart "Dual" radio, despite the ratings that said that it crapped out in two weeks, I chose to listen to the more glowing reviews. Guess what, it crapped out in two weeks. I can't afford the top of the line products, but I try to at least hit middle of the road. I've also found that if I try to go cheap on the first try, by the time I get a product that does work, I've spent enough that I could have at least hit middle of the road on the first go around and saved myself the hassle of doing the job more than once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 14 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said: I try to at least hit middle of the road. Back in the '70s I read that when the Italian government put something out for bids after all the bids were in they tossed out the high and low then took the one closest to the average of the rest. I don't know if that was true but it makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I always read the One Star reviews for products. Right now, I am researching a new faucet for the new sink in the new kitchen cabinets. I found a YouTube plumber with an interesting and useful comment. When the single control Delta faucet cartridges leak, they leak down the inside of the faucet and into the cabinet below. The Moen leak to the outside where it is immediately visible. I also see that Kohler is approximately 3x more proud of their product, than is Moen. I was always Kohler guy, but do have to ask if worth 3x the price of the Moen. North of $800 is pricey for a faucet. I leave accurate reviews as well... kind or unkind depending upon product quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kloehr Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 3-star Amazon reviews tend to be more "representative" of the actual quality while too many 1-star reviews are a red flag. Too few reviews overall are a big caution flag. I figure the first dozen or so are fake positives. But as to a movie, how it is packaged? As long as it is "typical" I would not care. As to the disc working or not... Hmmm, lots of folks have DVD players in need of cleaning. As to liking the actual movie, I would put more value in "people who liked what you like liked this..." than if some unknown person liked it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wild Eagle Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 A +1 for the 3 star reviews. They seem to be more thought out. About 1/2 of the 5 star reviews are from people that haven't used the product yet, and a lot of the 1 star reviews seem to be from people with unrealistic expectations of the product. A $10 socket set is not going to be as good as a Snap On set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Yet a Harbor Freight roll-away soundly beats a Craftsman. So much so, that I picked up a 2nd roll-away pair during their big sale. I'm quite impressed with the build quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rye Miles #13621 Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 Why should we review anything? If they do their job there’s no need to ask for a review. I just want to pay and get my stuff and then bye ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 I gave a review one time. I said While I would love to give a review on this product, it is quite difficult to do so, because even though it was supposed to arrive on the 6th, today is the 20th and it is still not here. Therefore I give it one star because their shipping sucks. For some strange reason Amazon told me they could not post that review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgavin Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 24 minutes ago, Rye Miles #13621 said: If they do their job there’s no need to ask for a review. That is the key phrase, right there. If the above were true, Consumer Reports would not exist. Since this is not the case, I access CR through my library card. We are dropping Big Bux on the kitchen renovation, and I don't want crappy appliances that break 1+ days beyond the short warranty period. By reading the reviews, I discovered the first production versions of the Toyota 3.5l VVT-i engine had design/production problems that could not be repaired. Sucks to own one of those. Too bad there was not a bunch of reviews on the Stoeger Coach Supreme, otherwise I would have never bought the lemon that I did buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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