AniDB

Consider this a spin-off from the "Bad reviews - What to do about it? Suggestions here." thread.

I consider myself to be a rather thoughtful person. I value what I have to say quite high, or else I wouldn't be saying it. Hence, whenever someone doesn't like what I have to say, I'm very fond of finding out why they didn't like it, and I assume that to some degree everyone has the same interest.

For this reason, I'd suggest to add a feedback feauture to the review voting system: When approving or disapproving of a certain review, the voting user may type in a couple of lines to tell the reviewer why they didn't find the review helpful. These comments are shown (anonymously?) to the user who submitted the review and can be deleted (the comments, not the actual votes) by that user in order to get rid easily of unwanted flames or non-helpful remarks.

For example:
User sees a review that's actually not that bad but way too long to make a point, so he clicks on "No". The page reloads and the vote is recorded, and instead of the No-link he sees a small form where he types in a short feedback message. After submitting that form, the user can neither change his vote on the review nor submit another feedback.

Both good and bad ...

Good thing

- People can actually make better reviews with the comments given by other people.
- You can give your personal opinion about a specific review.
- People can adjust their reviews/marking when people complain/comment too much on a certain point for a specific review.
- People can thank you for your review when it was useful.

Bad things

- Expect lots of users who rate your reviews to bitch at you - especially when they like the anime you just crushed.
- You will receive lots of comments saying the same thing, instead of different critics.
- Some people actually get annoyed if they get too many comments on their reviews.

I`m not sure if I would vote 'yes' for this request, but I guess it wouldn`t hurt to try if it actually works.

- Expect lots of users who rate your reviews to bitch at you - especially when they like the anime you just crushed.

That's why I suggested that the reviewer can delete the comments after reading them. If some people are bothered about them, it should also be possible to let the reviewer decide (with a checkbox) if they want to receive feedback after the review is posted or not.

- You will receive lots of comments saying the same thing, instead of different critics.

That's a good point, but I guess it would be the same in any case, whether there's a feedback feauture in the reviews or a "private message" feauture of sorts.

- Some people actually get annoyed if they get too many comments on their reviews.

Well, so far I haven't seen too many votes on reviews in the first place, and since each user is supposed to be able to send only a single feedback note along with their one single vote, it doesn't look like a reviewer could end up drowning in comments.

hm,

just wondering if the new private message feature and the direct link to it on the review page might already solve this?

BYe!
EXP

Yup, it took me a good while to realize that news item on the main page, so I guess this suggestion is pretty much not needed anymore. A simple "Feedback welcome!" note at the end of a review should be enough to get the message across.