Yahoo Forum Archive

>

The second part of my reply to Larian...

> or
> that reviews should be visible during reading and/or nominating
> seasons instead
> of during the actual voting season.

Personally, I'd be happy to have them not visible during nomination
season. Would you be happy for them to be visible during reading season
(or what was called reading season this year - remember, i'm proposing
doing away with it and having one long voting season).

> Seeing reviews early will mean that the stories that get reviewed
> early will
> have an unfair advantage over the ones that don't. 
>

I suppose that's true. But there are a couple of mitigating factors:

* No one *has* to read the reviews. It takes an active effort to see
them, and if a reviewer would rather not be unduly influenced they can
not read the reviews until they review the story.

* While having reviews available earlier may influence people to vote
based on the opinions of a few, it can be anyone's opinions that are
influential. And it rewards people for voting earlier.

* Having reviews available will increase the reviews made for all. I
remember some people saying that they were shy about starting voting
until they saw how others were writing their reviews - not for the same
story, necessarily, just a r4eview that they could use as a model.

> I realize that everyone, in the interests of time, sticks to their
> favorite
> categories, but now, you're planning on letting the review and/or the
> recommendation narrow down the categories to a few peoples' favorite
> authors.
>
> So essentially, we're steering the whole process to the tastes of a
> few people
> who write reviews early, or write 'better' reviews than others.
>

Yes, if there are only a few people doing this. But this problem is
easily remedied by having more than a few people vote early. The more
people who vote early, the less of a prolblem this will be.

I understand your concern, but I think it will only be a problem if a
few people review early, and if reviewers choose to go read reviews for
those stories they want to review. Plus, having any reviews available
will increase the feedback for all. I think if having the reviews
available really is a problem, it's a problem having them available
throughout voting season as well as earlier on. It seems that having
the reviews available during the voting is more beneficial than
harmful, so I'm more inclined to go with having them visible earlier
on. However, my mind's still not completely made up. :-)

Cheers,
Marta

>

The second part of my reply to Larian...

> or
> that reviews should be visible during reading and/or nominating
> seasons instead
> of during the actual voting season.

Personally, I'd be happy to have them not visible during nomination
season. Would you be happy for them to be visible during reading season
(or what was called reading season this year - remember, i'm proposing
doing away with it and having one long voting season).

> Seeing reviews early will mean that the stories that get reviewed
> early will
> have an unfair advantage over the ones that don't. 
>

I suppose that's true. But there are a couple of mitigating factors:

* No one *has* to read the reviews. It takes an active effort to see
them, and if a reviewer would rather not be unduly influenced they can
not read the reviews until they review the story.

* While having reviews available earlier may influence people to vote
based on the opinions of a few, it can be anyone's opinions that are
influential. And it rewards people for voting earlier.

* Having reviews available will increase the reviews made for all. I
remember some people saying that they were shy about starting voting
until they saw how others were writing their reviews - not for the same
story, necessarily, just a r4eview that they could use as a model.

> I realize that everyone, in the interests of time, sticks to their
> favorite
> categories, but now, you're planning on letting the review and/or the
> recommendation narrow down the categories to a few peoples' favorite
> authors.
>
> So essentially, we're steering the whole process to the tastes of a
> few people
> who write reviews early, or write 'better' reviews than others.
>

Yes, if there are only a few people doing this. But this problem is
easily remedied by having more than a few people vote early. The more
people who vote early, the less of a prolblem this will be.

I understand your concern, but I think it will only be a problem if a
few people review early, and if reviewers choose to go read reviews for
those stories they want to review. Plus, having any reviews available
will increase the feedback for all. I think if having the reviews
available really is a problem, it's a problem having them available
throughout voting season as well as earlier on. It seems that having
the reviews available during the voting is more beneficial than
harmful, so I'm more inclined to go with having them visible earlier
on. However, my mind's still not completely made up. :-)

Cheers,
Marta


*****
"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our greatest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness
that most frightens us. [...] As we let our own light shine, we
unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."

(Nelson Mandela)