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Thread: Why do you write reviews?

  1. #21
    Moderator CrazyT's Avatar
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    I don't write reviews because I don't have the motivation. But all this commotion is over nothing. To answer some questions...

    Quote Originally Posted by Selene Nguyen
    wow, this is the first i've heard about this site actually making money from our reviews. how exactly does that occur? do other sites pay to feature particular reviews?
    When you read a review, there are ads on the page. If you click on the ad, SPCNET gets like a penny or two. If you click on the link AND buy something from the site, SPCNET get a small commission fee. In my opinion, this is totally acceptable. Running a site is not free and definitely not cheap. To expect a webmaster to constantly put money out of his/her own money every month is insane. This is a common practice among the internet these days.

    and how you say that once a review has been edited, spcnet now has the copyright, so technically our reviews can appear on any website or god knows where, without the reviewer even knowing about it?
    Your original submitted review is yours. Anything editted by SPCNET editors is theirs. You're free to submit your original work to any site you want. SPCNET is not copyrighting your review. It's copyrighting the changes made to your review by its editors.

    when i submit reviews, i only intend them to stay on spcnet's site, and never thought they would be mishandled without my permission.
    Everything is stated in fine print. No one was trying to hide this fact from you. Also, I REALLY REALLY doubt SPCNET would print/submit your review somewhere else without asking you first.
    I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.

  2. #22
    Senior Member junny's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CrazyT
    Your original submitted review is yours. Anything editted by SPCNET editors is theirs. You're free to submit your original work to any site you want. SPCNET is not copyrighting your review. It's copyrighting the changes made to your review by its editors.

    Everything is stated in fine print. No one was trying to hide this fact from you. Also, I REALLY REALLY doubt SPCNET would print/submit your review somewhere else without asking you first.
    That I can testify to. Sometime back, I wanted to put up a review (on "Hero") that I found on SPCNET on my site. So I emailed SC and asked whether I could put up the review on my site. SC very kindly directed me to the reviewer to ask for permission, and the reviewer generously allowed me to post her original review (as in, the review unedited by SPCNET) on my site.

    I don't think it's too much to ask for that SPCNET reserves the copyright to the changes in reviews. It happens in newspapers too, so why not online media? Surely SPCNET editors deserve some recognition for their hard work?
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  3. #23
    Senior Member James Ko's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by CrazyT
    When you read a review, there are ads on the page. If you click on the ad, SPCNET gets like a penny or two. If you click on the link AND buy something from the site, SPCNET get a small commission fee. In my opinion, this is totally acceptable. Running a site is not free and definitely not cheap. To expect a webmaster to constantly put money out of his/her own money every month is insane. This is a common practice among the internet these days.
    Here is a link from Yes Asia on how much % you gain from sales generated from this site.

    http://us.yesasia.com/assocProg/inde...index&lang=en&

    If you click on the site you can see is more then pennys if you think about the purchase people buy from. Typical TVB series is around $40 to $100 and 10% of that is $4 to $10 depending on the order. If person buys like 10 series a year (like me) I can help contribute to Spcnet around $100 a year by using this as a gate way to purchase from YesAsia. So think if like 10 people or 100 people doing this per year and average $50 a year in purchase. This can add up. So is not much money in the grand view that SPCnet can support herself thru this site but is quite a bit of enough to run the site. But before anyone jump the gun and claim that I against this, I agree with what CrazyT said this is totally acceptable.

    As for why some people are having problem with this is not many people understand that their reviews, their posts on the threads acts like advertistment to the site. That is how people come to this site and thru the sites get to Yes Asia to buy their media. Everyone posting or reviewing here contribute to this whether they know it or not. But yet many felt their credits hasn't been reconized or maybe even rewarded. I think this part is between SPCnet and those people that feel this way.

    Selene and the rest of the future posters and reviewers who is reading this thread, I don't think you guys should worry too much about this. I am sure you guys can make the choice of what is the right thing you want to do... contribute to the site or not whether it is thru reviews or thru the boards For me I choice not to contribute in the reviews on this site but doesn't mean I am contribtuing less thru the boards.

    Please don't let the rude comments by some and the bitter arguements between misunderstand posters scares you guys away
    Flame on I am gone...

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  4. #24
    Administrator spcnet's Avatar
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    Thanks for clarifying some of the points already.

    The copyright was put up a while ago for several reasons. One of the most important one was that I didn't want reviewers to submit a review to our site, have our editors edit them, and then use that edited copy to submit to another review site. I would feel strongly wronged because it is not simple work to read through and edit reviews and then to have that work be put up on another site for free. Thus the copyright notice would ensure that it is a breach of exclusive content rights on spcnet.tv and I would know immediately if I see our edited content on another site, it is plagiarizing off us (please let me know if you see our content ripped off, btw).

    The second reason for the copyright is that as webmaster, I have to protect my own interests too since the ads on our site do make commission (thus, the 'commercial' part in the notice) to keep the site running. In the case that other webmasters email me for permission to use our content on their website, I am also able to tell them Yes or No. To this date, I have always notified the original reviewer, even though technically, I don't have to--and will of course, continue to do so in the future, since it is only right. The only case so far where I had a say to whether an edited review was printed on another site was because I wanted to negotiate a gift for the reviewer--since the reviewer is the person who I thought should be rewarded. Unfortunately, they didn't want any more reviews, otherwise more freebies.

    It is true that everything on this site, from the forum, to the reviews, and even to the links to other sites we have on this site is form of content for the website. So any form of interaction on this site, including posting in this very forum, is serving as content for us and is what attracts more visitors to the site. That's the general picture of all websites. Please also be aware that if there are any forms of ads on -any- site, it generates commission.

    All is also true about the Yesasia commission--provided, of course, people actually buy after clicking on the link from our site. Can someone start an experiment site, with say, $25 a month hosting fee--that was before I had the dedicated server--for starters, and see how much money they can make off the commission that Yesasia pays and see if they survive the month? I'd congratulate you if you can even make $10 in one month--then I'd LOVE to copy that business model. Just kidding ... I just want to say it's tough.

    To be perfectly honest too, if this website didn't make money now with the ads to pay for the hosting each month, the site would've closed down a long, long time ago. Compared to the kind of stress, drama, loss of sleep, anxiety, and extra work that I have to put up with for the site at many times, no amount of money is enough to keep me running it if I also didn't feel it is a pity to throw all the work away.

    That being all said, it is perfectly understandable if reviewers choose not to submit reviews to our site, or to remove your reviews, because of the ads on the site. Please do PM me about it if so. The last thing I want is for members to never voice me their concerns and to let bad feelings build.
    -SC

  5. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by spcnet
    Thanks for clarifying some of the points already.

    The copyright was put up a while ago for several reasons. One of the most important one was that I didn't want reviewers to submit a review to our site, have our editors edit them, and then use that edited copy to submit to another review site. I would feel strongly wronged because it is not simple work to read through and edit reviews and then to have that work be put up on another site for free. Thus the copyright notice would ensure that it is a breach of exclusive content rights on spcnet.tv and I would know immediately if I see our edited content on another site, it is plagiarizing off us (please let me know if you see our content ripped off, btw).

    The second reason for the copyright is that as webmaster, I have to protect my own interests too since the ads on our site do make commission (thus, the 'commercial' part in the notice) to keep the site running. In the case that other webmasters email me for permission to use our content on their website, I am also able to tell them Yes or No. To this date, I have always notified the original reviewer, even though technically, I don't have to--and will of course, continue to do so in the future, since it is only right. The only case so far where I had a say to whether an edited review was printed on another site was because I wanted to negotiate a gift for the reviewer--since the reviewer is the person who I thought should be rewarded. Unfortunately, they didn't want any more reviews, otherwise more freebies.

    It is true that everything on this site, from the forum, to the reviews, and even to the links to other sites we have on this site is form of content for the website. So any form of interaction on this site, including posting in this very forum, is serving as content for us and is what attracts more visitors to the site. That's the general picture of all websites. Please also be aware that if there are any forms of ads on -any- site, it generates commission.

    All is also true about the Yesasia commission--provided, of course, people actually buy after clicking on the link from our site. Can someone start an experiment site, with say, $25 a month hosting fee--that was before I had the dedicated server--for starters, and see how much money they can make off the commission that Yesasia pays and see if they survive the month? I'd congratulate you if you can even make $10 in one month--then I'd LOVE to copy that business model. Just kidding ... I just want to say it's tough.

    To be perfectly honest too, if this website didn't make money now with the ads to pay for the hosting each month, the site would've closed down a long, long time ago. Compared to the kind of stress, drama, loss of sleep, anxiety, and extra work that I have to put up with for the site at many times, no amount of money is enough to keep me running it if I also didn't feel it is a pity to throw all the work away.

    That being all said, it is perfectly understandable if reviewers choose not to submit reviews to our site, or to remove your reviews, because of the ads on the site. Please do PM me about it if so. The last thing I want is for members to never voice me their concerns and to let bad feelings build.

    Ok spcnet, i completely understand now. Just reading the previous posts where someone seemed really pissed off and felt so strongly about the commercial part of this site gave me the impression that you were making big bucks out of reviews, and/or exploiting them while you sat back and raked in the cash [lol].

    After all, you have to receive something for keeping this site up [i dont think i would do it if there was no reward], and since the reward is rather small, i think the major reason you're running this site is out of interest/motivation etc.

    i think it's truly time this topic is stopped because your post has cleared up the issues, and i will continue contributing.

    Selene

  6. #26
    Administrator spcnet's Avatar
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    Not to belittle anyone, I can understand if members may feel hurt or cheated to find out that this site makes money if they always thought otherwise. I thought I had been explicit enough in the past, but I guess that is not the case. Hopefully this will clear up the confusion once and for all.

    Also, as the site traffic grows in the future (hopefully), naturally the site will make more commissions. I don't want that to be a bad thing because it might mean one day we can copy some other reward systems that other sites have in place as it becomes a steady flow.
    -SC

  7. #27
    Senior Member Funn Lim's Avatar
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    I don't write for SPCNET much but I am confident my reviews are in safe hands and I don't feel exploited at all. In fact if my reviews can earn this site some money to allow it to continue as it is or even be better and better, why not? After all we are all amateur reviewers.

    Now back to the question why write reviews? A good question. My personal reason is as follows:-

    I wanted to tell the world in my very own words, and to anyone who is interested to know how I feel, actually really truly feel about a certain movie, book, series, album. Writing is so much better than discussing ones opinion face to face; for one, you friends won't feel sore and angry by your constant criticisms that Sammie Cheng can't act, you can openly declare your love and admiration for a certain actor or actress who can't quite that well or better yet, list all the reasons why you think this or that is good or is bad. It is in my view my way, my forum of expressing my innermost feelings, prejudice and biasness aside, it remains my own personal opinion. Which is why reviews to me are more than just a few words summing up how you feel, I feel the need to justify my every sentence which is why critical analysis is more like it.


    Sometimes remarks crossess boundaries so we have people who hate our every written word but sometimes there are a few readers seeking validation for their views that they do not dare to express just yet. So what is great about SPCNET or any personal websites which post reviews or critical analysis or comments is simply this; it encourages people to not accept the norm, to tell everybody who reads that review why they shouldn't just accept junk and lower ones own expectation for great entertainment. It also is a way to express your appreciation for the effort put into a certain production if you love it.

    Someone in another thread wrote that sometimes executives of big production houses will drop by such sites and read the reviews to know the story of a series or a movie in a nutshell. I was shocked to learn this but this is good.

    Nothing is more powerful than words and having an opinion to express your very own chosen words.

    So to SC and everybody at SPCNET, for whoever who doubts your sincerity and your genuine effort in whatever you're doing, fret not. THere is always a dissenting voice. I am always the dissenting voice and may I say, SPCNET has come a long long way.

    And to those itching to scream your opinion, just do it. It gets easier once you found your style and your chosen words. But it gets tiring when you realise all your reviews expressed the same views; it simply means either the reviewer has lost touch of the chosen words or the entertainment world is getting really predictable.
    PointEntertainment @ http://point2e.com [all about Reviews.Comments.Opinions].

  8. #28
    Senior Member TKL's Avatar
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    I thought that the matter regarding site making money has always been very explicit . To have a site like this and to come such a long way since many years ago to become a popular review site on the internet is not easy, requiring not only personal time but also money .
    Anyway, re the question above "Why do I write reviews?" . It's a very good way to vent my frustration, to express my views about a series/movies/actors, to praise actor/movies when credits are due, etc.....It's also a good way to let other people know that there are people out there who does/does not share the same view and that they need to accept different people will have different views . I haven't written any review in a while but it's NOT because all the hate-mails I received bashing me about why I criticized their idols .......
    SC, congratulations on keeping this site going strong after so many trials and tribulations
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    Tomorrow and today, beside you all the way

  9. #29
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    I write so that I can trick myself into believing I just spent "no. of episodes x 60" minutes of my youth sprawled on a couch meaningfully. And if the series was so crap, all the more reason to write a warning so others don't waste their lives.
    But i've only posted a speck of what I've watched, the few i have is only because I couldn't bear their 'gap' amongst reviews

  10. #30
    Member SilatFreak's Avatar
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    Have a lot of respect for people who write the review. Obviously they have a good time mgmt

    I personally write review because I want to share my experience watching the wuxia series and to give an update to other interested audience (perhaps not buying series they should not buy).
    A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

    Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

  11. #31
    Senior Member charbydis's Avatar
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    Has reviews been copied to another site before? I have noticed fanfics been copied word for word and then pasted in winglin forums, but never heard of whole reviews being copied.

    As to why I write reviews, I am a very picky audience. I think that time could be better spent than sitting down for days watching a shallow story or irritating performance by a bunch of crappy actors. And I hope that others who are picky like me can read reviews with lots of unbiased analysis first, and then decide whether to rent/but or not, rather waste money and time on something bad. I don't care if it is my favourite actor leading, if the series i bad, I warn others (whether by review or forum post) to keep away and save their money.

    Also nowadays, I find the audience basing too much judgement on whether the leads are hot or not, rather than taking the time to understand the story (if there is one) and associate it with reality so we can learn from it. I've seen rave reviews of series that I deem as unsatisfactory, and the comments are usually "X looks so good, and Y is too ugly!" or even worse, "A and B are competing leads. I like artist A, so I am going to insult B's role." It pretty saddening to see most of the audience just focussing on the artistes, and ignoring all the hard work that the scriptwriter and producers have put into the story, and missing the whole message that they are trying to show the audience.

    Another reason for me writing reviews is that I want to alert people's attention to underated artistes that most people seem to ignore, or give my honest opinion on overated artistes who I don't think have done so well. I just want to show my appreciation for those actors/actresses who spend their lives doing small roles but with optimal professionalism and skill, who deserve more recognition that being called "that man", "this woman".

    Writing a review is like showing a part of yourself (mind, values, views) to other people, even if you have the same points, express them differently. I think that reading other people's reviews can help me see things from a different POV and thus think more.
    "Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self."
    Cyril Connolly

  12. #32
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    Way back when, I attempted to write a review on a show that truly excited me. I had these images and feelings that were just imploding inside me, waiting to explode into words, passionate words at that. Frankly, with all due respect to the fine reviewers on this forum, back then as now, I have no desire to influence strangers with my opinions or harbor any illusions that they might. Besides, I’m seldom swayed by critics’ reviews, so why should mine be any different. Also, I do not have any altruistic motivation to alert strangers to what I thought is a bad series or a movie, therefore, kindly saving them their money and time. Anyway, if the series is bad, I wouldn’t even waste a minute of my thought on it, let alone write a review. I would much rather indulge in an intellectual exchange of opinions.

    Thus, when I wrote my first review, it was with the intention of preserving an excitement and a passion that were inside me then, of the bad I had no interest. However, I discovered that in the process of writing a thorough and fair review, I had to be analytical and judgmental besides being passionate. Worse, I had to include the bad with the good. As I wrote, I felt my passion crumbling, overburdened as it was with criticisms, objectivity, rationality, and exertion. Consequently, my review emerged as paragraphs of flat words, not words of passion and excitement that I had envisioned to capture. In other words, my purpose of reviewing was defeated.

    So now, I indulged myself in describing snatches of scenes that captured my imagination. I find it much more satisfying to focus on what interest me rather than on what bore me in a series. Morever, I have yet to find a series that is without its own flaws.

  13. #33
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    You learn alot more writing and reading reviews. First I want to share my opinion with others to see if other people see something similar to me or if im out of my mind. Secondly, I read reviews to see to compare notes and also see if I missed anything. Often I will read reviews and say 'hey, i missed that!" and go back and see it again.
    www.asianwildrose.ca

  14. #34
    Member hIpHoPgIrL's Avatar
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    I think it's funny to write reviews.So I can learn a little bit English too.And here I can change or read the opinions of other persons

  15. #35
    Banned strife_au's Avatar
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    lol... funny to write reviews :/

  16. #36
    Senior Member Linda's Avatar
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    i write reviews because i wanted to share my experience with everyone. i usually only write reviews of films i like. films i dont like i rarely say anything. theres bound to be someone out there who likes it...so why bother to change their opinion.

  17. #37
    Senior Member Floo..'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by charbydis
    Has reviews been copied to another site before? I have noticed fanfics been copied word for word and then pasted in winglin forums, but never heard of whole reviews being copied.
    Yup.

    Sometimes they are kindly enough to email me first to say that they wanna put my review on their site <++ I asked them to ask to also asked SC's permission.
    I once got a case when some1 wanna copy my review to be used as one of the source for her homework.

    I write review becoz I like writing, and becoz I like this site.

    It's been AGES since I wrote my last review, mebbe I should start again
    back w/ a vengeance ^_^

  18. #38
    Registered User yearning's Avatar
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    I would like to write a review, but my problem is that I never have time to watch an entire series from beginning to end, so I think movies would be better for me to review. We have a TV in the kitchen, so I only catch bits of what's going on during dinner, but somehow since most series move by so slowly, I can still catch on what's happening.

    Contrary to what someone posted, I find it a LOT easier to write a bad review than a good one. I'm a more critical person by nature, so it's easier for me to pick and analyze at the faults than rave on and on about how much I like something. If I enjoyed it, my vocabulary becomes very boring, i.e. It was awesome/great/entertaining, and then I don't have that much more to say about it.

  19. #39
    Gundam-Freedom
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    Quote Originally Posted by strife_au
    lol... funny to write reviews :/
    "funny to write reviews" lol u have bad english!!!

    I don't like reading reviews, most [around 90%] of the time I disagree wot ppl say and also I h8 spoilers!!!!

  20. #40
    Senior Member NuDaFu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by strife_au
    lol... funny to write reviews
    I don't discriminate against anyone where their English is 2nd language (my English is technically my 2nd language). But could we use some sentences that makes sense? Not sure if I read a rule here or on some other site to keep to full sentences and hopefully meaningful posts?

    Quote Originally Posted by Gundam-Freedom
    I don't like reading reviews, most [around 90%] of the time I disagree wot ppl say and also I h8 spoilers!!!!
    So, does that mean you've read many reviews to make such a statement? I think if one disagrees with other people opinions' it just reflects we think differently to one another. True, I believe some reviews posted on spcnet contain high spoilers content, but some don't. I suggest you scroll your eye down a review (without actually reading anything)...if it is a very long/detailed review, I find more than likely it will basically tell you the whole plot. Shorter reviews are less likely to have spoilers. I also notice some reviewers in particular tend to spoil, so maybe you can avoid them?

    I actually love reviewing, but have an odd habit of doing it 'unofficially'. As in, I would never actually submit a review to spcnet, but only write a very long/detailed one in a related thread. So Gundam-Freedom, I assure you if you ever read a review of mine, it won't contain any spoilers. But then, it depends on your view of what a 'spoiler' is. Some strictly cannot stand any reference to plot detail, and yet, it is sometimes required in a review as supporting examples to one's comments.

    I like to exercise my analytical mind, that's why I like reviewing. I believe one has to use an unbiased analysis of particular series, movie, etc to produce a fair and enjoyable review. Also, I think it important to keep the characters and actor/actresses separate...I've read reviews that seem to confuse the two sometimes. Certainly, meaningless tirades of who's hot and who's not shouldn't even be considered a review, but alas, I have seen some of those out there.

    I really admire reviews that go over technical aspects such as lighting, camera angles, scenery, body language details, etc. Character 'diagnoses' are important, but a well rounded review I think should give credence to those others who never seem to get credit for a great show.

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