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Review statistics...

post #1 of 16
12/4/12 at 5:05am
Thread Starter 
I wish there was a way to rank reviews more in depth. Like list all reviewed fragrances by percentage that Love, Hate, or are neutral. I just put on some A*Men and went to look at the reviews. Exactly twice as many people love than hate it, which surprised me for such a strange fragrance. I would have thought it would be about even. Anyway, I would love to be able to rank all frags to see which one had the worst rating, the best, and so on. I don't have the patience to add up loves vs. hates and divide by total to get percentages...
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post #2 of 16
12/4/12 at 5:16am
The breakdown of love hate neutral frequently does not tell you much anyway... I find it better to read the reviews whenever possible as some ratings do not jive with the actual review text (among other things).
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post #3 of 16
12/4/12 at 5:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by drseid View Post

The breakdown of love hate neutral frequently does not tell you much anyway... I find it better to read the reviews whenever possible as some ratings do not jive with the actual review text (among other things).

I am a trivia nut...I just out of curiosity would like to see which frag has the most haters, which is the best loved (judging from the Creed worship on this site, it must be GIT or Aventus). Just silly reasons. You are right, I have seen people who "dislike" just because it isn't for them, and other people only dislike if the feel it is inferior quality so they really are not accurate.
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post #4 of 16
12/4/12 at 6:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by drseid View Post

The breakdown of love hate neutral frequently does not tell you much anyway...

True
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post #5 of 16
12/4/12 at 6:36am
Sometimes I 'thumbs down' for other reasons, i.e. value for money or longevity issues -- not because I actually dislike the scent, but I would mention this in a review, if posted. I agree though that the parameters are a little limiting for statistic lovers.
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post #6 of 16
12/4/12 at 6:46am
There's a lot of selection bias in reviews. Some people won't bother to review a scent they didn't like, and only comment when they're passionate about it.
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post #7 of 16
12/4/12 at 7:26am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfume_Addict View Post

There's a lot of selection bias in reviews. Some people won't bother to review a scent they didn't like, and only comment when they're passionate about it.

True, but the opposite happens as well, not reviewing unless they hate it. When I first started reviewing, I gave positive for frags I liked, and negative for ones I disliked. As I went on, I began giving neutrals for frags I didn't care for, but could see the quality...I too give "points off" if it is outrageously expensive for no apparent reason except trendiness. I usually start by reading only the negative comments about a fragrance....I want to know why people DON"T like it. Then I read the positives. It is purely subjective, and one person's negative feature may be a positive for me
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post #8 of 16
12/4/12 at 8:47am
The reviews a good starting point. I generally take them into consideration if I am thinking about a blind purchase, otherwise I sample. Fortunately, it seems in my case, getting samples has proven to be rather easy.

As you said, reviews are subjective. I tend to look at certain people who I have found to have tastes that run similar to mine, have good judgement, thoughtful and not based on any preconceived like or dislike for certain houses.

Many of the reviewers I follow, will say the fragrance is good, but cost value is not.

All in all, it is not a perfect system, but what is when you are basing an opinion on personal preferences that may not align with others.
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post #9 of 16
12/4/12 at 9:43am
I look at reviews from various blog writers, then user reviews...finally, I just come here. I find that I get more (useful) information on a frag through these threads than I do from user reviews.
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post #10 of 16
12/4/12 at 10:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Possum-Pie View Post

True, but the opposite happens as well, not reviewing unless they hate it. When I first started reviewing, I gave positive for frags I liked, and negative for ones I disliked. As I went on, I began giving neutrals for frags I didn't care for, but could see the quality...I too give "points off" if it is outrageously expensive for no apparent reason except trendiness. I usually start by reading only the negative comments about a fragrance....I want to know why people DON"T like it. Then I read the positives. It is purely subjective, and one person's negative feature may be a positive for me

Wow; thats sooo deep.
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post #11 of 16
12/4/12 at 10:51am
I only read negative comments. You will pretty much get the same reasons why a person loves the fragrance from positive comments, i.e A*Men and the drydown is what's so positive about the fragrance. Whereas negative comments really vary and give a better overall smell on what is wrong with a fragrance.
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post #12 of 16
12/4/12 at 11:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Perfume_Addict View Post

There's a lot of selection bias in reviews. Some people won't bother to review a scent they didn't like, and only comment when they're passionate about it.

Agree with this 100%. A lot of people love fragrances but don't take the time to write a review. Consequently, the likes/dislikes of a particular fragrance are easily skewed. Kind of like when you go on a health board and see a lot of people reporting "x" symptoms after taking a medication, etc. But what you don't see are all the people who DIDN'T write a review of the med because they had no problem with it (which is, by far, the majority).

I think people naturally tend to make mostly positive reviews here. If not, they just opt not to do one at all. As the saying goes, "If you don't have something good to say, say nothing at all." I think people apply that to reviews, too.

I do agree with the OP, though. It would be great if we could click on something to see which fragrances have the highest overall percentage of positive, negative and neutral reviews.
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post #13 of 16
12/4/12 at 12:47pm
The only problem I could see with this is someone intentionally giving a negative review to make their favorite fragrance move up the ranks.
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post #14 of 16
12/4/12 at 12:58pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedRaider430 View Post

Agree with this 100%. A lot of people love fragrances but don't take the time to write a review. Consequently, the likes/dislikes of a particular fragrance are easily skewed. Kind of like when you go on a health board and see a lot of people reporting "x" symptoms after taking a medication, etc. But what you don't see are all the people who DIDN'T write a review of the med because they had no problem with it (which is, by far, the majority).

I think people naturally tend to make mostly positive reviews here. If not, they just opt not to do one at all. As the saying goes, "If you don't have something good to say, say nothing at all." I think people apply that to reviews, too.

I do agree with the OP, though. It would be great if we could click on something to see which fragrances have the highest overall percentage of positive, negative and neutral reviews.

Honestly, I look at the review in terms of "oh, the jasmine was divine" or "the tar was overpowering" to help me define more what I am smelling, or to say, "I've never liked a tar frag. and everyone is negative about the tar I'll skip it this one."
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post #15 of 16
12/5/12 at 9:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mlsweeney View Post

The only problem I could see with this is someone intentionally giving a negative review to make their favorite fragrance move up the ranks.

Crazy talk. Fragrance is the one subject where you would NOT want your favorite to be moving up in the ranks because that would increase the chances that other people would smell like you.

Yes, I do think this way, but I have never not reviewed my favorites as such because basenotes helped me find them, so I'm returning the favor to the newbs by being honest.
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post #16 of 16
12/5/12 at 10:21am
All the reviews in the directory are a valuable resource, but for my purposes, some are more valuable than others. A simple statistical breakdown of each fragrance would be of little use to me, I am more likely to read the critiques of a select few whose nose I trust.

That said, I see no problem in adding an extra statistical element to the review pages.
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