The lost art of course reviewing

[wolfhaley]

Anybody reading this right now frequents a site about reviewing disc golf courses. Most don't even attempt to. It's pretty easy to do. I take pride in doing so, a handful of others clearly do as well. What gives?

 

[da Crippler]

Anybody reading this right now frequents a site about reviewing disc golf courses. Most don't even attempt to. It's pretty easy to do. I take pride in doing so, a handful of others clearly do as well. What gives?

Udisc is much easier to use for reviews, and people are lazy.

 

[dreadlock86]

i imagine a lot of people see the site as more of a course directory. reviews are convenient for sorting but obviously the vast majority of visitors aren't interested in contributing in that manner. for the people that bother to make a profile, i'd guess that the first impulse is primarily just about being able to keep track of courses played. after that, the more time you spend here increases the likelihood that you start taking interest in other site features.

i think it's cool that the site serves many different functions for different interests. not all the forum posters are reviewers and vice versa. i'm also glad Tim created the achievement badges to promote more useful user-added content like photos and course updates. but at the end of the day, it's no surprise that a small minority are interested in spending the time.

 

[jupiterboy]

I use that feature some, and get that producing that content is something those running this site want. I probably won't be a premium payer and don't even have a PDGA number, but I can pitch in a little.

 

[Moose33]

I review all I can and try to do them well. This place is the only one with reviews you can trust.

 

[denny ritner]

Udisc is much easier to use for reviews, and people are lazy.

U Disc was the knife in the heart of legit course reviews.

 

[ru4por]

I recently stated this, but I simply don't believe I can provide balanced, helpful reviews, for most. I honestly find some sort of joy in nearly EVERY course I play. Even if the course itself doesn't provide for superior play, the emersion into nature is the milk and honey, I need to soothe my soul. Every review would just be me, acting out the part of a nature fanboy. I would struggle to come up with cons. And I fear that struggle would take away from the experience. It might sound odd, but this is really why I do not do reviews.

 

[jupiterboy]

I recently stated this, but I simply don't believe I can provide balanced, helpful reviews, for most. I honestly find some sort of joy in nearly EVERY course I play. Even if the course itself doesn't provide for superior play, the emersion into nature is the milk and honey, I need to soothe my soul. Every review would just be me, acting out the part of a nature fanboy. I would struggle to come up with cons. And I fear that struggle would take away from the experience. It might sound odd, but this is really why I do not do reviews.

Yeah, I somewhat quickly figured out that they were trying to set a high bar. But then there's me and my own opinions and perceptions. Nobody wants to junk up the reviews with unwanted "Homer" reviews, but if you are asking for free content, I suppose it's up to those running the show to edit and delete. That's the oddity of looking in from the outside—"do they really want my review, or do they want someone with more experience, etc." I'm comfortable writing, but if I was not and read some disparaging comments about reviews I'd just stay away.

 

[Luckj]

Just wanted to remind everyone, if you write a certain number of high quality reviews and contact the site manager, he'll send you a custom DG Course Review mini. That's not why I review courses, but it was a pleasant surprise!

 

[jupiterboy]

Just wanted to remind everyone, if you write a certain number of high quality reviews and contact the site manager, he'll send you a custom DG Course Review mini. That's not why I review courses, but it was a pleasant surprise!

So, no juice for a medium quantity of medium quality reviews. I get it. lol

 

[BraveThrower43]

Anybody reading this right now frequents a site about reviewing disc golf courses. Most don't even attempt to. It's pretty easy to do. I take pride in doing so, a handful of others clearly do as well. What gives?

I used to enjoy writing reviews until locals started coming after me for giving low reviews.

Actually had some threats come my way. Made me decide it wasn't worth it anymore.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

I love disc golf as much as anyone, but anyone who thinks "them's fighting words" about someone else's is review/rating has deeper issues.

 

[Mando]

It's the ratio of members to guests at any given time, that's part of the problem. Right now, it's about 50 to 700.

