It appears you have not yet registered with our community. To register please click here...

 
Go Back [M] > Madshrimps > Articles & Howto's
Awards are Worthless - Introducing Recommended Tags Awards are Worthless - Introducing Recommended Tags
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Awards are Worthless - Introducing Recommended Tags
Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 3rd January 2007, 17:32   #1
Madshrimp
 
jmke's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: 7090/Belgium
Posts: 79,021
jmke has disabled reputation
Default Awards are Worthless - Introducing Recommended Tags

For our dedicated readers and forum visitors I'd like to post this preview link to a work in progress article which details our new "Recommended Tag" system to point out to our readers what products stand out from the crowd and why.

Your input, ideas, remarks, critics are much appreciated: http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=get...&articID=5 34
__________________
jmke is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 3rd January 2007, 23:16   #2
SuAside
 
Posts: n/a
Default

alright, a few thoughts then (not all too pleasant). keep in mind that these are just observations and feelings, not accusations & that i'm only saying it to help.

- you say awards are useless, but to me it looks like a big part of the reason you'll move to this system is that the sponsors will get off your back (no longer whining about awards). afterall, to them, a recommendation is the same as an award. it might not be a big ringer like "best of test" and "editors choice", but "recommended high end" doesn't sound too bad either, does it? in essence, to prevent this, you'll need to make some pretty dang clear rules amongst reviewers to be selective with those recommendations. or you'll end up as the thing you're trying to fight.

- with the abundance of recommendation classes, it pretty much looks like you'll be putting a recommendation on almost everything, except on the stuff that'll cause your pc to implode. this of course might make you a bit more popular for the sponsors (the people that give you hw to review). once again, you'll need to be sparse with it, or you'll loose credebility.

- the recommendations look pretty neat. just the 1+1 i don't really like. sure, it's "easy calculus" and therefore novice, but still. i wonder if something more humorous might not fit in better? (een fopspeen? ^^ although that's probably not classy enough)

- another possible addendum to the logo is to add "Recommended" into the logo itself. so you dont have to write it above & that way producers/sponsors can use the logo itself without extra hassle. example:
High End
[M]adshrimps
Recommended


i like the initiative, but do realise you're threading on thin ice. so watch your step & take your time. that's better than trying to rush it & do an halfassed job.
  Reply With Quote
Old 3rd January 2007, 23:53   #3
Madshrimp
 
jmke's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: 7090/Belgium
Posts: 79,021
jmke has disabled reputation
Default

like we said; these are for the readers; not the mfgrs; I have lots of room on my back, and they can all jump on there without a problem, not doing this to get anybody of my back If that would have been the case, I would not have waited 5 years for this.

the recommended tags are there for the readers, and internally we will discuss heavily to see if a certain piece of hardware deservs it, because yes, we need to avoid putting a tag/logo in every review "just because".

we do have a bit of added variation with bronze/silver logo's, but I personally like to keep things clean & simple;

the logo's are paid & done at this moment; don't really have the skills to get them altered to fix them, the 1+1 is do-able for the purpose I guessed?
__________________
jmke is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 4th January 2007, 00:12   #4
SuAside
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmke View Post
like we said; these are for the readers; not the mfgrs; I have lots of room on my back, and they can all jump on there without a problem, not doing this to get anybody of my back If that would have been the case, I would not have waited 5 years for this.
the recommended tags are there for the readers, and internally we will discuss heavily to see if a certain piece of hardware deservs it, because yes, we need to avoid putting a tag/logo in every review "just because".
good to hear that affirmed once again.

it's really sad to see that pretty much all the really big sites lately have been involved in one or more mini-scandals over the years.

