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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Review DO's & DON'Ts

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Reviews are a big part of what make this forum so great. Yet I often come across reviews where new members come away feeling angry, and forum veterans are left frustrated :undecided:

We should always encourage each other to post reviews about the various lasers, services, companies, and people that cross our paths. :yh:

So I'd like to cover some very basic review Do's & Don'ts.

Review DO's & DON'Ts For Laser Pointer Forums.

This is meant to hopefully clear up the mysteries of unwritten rules here on LPF for our newer members, and save the nerves, and blood pressure of our veteran members.

Without further ado...

The DO's! :wave:

DO Be completely honest about the product you're reviewing. If you are receiving a discount, partial refund, or some other compensation for the review, be honest about it. Honesty is the best policy. Getting something in return is NOT wrong, nor does it invalidate a factual review.

DO Wait until you actually have the product you are reviewing in hand. Few things are as frustrating as a thread that gets forgotten, after it is made with something along the the lines of "I ordered laser XYZ from Company ABC, this is my review! Wooo HOOO!" and then the thread is never updated.

DO Be as detailed as possible. The more details you provide, the better. For example; length, width, diameter, weight, type of lens, current draw, and divergence.

DO Try to format your review so it is easy to read. Few people enjoy reading walls of text. Use the Advanced Edit screen to adjust the formatting, and the Preview Post option to see how your post will appear.

DO Post your review in English.

DO Be mindful of your grammar, abbreviations, and syntax. Nobody enjoys reading a review riddled with spelling mistakes, and abbreviations meant for texting.

DO Post lots of nice pictures! You know the old saying? Picture is worth a thousand words... Well it's just as true now, as it was when photography was in it's infancy. You don't need to be a photographer, to take great photos. Here's a wonderful guide to taking pictures: Link.

(Also if you don't post pictures, expect this to happen:shhh:)
LT1le.png


DO Post a video. While pictures are great, a video can be even more informative. Some of the best reviews contain both a video, and lots of pictures. If you are camera shy, that's ok! I am too:p You don't even need to talk.

Now that you've gone through the DO's, some of the DON'Ts might seem silly to you never the less;

The DON'Ts! :tsk:

DON'T Ever lie in a review. I cannot over-stress this enough. This forum is extremely vigilant, and knowledgeable. The truth always comes out. If you are benefiting in some way from the review, just be HONEST about it.

DON'T Post a review on a product, or service, until you have actually received the product, or the service has been completed! I know it may be tempting to post a review after placing an order, and getting great service during the order process, but hold off until you have the product, and it hopefully also surpasses your expectations.

DON'T Get offended, or defensive. Sometimes people here are just grouchy, grumpy, and angry. Usually they still mean well though, and most of the time know what they are talking about.

DON'T Be discouraged if you are not an English speaker. LPF is an international forum, and while people will be picked on for being lazy with spelling, and grammar, no one will fault you for not properly being able express yourself when English is not your native language. Some of the best, and most welcome reviews on here come from members outside the US.

DON'T Be intimidated! Every single person here, without exception, was a "noob" at one point :shhh:

DO WRITE A REVIEW!

I hope that this helps clear up some confusion, and look forward to reading your reviews in the future.

Please comment, and let me know if I missed anything in the DO's and DON'Ts.

:thanks: for Reading!

P.S. - http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/review-formatting-guide-yours-easy-read-84623.html#post1224748
 
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Re: Reviews DO's & DON'Ts

Nice basic common sense info on doing a review of any product
on the Forum..:beer:

Jerry
 

Lase

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Re: Reviews DO's & DON'Ts

Much needed info once again IE :thanks:

Lase
 
Joined
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Re: Reviews DO's & DON'Ts

Thank you guys! I'm glad you like it :D

There have been several threads on the subject of reviews, but nothing specifically in this section, and clear that a newcomer could read to know what's ok, and what isn't.

Thanks for putting that up. Appreciate the work you put into this forum ;)

+Rep
Grtz

It was actually reading through your "review" thread that was the catalyst.

While lashing out a forum veterans is never a good idea, I didn't think you started the thread with any kind of malintent, and I couldn't find anything to point you to, to basically show what went wrong.


Thanks for the vote of confidence!

If anyone thinks it should be a sticky, please PM the admin, or one of the mods.
 
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Re: Reviews DO's & DON'Ts

Nice information for newcomers, Rep+ when I can!
 
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I've been told this on more than one occasion:
No humour is allowed in a review; e.g., comic relief is generally frowned upon on this BBS. :yabbem:
"Just the facts ma'am" is what is generally received positively.

For example: if a laser is water-resistant, just say it. Don't say that it is "diet Coke-resistant" or even "bird poop-resistant".
 
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I've been told this on more than one occasion:
No humour is allowed in a review; e.g., comic relief is generally frowned upon on this BBS. :yabbem:
"Just the facts ma'am" is what is generally received positively.

For example: if a laser is water-resistant, just say it. Don't say that it is "diet Coke-resistant" or even "bird poop-resistant".

Well... I have a few choice words for people that critical of reviews and humor.

I won't say them.

Instead I'll say, anyone is free to ignore a review, and if people are easily offended by humor they shouldn't be on this internetz thing to begin with.

So how diet coke resistant was the laser?:p :beer:
 
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Hello there folks , Hammy here.
Now I'm just wondering.
LPF has always been known for its MANY and I do mean MANY member driven reviews of various lasers by a whole LEXICON of manufacturers.

However... something seems to be amiss.

We don't have a universal rating system.

After each of the pros and cons in the end it often lacks a score , or any sort of main archive that'll sort out all the reviews by wavelength , power , manufactured origin ,etc.

Perhaps we should start organizing the reviews like they do on PCWORLD or whatever.

Rated on

Shipping
Customer Service
Durability
Package presentation
Appearance
Power
Peripherals and accessories
etc

I'm sure that'll be a helluva more organised that sprinkling information all over the place like we do now :D
 
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I thought about that. Asking for specific categories, and asking for a 1-10 rating, as well as an overall score.

Decided people would probably find it to be too much of a hassle, and not follow it.

Unlike PC builders, we're a much much smaller group in terms of the number of people of people interested in lasers, and not every reviewer has an LPM or even a multimeter. Making it much harder to provide accurate ratings in all categories where with PC's for example, it's fairly easy to run some benchmarks and stress tests.

I didn't want this thread to in any way discourage anyone from posting a review.

The main point of this thread, is at the time, we kept getting Work in Progress, or incomplete reviews, where a new member would post something along the lines of "Getting an o-like 650nm 200mW laser Woot! :wave:" and that would be it. No real commentary about the laser, or any pictures.

Then there were also many cases of shill reviews... the point there I wanted to get across, is it's perfectly alright to review a laser for your own benefit (such as getting it for free or at a discount) but it's completely NOT alright if you do not disclose that fact.
 

ixfd64

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This is more of a clarification: don't be afraid to call out a problem just because the company is giving you something in exchange for a review. A lot of reviewers may be pressured to give a product an overwhelmingly positive review because they got the product for free, but do your best to remain neutral.
 
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