Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Rating Scale

I have decided to lay out a new rating scale. It still uses a 5 star system (well, Death Star system), but instead of the lowest score being 1, the lowest score is now 0. These are now what the scores mean:

5 Stars: This is an absolute masterpiece, worthy of consideration for a hall of fame or a list of "The Top X of All Time."

4 Stars: I love it. For music, it means I will make it part of my regular rotation. For books, it means I would strongly recommend it to others. For movies, it means I would watch it again.

3 Stars: I like it. I'm glad I spent my money and time on it.


2 Stars: It's OK, but if I could go back I would probably spend my money and time on something else.


1 Star: I don't like it, but it has some redeeming qualities.


0 Stars: It has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and I would go out of my way to warn others about it.


I have adopted this scale because I realized that my old 3 star ratings covered a lot of ground, and I might like one of them a lot more than another. This new scale corrects that, and also helps me to be consistent.

The descriptions are illustrative, and apply well to music, movies, and books. When I review other things in the future (as I plan to do), you may have to use your imagination to figure out how the scale applies to them.

This rating scale is effective retroactive to November 2009 (when I really started resurrecting this blog), so a few of the past ratings have been adjusted to conform.

2 comments:

  1. Do you have any albums off the top of your head that you would consider "0 star" albums? I own two that I plan to look at a little later on when I can bring myself to listen to them again.

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  2. Well, I usually get rid of them when I decide they're 0 star. Not off the top of my head, I can't, but I'll have to do some digging.

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