Where and How to Write a Review - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Where and How to Write a Review

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
awakenings
Nov 18, 2003 23:05:06 Since there's been a lot of discussion about writing reviews so that others know about our corner of the multiverse, perhaps it's about time we discussed where and how to write them.

I agree with what has been said elsewhere that a review needs to be honest. A review that omits sincere criticism because it hopes to draw fans is being deceptive--the worst kind of advertising, because some who follow the ad's advice may feel they have been betrayed and blame the entire line.

A review needs to be well informed. While you write it, have the book with you, and look up the part you are reviewing so that you know you are being accurate. Make brief references to the pages so that those reading the review will hear some authority in what you say.

Don't review in an extremely bad mood or an extremely good one. If your feelings are overriding your honesty, take a break and come back when you can be sincere and specific.

I feel a little uncomfortable giving this advice, having not written many reviews myself. That changes now. I am extremely limited these days in my internet hours, and I don't have some of the RL3E, but if someone will give me websites where reviews can be posted, I will review the books I have.

Any suggestions?
#2
zombiegleemax
Nov 18, 2003 23:15:18
Originally posted by Awakenings
I feel a little uncomfortable giving this advice, having not written many reviews myself. That changes now. I am extremely limited these days in my internet hours, and I don't have some of the RL3E, but if someone will give me websites where reviews can be posted, I will review the books I have.

Any suggestions?

RPG.net and EN World are the major ones. Good luck.

Chris Nichols
#3
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 0:19:41 [Forget what I said.]
#4
Matthew_L._Martin
Nov 19, 2003 0:55:55 Well, one key thing is that reviews should be honest assessments--they shouldn't be scathing attacks based solely on dislike of an element or author, nor should they downplay concerns or problems in an attempt to 'sell' the product.

Some good advice from Lester Smith, former reviewer for DRAGON (among many other RPG jobs), relayed from reviewing guidelines he received early in his career:

1. No matter how much you like a product, find something that's bad about it.

2. No matter how much you dislike a product, find something good about it.

Matthew L. Martin

EDIT: And I see that Awakening already hit my first point. This is what I get for posting after midnight. :-)
#5
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 1:21:24 A question for anyone who's written reviews: when you're reviewing a product that's fairly specific to a gameworld, how much info do you think is reasonable to present, assuming that you will probably have readers who are not familiar with said gameworld?

And a more Ravenloft-specific one: how much should one bring up comparisons to 2e products (which is something that a review of the Gazetteers could easily tend towards)?
#6
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 9:17:52 I review it as a Game-world specific item, explaining how it fits in with the world and adds (or in the case of something like Champions of Dorkness subtracts) from the setting.

Then at the end of the review I'd state how material could be used in another setting.
#7
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 20:11:12 Another tip: If you get fans...Don't Flame them......
#8
john_w._mangrum
Nov 19, 2003 21:08:12
Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes
Another tip: If you get fans...Don't Flame them......

Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market.
#9
keg_of_ale
Nov 19, 2003 21:15:16
Originally posted by John W. Mangrum
Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market.

JOHN! Do you really want to have this thread locked like the other one?

If comments like Plunderer's annoy you, why not act smart and ignore them? I seriously doubt you will change their opinion on Ravenloft, you, or anything else. If the "In case anyone was wondering" episode is of any indication, all you risk achieving is starting a flame war.
#10
awakenings
Nov 19, 2003 21:15:37
Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes
Another tip: If you get fans...Don't Flame them......

....I'll get fans if I post reviews?....

Plunderer, this was baiting, plain and simple.

I had hoped this thread would be a place for constructive advice. Please don't get it locked.

Do you have any sincere advice for my reviews, or would you prefer to comment after I've posted them?
#11
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 21:16:17
Originally posted by John W. Mangrum
Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market.

Admit it, John, that wasn't your trademark sarcasm! You're being honest! All those illiterate bigot's will now have nothing to scratch their head and look confused about!
#12
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 21:31:48
Originally posted by John W. Mangrum
Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market.

Yeah bigots....I think I saw you throwing a hate word or two around there as well.....Sorry If I don't elaborate...since I am illitarate and only read at a sixth grade level
#13
awakenings
Nov 19, 2003 21:32:01 Still researching sites and material so that I can post a good review. Found this advice on the EN World site and decided to post it here, for many reasons:

· Are there any guidelines or advice for reviewers?

Yes. These are not strict rules (although they may be enforced by the moderators in extreme cases), but I've tried to summarise here a few points which will make your review useful to others. These points were suggested by publishers in my d20 Publishers forum:

If you have a connection to the company whose product you are reviewing, state it.

If you received this product for free as a review copy, state it.

If you playtested the product, state it.

If you are critical of the product, please give examples and full reasoning.

If you have a bias against a genre, state it.

Provide examples of other products you can compare the product to. That helps the reader understand your take on the product and your biases as well. For example, saying "the village in this product is stale and cliched" doesn't tell me much. But if you said, "The village in this product is stale and cliched, reminding me of the Village of Homlet", that is useful for the reader. To someone who loved Homlet, they may now want to get the product, where before they might not.

Try to avoid the "holier than thou" tone (usually only present in poor reviews, but still worth noting).

Don't be condescending. Don't be rude.

Try to find something good in the product. Even the worst product I have seen had something of value in it.

Tell us why you decided to review this particular product.

If you have a particular dislike for a particular product type, don't review it. If you hate character sheets and think they are useless, don't give a character sheet product a bad score. Some people like them, y'know! Instead, rate the product as a character sheet - if it's a good character sheet, give it a good review; if it's a bad character sheet, give it a bad review. Don't bother giving it a bad review because you hate character sheets - that helps nobody. It's like asking you to review knitting patterns and you just posting "I hate knitting patterns" in every review - it's no use to those people who are looking for knitting pattern reviews and who want to know which are the good knitting patterns and which are the bad ones.
#14
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 21:37:35
Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes
Yeah bigots....I think I saw you throwing a hate word or two around there as well.....Sorry If I don't elaborate...since I am illitarate and only read at a sixth grade level

Something has always confused me about so called "hate words."

I can understand that racial slurs are hate words, they are words that cause hate to rise. I can't understand why, though, people consider homophobia a hate word. And why people get p'oed when it's spoken. I can understand people hating queer-bashing, it's a bad thing. But I don't understand why people suddenly get all defensive when they're called homophobic, etc.

Heck, maybe it's because of how mind-veged I am over this bloody essay.
#15
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 21:45:47
Originally posted by Drinnik Shoehorn
Something has always confused me about so called "hate words."

I can understand that racial slurs are hate words, they are words that cause hate to rise. I can't understand why, though, people consider homophobia a hate word. And why people get p'oed when it's spoken. I can understand people hating queer-bashing, it's a bad thing. But I don't understand why people suddenly get all defensive when they're called homophobic, etc.

Heck, maybe it's because of how mind-veged I am over this bloody essay.

Pure and simple "Homophobia" is Hetero-bashing. It suggests things that are not true just like other "stereotypes". Next what John did would have gotten most warned or banned. His special treatment is and indication that Authors and developers can flame whomever they want but members cannot.

Besides an attack like his was uncalled for and demands an apology. As stated before I had thought to rethink 3e RL but have decided against it if his attack was any indication on how the designers and authors feel about it's audience.
#16
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 21:51:06
Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes
Pure and simple "Homophobia" is Hetero-bashing. It suggests things that are not true just like other "stereotypes".

Sorry, don't follow?

If you want we can continue this discussion on PM, save another topic being locked or we can stay here. Up to you, not bothered either way.
#17
zombiegleemax
Nov 19, 2003 21:51:08 Damn double posts. Harkens back to the old old message board on the K.
#18
john_w._mangrum
Nov 20, 2003 1:10:47
Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes
His special treatment is and indication that Authors and developers can flame whomever they want but members cannot.

You'd make a better point if you were not, yourself, completely flaming.
#19
william_cairnstone_dup
Nov 20, 2003 4:51:10
Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes
Yeah bigots....I think I saw you throwing a hate word or two around there as well.....Sorry If I don't elaborate...since I am illitarate and only read at a sixth grade level

We have a saying here which roughly translated would be something like "It's your problem if the hat fits you".

You see, I'm also a fan, and you can bet I do not read at sixth grade. Nor write. And especially, you should know that I DO NOT FEEL like I did, because I know JWM's words were not directed at me. At least, I didn't see anything in them that could be attributed to me so I couldn't bother less.
You see, if you're touchy about that, perhaps it's because of a heavy conscience.

It's just a little bit of statistics: John knows numbers we don't. He's been on the receiving end for years in a row and if the majority, let's throw a wild guess - 90%, of the fans behave in a certain way, then of course it's easy to generalize and say "the fans are X, the fans do Y". Don't tell me you have never seen this. Especially in the news at night, you can often see comments like
"Europeans are against such and such; Americans have decided that this and this". When you read the small print, it's majorities like 54%, 60%, 70% at most. So, have all of them decided anything ? Are all of them against something ?

No! It's reasonability of the language, actually. People have feelings: they express them emotionally when they feel a heavy accumulated stress. People are practical: they cut on their sentences when they know the majority of people will still understand their true meaning.

Of course, there's a thing called "Hostile Readers". I've read an article about them once (I'm so sorry that I forgot about what else the article was, so I can't look it up :-( ), and since those are people actively looking for holes in what you say so they can always attack you on those. But as I said article concluded, it's always impossible to satisfy a hostile reader. He'll want to have you the whole time, so simply ignore them and go on with life. You'll never be able to express a text that is 100% safe from a hostile reader, so why the trouble ?

And I think much of what has been happening here in the boards has to do with that hostility. If people were reasonable, John's motives would be very understandable.

Anyway, just a reflexion, and an invitation to it.

Yours,

W.C.
#20
william_cairnstone_dup
Nov 20, 2003 9:13:26 Ok, I got that reference on Hostile Readers. It was from a book I had to read for my former job, "Pratical Software Requirements" from Benjamin Kovitz. So, it's not an article, as I had said.

I don't remember the text exactly and it is not available online. If anyone ever finds the book, it's section 13.4.

W.C.
#21
wizo_sith
Nov 20, 2003 18:05:33 Ok, Nope. Sorry Folks.

This entire line of discussion is COMPLETELY inappropriate for this forum and the WotC Website.

Please take a moment to review the [u]WotC Online Code of Conduct[/u] to see the kind of behavior that is and isn't acceptable. Pay particular attention to the sections on "Flaming", "Baiting", and "Trolling".

This thread will be closed and WotC must insit that no further discussions of this nature take place on our forums.

