Regarding User Movie Reviews

[Arbok]

Probably worth creating this topic here, but basically use this to air all concerns regarding movie reviews making a shift to staff only.

To be clear, I was the largest driving force behind this, offering it up early this year as I was growing increasingly dissatisfied with reviews... mostly the scoring aspect. The breaking point for this also hit Miles, again, in terms of scoring.

We didn't seem to have this issue with other aspects of the site nearly as much, but still looking into how this is done on a more global scale and ultimately my feelings were that it was better to bring on a few staff members to address this. In turn, my philosophy is that the merit of a review comes from: (1) how its written, (2) who is saying it. There are tons of sources out there that can provide an automated review submission process, such as IMDB, and so I'm trying to movie the site more toward #2 in trying to hopefully promote reviewers who readers can agree with and then work from there to reflect on how they critically assess a film.

So that was my driving concept behind this move, and yes I realize that this also means we need more reviews on the site in general too...

[Primevalgodzilla V2]

Its true that there are many sites where one can submit user reviews, but ImDB is not really a site where much attention is given to Godzilla- The Dark Knight alone is a more discussed film than all kaiju media put together in that site. Not to mention, half the reviews in ImDB aren't even worth reading, and almost none of them are proper reviews, while here, even if they may not always be up to the loftly standards of JL Calrozza and others, the user reviews are at least professional. And there's not really much of a difference in the writing skill of a significant number of the forumers and the staff- there are many good writers/reviewers around these parts, some I might say are better than some of the staff members (GxG for example). Just like how the KWC has a quality control system, I think the user reviews can implement a similar system if that is a problem.

[JVM]

Here's my question - will old user-submitted reviews be removed?

[Arbok]

Here's my question - will old user-submitted reviews be removed?

No, they will stay, but probably not in their current location. Still figuring that aspect out.

[wataru]

(2) who is saying it. ...and so I'm trying to movie the site more toward #2 in trying to hopefully promote reviewers who readers can agree with and then work from there to reflect on how they critically assess a film.

What makes the site staff review so special that readers can only agree with them? There are people on the forum now that arent staff Id rather read a review from over people like Vega or Zilla.

And so what if most reviews are getting 4/5 stars. Professional critics can be 180 degrees apart on reviews of films and a review is just a critique.

[tymon]

Apparently all Godzilla movies suck according to staff reviewers..they're mostly 2 or 3 stars, hell even the original film only gets 4/5. What's the deal?

[Arbok]

Apparently all Godzilla movies suck according to staff reviewers..they're mostly 2 or 3 stars, hell even the original film only gets 4/5. What's the deal?

http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/vega ... tro_us.htm

http://www.tohokingdom.com/reviews/rome ... dzilla.htm

The scale was built around the idea that all ratings would be used and that most films would fall around the 2.5-3.5 range... so anything at the very top is the cream of the crop and anything at the very bottom is god awful.

4/5 is a great rating anyway on our scale:

http://www.tohokingdom.com/resources/site_legend.htm

[tymon]

Ah sorry, I was unaware of that. Makes sense.

[Ethan]

Here's my question - will old user-submitted reviews be removed?

No, they will stay, but probably not in their current location. Still figuring that aspect out.

Actually I wouldn't mind if my submissions are gone. I explained why in the wine thread.

Ulimately it's a good thing that submitted reviews are getting the axe. The two I wrote, both are rather different content wise, from what I've submitted. This alters was trying to say in many cases. So I ask nicely for Vega to remove them, he wasn't against that idea because "it would look like the staff is rejecting them". But they are rejecting them. Again, it's a good thing, as I don't want my name associated with sentences I have not written.

[therealmccoy]

^I wouldn't want my reviews tampered with either. I'm not a professional, and I don't claim to be either. I wanted to do a few Kurosawa titles, because the main site needs a few. It's hard to review a Kurosawa film for me; I haven't gotten past the synopsis yet. But if "meeting a certain criteria" means editing it without notification, then it isn't worth it to me. I like the user review section idea; I think that could work if enough effort was put forth.

