Comments on: Review Scoring, Formatting and MAL

By: Opinion Prone :: Review :: Review: Antique Bakery

Opinion Prone :: Review :: Review: Antique Bakery — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:38:40 +0000

[...] is my first review on MAL since its review overhaul though, and I must say, I really, really miss that BBCode. I am still using my old review template, [...]

By: Kiriska

Kiriska — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Well, I’d be curious to know how it’s a security issue, but if that were the case, I don’t see why Xinil couldn’t have just mentioned it. From his words, it seems more like a personal vendetta against BBCode, which really just makes him out to be a selfish administrator who makes adjustments without considering the other users on the site. I don’t know whether or not that’s actually true, but that’s the impression I’m getting from his explanations.

By: Ryan A

Ryan A — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:08:00 +0000

I'm still set against bringing bbcode back. Newspapers, magazines, news websites...none of them use bold/italics. We don't need it.

It's really not about that... it's a security thing. It's also not about needing it, because it is available and why not allow it... personally, on the site I've been developing (melative.com) the objective is to not limit possibilities or confinements.

Unfortunately, I don't do on-site reviews, but link to reviews via associated bookmarking... also, there are no point-ratings... can't recommend it :( I'm sure there are ways to make relative ratings work with review-breakdowns, but I'll leave that for when it is needed.

Cheers

By: Kiriska

Kiriska — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:18:00 +0000

@Joe: Yeah, I find that a lot of NYT’s book and movie reviews are pretty unclear as to what position the author’s taking, perhaps to keep offending the reader to a minimal. That’s all well and good, but if I can’t take away some kind of impression, then that’s missing the point. I seem to recall the book review for Harry Potter 7 being vague like that, though the review for The Dark Knight was definitely positive. Maybe a number is oversimplifying a very complex opinion, but you can’t argue with its ease of understanding.

@Iknight: Certainly its Xinil’s site, but I always like to think that administrators should keep nice with their members. I don’t see the point in needlessly initiating antagonisms by implementing changes without polling the public. The changes made to the review system seemed more like a random whim of his because there was no public call for it, and his refusal to compromise (at least with the BBCode matter) with the resulting backlash just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It reminds me a bit of Facebook. Sure, MAL isn’t anywhere near Facebook’s caliber and its members aren’t as vocal, but it’s the same kind of idea. Like I said,

I like Mal a lot — it’s an incredibly useful tool, and for the most part, I enjoy the community. I’m with you in that I’ll leave if something utterly offensive happens (and it hasn’t yet), but I don’t think it’s too much to ask for Xinil to consult the masses a bit before implementing large changes.

By: Iknight

Iknight — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:58:00 +0000

It feels pretty weird not being able to italicise series titles. But hey, it’s Xinil’s website. I guess I’ll leave it if he ever makes changes which are too irritating (these don’t fall into that category).

You can actually get a review removed if it contains major spoilers. I suspect they have to be obvious, serious ones that the mods will recognise, though: the case I’m thinking of is a review of Magikano which said (essentially) ‘Don’t watch this because at the end [etc]‘

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:26:00 +0000

The New York Times, and many other book reviewers don’t use scores at all. I appreciate this, but at the same time It’s sometimes difficult to determine if they liked or disliked a book if you don’t have encyclopedic knowledge of the literary world; you’re just left with a general feeling. They also very rarely summarize their opinion. I hate having to stuff a novel or something into a simplistic grading system but it seems necessary to get the idea across.