How should Reviews be posted?

Silver · 20/4/19

Timwis said:
If i didn't do reviews and i wanted to read about this device i now would find a thread and read the review but possibly wouldn't read all the comments and even get to the 2nd review, doesn't that defeat the objective?

Hi @Timwis

You are not trying to see the point I am making. I have been involved in the Admin and Mod team here since early 2014. That's over 5 years. There are about 8 of us in the team and we continually try to organise the content. We also try to reorganise the subforums from time to time as we have done and announced in the past. We have given careful thought and due care to this. Not saying we are 100% right because there is no right way to organise content - but some organising is certainly better than none.

The forum is in our minds first and foremost a resource for new members to find useful information on vaping.

So let us assume a member comes along and wants to check out a review of the Voopoo Alpha Zip Kit - they will probably go to the Reviews category. Then they may click on Regulated Mods. Inside there they will scan the various thread titles. If the reviews on this Voopoo Alpha Zip kit were in say 5 separate threads with each reviewer having done his/her own thread, there is a good chance they will not see them all. Then it becomes an unstructured feed with various threads all over the place. If I was interested in a particular product I would want to read at least a few reviews on it. Not just one. So that's why we encourage reviews on a particular device in a thread dedicated to that device. This is a collaboration and many reviews on a single product is better than one. And having them in one thread makes it much easier for the reader to find. I do not agree that its better for the reader to have to go find multiple threads when all the reviews for that device could be in one thread.

If however you want your own thread because you feel proud of your work and you want no-one else to add their own reviews on the SAME device in that thread - then I understand that - but I do not agree that it would be better for the reader.

As @Jean claude Vaaldamme has pointed out, having separate review threads on the same product may be beneficial to vendors (since our supporting vendors are not allowed to promote their products in the general forums, only in their dedicated subforum). Reviews are in the general threads and they feature in the General Discussions tab on the home page.

But on this forum, the reader or new vaper comes first. And we try to encourage members to give some consideration to that in their use of the forum.

It's no big deal but if we said all members should just do whatever they please - then it would undermine all the efforts over the years that we have put in to the forum content structures.

Silver · 20/4/19

Room Fogger said:
Hi there everyone,

Firstly seeing my name in this discussion is making me uncomfortable, and I do not like the feeling. First and foremost any threads that I start, or my reviews must never be here if they make anyone feel disrespected, or if they prove to be offensive to anyone, or if they are fictional, and I believe that this falls into neither of the categories.

@Timwis , thank you for your reviews, I have a lot of respect for your insights and I now know that it takes a lot of time to do a review and the effort that goes into them. You were part of my inspiration for wanting to do the same and give everyone insight regarding a certain device or item from my personal experience with it. As individuals we are different and different perspectives from multiple people will be to the benefit of everyone looking at a specific device or item.

I believe that I also understand fully where @Silver is coming from, from an system administration side and the administration on the forum search side for a specific item, especially for newbies or other visitors to the site. They might not necessarily know a reviewers name, only the device or item they are looking to get information on. Chances are they will go to a specific thread, I.e. RDA, Regulated device etc to look for the information.

I believe that this “problem” we are experiencing is quite easy to resolve, I am going to open up a thread under the reviewers tab for myself as suggested and done by @RainstormZA for her reviews, where I can post my reviews and where I can index and reference them. In this way, I can take full responsibility for the content in them and take full recognition for them as well. I think we all take pride in what we publish in the end, and would like the individual recognition attached to this. I suggest we all do this. In that way this will resolve the impasse we are in currently.

A general thread can then be opened by any of the reviewers in the thread applicable to the review, ie RDA, RTA etc, and a link to your review will be the only thing that is published by all reviewers of the product or item, and maybe just a generic phrase like “click this link to read/watch my review on xxxxxxxx product, and people looking for information can then access the individual reviews by all published from there if they feel the need to and comment on the review in the reviewers personal thread. I do not mind if my link appears first or last, but cannot comment on behalf of all.

I really urge as many as possible on the forum, not only the reviewers and the g0g team to please feel free to comment on my suggestion and if anyone feels that it is a realistic solution to this, without making the administration of the Forum site more work or more difficult for the admin team. They control a phenomenal amount of data and information and keeping this site it in tip top condition for everyone’s benefit must be the first priority.

I abide by the majority decision

RF

Thanks @Room Fogger - appreciate your comments.
You can do it the way you suggested - our idea was to have it the other way around. I.e. have all the actual reviews in the relevant threads in the main Reviews category - and then the links and notifications of new reviews in your dedicated "Room Fogger" thread in the Reviewers subforum. But if you want to do it your way and post the original content in your dedicated thread and links in these Reviews threads, that is cool.

The whole point about posting the reviews in the main Reviews category is that it builds up to be a great resource for those looking for reviews - without having to click to go elsewhere. The focus here being on the actual review, not so much on the reviewer.

Room Fogger · 20/4/19

Timwis said:
I have at no point made out or have any issue with you @Room Fogger but i didn't like my review getting moved into your thread that was yours and shouldn't in my opinion have someone else's review adding.
It also isn't about people looking up reviews by certain reviewers, i'm not that vain as to think people would be waiting for the next offering by me. I just want my reviews to be visible after the work i put in, not buried in another thread.
You did a cracking review and in my opinion it deserves it's own stage.

Did not for one moment think that you had a problem with me @Timwis , and I understand where you come from with regards to the merging of the threads, and be sure that no offense was taken by me at any time, I just get uncomfortable in certain situations.

Same on your second point, I agree, it’s everyones free choice to read or not to, and to like or don't, and to wait for or not, and I agree with the visibility of each individuals review. It does get a name into the community that they would like to find easily, hence my suggestion. It will give a choice to the individual wanting to find something to decide where to go. People get used to a reviewers style and they become comfortable with it, hence they search for that first. Then they read the others if they feel the need, and either add to or scratch off their list.

Again, thank you for your kind words regarding my review, it is highly appreciated, especially coming from you as a much more experienced reviewer.

Once I have my thread opened I will also have to ask for assistance from @Silver ot the [USERGROUP=3]@Admins[/USERGROUP] team to reserve the first post for an index, and then also to assist in moving my reviews and comments there if I am unable to do so. Or it will just continue from now going forward.

To all the other reviewers out there, keep it strong and keep it rolling in.
RF

Timwis · 20/4/19

Silver said:
Hi @Timwis

You are not trying to see the point I am making. I have been involved in the Admin and Mod team here since early 2014. That's over 5 years. There are about 8 of us in the team and we continually try to organise the content. We also try to reorganise the subforums from time to time as we have done and announced in the past. We have given careful thought and due care to this. Not saying we are 100% right because there is no right way to organise content - but some organising is certainly better than none.

The forum is in our minds first and foremost a resource for new members to find useful information on vaping.

So let us assume a member comes along and wants to check out a review of the Voopoo Alpha Zip Kit - they will probably go to the Reviews category. Then they may click on Regulated Mods. Inside there they will scan the various thread titles. If the reviews on this Voopoo Alpha Zip kit were in say 5 separate threads with each reviewer having done his/her own thread, there is a good chance they will not see them all. Then it becomes an unstructured feed with various threads all over the place. If I was interested in a particular product I would want to read at least a few reviews on it. Not just one. So that's why we encourage reviews on a particular device in a thread dedicated to that device. This is a collaboration and many reviews on a single product is better than one. And having them in one thread makes it much easier for the reader to find. I do not agree that its better for the reader to have to go find multiple threads when all the reviews for that device could be in one thread.

If however you want your own thread because you feel proud of your work and you want no-one else to add their own reviews on the SAME device in that thread - then I understand that - but I do not agree that it would be better for the reader.

As @Jean claude Vaaldamme has pointed out, having separate review threads on the same product may be beneficial to vendors (since our supporting vendors are not allowed to promote their products in the general forums, only in their dedicated subforum). Reviews are in the general threads and they feature in the General Discussions tab on the home page.

But on this forum, the reader or new vaper comes first. And we try to encourage members to give some consideration to that in their use of the forum.

It's no big deal but if we said all members should just do whatever they please - then it would undermine all the efforts over the years that we have put in to the forum content structures.

You're wrong i am trying to see your point but you seem to be demanding i agree with it. Clicking on reviews and then regulated Mods and their are all the reviews clearly labelled, so easy, so organised. Earlier i could only find my own review from a notification if i had missed that i would still be looking for it, how is that organised. I do understand and have read everything you have written but i don't have to agree with you. and don't.

Silver · 20/4/19

Ok @Timwis

It seems that we are seeing it from different perspectives.
And I do understand that.

Lets do this

For the meantime, continue posting your reviews as you have been doing. We wont move any of them.

We will take this issue on board amongst the Admin and Mod team over the coming days and have a discussion about it. And then once we have discussed it internally, we will post some guidelines on where to post reviews.

Will work on reverting this thread back to how it was - in two separate threads.

Hope that you will be happy - but please understand our sentiments and for any other reviewer, I hope this has shed some light into things. Its good to have these detailed discussions to get a better understanding of everyone's point of view.

Room Fogger · 20/4/19

Silver said:
Thanks @Room Fogger - appreciate your comments.
You can do it the way you suggested - our idea was to have it the other way around. I.e. have all the actual reviews in the relevant threads in the main Reviews category - and then the links and notifications of new reviews in your dedicated "Room Fogger" thread in the Reviewers subforum. But if you want to do it your way and post the original content in your dedicated thread and links in these Reviews threads, that is cool.

The whole point about posting the reviews in the main Reviews category is that it builds up to be a great resource for those looking for reviews - without having to click to go elsewhere. The focus here being on the actual review, not so much on the reviewer.

Thank you @Silver , your point is duly noted and I appreciate the effort from all that give their time to give us this exceptional Forum. I also agree on the fact that this is to provide a massive resource for new and old vapers, or interested parties to get a massive amount of data and related information on a lot of topics to assist them in their vaping journey.

I made the suggestion as an option to see if we can resolve a impasse on the way forward to give everyone their space in the sun. Whether it is the right way I don’t know, but I think it is a workable solution to ensure that people will have some way of accessing info on a subject while giving them the choice of which source of info to choose. Let’s see what happens going forward.

If this doesn’t work or becomes an administrative nightmare then I suggest that all reviewers put their heads together to come up with a more workable solution. It should not add extra admin to the team looking after the site, you allready spend a lot of time trying to make this work for everyone.
RF

Timwis · 20/4/19

Silver said:
Ok @Timwis

It seems that we are seeing it from different perspectives.
And I do understand that.

Lets do this

For the meantime, continue posting your reviews as you have been doing. We wont move any of them.

We will take this issue on board amongst the Admin and Mod team over the coming days and have a discussion about it. And then once we have discussed it internally, we will post some guidelines on where to post reviews.

Will work on reverting this thread back to how it was - in two separate threads.

Hope that you will be happy - but please understand our sentiments and for any other reviewer, I hope this has shed some light into things. Its good to have these detailed discussions to get a better understanding of everyone's point of view.

I have no problems with having mine grouped together like as been mentioned but my concern is people asking questions. I have about 300 reviews so if someone wanted to ask a question about the 2nd review in the list (bearing in mind their will be some comments on some reviews) they might need to go to post 739 to make that comment. All of a sudden i think they will decide the question isn't that important to ask anymore.

Silver · 20/4/19

Room Fogger said:
Thank you @Silver , your point is duly noted and I appreciate the effort from all that give their time to give us this exceptional Forum. I also agree on the fact that this is to provide a massive resource for new and old vapers, or interested parties to get a massive amount of data and related information on a lot of topics to assist them in their vaping journey.

I made the suggestion as an option to see if we can resolve a impasse on the way forward to give everyone their space in the sun. Whether it is the right way I don’t know, but I think it is a workable solution to ensure that people will have some way of accessing info on a subject while giving them the choice of which source of info to choose. Let’s see what happens going forward.

If this doesn’t work or becomes an administrative nightmare then I suggest that all reviewers put their heads together to come up with a more workable solution. It should not add extra admin to the team looking after the site, you allready spend a lot of time trying to make this work for everyone.
RF

Thanks @Room Fogger
Much appreciated !

Once I've reverted this thread to how it was before I moved @Timwis 's review - I am going to take all these discussion posts out of here and move them into a newly created discussion thread on this topic so we can continue discussing there.

Just give me a bit - I need to go eat, lol

Room Fogger · 20/4/19

Silver said:
Thanks @Room Fogger
Much appreciated !

Once I've reverted this thread to how it was before I moved @Timwis 's review - I am going to take all these discussion posts out of here and move them into a newly created discussion thread on this topic so we can continue discussing there.

Just give me a bit - I need to go eat, lol

Go for it, I just finished. Saturday nights are toasted sarmie days

RainstormZA · 20/4/19

Room Fogger said:
Go for it, I just finished. Saturday nights are toasted sarmie days

Lol crackers and marmite for me tonight

Silver · 20/4/19

Timwis said:
I have no problems with having mine grouped together like as been mentioned but my concern is people asking questions. I have about 300 reviews so if someone wanted to ask a question about the 2nd review in the list (bearing in mind their will be some comments on some reviews) they might need to go to post 739 to make that comment. All of a sudden i think they will decide the question isn't that important to ask anymore.

I hear you @Timwis - but people dont have to go to post 739 to make a comment
They just need to hit the reply button below any post anywhere - and it will quote that post
Then you would get an alert - and click on the alert - and it will take you right there.

Yes, i hear you that posts are sorted chronologically - so if someone were to start at page 1 and work through it all, they would not see the question until much later - but that is how the forum software works. It sorts posts chronologically. As opposed to things like Reddit where posts can be up or downvoted in their hierarchy. But that's another discussion

Am going to sort this thread out tomorrow - my wife is nagging me to stop on the forum.
Will do this in the morning and create the new discussion thread for us to continue discussing this.

Timwis · 20/4/19

Room Fogger said:
Go for it, I just finished. Saturday nights are toasted sarmie days

Ice cream here 23 degrees in April which to us in the UK is like it being 35 degress in SA

Silver · 20/4/19

@Timwis - just checking - are you using a normal browser to access ECIGSSA?
Or Tapatalk?

The reason I ask is that the forum functionality is way more powerful with a normal browser. Many of the features are not available on Tapatalk.

Room Fogger · 20/4/19

Timwis said:
Ice cream here 23 degrees in April which to us in the UK is like it being 35 degress in SA

Enjoy it, now I’m going to have to scratch in the freezer to see if there is anything ice cream wise left by the two big guys.

Timwis · 20/4/19

Silver said:
@Timwis - just checking - are you using a normal browser to access ECIGSSA?
Or Tapatalk?

The reason I ask is that the forum functionality is way more powerful with a normal browser. Many of the features are not available on Tapatalk.

Normal browser

Timwis · 20/4/19

Debate is good and people don't have to agree

Silver said:
Yes, i hear you that posts are sorted chronologically - so if someone were to start at page 1 and work through it all, they would not see the question until much later - but that is how the forum software works

Which in my opinion is why it's a bad idea and the opposite to organisation

Timwis · 20/4/19

Timwis said:
Debate is good and people don't have to agree

Which in my opinion is why it's a bad idea and the opposite to organisation

Having more than 1 review in the same thread i'm referring to it becomes a complete mess. I have been looking at the reviewers section and how it works with different reviews in the same thread and not impressed. The more reviews and posts in each of the threads the more unorganised and chaotic it looks. I just can't get my head around how that is supposed to be an organised way of doing things.

daniel craig · 21/4/19

Timwis said:
Discussion started by @Room Fogger their is already a comment:

"Great review @Room Fogger Loving the pics and write up

"

Although i agree with this comment it was posted after my review in the thread as if i don't exist.

I will do an experiment about organisation and post my findings. I'm going to ask a friend to find my review on the forums i post to and see how easy he found it on each forum.

True. I didn't even see your review posted in this thread until now.... Gonna check it out now

daniel craig · 21/4/19

Silver said:
No need to be upset about this either. That was a comment from another local member Daniel Craig who appreciated Room Foggers review. I am quite sure his intention was not to make you feel like you don’t exist. You have had plenty comments on other threads thanking you for your insights. I have even written several myself.

I honestly thought this was @Room Fogger review thread. I also didn't know that reviews should be posted within the same thread if one exists

Timwis · 21/4/19

daniel craig said:
True. I didn't even see your review posted in this thread until now.... Gonna check it out now

Hi Daniel, @Silver i think this 100% proves my point

daniel craig · 21/4/19

Timwis said:
Hi Daniel, @Silver i think this 100% proves my point

Read up your review now. It's a great review as well

By default, I am using Tapatalk so I see the first post. I didn't know that reviews are combined so I thought this thread is Room Fogger's and that only his review is in here (Like ECF, Vaping Underground and other forums).

Timwis · 21/4/19

daniel craig said:
I honestly thought this was @Room Fogger review thread. I also didn't know that reviews should be posted within the same thread if one exists

And so it should be. I came on here today to find my review had been moved (buried) to another thread and @Silver didn't seem to understand why i was so (won't swear)off. You have just proved the point i have been trying to make all day.

Timwis · 21/4/19

daniel craig said:
Read up your review now. It's a great review as well

By default, I am using Tapatalk so I see the first post. I didn't know that reviews are combined so I thought this thread is Room Fogger's and that only his review is in here (Like ECF, Vaping Underground and other forums).

Apparently how it's done on every other forum is unorganised and this is done to make it more organised on here which i can't get my head around as it looks the opposite to me. If i knew the review i posted would end up being buried in another thread i wouldn't of wasted my time posting it on here.

daniel craig · 21/4/19

Timwis said:
And so it should be. I came on here today to find my review had been moved (buried) to another thread and @Silver didn't seem to understand why i was so (won't swear)off. You have just proved the point i have been trying to make all day.

I understand the point you were trying to make. I personally wouldn't have scrolled though all the comments to see if there's a 2nd review in the thread. I would read the 1st post and maybe if the product interests me, read the comments otherwise I would hit back and move on.

What happens if review 1 has 50 comments and then review 2 is posted? I highly doubt I'll ever see review 2 because I'll need to flip through pages just to get to it.

I would think having one of those threads in the 'Reviewers' sub-forum may help organise your content but then again, it's a touch more work for you as a reviewer since comments on 1 specific review and products are not in 1 place/thread. (eg. You'll be seeing comments about your Eleaf review after posting a VooPoo review to your thread VS seeing Eleaf comments in the eleaf thread and VOOPOO comments in the VOOPOO thread)

Timwis · 21/4/19

daniel craig said:
I understand the point you were trying to make. I personally wouldn't have scrolled though all the comments to see if there's a 2nd review in the thread. I would read the 1st post and maybe if the product interests me, read the comments otherwise I would hit back and move on.

What happens if review 1 has 50 comments and then review 2 is posted? I highly doubt I'll ever see review 2 because I'll need to flip through pages just to get to it.

I would think having one of those threads in the 'Reviewers' sub-forum may help organise your content but then again, it's a touch more work for you as a reviewer since comments on 1 specific review and products are not in 1 place/thread. (eg. You'll be seeing comments about your Eleaf review after posting a VooPoo review to your thread VS seeing Eleaf comments in the eleaf thread and VOOPOO comments in the VOOPOO thread)

The exact same points i have been making all day but i have a sore head from the wall i have been banging.

Apparently if people want to read reviews about a certain device going to regulated mods for example and seeing a number of reviews for that device listed means people might miss a review they want to read and it's unorganised. My own view is it's been done this way on every single forum i have ever visited because it is an organised system and so easy to find what you want.

Apparently putting all the reviews for the same device in the same thread whether a review ends up being post 1, 9, 57 or 700 is much more organised for the reader.

My opinion is i have never heard so much rubbish lol

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