Yakkety Yak Let’s Chat: Rating Systems

Posted October 13, 2013 by Shari in Yakkety Yak Let's Chat / 10 Comments

Yakkety Yak Let's Chat

When Delighted Reader started out two years ago, I pondered what type of rating system I wanted to go with. Stars or a grading system? Each had their own merits and at the time I think I wanted to know something like 4.5 stars that could be an A- or B+. As time has passed I have had a hard time deciding if a book is an minus to the letter above or a plus to the letter below. In essence we had 14 different types of ratings from an A+ to F and even a DNF. This never seemed to confuse anyone and if you really analyze it, it isn’t that big of a deal, but it was becoming an annoyance.

Then you have Amazon and Goodreads all using stars for their rating systems, but again I wanted that halfway mark that wasn’t there. And the thought of going back to change all the old reviews to get them on a start rating, seemed more work that was needed.

Then along comes a new WordPress Plugin that indexes the reviews you put in, coordinates authors information so you only have one place to update it, and so many other bells and whistles I am still investigating. So I made a decision to touch each and every review we have wrote to get it into this new plugin. After about updating 50 reviews to this, I realized this was the time to make the switch to star (or some other graphic based rating system) from the grading system.

So reviews on Delighted Reader will now be based on 5 stars, with half stars in between. All reviews going forth will have this, while all the reviews in the past will be slowly updated to reflect this change.

I guess I am asking for some feedback on how you feel about Delighted Reader making this change and if you find it confusing or a better way to find out what we really think?

Let’s Chat!

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Shari is the Delighted Reader. Married to her Prince Charming and mother to two Princesses and one Prince. When she is not slaving away as Cinderella she loves to get lost in the pages of a good book. Never without a reading device and a few good paperback books, because she never knows when she might get 5 minutes to read!

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  • I liked you guys A, B system and personally felt it was it was similar to the star thingy. I know most blogs like to be different & do their “own thing” per say. like me, I have heels instead of stars. Depending on the reader, I guess it depends on how they interpet your review…words..you know.

    • Shari Delighted Read

      I liked it too, but we ran into problems on the differences between the +/- and it just left us with too many ways to rate things. I love you heels! I used to do cupcakes on the original blog I had, but it doesn’t fit this theme. Now I need to start thinking.

  • I liked you guys A, B system and personally felt it was it was similar to the star thingy. I know most blogs like to be different & do their “own thing” per say. like me, I have heels instead of stars. Depending on the reader, I guess it depends on how they interpet your review…words..you know.

  • mageverse

    I don’t go by the star system or number system,I go by reviews and what people say about the book,and usually I use the reviews by people who have read the books.I also judge it by the author and those authors that post the first chapter on amazon,I read that chapter and see how the writing flows and if it grabs my interest,so whatever you do I will follow along with you

    • Shari Delighted Read

      Good point, but I have a lot of skimmers who just go to the rating. But I do go into why I gave it the rating, so you are right, reading a review is better. I even thought about doing away with ratings.

  • I go by stars and half stars. Or rather cats. lol I like it but really I’m good with whatever a blog uses as long as it’s consistent 🙂

    • Shari Delighted Read

      I like your cats, but I am allergic to cats, lol. We have one and I am ok as long as I don’t pet her. So I will have to find a better way to do the stars. I used to do cupcakes on the original blog, but they don’t fit this theme.

  • Jennifer @ The Book Nympho

    I went the opposite route. I started with stars and have moved to the letter grading system. I wanted more freedom with the letters. My reviewers like the lettering system better too. But it’s to each’s own what you want to use.

    • I have gotten so much feedback wanting us to go back to grade letters instead of stars…trying to decide what to do. I mostly went stars to keep in line with Amazon, NetGalley and Goodreads but provide 1/2 stars here. the +/- on some grades were confusing. So now I have to decide definitely which way we will swing before I redo every post like I have been working on. Thanks for the feedback…something to think about.

  • Jennifer

    I went the opposite route. I started with stars and have moved to the letter grading system. I wanted more freedom with the letters. My reviewers like the lettering system better too. But it’s to each’s own what you want to use.
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