First of all I’d like to say how much I truly appreciate all the effort many of you put into writing quality reviews and some of you do it quite well. Please don’t get upset with the following comments. (I hope by now most of you know when I’m serious and when I’m not.) These thoughts and comments are reflective of my own experience and do not necessarily reflect anybody elses experiences, just my own.
A reflection on writing reviews:
Once I found yoyo forums I began reading reviews. Initially I gulped down every word as factual. It didn’t take long to realize that other than stats, price, name, and whether the reviewer liked it or not, there wasn’t much fact to those reviews at all, mostly opinion.
Well surely I could do better! I had yoyos, I could write as well or better, at least well enough to communicate my message and share the facts. So I did. Well at least I wrote a review or two but they weren’t much different than anything else I read. In the end, most of the review was just my opinion, which in reality is just about worthless to anyone except me. Dang, it was even worthless to me because I already knew my opinion! What a waste of time, thought and effort.
Discoveries:
New yo’s cause excitement. Excitement causes many reviewers to rate the yo to highly. (I hope you appreciate how perceptive I can be) :
Nobody writes a review after they’ve played a yo long enough for the excitement to wear off. (Go figure!) :’(
Some reviewers like a yoyo that is exactly within their preferences. They’d eat the same thing every meal if they could. Not me, I pick things that are different.
Some reviewers can’t give directions to their living room. :-\
Some reviewers are great writers; pages of text that offer little to nothing meaningful to me.
Yoyos have been attributed attributes that don’t really exist. Metal yoyos don’t float as noted by lumps on my head over the years. :’(
Some people spend a great deal of time writing awesome reviews that I couldn’t agree with at all, others more inline with myself.
Reviews of most yoyos say basically the same thing but occasionally something new is provided. (Read between the lines, pm and ask questions)
Reviews serve some purpose: hype (not always a bad thing), communicate excitement over a new toy (I have it, you don’t! neener, neener! ), and even attempt to really give you an idea about what the yoyo is like (yes some really do).
Now that I have read hundreds of reviews, spent countless hours reading them, spent some time writing them, and in this thread writing about them, I’ve come to a few conclusions: I still find myself reading them, seldom attempting to write them, appreciating the effort it takes to write them, not understanding why anyone would take the time to write them and most importantly, when I want a new yoyo I basically disregard it all and decide for myself.
So after all this I feel a bit bummed and need a pick me up. Can someone suggest a nice review, feed me some hype! :
I think you have misunderstood the purpose of reviews. From what I see, reviews are actually not meant to express hype, or to further advertise the yoyo, even though many reviewers might have done this unknowingly.
I believe that a true review should describe the play of the yoyo accurately, and from there, give attributes to it, for other yoyoers to decide if the yoyo is right for them. (btw, ‘floaty’ is very different from ‘float’, the yoyos don’t actually float, but rather, their speed while moving through the air gives the feeling of ‘floatiness’) The puporse of many reviewers reviewing the same yoyo is to give the readers a more balanced and comprehensive understanding of the yoyo, since as you have mentioned, reviewers tend to be biased in one way or another (omitting downsides, etc.), so by having many reviewers from both sides of the fence, readers can read all of them to get a accurate understanding of how the yoyo actually plays. At the same time, reviews give the reader knowledge of certain details that one could not obtain by just browsing through the store.
I think what’s important to note is that, like you said, reviews are often very subjective - if you want to get a good idea of how a YoYo plays you should be reading several reviews and piecing together an idea of what you’re looking at. I would never base a purchase on just one review…
In all honesty, I believe that I do understand the purpose of reviews. I just feel for all the work, time, thought, and skill it takes to write one, they don’t serve the purpose they were designed to effectively. I seldom find a review that contradicts another. Regarding sections on play; If you removed the manufacturer, specs, name of the yoyo, pics, and any other identifying info, most people would have a difficult time knowing what yoyo the review was about as most of the reviews sound so similar, you could insert the identifying details of so many current throws.
The real test of a yoyo, that I prefer, is simply to watch and see how long it takes it to make its way into the bst. It’s amazing how quickly those highly reviewed throws are no longer wanted.
What do you guys think? Do you find that reviews sway you?
i agree to some point. the second i get a new throw, it goes up on the B/S/T. not because i want to get rid of it, just so i can see if i can get some offers.
Thanks very much.
I try to stick with technical aspects of what I’m reviewing. Though I generally mention my experience as well, I try to emphasize those types of notes are subjective.
Just because a review expresses an opinion does not mean it is worthless information.
I also don’t know why one would chose to disregard the opinion of someone who has tried the product in favor of their own, completely uninformed opionion.
), and even attempt to really give you an idea about what the yoyo is like (yes some really do).