[Destroyer]

I think there should be some sort of section, cause quite frankly, where else are you going to submit a Godzilla movie review where people are interested in reading it? I thought the user review section was good, the only thing I didn't like was that sometimes a review was edited a bit too much, in that the words of the reviewer were lost in my opinion.

[King Caesar]

I think what I found so appealing about the User reviews was that there was some slight bias towards films. Personal preferences expressed by writers isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can help one find out if the movie would appeal to their tastes. Opinions for different people (backed by factual information) can be really useful...no?

[GotengoXGodzilla]

If the rating system is one of the primary concerns, then why not just do away with the rating system altogether? In a standard film review, the first paragraph should do the job of the rating system, if not better, as it can explain why the film gets that rating. To me, it would be a smarter idea to get rid of the rating system then it is to let only staff members be able to write film reviews.

[Cimmerian Dragon]

I'm with GotengoXGodzilla on this. If a review is written competently, that any sort of numerical rating is unnecessary. They make sense in a video guide or the newspaper television section, because it's convenient to glance at the rating, and quickly decide whether you want to invest the time in watching something. They're not foolproof, of course, but occasionally helpful. On a site like this, where people would more than likely read the actual analysis of the film, the ratings are redundant.

[wataru]

Ok this is just ridiculous.

Someone can write 10 reviews, all researched and presented well and give 9 of the movies. 4/5 stars. What does that matter?!

THEY'RE USER REVIEWS! It's not like youre getting a 3000 report on KKvsG calling it epic shit and they give it a 4/5 score.

Zilla volunteered to proof the reviews. Why dont yall CANCEL this idea of "No more user movie reviews" and let them submit it to Zilla so he can proof it? And if the score bugs you so much, REMOVE IT?

Are yall flooded with reviews? Seriously how many do you get a week? 1-2?

[GotengoXGodzilla]

Here's another thing that bugs me. Am I the only one who thinks that it's unfair that this is only being done with movie reviews? People can still submit toy reviews, DVD/Blu-Ray reviews, book reviews, comic book reviews, and many more kinds of reviews, but movie reviews are the ones that cannot be submitted unless you're a staff member?

Toho is, first and foremost, a movie-making company. Most people are interested in their movies, more than anything else. Therefore, movie reviews are going to be the thing that people want to do the most (at least in terms of reviews). So why do only the movie reviews get the special treatment? If you want to be fair, stop doing user reviews for everything on the site, including toys, comic books and DVDs.

Let's say we get a new member, who is very interested in doing Toho movie reviews. He's very good at them, and he enjoys doing them. But, when he goes to submit the review, he's told this can't be put on the site, because only staff members are allowed to post movie reviews. But, then we get another new member who does comic book reviews, and they get up on the site without any problem. Why should new member #1 not be allowed to post the thing he enjoys on the site, especially when it's well done, when new member #2 can do the same?

Anthony says that the problems are that everyone rates the films 4/5 every time, and the reviews aren't always proofread. Well then get rid of the rating system, and have someone like Zilla look over the reviews and proofread them. There is a simple solution here, and it's not banning user submitted movie reviews.

[Arbok]

Here's another thing that bugs me. Am I the only one who thinks that it's unfair that this is only being done with movie reviews? People can still submit toy reviews, DVD/Blu-Ray reviews, book reviews, comic book reviews, and many more kinds of reviews, but movie reviews are the ones that cannot be submitted unless you're a staff member?

Movie reviews were always a special case, as media reviews have been one review per item. Movies have permitted many reviews for each, and so were a bit different from the get-go.

While no action has been taken so far, and I do understand there is a vocal group in favor of keeping user movie reviews, I'm still of the opinion that user reviews for movies will stay a staff ordeal. I want to increase overall reviews done on the site, though, and had hired two people late last year in hopes to improve this, but overall review output still isn't quite at the level I would like. So if it doesn't improve, I would be open to hiring more people on the Kingdom to do movie reviews, but if so hires would be addressed at those who would be well balanced in terms of their viewing habits (i.e. must have seen more than just the Godzilla films).

[Living Corpse]

Were still allowed to make monster bios right?

[Arbok]

Were still allowed to make monster bios right?

If you mean descriptions, yes.

[Destroyer]

Wait, you can submit comic reviews? I didn't know that.