Thoughts on 1-star reviews....

xg4bx · 08-01-2011, 04:40 AM

based on price or formatting errors. I see a lot of back&forth about this on reviews and I'm just curious what people's thoughts are.

I'm of the mind that reviews are there to review the entire product. If price or errors are a part of why one didn't enjoy the product, I think critiques of these areas are perfectly acceptable. I'm sure plenty of publishers scan reviews daily and they see 50 reviews of "Hey, I'd love to buy it but it's too expensive" one would hope they'd take the hint. It's one of the few ways that we can send a direct message to publishers and other customers. Simply refusing to buy it doesn't send any message because how will the powers that be know?

I'd like to thank the authors of these reviews, they've saved me a boatload of money on poorly produced products and have made me stop and think nah, maybe I don't need to spend $15 on this ebook.

HarryT · 08-01-2011, 05:34 AM

1 star reviews on the basis of price I don't think are appropriate. I can make up my own mind whether or not the price is one that I'm willing to pay.

1 star reviews based on errors - yes, absolutely. Poor formatting and numerous errors will make a book unreadable for me, no matter how good the story.

vaughnmr · 08-01-2011, 05:55 AM

It's absolutely appropriate, for ebooks or any other product. You should be able to say "I like this product, but it's priced too high for me". How else would someone learn that their product is priced too high for the market?

There are some who support agency pricing, and don't want this applied to ebooks, though...

Arrghus · 08-01-2011, 06:53 AM

If we were able to leave a neutral comment on sites like Amazon, perhaps we could all start challenging the current pricing structures without disparaging an author's work?

DiapDealer · 08-01-2011, 07:01 AM

We've had the same discussion before. I think the practice sucks.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=128471

hidari · 08-01-2011, 07:02 AM

One star..the truth hurt sometimes..

PKFFW · 08-01-2011, 05:05 PM

I don't agree with giving a 1 star "review" that basically says......"I haven't actually had any experience of this product because I don't want to pay the price". A review is meant to be a critique of ones experience with the product. If you have no experience with the product then your "review" is worthless and isn't even a review it's just a whinge. There are other places and better ways to have a whinge.

On the other hand, if you have purchased the product and felt it wasn't worth the price for whatever reason then by all means give a 1 star review based on that.

Cheers,
PKFFW

tubemonkey · 08-01-2011, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xg4bx

I'm of the mind that reviews are there to review the entire product. If price or errors are a part of why one didn't enjoy the product, I think critiques of these areas are perfectly acceptable

Totally agree!

tubemonkey · 08-01-2011, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PKFFW

I don't agree with giving a 1 star "review" that basically says......"I haven't actually had any experience of this product because I don't want to pay the price". A review is meant to be a critique of ones experience with the product. If you have no experience with the product then your "review" is worthless and isn't even a review it's just a whinge. There are other places and better ways to have a whinge.

Disagree. The very first thing I look at in a product I'm interested in is the price. If if it's too high, I disregard that product and move on. At that point, everything else (quality, content, features, etc) is irrelevant.

PKFFW · 08-01-2011, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Disagree. The very first thing I look at in a product I'm interested in is the price. If if it's too high, I disregard that product and move on. At that point, everything else (quality, content, features, etc) is irrelevant.

That's fine but in that case you have no basis for a review of the product. All you have is the fact that you think the price is too high which says nothing at all about the product itself.

By all means, make a point of complaining about the price and sending a message that you think the price is too high. Just don't kid yourself or anyone else by suggesting it is a "review" of the product.

Cheers,
PKFFW

elcreative · 08-01-2011, 10:48 PM

So it's time for a 1 * review for the Mona Lisa and Sunflowers... pretty good paintings etc but because they cost more than I can pay then just the one star...

tubemonkey · 08-01-2011, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PKFFW

By all means, make a point of complaining about the price and sending a message that you think the price is too high. Just don't kid yourself or anyone else by suggesting it is a "review" of the product.

Does Amazon have a separate rating system for prices? So tell me, where is one to complain about the price so that others will see it?

tubemonkey · 08-01-2011, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elcreative

So it's time for a 1 * review for the Mona Lisa and Sunflowers... pretty good paintings etc but because they cost more than I can pay then just the one star...

Mona Lisa - 5 stars - works for me

PKFFW · 08-01-2011, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Does Amazon have a separate rating system for prices?

I have no idea as I don't shop from Amazon.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

So tell me, where is one to complain about the price so that others will see it?

That is beside the point.

Firstly, why is it important to you that "others" see it. Why should joe blow down the road who is interested in the book care that you think it is priced too high? Particularly if your basis for thinking that has nothing to do with the actual book itself because you have not purchased or read it? You might as well add to your "review" of the book that you don't like the colour red.(or any other colour you don't like!) It is irrelevant and has nothing to do with the product and therefore does not constitute a "review".

Secondly, if by "others", you mean the publishers/retailers/author, then you should write directly to them as that is far more likely to garner their attention and response.

A "review" is not meant to simply be a whinge concerning something about which one has no experience. A "review" is a meant to be a critique of the product.

Obviously, if there are reasons one thinks the price is too high, that have to do with the quality, interest, production values etc etc of the product and are based on the experience of the reviewer then it would certainly be valid to give a 1 star "review" because of these things.

Cheers,
PKFFW

caleb72 · 08-02-2011, 12:31 AM

I absolutely appreciate a review that tells me an ebook has a large number of errors regardless of the number of stars given.

I'm having many more problems with 5 star reviews of books which are so full of errors that I wonder whether I'm in a different dimension than the other reviewers. The book I'm reading now is riddled with poor sentence structure, terrible word misuse and numerous errors. It received 3, 4, even 5 star reviews on Amazon and not one complaint about the poor writing within.

If it's not fair to sabotage an author with 1 star reviews based on price alone, how fair is it to praise by implication the complete butchery of a given language.

Of course, I never learn. Read the sample first, Caleb!

08-01-2011, 04:40 AM	#1
xg4bx Are you gonna eat that? Posts: 1,633 Karma: 23215128 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Phillipsburg, NJ Device: Kindle 3, Nook STG	Thoughts on 1-star reviews.... based on price or formatting errors. I see a lot of back&forth about this on reviews and I'm just curious what people's thoughts are. I'm of the mind that reviews are there to review the entire product. If price or errors are a part of why one didn't enjoy the product, I think critiques of these areas are perfectly acceptable. I'm sure plenty of publishers scan reviews daily and they see 50 reviews of "Hey, I'd love to buy it but it's too expensive" one would hope they'd take the hint. It's one of the few ways that we can send a direct message to publishers and other customers. Simply refusing to buy it doesn't send any message because how will the powers that be know? I'd like to thank the authors of these reviews, they've saved me a boatload of money on poorly produced products and have made me stop and think nah, maybe I don't need to spend $15 on this ebook.

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08-01-2011, 05:34 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	1 star reviews on the basis of price I don't think are appropriate. I can make up my own mind whether or not the price is one that I'm willing to pay. 1 star reviews based on errors - yes, absolutely. Poor formatting and numerous errors will make a book unreadable for me, no matter how good the story.

08-01-2011, 05:55 AM	#3
vaughnmr Ebook Reader Posts: 605 Karma: 3205128 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Texas Device: Kindle 3, HTC Evo, HTC View	It's absolutely appropriate, for ebooks or any other product. You should be able to say "I like this product, but it's priced too high for me". How else would someone learn that their product is priced too high for the market? There are some who support agency pricing, and don't want this applied to ebooks, though...

08-01-2011, 06:53 AM	#4
Arrghus Zealot Posts: 143 Karma: 5002 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Llandudno, Wales Device: Kindle PW2; Nexus 5X	If we were able to leave a neutral comment on sites like Amazon, perhaps we could all start challenging the current pricing structures without disparaging an author's work?

08-01-2011, 07:01 AM	#5
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,357 Karma: 203720150 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	We've had the same discussion before. I think the practice sucks. https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=128471

08-01-2011, 07:02 AM	#6
hidari MR Drone Posts: 1,613 Karma: 15612282 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: DRONEZONE Device: PB360+, Huawei MP5, Libra H20	One star..the truth hurt sometimes..

08-01-2011, 05:05 PM	#7
PKFFW Wizard Posts: 3,775 Karma: 31487152 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: BeBook, Sony PRS-T1, Kobo H2O	I don't agree with giving a 1 star "review" that basically says......"I haven't actually had any experience of this product because I don't want to pay the price". A review is meant to be a critique of ones experience with the product. If you have no experience with the product then your "review" is worthless and isn't even a review it's just a whinge. There are other places and better ways to have a whinge. On the other hand, if you have purchased the product and felt it wasn't worth the price for whatever reason then by all means give a 1 star review based on that. Cheers, PKFFW

08-01-2011, 10:48 PM	#11
elcreative Wizard Posts: 2,888 Karma: 5875940 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: PRS505, 600, 350, 650, Nexus 7, Note III, iPad 4 etc	So it's time for a 1 * review for the Mona Lisa and Sunflowers... pretty good paintings etc but because they cost more than I can pay then just the one star...

08-02-2011, 12:31 AM	#15
caleb72 Indie Advocate Posts: 2,863 Karma: 18794463 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle	I absolutely appreciate a review that tells me an ebook has a large number of errors regardless of the number of stars given. I'm having many more problems with 5 star reviews of books which are so full of errors that I wonder whether I'm in a different dimension than the other reviewers. The book I'm reading now is riddled with poor sentence structure, terrible word misuse and numerous errors. It received 3, 4, even 5 star reviews on Amazon and not one complaint about the poor writing within. If it's not fair to sabotage an author with 1 star reviews based on price alone, how fair is it to praise by implication the complete butchery of a given language. Of course, I never learn. Read the sample first, Caleb!

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