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Should we remove numeric scores for reviews?

Should we remove numeric, remove the scores scores for reviews?

  • Yes, remove the scores

    Votes: 42 38.5%
  • No, keep the scores

    Votes: 67 61.5%

  • Total voters
    109
I've never taken the scores too seriously because I assume to get something less than a 7 it would have to be something that doesn't actually function properly. In the big ticket reviews like CPUs and GPUs this just isn't common. Even underwhelming releases like say Bulldozer still work right.

Changing the scale wouldn't do much good since everything would just get 4-5's instead of 7-10's.
 
How about a 0 to 5 W1zzy scale?

Here's 3-1/2 as an example:

w1zzies.jpg


Would eliminate the extended debates/arguments over 1-2 point differences between reviews

This. Just this. We need this

Scores or not, I don't really care. If you need a score to tell you what's what, you're not very good at reading and any content is lost on you anyway. For the rest, scores are great for media attention and exposure, which should be a reason to keep them. But - 3,5 W1zzies would do just about the same :D
 
I'm slightly leaning towards removing the score now. The pro/con list does provide a good overview at a quick glance and it would motivate readers to read the actual conclusion than just stare at a score?
The No is winning, so I think you should go with that as this is what your readers want. And yes, I voted No too.

I dont know about elsewhere in the world but in the States when in school 70% or 7/10 and below is a failing grade just FYI. 6.9 = failure in the States. Then again removing scores and doing as other sites do means 50 different awards that are just as worthless.
That's a good example of how is a score to be interpreted and yeah, having 50 different awards on their own is meaningless alright.
 
I check things that matter, such as performance charts and price. The numerical rating doesn't affect me in any decision process.
I can predict however that any CPU or GPU that gets a very high score results in the poor reviewer getting called a shill by some asshole on the forums.
Taking the number away might stop that crappy behaviour. Then again, leaving it in lets us see the morons make fools of themselves.
 
I vote no, but you guys shouldn't be afraid to use full scale. 6/10 is still decent score for a product, not everything can/should be 9/10. And scores should be round (6.0, 7.0, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0), at most to x.5 (8.0, 8.5,9.0, 9.5).
 
The No is winning, so I think you should go with that as this is what your readers want. And yes, I voted No too.

40+% saying that they want scores removed, well, if you do statistics and assume the people that responded represent the entire readership, that's like WELL over a million readers. That's a huge number of people that find no value in a score. That's more than 1 in 3 people that don't approve. If every third review comment was "scores suck"... well, you should get the picture. TPU is also not a democracy, so a majority vote doesn't always win here. Say we want to improve traffic, and we want to explore things that will increase the time people spend on the site... such a small thing can have a huge impact on that, and I don't really think that those scores matter that much. Seeing WHO votes yes or no is also quite valuable information.

There also doesn't need to be a huge number of awards... there are three already. There doesn't really need to be more, although I'd suggest one more, as we have a "Value" award, a "Editor's Choice", and "Recommended". I'd like to see one between "Recommended" and "Editor's Choice".
 
Thing is for quick reference it's best to have the number.
 
40+% saying that they want scores removed, well, if you do statistics and assume the people that responded represent the entire readership, that's like WELL over a million readers. That's a huge number of people that find no value in a score. That's more than 1 in 3 people that don't approve. If every third review comment was "scores suck"... well, you should get the picture. TPU is also not a democracy, so a majority vote doesn't always win here. Say we want to improve traffic, and we want to explore things that will increase the time people spend on the site... such a small thing can have a huge impact on that, and I don't really think that those scores matter that much. Seeing WHO votes yes or no is also quite valuable information.

There also doesn't need to be a huge number of awards... there are three already. There doesn't really need to be more, although I'd suggest one more, as we have a "Value" award, a "Editor's Choice", and "Recommended". I'd like to see one between "Recommended" and "Editor's Choice".
Yes, but 60 odd percent want it, making for an even bigger number.

Sure, TPU can do what it likes, but I think it would be reasonable to go with the majority. If you think that removing it will improve traffic (I have no idea) then feel free. As you say, it's not a democracy, but W1z has asked for the "will of the people"* so they're just expressing said will. :)

*Sorry, I couldn't resist it. :p You probably know what I'm referring to...
 
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Yes, but 60 odd percent want it, making for an even bigger number.

But you aren't the majority. The forum users are far from it. You're the vocal minority, by definition. So, what this poll really shows is what the majority of the vocal minority want. Using statistical analysis, it might be conferred that those that do not want those numbers are actually the majority, and those that do not, are actually the minority. Like I said earlier... knowing WHO voted what is VERY meaningful. If you have a ton of posts, and voted to keep the scores... guess what? :p


I've always done things in my reviews to try to appeal to a larger audience. Since I started doing reviews TPU has grown quite a bit... it could be because of what I do... but I don't really think that. We've got more staff posting on the front page and are covering more hardware, and THAT has increased traffic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_majority
 
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I voted remove them. You have the pros vs cons which is just as good.
 
I dont know about elsewhere in the world but in the States when in school 70% or 7/10 and below is a failing grade just FYI. 6.9 = failure in the States.
When I was in school(1980 - 1993) an "F", or "Failing" grade, was 59% or less.

Excellent
A+ = 97% - 100%
A = 93% - 96%
A- = 90% - 92%

Above Average
B+ = 87% - 89%
B = 83% - 86%
B- = 80% - 82%

Average
C+ = 77% - 79%
C = 73% - 76%
C- = 70% - 72%

Below Average
D+ = 67% - 69%
D = 63% - 66%
D- = 60% - 62%

Failing
F = 59% or less

I guess it varies from place to place. But in the 2 states where I went to school it was the same as above for both.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_United_States#Numerical_and_letter_grades
 
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I say get rid of it ..
Many reviews have come and gone with relatively high scores on products that don't deserve a high score because you have to keep the manufacturer happy to a point... Thus making the score utterly useless
 
When I was in school(1980 - 1993) an "F", or "Failing" grade was 59% or less.

Excellent
A+ = 97% - 100%
A = 93% - 96%
A- = 90% - 92%

Above Average
B+ = 87% - 89%
B = 83% - 86%
B- = 80% - 82%

Average
C+ = 77% - 79%
C = 73% - 76%
C- = 70% - 72%

Below Average
D+ = 67% - 69%
D = 63% - 66%
D- = 60% - 62%

Failing
F = 59% or less

I guess it varies from place to place. But in the 2 states where I went to school it was the same as above for both.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_United_States#Numerical_and_letter_grades

Maine school system goes follows College grading scale. Graduated in 06. anything below 70 was failing. Which obviously colors a persons idea of what a failing grade is. With 20 years of schooling I got use to that grading system. But obviously it varies but region / nation etc.
 
I also saw the grading system change from when I was in school, much as @MrGenius put forth. It changed to the more draconian method when I got to college.

My kids grew up only knowing that 70 or lower was an F.
 
I would like to have scoring for different categories, aesthetics, power consumption, performance, pricing, etc. Then an overall.
 
But you aren't the majority. The forum users are far from it. You're the vocal minority, by definition. So, what this poll really shows is what the majority of the vocal minority want. Using statistical analysis, it might be conferred that those that do not want those numbers are actually the majority, and those that do not, are actually the minority. Like I said earlier... knowing WHO voted what is VERY meaningful. If you have a ton of posts, and voted to keep the scores... guess what? :p


I've always done things in my reviews to try to appeal to a larger audience. Since I started doing reviews TPU has grown quite a bit... it could be because of what I do... but I don't really think that. We've got more staff posting on the front page and are covering more hardware, and THAT has increased traffic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_majority
You're making an assumption about an alleged vocal minority and basing the rest of your argument as fact. You can't do that. The only fact that we can be sure of, is that it's currently about 60/40 in favour of keeping the scores, in this poll. Quite a margin, I think.
Your reviews are great and I'm sure that they have helped to increase traffic, at least a bit. Don't put yourself down, buddy. :toast:

I would like to have scoring for different categories, aesthetics, power consumption, performance, pricing, etc. Then an overall.
I like it. :) Heck, you could still have an overall on top of all that and I do see reviews done like this.
 
I like numeric scores. People just need to actually use it correctly. Mediocre should be a 5, not a 7. Hardly anything is a 9 or 10.
 
Personally I like the way hardware.info give awards to products:

Great Value: good price/performance ratio.

Excellent Choice: Simply one of the best products out of many simular products.

Ultimate Product: The product you have to buy if you have the money for it. Price/performance doesn't mather as long as it's the best product there is.
 
Personally I like the way hardware.info give awards to products:

Great Value: good price/performance ratio.

Excellent Choice: Simply one of the best products out of many simular products.

Ultimate Product: The product you have to buy if you have the money for it. Price/performance doesn't mather as long as it's the best product there is.

I like the ultimate product category. Because a lot of stuff these days really belongs there and is wrongly viewed as 'best buy'. A 'best buy' is a no 'meaningful' compromise in performance/quality for a great price.

In the same vein, 'Least interesting' would also be nice, for that eternal copy that does everything okay ish and isn't positioned well. But that's not gonna happen :D
 
I like the ultimate product category. Because a lot of stuff these days really belongs there and is wrongly viewed as 'best buy'. A 'best buy' is a no 'meaningful' compromise in performance/quality for a great price.

In the same vein, 'Least interesting' would also be nice, for that eternal copy that does everything okay ish and isn't positioned well. But that's not gonna happen :D

If they're gonna do that though, I hope to see multiple products in each category. I hate how, say, Tomshardware just lists one or a few at best.
 
'best buy'. A 'best buy' is a no 'meaningful' compromise in performance/quality for a great price.
A Best Buy Brings to mind Sold by Best Buy where price is more important than Quality
 
You're making an assumption about an alleged vocal minority and basing the rest of your argument as fact. You can't do that. The only fact that we can be sure of, is that it's currently about 60/40 in favour of keeping the scores, in this poll. Quite a margin, I think.
I could say the same, but my point isn't to argue this as you think. The fact remains that the forum has 80k members, but the site has about 3 million+ unique visitors. That makes the forum less than 3% of the site's user traffic (2.67%, to be more precise). 3% is most definitely a minority. :D of that 3%, 60% say scores need to stay. A majority of a minority is still a minority. That's why I said vocal minority.. what are we doing here, but voicing our opinions? We are definitely the monority… and vocal about what we think and feel. It's excellent, and I enjoy these discussions, in a big way.


But don't get it twisted, I'm part of that vocal minority too. 1000%. As I said earlier, I voted for the scores to stay. I'm simply relating the other side of things here. That's not MY personal argument, quite the opposite. That's why I mentioned my reviews... if I did what I wanted in reviews, we've have blazing LN2 shows in every review, and anything other than the absolute fastest hardware is garbage. But that's not how my reviews are written… because I remove my own personal opinion from it. I try to do what's best for the site and for our audience.



So sorry, Qubit, but you're most definitely off base when it comes to me, for sure. :toast: I just want to hear the opinions to counter what I posted. What I posted, isn't what I feel. What I posted are just statistical facts.
 
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I quite like a numerical or percentile "score", maybe to make it more tangible one consideration could be to go down the Jonny Guru route (or a hybrid version of), score the 4 main areas you test (for example) but weight them based on importance, for example ……….

50% of total score comes from performance
20% price/value
15% power consumption
15% temps/cooling/noise

Finishing with an overall review score, at least that way strengths and weakness are clearly identified at a glance on the conclusion page, this leaves someone who priorities noise in a small form factor build to concentrate on temps and cooling (as maybe this is where it may score particularly well) and be less concerned with say price/value, the same would apply to an enthusiast who is prioritising performance and cares much less about power consumption, that way a good review overall may be an excellent review for the enthusiast if you get my meaning.
 
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