Suspend Your Disbelief
Like all arts, reviewing requires the willful suspension of disbelief. I see too many reviews that only focus on the user's personal opinion of what they are reviewing. While there is nothing immediately wrong with this, we must remember that these are the users who are the most biased and often mess up show rankings by leaving scores that are either too high or too low. The shows and episodes that I have reviewed were all given 10/10, but after carefully analyzing each that's the score I determined that they deserved. A true critic takes the time to let the medium speak for itself, then allows personal feelings to enter the fray. Too many people do the latter without ever considering the former. Personal feelings play a huge role in the review, but they are not the be-all-end-all. The actual content of the show/episode has to come into play at some point. Just remember that both are equally important.
Use Correct Spelling and Grammar
Remember, people will only respect your opinion on something if they can understand it. I assume that is your goal in reviewing since you have made it this far into the post (sadly it's the people who need to read this that aren't). Therefore it is imperative that you write like you see here. Use complete sentences. Follow punctuation rules. Capitalize at the beginning of sentences. Don't use abbreviations (How much longer does it take to type "in my opinion" as opposed to IMO? 3 extra seconds? Man, people are lazy). Use complete words ("You" is only three letters. How much longer would that take to type than "u"? Less than a second?). It helps to type up your review in a word processor with spelling & grammar check like Microsoft Word and then paste it into the submissions box. If you don't have one, run a google search to find a program that does. A lot of sites do it for free. All you have to do is look around.
Don't Say the Same Thing Over and Over
Not only is this annoying, it's spamming, which is a ToS violation. If you can't think of something meaningful to say, don't write the review. It's that simple.
Critique, Don't Criticize
Remember, people are more likely to respect your opinion if it's well-measured and takes both sides of the issue into account. A review should be well-rounded, focusing on the high points as well as the low, devoting a fair amount of space to each. There is a big difference between a critique and a criticism. The former is what I just described: a rational, well thought out approach to analyzing something and translating it into useful form. A good critique gives several good reasons why you liked or didn't like whatever you're reviewing. While personal feelings will always play a big role, part of structuring an effective critique comes from discovering exactly where those feelings come from. A criticism is the opposite of a critique. Criticism throws logic and reason to the wind and just unleashes a no-holds-barred assault on a person's feelings. If you're not careful, this approach could mean you end up flaming somebody and get a ToS violation, which is never fun.
Take Your Time
Too many people write reviews for the leveling up part and forget that people actually read this stuff, and we are more likely to listen to your opinion on other issues if you have shown yourself to be critical (as in critique, not criticism) and rational. I type reviews in MSWord so that I can save my progress. I left a review of the show Scrubs that is over 1700 words long. That one took a while, but it was worth it, since that's how long it took to express my feelings on that truly fantastic show.
Give Reasons Why
The biggest reason that so many people end up writing horrible reviews is that they don't take the time to think about exactly WHY they like/don't like the show/episode they are reviewing. Did you like the cast? The acting? What about the writing, directing, plot, twist ending, or special moments that stuck in your head? What did you not like that could have been improved? If you remember to include all these things and more you'll pass the hundred word minimum in no time. This is the most important of all these rules of reviewing because it is the one on which all the others depend. Follow it religiously.
Find a Unique Angle
People will be more interested in reading your review if it says something that they haven't heard a million times before. I try to find one aspect to focus on in the review and then reflect that in the title. For example, I wrote a review of Kim Possible: So the Drama entitled "If James Bond Were a Teenage Girl." In that review, I went through and pointed out all the homages that the episode made to the world's favorite secret agent. It's good to be comprehensive over everything, but find something to set your review apart. Pay the most attention to the detail that stood out to you the most and make it the theme of your review. It will make for a more enjoyable read for the rest of us.
I hope all this helps. If you have anything to add, post it below and I'll edit it into this post
Edited on 02/01/2007 6:47pm
Edited 8 total times.
Edited 8 total times.
