|
Movies Books Music Food Tv Shows Technology Politics Video Games Parenting Fashion Green Living more >

Lunch » Tags » Reviews » Reviews » Why Post Reviews in Lunch.com? » User review

Why Post Reviews in Lunch.com?

A Personal Analysis of the Site's Reviewing Format

< read all 5 reviews

Nearly Unbeatable Reviewing Format...'Nuff Said.

  • Aug 8, 2010
Rating:
+5
Posting reviews on stuff…or mostly in my case, posting movie reviews in one site. Well, I have been writing movie reviews since 2005; mostly I was motivated because I wanted to promote Asian cinema; then I branched out to graphic novels, mainstream movies, foreign film and among other things. It is tricky to choose the best site to post your reviews; I have reviewed in amazon (I am a non-regular there since the end of 2009) and still occasionally review in amazon, Epinions.com and HkFlix.com (for items that I get sent for free so I can review). No site is perfect; each one has its flaws. I began reviewing here since December of 2008.

Onward with some background music:



So why am I still posting reviews in Lunch and made most of them “exclusives“? Well, let’s break down the facts. I will not say any negative things about other sites (each one has their pros and cons) but I will just express why I find the reviewing format in Lunch more…shall we say ‘friendly’ that I became used to it. Most of my reviews since 2010 are exclusives to the site; thought maybe you would like to know why I did so…

1) Freedom to Create “Topics”
This is an invaluable tool for me since I usually delve into the most obscure film that no one has heard about. The less time I need to spend online to post a review the better it is for me! I work more than 40 hours a week so I do not have time to keep checking if the topic I need has been created or to message someone to create the topic. I want to create the point, post the review and then go offline. Having the ability to create topics is a huge plus for me. You can review almost anything, as long as it doesn’t violate their “Mission Statement”.

2) Ease of Posting Reviews
Besides the rare occasion if the site freezes (before) or they are doing maintenance, my reviews go through without a hitch or a hassle. I understand there are those who experience some glitches but the staff is pretty supportive and willing to help. The speed and the procedure that my reviews go through is a huge advantage that I don’t have to worry about certain words getting flagged. I do practice my own sense of self-censorship that I do not say any offensive words so I don’t need to worry about a Japanese name such as “Konishita” or a Chinese name such Li-Ching Shi getting flagged that my review cannot be posted. I was real frustrated when I tried to submit a review on the graphic novel or the movie “Kick Ass” and it wouldn’t go through because the word ‘ass’ kept on getting flagged. This is just plain silly. Reviewing at Lunch.com makes it easy and quick for me to post my reviews and I don't have to worry about silly unnecessary site safety features.

     

3) Visual Appeal
This is actually the feature that I became excited about. The site evolves and tries to be better with the presentation of a review. One can add movie screenshots, photos of food, and even embed a video relevant to the review. Hey, some may not even bother with this feature, but I find it very useful. Makes my review doesn’t appear too long and makes them look (ahem) professional.

    

4) Reasonable Rating System
I have been ‘trolled’ before in amazon and it took a lot of effort on my part to reverse those ugly ‘troll votes’. Here each review is rated with 4 categories with a maximum point of 3 for each (a total of 12). So if someone gives you a rare negative thumb, then it will only count as a tiny bit since if you have 9 positives, it will only reduce it to 8. Negatives aren’t exactly visible unless you click on the drop down. Sometimes I get a three on ‘fun’ and ‘organized’ and a 2 on ‘helpful’- it all depends on how the reader feels. The site also allows “Lists” and “Quick Tips” to be rated that actually also evolved from its early days. I don’t think they carry as much impact on your rank than a full review though.

 

5) Messaging
The site gives you the ability to monitor your ratings, comments and replies through a stream-lined messaging system. You can get notifications through your inbox so you can easily reply to the comments under your review. One can also choose to get email notifications but this can easily be turned off. This is a valuable tool to establish a more friendly ‘cyber-community’. Good-spirited discussion is encouraged but mean-spirited ones are not. 

          

6) Freedom to Create and Manage your own Sub-Communities
I actually still believe that this should be limited to folks who have already posted a fair amount of quality reviews in the site but I can see why this is. This is an attempt so that your reviews will not be ’buried’ underneath tons of other review on other topics. We have our own “Movie Hype” and “AsianFlix ‘n’ AnimeFix” communities that I founded where people with similar tastes and interests can be under one area (aside from my two, I am currently posting reviews for 13-14 other great communities). Whatever your goals are, whether you’re a real community guy or just need a ‘filing system’ for your reviews, this is quite useful.

7) Support Staff is There For the Community
I don’t like to complain, but I do have a lot of ideas. These ideas are usually taken into consideration. I hope they are still working on making the ‘featured reviews and topics in a community’ automatically rotate. But I can say that the site is willing to listen, our requests may not be possible yet, but I do feel that they have at least taken it to consideration for the site‘s improvement.

I understand that no site is perfect, and every site has its weaknesses that can be exploited, but at least, Lunch.com does make the effort to make things better. It does have its flaws, and these are my observations on the technical side and why I now made about 98.9% of my reviews exclusive to the site. Hey, even my contacts in movie distribution likes the communities I am on; I have received some more free copies of movies because of the site.

Keep in mind, Lunch.com is a community meant for entertainment. It is a place where novice reviewers, those who take reviewing serious and those who just want to have fun can have a spot.
You have to admit, the site’s reviewing format is almost unbeatable. I say “almost” because I don’t want them to get “cocky”. Hee-hee.

Now what is up with the color ‘green’ in its theme/logo? LOL! (just kidding, me like the color green)
　
　
　
　
　
Nearly Unbeatable Reviewing Format...'Nuff Said.

What did you think of this review?

