Elle (ellexamines on TT & Substack) > Status Update

Ratings are so arbitrary anyway, I think a percentage rating system would be better.

I didn't know this was in the works.

And you are right--people abuse the system as is. I'm not sure I have hope that the half stars will help that.

I think a percentage would be so much better and accurate, or maybe even having it out of 10 stars. It's difficult to rate books out of 5 because often they're really good, better than a 4 but not perfect enough for a 5. Similarly when I find a book to be very borderline, I wish I could give it a 2.5 which is a bare pass instead of a 'fail' (under 3) or a definite 'pass' (above 3). If I'm making any sense at all haha. however i never have remorse for rating a book 1 or 2, those are definite fails for me.

I feel notifications of replies to your comments is a more urgent matter GR should solve.

I have to disagree with you. The half star ratings would help a lot. Also what do you mean "you abuse the star system" ? I believe everyone is allowed to rate a book as many stars as they please as long as they actually read the book.

Ink is My Sword (Sara) wrote: "I feel notifications of replies to your comments is a more urgent matter GR should solve."

PREACH

omg bae controversial status................

i need half stars like i need air sooooooo hard disagree

Well actually Elise, I give everything 3 stars.
Jk
But really can we get a better working app and maybe a less cluttered update feed.

Agreed! There are dozens of other things they should focus of first. For example, as Erin mentioned above, the home page. It's a mess.

Bitchin' wrote: "I didn't know this was in the works.

And you are right--people abuse the system as is. I'm not sure I have hope that the half stars will help that."

exactly. I don't want it to be a "4.5 unless you hated it" thing, and I'd have to give everything a less than perfect rating :/

Lior wrote: "Ratings are so arbitrary anyway, I think a percentage rating system would be better."

idk I feel like that would frustrate me so much bc I'd feel like I couldn't rate anything 100 without being hypocritical

Regina wrote: "I have to disagree with you. The half star ratings would help a lot. Also what do you mean "you abuse the star system" ? I believe everyone is allowed to rate a book as many stars as they please as..."

I didn't actually say that. and yeah, I'm aware they can - I just don't think you should give a four to something you hated, it makes the four star option have no meaning. When I rate a four, it means I'd highly recommend, not "I didn't like it."

Delia ✨ (Bookish Nymph) wrote: "I think a percentage would be so much better and accurate, or maybe even having it out of 10 stars. It's difficult to rate books out of 5 because often they're really good, better than a 4 but not ..."

idk I always use two just to mean "mediocre" so a mediocre book will be a two for me

emma wrote: "omg bae controversial status................

i need half stars like i need air sooooooo hard disagree"

this is like your BLLB review you're just so inherently #wrong I'd be okay with 2.5s and 3.5s but 4.5? no

Kainat wrote: "Agreed! There are dozens of other things they should focus of first. For example, as Erin mentioned above, the home page. It's a mess."

Erin wrote: "Well actually Elise, I give everything 3 stars.
Jk
But really can we get a better working app and maybe a less cluttered update feed."

BIG AGREE

exactly!!!! I've finally started rating books honestly rip, but seriously people don't realize that this would mess up the averages anyway and it'd be shaky and just *sighing*

anyway aren't half stars just like...rating things out of ten stars...but lol there's the people who do like 4.75 stars and I'm like...why's it not five seriously dude

BookHugger wrote: "exactly!!!! I've finally started rating books honestly rip, but seriously people don't realize that this would mess up the averages anyway and it'd be shaky and just *sighing*

anyway aren't half s..."

same lol there's just? I feel like my 2-3s and 3-4s can range in quality a bit but half stars would just make it worse

I just feel guilty! I don't want to hurt the book's feelings!

Jennifer wrote: "I just feel guilty! I don't want to hurt the book's feelings!"

lmao I used to feel that way I've kinda just come to terms with it

I halfway agree with this
I would personally like a 3.5 or 2.5, but I can easily put that at the beginning of a review so it's not that big of a deal. GR has so many more problems that I need fixed, so we don't need to worry with this rn

@Adeline TOTALLY agree. Honestly, a six-star system would be great, but I don't really want that change :/

Kinda true, it already takes me forever sometimes to rate a book, the more ratings I can be the more time it's going to take me ahah

I wouldn't mind if it was optional to use them, as I myself personally dislike the idea but know a ton of people who would use it.

I wouldn't mind having them but I'd rather a less cluttered feed (I don't need to be shown the same update 10 times because 10 different people have liked or commented) and being notified when people comment on my updates or reply to my comments would be great and a better app. All of these things would be way more useful and improve how people use Goodreads a hella of a lot more than half stars would.

I have no idea who rates a book with four stars if they didn't like it, but oh well as it seems it happens. O_o As for the rest, I guess I'm okay with the system as it is.

yeah I haven't seen anyone rate a book they hate a 4/5

Nasom wrote: "yeah I haven't seen anyone rate a book they hate a 4/5"

Virginia wrote: "I have no idea who rates a book with four stars if they didn't like it, but oh well as it seems it happens. O_o As for the rest, I guess I'm okay with the system as it is."

it happens a lot with hyped books. people don't want to admit they hated it.

That's ridiculous. *lol* If I really hate a book it gets one star and that's it. I did it with "The catcher in the rye" and I still don't regret it. For me the book was one star and I stand by it. =)

As a fan of the .5 star, I feel attacked

but jfghfjkkdf so many books are like a 2.5 or 3.5 for me lmao

✨ jamieson ✨ wrote: "As a fan of the .5 star, I feel attacked

but jfghfjkkdf so many books are like a 2.5 or 3.5 for me lmao"

i use those but I could NEVER 4.5 a book it gets rounded up screw y'all

Virginia wrote: "That's ridiculous. *lol* If I really hate a book it gets one star and that's it. I did it with "The catcher in the rye" and I still don't regret it. For me the book was one star and I stand by it. =)"

I adore that book but I agree!! you should be honest.

this update seems to be precisely for me *vanishes*

I STILL WANT MY HALF STARS.

More than rating hyped books you hated 4 stars, it's not realizing immediately that you hated them? A "the more I think about it the less I like it" situation. That's why I change ratings, sometimes.

But I don't really care about half stars - the rating scale I use (the one I invented for my Italian blog, before goodreads) has also .25 and .75. For me half stars wouldn't solve anything.

@Acqua yeah I feel like everyone uses the rating systems so differently there's really not a point to it.

Half stars are never going to happen. The people who own GR took a cue from Netflix, who tried it, and apparently people "freak out" when they are given too many options and it ended up in more people not rating things.

Olivia wrote: "Half stars are never going to happen. The people who own GR took a cue from Netflix, who tried it, and apparently people "freak out" when they are given too many options and it ended up in more peo..."

yeah I think that's true :/

I don't really rate anymore, (only a few books that I feel deserve the rating, usually the really good/bad ones), just write a review. But I can understand the problem, I've seen people complain about not having half stars for quite a while. There is another book-related site that I use (in my mother tongue, Hungarian) and you can give books half stars there, many people use it. Sometimes it helps, though I feel odd when I see a 4.25 or 4.75 rating.... (I saw it here on GR)
I can also understand the people-rating-books-weirdly problem. I read a review and I'm confused why they gave it 4 stars if they only had problems with the book...