A rant on reviews

[NatalieS]

OK. Why would someone post this review? Why not just wait until they have read the book?


"This is a good book, but I have only had a chance to read about 45 pages of it so far.....I therefore feel that I cannot justifiably review a book that I have only just begun"



Also, why do people review work outs and say, "I would have given it five stars but it did not have a calf workout" If they had read the description or read other reviews, wouldn't they know that? When I buy a DVD, I read about it, look for reviews and ask questions of other users and watch the clips.

I would have given lots of DVDs 5 stars, except that they didn't make coffee for me. :+ OK, now I am being silly, but I just had to vent about this.

 

[andtckrtoo]

Oh I hear ya! I guess the people who just like to hear themselves talk, now have another outlet. I remember a review for Amy's In the Ring which is listed as an Advanced Workout complaining about the fact that it's too hard and the reviewer said, "Why do these instructors think we're advanced?" Ah, hmm, maybe because the workout IS advanced, and geared for an advanced audience?!

 

[eaglobo]

Natalie,

I have learned to take reviews with a grain of salt, if for no other reason that you just never know who it is that is doing the "reviewing", could be just someone who's never even opened the book they are reviewing.

You kind of have to sift through the rubble sometimes with these. For example, say someone had an axe to grind with Cathe, for whatever reason...it'd probably give them some weird pleasure to go and give her DVD's bad reviews to try and hurt her business.

For me, I always use collage video, mainly because of the clips, so I can be my own judge. I'll also check out the clips on Cathe's site here, if I'm in the mood to order a new Cathe workout.

If it's a book, I exclusively use Amazon.com and take my chances, there's so much info out there, I try not to look and every site, I'd probably never buy anything!

 

[kathryn]

>OK. Why would someone post this review? Why not just wait
>until they have read the book?
>
>
>"This is a good book, but I have only had a chance to read
>about 45 pages of it so far.....I therefore feel that I cannot
>justifiably review a book that I have only just begun"
>
>
>
>Also, why do people review work outs and say, "I would have
>given it five stars but it did not have a calf workout"
>If they had read the description or read other reviews,
>wouldn't they know that? When I buy a DVD, I read about it,
>look for reviews and ask questions of other users and watch
>the clips.
>

I think there are far too many people these days who want to give their opinion, whether or not it is informed (like the first person). I think it's tied in some way to a modern exhibitionistic tendency (I want the world to look at me---reality TV and talk shows---or listen to what I say---blogs, reviews).

One of the most annoying reviews I've seen lately is on Amazon for "Jumpsnap." Someone gave it a very low rating because the next day their knees and hips hurt. Duh! It's not the product that is faulty, it's the act of jump roping itself that would have this effect on someone who is out of shape and/or not used to impact.

I find some reviews at Amazon to be so completely useless!

 

[Miss Lee]

>You kind of have to sift through the rubble sometimes with
>these. For example, say someone had an axe to grind with
>Cathe, for whatever reason...it'd probably give them some
>weird pleasure to go and give her DVD's bad reviews to try and
>hurt her business.

Boy I'll say! I never pay attention to the reviews on the VF forums, especially when it comes to Cathe's workouts. They become downright irrational when talking about her/her workouts.

 

[LauraMax]

The only fitness DVD reviews I have any faith in are the ones I read on this forum.

As far as books & movies go, I don't listen to any of 'em. Crap, Gone With The Wind got panned when it was released!

 

[pippa]

This is my favorite of a book that I read many years ago:

"Oh dear! I am so glad I checked this out at the library rather than buying it~ I was expecting a good serial killer thriller with college prfessors and a great plot; just this artsy weiting, no plot, no grisly murders, no baffled cops, no real story. Too Kafkaesque. I was expecting a good read like Mark Zubro'a Nick Hoffman series. Fine if you like this sort of thing; NOT for me."

Now, to be clear nowhere on the book does it say you should expect anything about *grisly murders* or *baffled cops* or even that if you liked *Mark Zubro's Nick Hofman series* you may like this book.

So, this person gave this novel a one star review because they THOUGHT those things would be included, even though they were never given any indication that they would be. I'm not quite sure how the author could have done a better job of meeting this person's expectations...other than writing a completely different book

They put that little synopsis on the book for a reason!

 

[janiejoey]

I understand. I feel the same way.

Janie

[/url]

The idea is to die young as late as possible.

 

[idream]

I totally agree with Jerry. I use the Amazon book reviews too. As Laura Max said, the only fitness reviews I listen to are here.

Andrea