Barmymoo Reviews

Barmymoo Reviews

And she does indeed! This article will try to explain the reason behind my rating madness, and the structure of my reviews.

Ratings

I always review when I rate, and if I don't want to review then I won't rate. (More about how I decide whether or not to review later.) This is probably rather less helpful than just rating would be, but I feel that if I'm going to rate an item I might as well review it, and if I don't want to review then why bother rating? I always want an explanation for ratings.

I never rate below 2. This is because I don't finish reading things that I dislike enough to merit such a low rating. If something is promising and it just needs some work on the grammar or similar, then I'll probably send the author a review suggesting some improvements. However, if I just dislike the piece then there's nothing I can really suggest other than to "write it different" and that isn't very helpful

I rate 5 for stupendously brilliant pieces that make me go WOW!, or pause for reflection before I review. There have to be no errors, or if it's a really outstanding piece then perhaps a single typo will be allowed.

I rate 4.5 for something I enjoy, or if it's well-written but simply didn't have that wow-factor. A few suggested improvements are ok for this, although actual errors in spelling or grammar tend to get lower ratings.

I rate 4 for things that just don't make it. Usually this is for things that are a little badly written: things that have a few errors are normally rated 4.

I rate 3.5 or lower for things that have more than just a couple of typing errors: if something is consistently wrong or if the plot isn't really very strong then it gets a lower rating.

Reviews

I have two review templates which I use when reviewing. The first is my short review template, which looks like this:



Sample review text. This is where I put all of my comments, both positive and negative. I try to summarise and cover everything that I felt about the piece in a few sentences. If I can say more than that, I'll use the long template.

Well done!

Barmymoo

I also have a long review template, which looks like this:

Good Points

This is where I list the things I really enjoyed, parts of the piece that needed no improving and were the reasons for my rating. I keep the item I'm reviewing open while I review, so that I can read over certain points and choose my favourites. This stops me from spoiling my initial reading with worry about what I'll say in the review, and also helps my comments to be accurate.

Points for Improvement

Here, I suggest places that could use some work or point out typos. I often copy and paste small phrases to illustrate my meaning, although I try not to instruct people in how to improve.

If something is just a typo, I will normally post the correct way to write it. I usually explain why something is wrong, not just state that it is.

Here, I write a general comment that sums up my opinion and encourages the author to keep writing.

Well done!

Barmymoo

I choose the template depending on how much I have to say. If I just have a general comment for the whole of the piece I use the short one. The longer reviews are the ones that can be broken down into sections. I always use this template for analytical reviews.

Every review I write is longer than 250 characters. This is partly because of the reward system, but also because I consider it almost pointless to send a review that doesn't use that many characters. My previous paragraph contains more than 250 characters and certainly doesn't say as much as I would wish to say in a review.

I'm always happy to re-review something that's been edited, if you drop me an email asking me to. It's good to know that people are constantly trying to improve their writing.