There’s a lot of misunderstanding about GP rating. Many people are still convinced that Sponsorship for GP rating is the best way to rate your reviews, so they tend only to recommend their products and services. They don’t realise that while GP rating has some good uses, it has its fair share of problems. Let’s look at each of these problems and determine if a GP rating is the best way to rate your reviews.
Things To Consider About GP Rating
It’s gotten out of hand. There are now so many different variants that it’s hard to track them all. It would probably be a good idea to limit it to only a few types. For example, you could do “thumb” ratings and “very thumb” ratings: thumbs up, thumbs down, and very thumbs up, very thumbs down.
It doesn’t matter when the rating was given. The rating history is screwed. For example, if I rate a review I wrote ten years ago with a thumb up, it appears at the top of the reviews for that product even though it is no longer relevant.
It wastes time and effort. Some users are so obsessed with getting their GP rating as high as possible that they will spend hours reading through old reviews to give them thumbs up or down, depending on whether they still agree with what they wrote in the past. This isn’t very effective because:
- Some users don’t even bother to look at their old reviews, and
- Some users think it’s better to have an inconsistent rating history.
You can’t quickly look for the best products and services out there since you have to hunt down each rating history and check if it’s a thumbs up or down (and also who gave it).
Users who give too many thumbs-down ratings can’t be trusted since they’re biased against all products/services.
The ratings are sometimes inaccurate. For example, if the user has been a member of the site for a while and they’re giving their first thumbs up/down rating, they’re probably going to give it to a product/service they’ve never tried before or even heard of before. This obviously can’t be right since it’s not based on experience with the product.
It isn’t apparent. There are so many different things that get a thumb up or down:
Language, was it written in English?
The punctuation and grammar correct? Was there a particular way the review was supposed to be written?
Does the review express a genuine opinion, or is it mostly praise with a single negative comment?
Comments made in other forums, did the user leave many comments in those forums? Or was all their online presence solely focused on this site?
Is the review given by an owner of the product/service, or are there users that give fake reviews for some perceived benefit?
It’s intrusive to members and doesn’t help them search for new products/services.
It’s hard to determine who’s giving a review. If you’re trying to find the best judgments for a particular product/service, and all you see is the thumbs-up or thumbs-down ratings from users that aren’t affiliated with that company in any way, how do you know how genuine the review is?
There’s no easy way to search for your reviews and find out which ones will be most helpful. Remember, you should rate your thoughts to help you improve your review writing, but it shouldn’t mean you have to go through all the trouble of finding them first. If you want to learn more about the rating system, you can read our it.
Some users are so obsessed with getting their GP rating as high as possible that they will spend hours reading through old reviews to give them thumbs up or down, depending on whether they still agree with what they wrote in the past. This isn’t very effective because
a. Some users don’t even bother to look at their old reviews and b. Some users think it’s better to have an inconsistent rating history. You can’t quickly look for the best products and services out there since you have to hunt down each rating history and check if it’s a thumbs up or down (and also who gave it). Users that provide too many thumbs-down ratings can’t be trusted since they’re biased against all products/services in general. The ratings are sometimes inaccurate.
For example, if the user has been a member of the site for a while and they’re giving their first thumbs up/down rating, they’re probably going to give it to a product/service they’ve never tried before or even heard of before. This obviously can’t be right since it’s not based on experience with the product. It isn’t apparent. There are so many different things that get a thumb up or down: a. Language, was it written in English?
b. Are the punctuation and grammar correct? Was there a particular way the review was supposed to be written?
c. Did the study express a genuine opinion, or is it mostly praise with a single negative comment?
d. Was the review written in an appropriate venue? Forums and other websites are less likely to be suitable venues.
e. Was the review a sincere effort? If a user gives $500,000 worth of services and products for free, their response can be highly suspect.
Conclusion
Was the review given by an owner of the product/service, or are there users that give fake reviews for some perceived benefit? It’s hard to determine who’s giving a review. If you’re trying to find the best judgments for a particular product/service, and all you see is the thumbs-up or thumbs-down ratings from users that aren’t affiliated with that company in any way, how do you know how genuine the review is? There’s no easy way to search for your studies and finding out GP rating sponsorship will be most helpful. Remember, you should rate your thoughts to help you improve your review writing, but it shouldn’t mean you must go through all the trouble of finding them first.
