| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| benj clews |
Posted - 06/06/2006 : 10:39:53
Just a small concern of mine...
I've gotten a little dismayed of late at the no-brainer reviews some regulars have been coming up and continue to come up with. Sure anyone can get "Hanks has long hair." passed (NOTE: I haven't checked if anyone's written this, but if you have, shame on you), but it's not exactly going to add anything to the site or earn any votes.
If anyone is thinking of their pending list right now and it's filled with exact descriptions of scenes with nothing resembling an original thought, I think you need to start asking yourself why you're here. It's clearly neither for the joy of seeing others appreciate your reviews or the simple enjoyment of writing something that challenges your intellect.
Yes- I realise this is in some ways in stark contrast to the basic idea of the site, but I also think fwfr has to adapt if it's going to avoid falling into a quagmire of dull say-what-you-see reviews. I want the site to stay entertaining and I'm sure everyone else here feels the same. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Willy Weasel |
Posted - 06/12/2006 : 15:53:21
I like Rockgolf's extension to the home page chart. I have never really paid it much attention 'til now but would if it had a review linked to it. Makes sense having film ranking paired with review ranking.
I have a nylon shagpile carpet sample ready to bow repeatedly to Benj but I will need specific grid reference to align correctly? Perhaps Benj could pay to have his location added to TomTom sat nav software - a 'BC' in a shield perhaps? So is there a 4 word mantra we have to chant?
"Hanks has long hair...Hanks has long stayer...Hanks has wrong fare...Hanks has strong pair..."
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| benj clews |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 22:18:07
quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
I'm not sure, Yukon, but I think the "Editor's Choice" was shot down a few pages ago because it would be too much extra work for the MERPs, and they have enough to do already with approving our reviews.
Actually,the beauty of Editors' Choice is that it's no extra work for MERPs- they already vote on what they like as they approve and this is what I'd imagined would be the criteria for selection on the page- a MERP vote. |
| Stalean |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 20:46:19
quote:
Originally posted by Yukon
quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
Benj, it seems to me, after reading this thread, that a lot of the angst is associated with the never-changing top voted reviews placed in a prominent position. I'm just throwing this out for judicious rumination, and 'does this sound plausible.' [16] Why not have a page where 100 reviews are randomly selected each time a person visits their page (kind of like the "What film bubble"). It could be in addition to the Top 100 Reviews page or replace it. Does this sound reasonable to everyone or is it crap? 
Did you know there are more negative smilies than positive ones, benj? 
Edit: Alright, BB, I've gotten rid of the excess smilies. [5]
I don't like the "random" aspect of this. If you have an editor's choice section, good reviews will get the exposure (and votes) they deserve. And there already is a random review area, the "Latest Reviews" section on the homepage.
I enjoy reading good reviews so I'm sure I would check out an editor's choice page often.
I'm not sure, Yukon, but I think the "Editor's Choice" was shot down a few pages ago because it would be too much extra work for the MERPs, and they have enough to do already with approving our reviews.
The problem with the "Latest Reviews" page is just that, it's only for the "latest" reviews. What about reviews that are missed if you don't log in for a few days or weeks (gasp!). I think this gives all those reviews a chance to be noticed. Heck, you could have a "100 reviews page" with nothing but '0' vote reviews, and one with 'voted only' reviews, for that matter.
*How do you like all this extra work I'm proposing for you, benj.* 
I will mention now that I do like Rockgolf's (I think) suggestion about the homepage's latest films/top 10 releases, where reviews for each film have exposure. [10] |
| randall |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 18:00:25
Hey Yukie, your post on page 9 was levelheaded, fairminded, and much appreciated, at least by me.
EDIT: And as one of the few fwiffers who has actually met him, I can attest: benj IS kinda godlike! Uh, is he?... |
| Yukon |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 16:45:28
quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
Benj, it seems to me, after reading this thread, that a lot of the angst is associated with the never-changing top voted reviews placed in a prominent position. I'm just throwing this out for judicious rumination, and 'does this sound plausible.' [16] Why not have a page where 100 reviews are randomly selected each time a person visits their page (kind of like the "What film bubble"). It could be in addition to the Top 100 Reviews page or replace it. Does this sound reasonable to everyone or is it crap?
Did you know there are more negative smilies than positive ones, benj?
Edit: Alright, BB, I've gotten rid of the excess smilies. [5]
I don't like the "random" aspect of this. If you have an editor's choice section, good reviews will get the exposure (and votes) they deserve. And there already is a random review area, the "Latest Reviews" section on the homepage.
I enjoy reading good reviews so I'm sure I would check out an editor's choice page often. |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 01:26:19
quote:
Originally posted by duh
quote:
Originally posted by Yukon
Five times a day, I get on my knees and bow towards England, in honour of Benji Clews who created an amazing website.
I'm barely able to restrain the impulse to do the same! 
You guys are creepin me out.  |
| Sludge |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 01:03:17
quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
Did you know there are more negative smilies than positive ones, benj?
It takes more muscles to frown than to smile.
So, people who smile a lot have weak faces.
[17]Wow, a Nixon smilie.[17]
Oh yeah, I think this is a splendid idea so far. |
| BiggerBoat |
Posted - 06/10/2006 : 00:19:37
quote:
Originally posted by StaLean
Benj, it seems to me, after reading this thread, that a lot of the angst is associated with the never-changing top voted reviews placed in a prominent position. I'm just throwing this out for judicious rumination, and 'does this sound plausible.' [16] Why not have a page where 100 reviews are randomly selected each time a person visits their page (kind of like the "What film bubble"). It could be in addition to the Top 100 Reviews page or replace it [14]. Does this sound reasonable to everyone or is it crap? [10] [2] [4] [14]  [5] [9] [6] [11]  [17] [19]
Did you know there are more negative smilies than positive ones, benj?
I think this is a good idea (not the excessive use of the smileys). Especially if this page could draw from the prementioned MERP's 'editor's pick' reviews. In that way it would allow not-forum reviewers to have their wares shown off. I think it would be a more popular page if the reviews had that endorsement of quality - subjective, I know, but a good indicator for newbies on what good reviews are.
BB |
| Stalean |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 23:02:40
Benj, it seems to me, after reading this thread, that a lot of the angst is associated with the never-changing top voted reviews placed in a prominent position. I'm just throwing this out for judicious rumination, and 'does this sound plausible.' [16] Why not have a page where 100 reviews are randomly selected each time a person visits their page (kind of like the "What film bubble"). It could be in addition to the Top 100 Reviews page or replace it. Does this sound reasonable to everyone or is it crap?
Did you know there are more negative smilies than positive ones, benj?
Edit: Alright, BB, I've gotten rid of the excess smilies. [5] |
| duh |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 20:44:21
quote:
Originally posted by Yukon
Five times a day, I get on my knees and bow towards England, in honour of Benji Clews who created an amazing website.
I'm barely able to restrain the impulse to do the same! |
| Yukon |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 20:29:46
As a realtive newbie (I've been at this for six months) here are two thoughts.
1) Benji, feel free the raise the bar and only allow "clever" reviews, no "Bruce Willis fights terrorists" (Die Hard) reviews. I like this site because it makes me laugh. Period. It's why everyone is here.
That said, don't go back and kill all the "boring" reviews. If you do that, than go back and kill the reviews that no longer meet the requirement of "specific to a film", which means most of the top 10 All-Time FWFRs have to be delated (Icy Dead People, Fin, etc...).
If you do up the standards, it's only fair to grandfather the rule in, saying "From now on....
2) I love the idea of an editor's choice section.
The top 100 is great the first time you loook at it, but it never changes. The top reviews of the day consists mainly of people from the Fourum.
So the editor's choice is also a good way to get votes for people who aren't involved in the Fourum.
I remember when I first started, one of my first reviews was "Where queer, antelope play" for Brokeback Mountain. I waited for the votes to come in and nothing happened. Only when it was highlighted in the Fourum, did I get votes and now it has 34. I would have never logged into the Fourum if Cordoury Pillow hadn't told me about it.
I'm at the stage now where I don't mind if a review has no votes but when I first started out, It was frustrating writing a good review but not getting any votes.
So I guess the one fault of this site is a good reviewer not involved in the fourum gets lost because you have to be more than a good reviewer, you have to make an effort and "sell" your reviews so to speak.
The editors choice shouldn't only be for newbies, but I think it could help solve the problem.
That being said, this site is still wonderful. Five times a day, I get on my knees and bow towards England, in honour of Benji Clews who created an amazing website. |
| MguyXXV |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 19:34:33
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
quote:
Originally posted by Randall
[quote]Originally posted by MguyX
[quote]But I do hate Randall because he caught me plagerizing. (Just kidding, folks: it's only a joke.)
Honey, anybody could have caught you on the Walter Kerr. [And I agree with you about "Fishtar" too!] But they're here, they're near, so forget about it!
From one Kaufman fan to another,
Peace.
Signed,
Randall
I Randall.  |
| Montgomery |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 19:09:22
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
I'm starting to wonder if the answer, instead of clearing out the less highly-scored reviews, might be to make them less obvious. Perhaps have some kind of criteria (say, the top X voted reviews, plus the latest Y reviews (so these have a good chance of being seen)) for determining which reviews show against a film initially and then having a More... button to view the rest. It'd at least give a slightly more carefully chosen appearance to the review pages. Just an idea I'm throwing out there anyway...
You've had some really good ideas in the past, Benj. There's that idea you had of starting up a website devoted to reviewing films in four words or less. Remember that one? I really liked that one.
But this one . . . can't say I like it for several reasons:
1) I like to be able to see all the reviews (without too much clicking around) for any given film, so I know what's been written and don't repeat.
2) I like having all my reviews together in a matched set. I've worked hard to climb the rankings (Presenting, hopefully, entertaining reviews along the way) so my reviews are pretty close to the top when I click on a movie. And I like that. I don't want just some of my reviews to show and others be hidden until you click the "MORE" button which many have said they won't hit. And, as I stated before, I haven't played the "Let's review each other's reviews" games as much, so I have a lot more reviews that would qualify for being hidden under the system of basing it on votes. And, I disagree that they are not worth viewing.
Okay, that's only 2. I thought I had more to say. 
But, as a long standing reviewer, I'd rather you mess around with the front page to make it more inviting to newbies -- or give newbies their own area for display, rather than start hiding our reviews.
EM :)
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| GHcool |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 18:56:03
quote:
Originally posted by R o � k G o 1 f
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
I absolutely agree the homepage needs a lot of work- it's an absolute shocker layout-wise, but I've never really sat down to rework it.
I'd be interested to hear what anyone (especially so from those newbies amongst us) 'gets' from the homepage, what it lead them to expect and what they feel should be said more clearly (or, indeed, should be said that isn't).
The front page is the first one that newbies come to, so it should be inviting and give them a clear idea of what the site is about.
I would suggest driving off your UK Chart & US Chart list. Have the top review for each of those films next to the film title. This would keep the Front Page updated on a regular basis, and show hopefully better than average reviews. It would also look a little more like a "real" movie review site.
If revised, the page would look something like this:
UK chart
1. X-Men: The Last Stand Rated: 3.9/5 [10]
"Pryde and Prejudice" - M0rkeleb
2. The DaVinci Code Rated: 3.1/5 [10]
"Something About Mary Magdelene" - BaftaBabe
3. Poseidon Rated: 3.2/5 [10]
"Poop-side-down adventure" - RockGolf
4. The Wild Rated: 2.3/5 [9]
"Janeane Giraffe-alo" - Tequila Mockingbird
...etc. On those rare occassion (such as Indian films making the UK top 10) where there are no reviews, you could have an Enter your review here! link.
I second this notion. |
| RockGolf |
Posted - 06/09/2006 : 16:33:02
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
I absolutely agree the homepage needs a lot of work- it's an absolute shocker layout-wise, but I've never really sat down to rework it.
I'd be interested to hear what anyone (especially so from those newbies amongst us) 'gets' from the homepage, what it lead them to expect and what they feel should be said more clearly (or, indeed, should be said that isn't).
The front page is the first one that newbies come to, so it should be inviting and give them a clear idea of what the site is about.
I would suggest driving off your UK Chart & US Chart list. Have the top review for each of those films next to the film title. This would keep the Front Page updated on a regular basis, and show hopefully better than average reviews. It would also look a little more like a "real" movie review site.
If revised, the page would look something like this:
UK chart
1. X-Men: The Last Stand Rated: 3.9/5 [10]
..."Pryde and Prejudice" - M0rkeleb
2. The DaVinci Code Rated: 3.1/5 [10]
..."Something About Mary Magdelene" - BaftaBabe
3. Poseidon Rated: 3.2/5 [10]
..."Poop-side-down adventure" - RockGolf
4. The Wild Rated: 2.3/5 [9]
..."Janeane Giraffe-alo" - Tequila Mockingbird
...etc. On those rare occassion (such as Indian films making the UK top 10) where there are no reviews, you could have an Enter your review here! link.
You could possible also have an "Opening Soon" section.
It would probably look better if there were a larger font for the title and a row of up to 5 reviews for each film.
There could also be a FWFR Chart that showed the top 5 or 10 voted reviews of the week, rather than the past 24 hours. |
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