*Click*

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 awakenings Nov 18, 2003 23:05:06	Since there's been a lot of discussion about writing reviews so that others know about our corner of the multiverse, perhaps it's about time we discussed where and how to write them. I agree with what has been said elsewhere that a review needs to be honest. A review that omits sincere criticism because it hopes to draw fans is being deceptive--the worst kind of advertising, because some who follow the ad's advice may feel they have been betrayed and blame the entire line. A review needs to be well informed. While you write it, have the book with you, and look up the part you are reviewing so that you know you are being accurate. Make brief references to the pages so that those reading the review will hear some authority in what you say. Don't review in an extremely bad mood or an extremely good one. If your feelings are overriding your honesty, take a break and come back when you can be sincere and specific. I feel a little uncomfortable giving this advice, having not written many reviews myself. That changes now. I am extremely limited these days in my internet hours, and I don't have some of the RL3E, but if someone will give me websites where reviews can be posted, I will review the books I have. Any suggestions?
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 18, 2003 23:15:18	Originally posted by Awakenings I feel a little uncomfortable giving this advice, having not written many reviews myself. That changes now. I am extremely limited these days in my internet hours, and I don't have some of the RL3E, but if someone will give me websites where reviews can be posted, I will review the books I have. Any suggestions? RPG.net and EN World are the major ones. Good luck. Chris Nichols
#3 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 0:19:41	[Forget what I said.]
#4 Matthew_L._Martin Nov 19, 2003 0:55:55	Well, one key thing is that reviews should be honest assessments--they shouldn't be scathing attacks based solely on dislike of an element or author, nor should they downplay concerns or problems in an attempt to 'sell' the product. Some good advice from Lester Smith, former reviewer for DRAGON (among many other RPG jobs), relayed from reviewing guidelines he received early in his career: 1. No matter how much you like a product, find something that's bad about it. 2. No matter how much you dislike a product, find something good about it. Matthew L. Martin EDIT: And I see that Awakening already hit my first point. This is what I get for posting after midnight. :-)
#5 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 1:21:24	A question for anyone who's written reviews: when you're reviewing a product that's fairly specific to a gameworld, how much info do you think is reasonable to present, assuming that you will probably have readers who are not familiar with said gameworld? And a more Ravenloft-specific one: how much should one bring up comparisons to 2e products (which is something that a review of the Gazetteers could easily tend towards)?
#6 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 9:17:52	I review it as a Game-world specific item, explaining how it fits in with the world and adds (or in the case of something like Champions of Dorkness subtracts) from the setting. Then at the end of the review I'd state how material could be used in another setting.
#7 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 20:11:12	Another tip: If you get fans...Don't Flame them......
#8 john_w._mangrum Nov 19, 2003 21:08:12	Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes Another tip: If you get fans...Don't Flame them...... Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market.
#9 keg_of_ale Nov 19, 2003 21:15:16	Originally posted by John W. Mangrum Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market. JOHN! Do you really want to have this thread locked like the other one? If comments like Plunderer's annoy you, why not act smart and ignore them? I seriously doubt you will change their opinion on Ravenloft, you, or anything else. If the "In case anyone was wondering" episode is of any indication, all you risk achieving is starting a flame war.
#10 awakenings Nov 19, 2003 21:15:37	Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes Another tip: If you get fans...Don't Flame them...... ....I'll get fans if I post reviews?.... Plunderer, this was baiting, plain and simple. I had hoped this thread would be a place for constructive advice. Please don't get it locked. Do you have any sincere advice for my reviews, or would you prefer to comment after I've posted them?
#11 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:16:17	Originally posted by John W. Mangrum Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market. Admit it, John, that wasn't your trademark sarcasm! You're being honest! All those illiterate bigot's will now have nothing to scratch their head and look confused about!
#12 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:31:48	Originally posted by John W. Mangrum Yes, it truly breaks my heart to have lost the illiterate bigot market. Yeah bigots....I think I saw you throwing a hate word or two around there as well.....Sorry If I don't elaborate...since I am illitarate and only read at a sixth grade level
#13 awakenings Nov 19, 2003 21:32:01	Still researching sites and material so that I can post a good review. Found this advice on the EN World site and decided to post it here, for many reasons: · Are there any guidelines or advice for reviewers? Yes. These are not strict rules (although they may be enforced by the moderators in extreme cases), but I've tried to summarise here a few points which will make your review useful to others. These points were suggested by publishers in my d20 Publishers forum: If you have a connection to the company whose product you are reviewing, state it. If you received this product for free as a review copy, state it. If you playtested the product, state it. If you are critical of the product, please give examples and full reasoning. If you have a bias against a genre, state it. Provide examples of other products you can compare the product to. That helps the reader understand your take on the product and your biases as well. For example, saying "the village in this product is stale and cliched" doesn't tell me much. But if you said, "The village in this product is stale and cliched, reminding me of the Village of Homlet", that is useful for the reader. To someone who loved Homlet, they may now want to get the product, where before they might not. Try to avoid the "holier than thou" tone (usually only present in poor reviews, but still worth noting). Don't be condescending. Don't be rude. Try to find something good in the product. Even the worst product I have seen had something of value in it. Tell us why you decided to review this particular product. If you have a particular dislike for a particular product type, don't review it. If you hate character sheets and think they are useless, don't give a character sheet product a bad score. Some people like them, y'know! Instead, rate the product as a character sheet - if it's a good character sheet, give it a good review; if it's a bad character sheet, give it a bad review. Don't bother giving it a bad review because you hate character sheets - that helps nobody. It's like asking you to review knitting patterns and you just posting "I hate knitting patterns" in every review - it's no use to those people who are looking for knitting pattern reviews and who want to know which are the good knitting patterns and which are the bad ones.
#14 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:37:35	Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes Yeah bigots....I think I saw you throwing a hate word or two around there as well.....Sorry If I don't elaborate...since I am illitarate and only read at a sixth grade level Something has always confused me about so called "hate words." I can understand that racial slurs are hate words, they are words that cause hate to rise. I can't understand why, though, people consider homophobia a hate word. And why people get p'oed when it's spoken. I can understand people hating queer-bashing, it's a bad thing. But I don't understand why people suddenly get all defensive when they're called homophobic, etc. Heck, maybe it's because of how mind-veged I am over this bloody essay.
#15 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:45:47	Originally posted by Drinnik Shoehorn Something has always confused me about so called "hate words." I can understand that racial slurs are hate words, they are words that cause hate to rise. I can't understand why, though, people consider homophobia a hate word. And why people get p'oed when it's spoken. I can understand people hating queer-bashing, it's a bad thing. But I don't understand why people suddenly get all defensive when they're called homophobic, etc. Heck, maybe it's because of how mind-veged I am over this bloody essay. Pure and simple "Homophobia" is Hetero-bashing. It suggests things that are not true just like other "stereotypes". Next what John did would have gotten most warned or banned. His special treatment is and indication that Authors and developers can flame whomever they want but members cannot. Besides an attack like his was uncalled for and demands an apology. As stated before I had thought to rethink 3e RL but have decided against it if his attack was any indication on how the designers and authors feel about it's audience.
#16 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:51:06	Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes Pure and simple "Homophobia" is Hetero-bashing. It suggests things that are not true just like other "stereotypes". Sorry, don't follow? If you want we can continue this discussion on PM, save another topic being locked or we can stay here. Up to you, not bothered either way.
#17 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2003 21:51:08	Damn double posts. Harkens back to the old old message board on the K.
#18 john_w._mangrum Nov 20, 2003 1:10:47	Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes His special treatment is and indication that Authors and developers can flame whomever they want but members cannot. You'd make a better point if you were not, yourself, completely flaming.
#19 william_cairnstone_dup Nov 20, 2003 4:51:10	Originally posted by Plunderer_of_the_planes Yeah bigots....I think I saw you throwing a hate word or two around there as well.....Sorry If I don't elaborate...since I am illitarate and only read at a sixth grade level We have a saying here which roughly translated would be something like "It's your problem if the hat fits you". You see, I'm also a fan, and you can bet I do not read at sixth grade. Nor write. And especially, you should know that I DO NOT FEEL like I did, because I know JWM's words were not directed at me. At least, I didn't see anything in them that could be attributed to me so I couldn't bother less. You see, if you're touchy about that, perhaps it's because of a heavy conscience. It's just a little bit of statistics: John knows numbers we don't. He's been on the receiving end for years in a row and if the majority, let's throw a wild guess - 90%, of the fans behave in a certain way, then of course it's easy to generalize and say "the fans are X, the fans do Y". Don't tell me you have never seen this. Especially in the news at night, you can often see comments like "Europeans are against such and such; Americans have decided that this and this". When you read the small print, it's majorities like 54%, 60%, 70% at most. So, have all of them decided anything ? Are all of them against something ? No! It's reasonability of the language, actually. People have feelings: they express them emotionally when they feel a heavy accumulated stress. People are practical: they cut on their sentences when they know the majority of people will still understand their true meaning. Of course, there's a thing called "Hostile Readers". I've read an article about them once (I'm so sorry that I forgot about what else the article was, so I can't look it up :-( ), and since those are people actively looking for holes in what you say so they can always attack you on those. But as I said article concluded, it's always impossible to satisfy a hostile reader. He'll want to have you the whole time, so simply ignore them and go on with life. You'll never be able to express a text that is 100% safe from a hostile reader, so why the trouble ? And I think much of what has been happening here in the boards has to do with that hostility. If people were reasonable, John's motives would be very understandable. Anyway, just a reflexion, and an invitation to it. Yours, W.C.
#20 william_cairnstone_dup Nov 20, 2003 9:13:26	Ok, I got that reference on Hostile Readers. It was from a book I had to read for my former job, "Pratical Software Requirements" from Benjamin Kovitz. So, it's not an article, as I had said. I don't remember the text exactly and it is not available online. If anyone ever finds the book, it's section 13.4. W.C.
#21 wizo_sith Nov 20, 2003 18:05:33	Ok, Nope. Sorry Folks. This entire line of discussion is COMPLETELY inappropriate for this forum and the WotC Website. Please take a moment to review the [u]WotC Online Code of Conduct[/u] to see the kind of behavior that is and isn't acceptable. Pay particular attention to the sections on "Flaming", "Baiting", and "Trolling". This thread will be closed and WotC must insit that no further discussions of this nature take place on our forums. *Click*