Review "Template"

[Supercreep]

It sucks.

Why do I have to pick a product from your list?

Why can't I pick my own damn product?

I reviewed chameleon traps, and had to select a different product type just to leave the review.

Please, people - give educated and intelligent people the means to create meaningful content. Automation sucks.

[Chater-La]

Aham... allow me to explain. Believe me, I know it can get a bit cumbersome when you are trying to review having to go through all these steps from top level information design to the sub-sub category to finally find the product that you want to review.

However, this is a necessary evil. Our AF database, like any database has information organized so that it can be quickly retrieved. Hence, once you review product xyz the next time someone 'views' this product, any user review, video,test, forum post, any imaginable piece of content/info about this product can be accessed with just a click on one of the content icons above it.

Next time if you are looking for a shortcut, just enter product xyz in the search box. It should quickly come up, and then you can just press the 'reviews' icon and add your own review.

Members can create products which do not exist but not brands. Only an admin can create brands.

I hope this answered your question, if you are still confused just LMK and I'm happy to explain some more, because it takes a little getting used to.

[Supercreep]

Originally Posted by Chater-La

Aham... allow me to explain. Believe me, I know it can get a bit cumbersome when you are trying to review having to go through all these steps from top level information design to the sub-sub category to finally find the product that you want to review.

However, this is a necessary evil. Our AF database, like any database has information organized so that it can be quickly retrieved. Hence, once you review product xyz the next time someone 'views' this product, any user review, video,test, forum post, any imaginable piece of content/info about this product can be accessed with just a click on one of the content icons above it.

Next time if you are looking for a shortcut, just enter product xyz in the search box. It should quickly come up, and then you can just press the 'reviews' icon and add your own review.

Members can create products which do not exist but not brands. Only an admin can create brands.

Thanks for the reply.

I see only an option for "step: Manufacturer Selection", and then am taken to another page where I see an option for "step: choose a product". I do not see an option to "review new product" or any links to a page to give a reviewer more options.

Perhaps there is a way, but from a basic usability standpoint, the process is execrable.

I think that having user reviews is a fantastic idea and if done right, will be an invaluable resource for the community - such as it is. The template system guarantees uniformity, but does nothing to guarantee quality, which is kind of unfortunate.

This might work at Harmony Central because of the high volume of reviews - one can just read a number and get a general feel for the product. Harmony Central therefore gets the job done through sheer quantity.

HR (and I am cautiously optimistic about AF) is a specialized site that has a resource Harmony Central lacks: A number of highly skilled and well-qualified engineers and musicians (unfortunately, I don't fall under either category). Would it not be wise to identify these folks and solicit reviews of products they own, or have used? Some of them can actually write. The knowledge base of your users is a much more valuable resource than your database.

I guess my point is that not all reviews are created equal, and that great cache can be earned by a website that separates the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

Just a thought.

Thanks for your time - and I really want you to know that many of us do appreciate folks breathing life into the HR BBS. We give you a hard time because we fear changes that do nothing to improve the usability of the site or it's ability to inform. Well, that and because we're a bunch of elitist jerks.

Originally Posted by Chater-La

I hope this answered your question, if you are still confused just LMK and I'm happy to explain some more, because it takes a little getting used to.

I'm not sure if you are intending to use the as you have used it here.

Anyway, is there a way for you to modify the product name of my ReadyTraps review? I can't find a way to make this edit. The (main) product I was reviewing was Ready Acoustics' Chameleon Traps, not RT424 Broadband Absorbers: http://en.audiofanzine.com/readytrap...facturer..html

Again, thanks for your time and effort. It is appreciated, even if that fact isn't always immediately apparent.

[Supercreep]

Step 1: Manufacturer selection

Step 2: Choose a product

Step 3: ????

Step 4: Profit

[Chater-La]

Simplest way:

Step One: on Main navigation bar select Test & User Reviews, sub-menu User Reviews, sub-sub-menu Write a User Review

Step two: select a brand (manufacturer)

Step three: select a product

Step four: at this point you are already in the Rich Text Editing window to add your review.

If you are already reading some review, article or watching a video of a certain product on the site and you realize you want to add your own review of this product, you don't need to navigate away from the page and follow the bread crumbs above, you can just press the little gray button with the red circle on the right side where it says "add a review" and this takes you directly to Step Four above.

I hope this makes sense. As for all reviews are not made equal, this is true. And I do think on this site there is a great wealth of knowledge and we hope to have people write good useful reviews, and this is why our review template has build in questions to guide the reviewer so you don't get "this amp rocks" sorta reviews.

Second, as for your review- first thanks for taking the time to write it- it is super. You cannot change the name of the product to the one you mentioned b/s it does not exist in our database and needs to be created.

So- in general wherever you see a small icon of a note and a pencil next to a brand or module it means that you can press this icon and you can edit things. If your product existed in our database you can press this icon one time to modify your review and press it again next to the name of the product to change the product to another one.

Since we need to create the product, it is usually an easy process but the create-a-product button is missing, and thanks to you we now know this and I told Nico already to add the missing button.

So to be continued.

[Supercreep]

I guess Nico isn't getting right on that.....

[Dogman]

Originally Posted by Supercreep

I guess Nico isn't getting right on that.....

Lol, guud won Suppercrap.

[Chater-La]

It's been corrected. Now there is a 'create a product button' for new gear that is not in our database. LMK if you have more questions.

[Supercreep]

Thank you, Ms. La.