Why do people hate my reviews?

[autocrosscrx]

I'm not a thumbs down kind of person, but there is not really anything in your reviews that helps me decide to play a course or helps me make my experience better if I do decide to play there.

I definitely read the long reviews. And don't particularly care about the rating.

I don't think you necessarily even need experience playing a variety of courses in different areas to write helpful course reviews (though I certainly appreciate it when people do have that perspective). Help me not get lost on course. Let me know if it is going to be a mudhole after a rain. Let me know if I need to wear long pants because of thorns or ticks or whatever else. Let me know if it takes an exceptionally long time to play or if it is a demanding walk. Etc, etc, etc.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Stick with it man! We all appreciate any contribution. This isn't FB it's not a game of likes.

It kinda got me thinking and I updated my homer review. For Gulf Island.. It was a tough search i couldn't find Pender and I couldn't find "Golf Island" which is the course name. Haha I'm still sticking with 4.5 stars... I like short courses. Sue me. Everyone else had good enough reviews, mine is short with a few local bits of knowledge. I got less than 1 helpful per year, 8+ in 12yrs

I updated for teepad improvements, bench and clubhouse improvements. I don't feel bad about what I scratched out in 2010 it was better than I expected.

 

[rocthecourse]

Your reviews are too short.

 

[ru4por]

I appreciate your efforts. You have gotten some terrific feedback from some pretty accomplished reviewers. I can tell you that this is Disc Golf Course REVIEW....not rating. To me the rating holds very little importance. I am a traveling player and look to reviews to tell me if the course has some features, that I hold important. I play with my wife and a bathroom or porta-potty on course is crucial. I am older and like benches. Then I would like a brief picture created of the course and play. The review is what helps me decide to play the course, or not. You certainly don't need to include the things I look for, but this is an idea of how the reviews are used. It is great to have people coming here to review courses, stick with it.

 

[DavidSauls]

We should start with a thanks, just for writing reviews at all. Too few bother anymore.

 

[discNDav]

short answer, this ain't Udisc

 

[BogeyNoMore]

The good news is, he seems to care what people think of his reviews. Only time will tell if he puts the effort into making any of the suggested improvements.
opcorn:

 

[Hampstead]

All I'll say is tighten your diaper and grow with it.

 

[goosefraba1]

Repeating what others have said. We are stoked just to have new reviews. Most courses are getting maybe 1 or 2 reviews per year at this rate.

I would recommend coming up with your own rating systems. I feel like it is a shortcoming of DGCR not to have multiple categories. Such as: Tees 0-5, Design 0-5, Beauty 0-5, amenities 0-5, replayablity/fun factor 0-5. These are my categories that I rate on, and at the end, I average. I give reasons for why in each review. It helps me make the reviews slightly more objective.

 

[Tim_the_Enchanter]

Seeing that we're in the same neck of the woods, I took a look at some of your reviews. Your review of Howling Coyote is factually wrong:

Pros: A couple good holes in there
Cons: Some of the course is an unplayable mess. Thick brush mess for a couple later holes that are hard to find. Not a well designed course. No facilities or much of anything.
Other Thoughts: Needs paths, signage, and a major cleanup

While not a stellar destination course by any means, and can get pretty soupy in the winter, it's pretty well maintained and is easy to follow (it has a map at the beginning as well as tee signs). And while there are a couple hazard areas in the rough on some holes, it's by no means a "brush mess" and certainly not unplayable. It also has bathrooms and a water fountain.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

OP hasn't logged on since Jan 16th.

 

[ChrisWoj]

I mean, I did. Basically a paragraph per section, a couple just a sentence or two but usually longer. Not as long as some other reviews but a course that already has 20+ reviews, 15 of which are extremely long, probably doesn't need another book of a review. Also, similarly concise reviews were doing way better than mine, though not as well as the books.

Your reviews are not only short, but in some cases brief to the point that they're barely worth more than the star count you provided alone.

You note here that you do basically a paragraph-per-section and only a "couple" were a sentence or two... Across 11 reviews that gives you 33 sections. I would be very generous in saying you wrote a paragraph in 10/33 sections. I wouldn't bring this up as a point if you didn't use it as a defense - the length of the section isn't big for me, but you really don't take any time to support your points which is where the "lack of paragraphs" comes from as a result.

For example - you received 0 positive and 6 negative reviews for Lakewood King County Park. Clearly because you said "this is good! this is good! this is good!" over and over for various features, but provided absolutely no reason WHY elements were what you considered good.

The reviews don't need to be long, but yours aren't even remotely in danger of being long.

edit: If you want an example of one I wrote that got strong marks, check out my profile and click the review for Ephram White Park in BG Kentucky. That's an example of one I wrote that doesn't go beyond a single paragraph for each section, but has plenty of positive votes because it goes into a rationale for the thoughts I provide.

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Something about OP's reviews...

You're talking to a ghost.

 

[ChrisWoj]

You're talking to a ghost.

Yes, I became aware of that after I made the post.

I still consider the post to be a worthy contribution to the thread, and feel satisfied with the brief time I took to construct it.

 

[ejvogie]

Yes, I became aware of that after I made the post.

I still consider the post to be a worthy contribution to the thread, and feel satisfied with the brief time I took to construct it.

Good post. I'll rate it a 4.0

 

[JuanA]

Good post. I'll rate it a 4.0

Too short..not enough content, but a solid 2.5 from me :thmbup:

In all seriousness though, it's too bad the OP took things too personally. Having someone come in and actually want to improve their reviews isn't something you see too often.

Unless it wasn't about improving them and this thread is more about hurt feelings?

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Unless it wasn't about improving them and this thread is more about hurt feelings?

Methinks you nailed it.

Nothing stopped the OP from updating any of their reviews per any of the suggestions. Anyone who really wants to write better reviews, eventually does so, provided they put in even a modest effort.

 

[DannyS]

Is there a way to delete old reviews? I made two reviews in 2010. One of them is for a 9 hole layout that doesn't exist anymore and the other is just for one layout on a course. They were both short and are not relevant today. Who knew the reviews would eventually be taken so seriously. I see you can edit them, but I would rather just delete them.

 

[sillybizz]

Seeing that we're in the same neck of the woods, I took a look at some of your reviews. Your review of Howling Coyote is factually wrong:

While not a stellar destination course by any means, and can get pretty soupy in the winter, it's pretty well maintained and is easy to follow (it has a map at the beginning as well as tee signs). And while there are a couple hazard areas in the rough on some holes, it's by no means a "brush mess" and certainly not unplayable. It also has bathrooms and a water fountain.

Hey Tim!

He also said Terrace Creek has proper signage and tee pads. I mean some of tee pads are still fine at Terrace but proper signage?! He then says after hole 9 "it's an unnavigable mess before eventually clearing out". I mean yeah finding hole 10 can be a challenge first time out but I feel like once you do the course plays out as fairly easy to follow. Not really sure what eventually clearing out even means TBH.

OP if you read this my suggestion is to read the reviews of trusted reviewers in our area like The valkyrie kid, JR Stengele, myself. You'll see how much detail is put into each review. My first few reviews weren't great, most people's aren't, it takes time to put your own style into and get good at it like anything else, the more you do them the better you'll get. Most people in this thread are trying to help you. Thanks for writing reviews at all, don't let the thumbs down get ya down. If you ever need someone to play with, I live in MLT, pretty close to Edmonds.