in the end, i think all sites are "corruptible" up to a certain point. there's little use denying it, but a clear and transparant system can keep most of it at bay. and therein probably lies the power of medium-sized hardwarecommunities, i guess. they are popular enough for manufacturers to bother sending stuff to, but they are small enough not to be sucked into a world of favoritism simply to get that one scoop everyone has been waiting for.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmke View Post
we do have a bit of added variation with bronze/silver logo's, but I personally like to keep things clean & simple;
i really wouldnt go for any extra logo's. you already have more than enough. it'd beat the purpose.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jmke View Post
don't really have the skills to get them altered to fix them, the 1+1 is do-able for the purpose I guessed?
no need to alter them on my account! not just for lil' ol' me
  Reply With Quote
Old 4th January 2007, 00:34   #5
Rutar
 
Posts: n/a
Default

roundups >>> awards

if a company doesn't have the balls to send their product, it won't even pop up on my radar


I also doubt that awards work to sell a product, I doubt that a good product would sell worse if there are no awards on it.

If you want to point out what type of user the product would be good for, do it in the conclusion. The tags only make things more confusing if there is a good conclusion.
  Reply With Quote
Old 4th January 2007, 09:55   #6
Madshrimp
 
jmke's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: 7090/Belgium
Posts: 79,021
jmke has disabled reputation
Default

the tags would be there as addition to the conclusion/recommendation;

they will be very rarely used in roundup tests; unless one product really stands out.

also, please understand that these are not awards, Awards are for the companies/products; the recommended tags are for our readers to help them spot a better than average product

@SuAside: I agree on the silver/bronze logo's, there are enough as it stands now, will think trice before using any of the other ones;

also since the tags are user recommended, we can change/alter/remove/add them depending on user feedback, experience, etc;
__________________
jmke is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 6th January 2007, 13:54   #7
Berry
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I LIKE THE FORMAT.

Biggest problem, is it`s use and it`s limitations.
Time can be the only judge over that, though.
As for it`s use, I`ll probably leave that up to you, just like the final editing.
For all things, there need to be people.
  Reply With Quote
Old 7th January 2007, 19:59   #8
HitenMitsurugi
 
Posts: n/a
Default

only gripe i have is the overlap, what distinguishes performance from high end? etc
it's not really that clear even from the explications provided.
  Reply With Quote
Old 7th January 2007, 20:02   #9
Madshrimp
 
jmke's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: 7090/Belgium
Posts: 79,021
jmke has disabled reputation
Default

Performance can be "or lower end hardware like 7900GS with high OC, or 7300GT with DDR,…"

High End is strictly... high end gear; yes they can co-exist in my humble opinion, unless "High End is always = Performance". but where does that leave high performance PC6400 memory or 7900GTO ?
__________________
jmke is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29th July 2013, 12:01   #10
Madshrimp
 
jmke's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: 7090/Belgium
Posts: 79,021
jmke has disabled reputation
Default

well well well, look at this:



took them 5 years, but some review sites are actually changing their "useless" awards to something a bit more meaningful !

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7173/s...dels-tested/12
__________________
jmke is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Introducing four new AMD Business Class processors jmke WebNews 0 21st August 2008 14:10
MSI Notebooks win prestigious Awards in Taiwan jmke WebNews 0 22nd May 2008 12:54
2K’s BioShock Sweeps E3 Best of Show Awards TheTarget WebNews 2 1st June 2006 13:47
madshrimps gets 2 hwbot awards RichBa5tard Hardware Overclocking and Case Modding 6 22nd April 2006 14:25
The Best of 2005: X-bit Labs Readers’ Choice Awards Sidney WebNews 7 4th March 2006 23:38
Introducing Seagate's 7200.9: The New Generation jmke WebNews 0 11th October 2005 18:28
AMD64 Technology Garners More Than 120 Industry Awards Sidney WebNews 0 31st August 2005 08:00
Readers' Choice Awards 2004 Results Sidney WebNews 0 2nd February 2005 08:18
ABIT Awards US$125,000 to China's Best Gamer jmke WebNews 0 18th October 2004 23:01
INFO: Windows XP Services ( what to enable/disable) The Senile Doctor FAQ / INFO / HOW-TO 7 9th September 2003 14:59

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 19:57.


Powered by vBulletin® - Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO