The Rating System of Goodreads (Sorry it isn't related to HP :P

[hannah renee.]

So, I don't know if this has caught any of your attention but it has come to mine that the Goodreads personal rating system is only based on how much you enjoyed it, not on how well-crafted it was based on the writing or story-telling, etc (of course according to what you deem well-crafted). What do you all feel about this? In some ways, it seems a bit unprofessional? Perhaps? Something like that. There's nothing wrong with rating on how much you liked it: I do that to an extent...But I also rate it on how well-written and beautifully done it was. I put both factors into play. It just makes the rating rather hard personally, because you don't know sometimes how to approach it with certain books. Your thoughts?

(I know this has nothing to do with HP but I didn't know where else to post it... HP is the most read book so I figure it will show up on a lot of people's feeds.)

[holland]

I agree. I think they should have two ratings, then either average or add (if they make/want a 10 rating system) for your overall rating.

[Ruby]

This is a pretty good idea - you should suggest this to, idk, whoever can do something about that on goodreads or something...

[Eimear]

I've always thought Goodreads should at least increase the rating system from 5 stars to 10. I find it very very difficult to rate out of 5 and I feel like I'm giving so many books bad reviews even though I did enjoy them, just not as much as I enjoyed truly incredible books.

[hannah renee.]

Eimear wrote: "I've always thought Goodreads should at least increase the rating system from 5 stars to 10. I find it very very difficult to rate out of 5 and I feel like I'm giving so many books bad reviews even..."

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea too. I totally get where you're coming from.

[Leo]

I don't think you're in the minority when you consider both how well written/crafted a book is and how much you enjoyed it when rating. I do however see how that makes it difficult to rate because I've read some beautifully written books that bored me to tears, and I've read some poorly written books that were carried by a rather enjoyable storyline. I'm not sure if a two tier rating system would work, it would potentially lead to books that are rated low in writing and high in story/enjoyment, and vice versa. This would could potentially alienate someone who values good writing from reading a book they would otherwise enjoy. (And if these two ratings would be averaged out, don't most people normally split the difference when rating anyways?)

Maybe instead of a simple one five star rating system it could be changed so that at the end of reading a book a rating 'survey' could be taken. You would potentially be able to rank the enjoyment of the book, how well written you thought it was, how likely you would recommend the book, how original the storyline was, how it ranks to your favorite books and maybe if you would read another book by the author/continue the series? And then those ratings could be averaged out to one final rating.

I'm not sure if this is a good solution, and it might even be too cumbersome of a system to employ, but If I've taken the time to read a book I might enjoy a more thorough rating. Maybe a 10 star rating system, as suggested, would be easier and accomplish the same goal?

In the end, the 5 star rating system does seem to be a prevalent method for ranking just about everything so maybe it's not as bad as it seems?

[Ruby]

I also have noticed this, but I still appreciate the simplicity of the Goodreads rating system.

I think it's because when I read someone else's reviews, I want to get a feel for how I will enjoy the book, not necessarily how well-written it is. I'd rather understand the person's personal thoughts on the book instead of their guess or approximation as to its quality because that's what I'm usually always going to be looking for: is this book enjoyable?

[hannah renee.]

Ruby wrote: "I also have noticed this, but I still appreciate the simplicity of the Goodreads rating system.

I think it's because when I read someone else's reviews, I want to get a feel for how I will enjoy t..."

I get where you're coming from on that. I don't particularly like when I read a review and they are all hoity-toity about the writing that it seems like they don't pay any attention to the message or the emotion and good story-craft. But still, it still can be rather stumping.

[hannah renee.]

Leo wrote: "I don't think you're in the minority when you consider both how well written/crafted a book is and how much you enjoyed it when rating. I do however see how that makes it difficult to rate because ..."

Oohhh I like that idea.

[Marc]

These are all great ideas, I love so many books I feel like I am slighting some by not giving them 4 or 5 stars, but they truly just do not stack up. Usually I say fuck it and give it a good review anyways because I want more people to read, but a more diverse scale would be helpful

[Mitali]

If you want to differentiate between personal enjoyment of a book vs. objective quality, or something along those lines ... then that's what the review system is for. Instead of just rating the book, take the time to write a paragraph or two to explain why you rated it the way you did.

IMO, the rating system is decent enough the way it is. I wouldn't complain if the scoring was changed to be out of 10 instead of 5 (more scope for distinctions), but beyond that, I don't think any major change is necessary. I don't see why the system should be more 'professional' - considering that the vast majority of ratings/reviews on Goodreads are amateur ones.

[Ruby]

I have been thinking for a while that it should change from 1-5 to 1-10, but then I realize we would have the same problem:

It's not a wider range we want; I'm pretty sure we want half-star ratings. The significance of a half-star rating isn't that it comes more close to how you really felt about the book-- it's to show which way you're leaning. So if you want to rate a book 2 and a half, it doesn't mean that you want to rate it 5/10 (which is what it would be proportionally if it was a 1-10 rating system)- it means you're showing that it's good enough to be closer to three if you had to rate it differently.
Thus I'd say the change I'd make to the system is to add half-star ratings.

[Mitali]

Yes, that's a good point - half-stars would be better than a 1-10 rating system. Though they're mathematically the same thing, a half-star system would be psychologically a slightly different thing.