Helpful
51
Thought-Provoking
50
Fun to Read
50
Well-Organized
51
Post a Comment
July 10
My sentifments exactly. I have noticed that interest in this site has greatly waned and am worried about its future. Your reviews were always some of the best highlights on them and your regular contributions as a reviewer are greatly missed. Hope you can find time to get more involved from that end.
 
November 11, 2013
Some well taken points are explained in the presentation!
 
August 12, 2010
Great review - now if they just fix the rich text editor, we'd be rocking! Seriously, I love Lunch.com - it's a great community of some really interesting people.
September 29, 2010
I agree. All review sites need continous improvement and at least they are trying.
 
August 10, 2010
Great review Woo! To be honest the background music was genius. I think I'll add background music to all my future reviews!
August 11, 2010
ha-hah. Glad you liked it.
 
August 09, 2010
As a newbie, I agree-- Amazon's trolling bugs me too, and I like Lunch's cleaner look. I hope it can thrive without ads and clutter. Much nicer than FB to look at. I told the support staff of some technical difficulties and the next day they were fixed. The community seems friendly even when disagreeing, and I like the spirit here. Thanks for welcoming me to a place I hope we all can enjoy helping it to flourish without turning another part of the Net into a pop-up, gimmicky, relentless shopping mall annex.
August 11, 2010
Glad you feel that way, John. If someone here trolls me, I will write a review on the troll LOL! Welcome again to the site!
 
August 09, 2010
Thanks for pointing me to your fantastic review, Woo! I always love the way that you take full advantage of Lunch's "nearly unbeatable reviewing format" and I'm glad to hear all of this feedback from you :) By the way, I appreciate the background music, too ;)
August 11, 2010
You know me, I'm a schmuck for making reviews more 'spiffy'. LOL! I wanted to choose something more mainstream for the music, but hey, you know I am different :)
 
August 09, 2010
EXCELLENT review WP and thanks for posting it here, I will be featuring it right now. Love the break down man it was really easy to follow and the pics are great, also I can't help but love that background music. Q.T. all day man, AMAZING review on reviewing here.
August 10, 2010
You bet, man. Glad to have you on board.
 
August 09, 2010
Great stuff William!! Thanks for sharing. I love the fact that you are writing exclusively on Lunch. We'll keep working on things to keep you happy... i promise! If you hear about others who are exclusive... let me know. Exclusivity is something that we are going to be looking at more in the future because that says so much about Lunch and what we are doing right in your eyes.  thanks again!
August 09, 2010
Thanks, JR! As long as you guys keep going forward then I'll be here. I'll let you guys know if someone is going exclusive in the site--though I am pretty sure most of the lists here are exclusive. I also agree, exclusivity is a site's true strength.
 
1
More Why Post Reviews in Lunch.com? reviews
review by . June 28, 2011
Because Lunch is Awesome. Thats why
Unlike most review sites out there on Lunch you can post reviews on ANY topic from the design of a certain Beer can to the way the government handles certain situations, from the best tasting juices to the grossest foods if you can name it you can review it. Not only Reviews but you can read and create Lists on a variety of topics. Like any good website there are a large variety of people either like minded or not to talk to and a large number of communities to join. Cant …
Quick Tip by . September 12, 2013
posted in WHAT CAN I SAY?
Before I said it has a 'nearly unbeatable' reviewing format....and while this MAY still be true, it isn't as well maintained as before these days. Glitches are all over, and takes longer for it to get fixed. I think someone should communicate if they are doing something in the background. Topics taken from "Lunch This" can't have topic photos uploaded for some reason. ...and it is harder to include photos in reviews. Hm....
review by . September 22, 2010
Many times I have often gone and looked for where I can find information on something I was looking for.  Wikipedia is usually my first stop but when I want to know if something is good or not, a review if it were.  Lunch.com has been a good place to go.      There are many review sites for things like food, toys, so on and so forth and fan sites usually don't cut it, especially fanboy sites where they think everything is great.  The official site and most …
Quick Tip by . September 22, 2010
For the same reason I mentioned before. When you can look up any and everything on lunch and find someone with an opinion on it.
About the reviewer
William ()
Ranked #1
Please "Like" Film and Movies and Keep the Economy strong....LOL!!      My Interests: Movies, Anime, History, Martial Arts, Comics, Entertainment,Cooking, Things I don't … more
Consider the Source

Use Trust Points to see how much you can rely on this review.

You
woopak_the_thrill
Your ratings:
rate more to improve this
About this topic
First to Review
© 2014 Lunch.com, LLC All Rights Reserved
Lunch.com - Relevant reviews by real people.
()
This is you!
Ranked #
Last login
Member since
reviews
comments
ratings
questions
compliments
lists
http://www.lunch.com/reviews/d/UserReview-Why_Post_Reviews_in_Lunch_com_-1543988-100514-Nearly_Unbeatable_Reviewing_Format_Nuff_Said_.html
www.lunch.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2014-23
146372
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:RU5M2EQHQTU2EQMZ3IWEDOUPPVJBIXZ5
<urn:uuid:5743903e-b21f-4983-9714-cfcf5ccfec0d>
2014-07-24T21:43:34Z
64.70.15.226
sha1:3T2ETTPS5ETHUEGS7MXN5F6DCTTYNNZC
<urn:uuid:590931f1-e74e-4c0d-bebf-0ca701aa29ab>
http://www.lunch.com/reviews/d/UserReview-Why_Post_Reviews_in_Lunch_com_-1543988-100514-Nearly_Unbeatable_Reviewing_Format_Nuff_Said_.html
length
response
<urn:uuid:4c753ef2-5011-4076-953b-5e7fd2bcdb5d>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2014-23
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for July 2014
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf