I was always under the impression that thumbs were to help the readers of a review, not the reviewer. Honestly, I did not think it had anything to do with the reviewer. When traveling, I generally put some stock into reviews with a positive thumbs, thinking locals find the review to be an honest or fair evaluation of the course. j

I never saw the reviewers need for validation aspect.

“You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

i can't argue with that.


i relate to the post below. and in that regard i guess i just assumed that people who take the time to write that many reviews care a lot about contributing in myriad ways. but it shouldn't be an expectation and i suppose i was being pretty judge-y about it.

I wonder who has received the most thumbs down? I would guess Dave242, or Redneckmachismo.

i would guess it is Dave as well. i have read several of Dave's reviews, and I found them to be generally helpful. Redneck's reviews were helpful in a reverse way. If he gave it a low score i wish-listed it. So far I've enjoyed every course he hated.

Dave was a special case. He already had his reviewing method/criteria before this site existed. So he was reviewing courses for himself for years and he had it set up so he could look back and remember the courses that he wanted to play again or for reasons that I couldn't possibly know. He was a little stubborn about adapting his reviews for the Dgcoursereview masses. But he did eventually and the thumb downs decreased and he started getting thumb ups. I was slow at figuring out that he wasn't lazy, he was just waiting for this site to exist and had already reviewed so many courses that he had a basic framework. The way he got so many downs is that we were ALL doing it and by the time Dave adapted, it was too late. I kind of wish that I could take back some of my down thumbs from over the years, that's for sure.:(

Some of the back with forth Dave242 and The Prerube were classics. Prerube had memorized all of the words in Daves repetitive framework because it was in every one of Dave's reviews. Heck, I think I might have accidentally memorized it for a short period. Hahaha.

Sadly, there's a lot of bias and mob-mentality built into the "Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down" methodology. Reviewing a popular course fairly (such as Blue Ribbon Pines) will give you more Thumbs Down, regardless of the review. If you over-criticize a course that locals love, you're going to get hit with some Thumbs Down. If you play a highly-regarded course that is fantastic and give it a stellar rating, fan-boys of other top courses will ding your review. It's a two-edged sword when you review the best courses. Thus, I take Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down with a grain of salt when planning trips and selecting courses. I have identified reviewers in each region that I trust, and I don't really care what locals or others think of their reviews. It has no impact on my decision.

From my own personal stance, when this site was brand new, I reviewed everything I could in an attempt to help others who traveled a lot to play courses. Prior to this site, I was in that camp already and planning excursions was difficult. As the site grew, it became a bit of a popularity contest for local home-boys to prop up their courses. The last straw for me, was about 6 years ago when I visited a 4.5 rated course nearly 11 hours from home. The designer knew my friends and I were coming, and as soon as we got back he PMed me through the site and asked my thoughts. I told him it was extremely inflated and I felt like it was much closer to a 3 or 3.5 and I told him why. He then begged me not to publicly review it. He has also reviewed the course, and "surprise-surprise", he gave it 5 discs! Anyone who gives it a 4 or less is immediately hit with 4 or 5 Downs. At that moment, I realized that much of the reviewing process and Thumbs was political and oozing with bias.

I had pretty much stopped reviewing any new courses I played except for those with less than 5 reviews...because I just didn't see the point. Others had exposure to the thoughts of disc golfers who are much better players and writers than I am, so there's not much that I can add for courses that have been reviewed by 20 people already. And now that I have 3 kids, I only play the best courses when traveling, so I rarely play a course that has few reviews. All that being said, over the last year I think the site has really made a turn for the better. There are enough people willing to call out the bias and that makes me hopeful. Additionally, people are still very interested in the reviews, so I plan on reviewing courses from my summer excursion this year.

I got a kick out of the mention of Dave242 and Prerube earlier. Those guys, along with Timg, Olorin, ThreePutt and many others made this place awesome from the beginning.

ZMan44
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Lots of great points, as well as unique personal incite.

To me, the reviews are the best part of the site. So as you stated, I hope you do post some more reviews, including those that have more than 5 reviews already. Something that I have found extremely helpful on this site, is those that review entire regions. For example, bjreagh. I would look at all of his reviews in the Nashville area and get a quick snapshot on what he heralds, and I would then plan my excursion around his thoughts. And sure enough he’s delivered every time.

I hear you on the private course designer thing. I am personally building a course not too far from you in the Huntsville area. Its definitely a 5 star course, but only if it’s on a 20 star scale. Eventually when I do open it up for reviews, I will be holding it to the same bar I hold every course.

bjreagh is one of my best friends...since the 2nd grade, and my traveling partner for most of our excursions. He's one of my favorite reviewers as well. We love the Huntsville area. Great area for disc golf.

He and I are headed to Maine this summer for a tour of the private courses up there. Super-pumped!

I usually only thumb reviews on courses I've played, although most of my thumb downs given are to those blatant homer 5 reviews or 0 revenge reviews.