 

[DFrah]

Anybody reading this right now frequents a site about reviewing disc golf courses. Most don't even attempt to. It's pretty easy to do. I take pride in doing so, a handful of others clearly do as well. What gives?

I think the style/features/rating norms on UDisc fall more in line with the way society in general is trending. I won't really get into my beliefs for why that is, or even whether it's good or bad. But I think it's the reality. Not to turn this into another DGCR vs. UDisc discussion, but I think that is a big factor in it.

I think there will always be a minority of people who prefer the higher levels of detail and nuance that DGCR reviews can provide. I enjoy meticulously taking notes on a course while I am playing, then taking the time (often an hour plus) to write one of my lengthy reviews. Most people would rather just throw discs on the course, then spend that hour in other ways. I don't really see either preference as better or worse.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

It's the ratio of members to guests at any given time, that's part of the problem. Right now, it's about 50 to 700.

They're called "lurkers."

 

[DFrah]

I recently stated this, but I simply don't believe I can provide balanced, helpful reviews, for most. I honestly find some sort of joy in nearly EVERY course I play. Even if the course itself doesn't provide for superior play, the emersion into nature is the milk and honey, I need to soothe my soul. Every review would just be me, acting out the part of a nature fanboy. I would struggle to come up with cons. And I fear that struggle would take away from the experience. It might sound odd, but this is really why I do not do reviews.

I forgot to reply to this when you said it in the other thread. I totally respect this viewpoint, but I don't see it as mutually exclusive with reviewing courses. I feel that I find joy in each course I play too - and still can give some a low rating. A course can have major Cons like safety issues, lack of obstacles, no signage, etc. and I will list those Cons - but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy my time there at the course. I can even say that I enjoyed playing both courses that I have so far given a 0.0 rating to.

Even if you don't think you can stomach giving out really low ratings - you wouldn't be alone. Just to pick on a couple people:
- Upshawt (diamond TR) has 411 reviews with an average of 3.81 and has never rated anything below 1.5 discs.
- Mushin No Shin (gold TR) has 67 reviews with an average of 3.46 and has never rated anything below 2.0 discs.
I think both of these users write helpful reviews. Upshawt's reviews helped me determine which courses to play in Alaska last year. Mushin's reviews helped me know what to expect from several courses in the UP and northern WI.

Just my thoughts

 

[aren]

For me, it's - what am I really adding? If even a couple of trusted reviewers have updated in the past year, they'll pretty much be on point. If there's an element that I think they missed, should I write an entire review saying pretty much the same thing, but adding the one item?

For either UDisc and DGCR, I would love a breakdown of ratings. Have a rating for Design, Amenities, and Difficulty (or something to that effect), and then a composite rating of all three into a main rating. I don't ever see UDisc doing that, though, because I think they would prefer to simplify than complicate.

 

[DavidSauls]

Lots of people play courses, and never do course work. Lots of people play tournaments, but never run one. I'm not sure there should be an "expected contribution", in either case, or in reviews on this site.

I think we're better served by getting reviews from people who want to write reviews, than fluffing the numbers with reluctant reviewers nudged into "doing their part".

 

[jupiterboy]

Lots of people play courses, and never do course work. Lots of people play tournaments, but never run one. I'm not sure there should be an "expected contribution", in either case, or in reviews on this site.

I think we're better served by getting reviews from people who want to write reviews, than fluffing the numbers with reluctant reviewers nudged into "doing their part".

Noted

 

[HyooMac]

If you care enough to use the site to read reviews, care enough to indicate "helpful" reviews by clicking on them. It matters to the site that people engage, and speaking for myself, it matters to me to know that people care about what I contribute.

I enjoy writing reviews, and I'd probably write them anyway - but it's nice to know that readers find them helpful.


In other news - I edit my DGCR reviews to fit the 450 character max on uDisc. Eeven then, they really stick out as wordy. But I feel like I'm fighting the good fight...