This was such an interesting rabbit hole to fall down. I never really thought about the 5-star rating system that much, but in hindsight it has affecting how I interact with so many things. As much as I've wanted to join things like Goodreads and Letterbox, I always had a hard time rating things in general. I think like you, I'm pretty liberal with my stars lol. Something has to be pretty egregious for me to rate it badly. I've been meaning to start a personal media journal to track what media I'm consuming and I did add a rating system. Not because I really wanted one though but mainly because when I did research on media journaling, it seemed like everyone else felt the need to rate the media too.
This also makes me rethink the way I read reviews, because you're right: they are pretty much subjective and kind of useless. Thanks for making me think. This was a great read 🧡
This is so kind, thank you Zavia! I love the idea of using a personal media journal to track your thoughts and feelings on books/movies/etc - not only is it super flexible but you can share your thoughts freely without worrying you might offend someone :) I've seen some people on Substack make media journals with little stickers/doodles of each book or album cover and it's so cute!
I loved reading your thoughts on the 5 star review system! I hadn’t really thought about it as much, but I was nodding my head to everything you wrote. Stars for books feels almost absurd (and I usually do start ratings) because if a book is a “five star read” I’m usually hounding everyone down about it. If it’s a 1 star I’m ranting about it, and anything between I’m not really talking about unless it comes up. I’ve been tracking my reads in my hobonichi planner and forcing myself to give my thoughts on books along with a star rating, but it’s also incredible to see how little I have to say about things lmfao.
I think reviews are so much better than ratings! Last November my husband booked a hotel that was labeled as a “3 Star Hotel”, but then when we arrived our room was dirty, covered in hair, with a broken toilet and ROACHES. The star rating was 3 but when you looked at the reviews it was atrocious. I’ve also seen “2 star” hotels with reviews commending their cleanliness and kindness.
I always read reviews, maybe to the point where it’s a problem lol. But I feel like I read them for parameters. Like, for a hotel — is it clean? For a restaurant — is it clean? Do people say the food is good (I don’t care about snooty specifics)? For items — Does it work?
Haha I also have very little to say about most books after I've read them 😅 It's why I usually leave star ratings but not written reviews.
I def agree that reviews on a commodity are helpful, but I think that's because the parameters for deciding whether it's "good" or not are so much narrower. Like, if I buy a little desk fan online - does it work? does it look good? if yes, we're good to go, but a book/movie/etc (and even a restaurant I'd argue!) is so much different.
Hotels are such a beast, though... the fact that their stars are for a whole separate system dedicated entirely to hotels is very confusing lol
This was such an interesting rabbit hole to fall down. I never really thought about the 5-star rating system that much, but in hindsight it has affecting how I interact with so many things. As much as I've wanted to join things like Goodreads and Letterbox, I always had a hard time rating things in general. I think like you, I'm pretty liberal with my stars lol. Something has to be pretty egregious for me to rate it badly. I've been meaning to start a personal media journal to track what media I'm consuming and I did add a rating system. Not because I really wanted one though but mainly because when I did research on media journaling, it seemed like everyone else felt the need to rate the media too.
This also makes me rethink the way I read reviews, because you're right: they are pretty much subjective and kind of useless. Thanks for making me think. This was a great read 🧡
This is so kind, thank you Zavia! I love the idea of using a personal media journal to track your thoughts and feelings on books/movies/etc - not only is it super flexible but you can share your thoughts freely without worrying you might offend someone :) I've seen some people on Substack make media journals with little stickers/doodles of each book or album cover and it's so cute!
I loved reading your thoughts on the 5 star review system! I hadn’t really thought about it as much, but I was nodding my head to everything you wrote. Stars for books feels almost absurd (and I usually do start ratings) because if a book is a “five star read” I’m usually hounding everyone down about it. If it’s a 1 star I’m ranting about it, and anything between I’m not really talking about unless it comes up. I’ve been tracking my reads in my hobonichi planner and forcing myself to give my thoughts on books along with a star rating, but it’s also incredible to see how little I have to say about things lmfao.
I think reviews are so much better than ratings! Last November my husband booked a hotel that was labeled as a “3 Star Hotel”, but then when we arrived our room was dirty, covered in hair, with a broken toilet and ROACHES. The star rating was 3 but when you looked at the reviews it was atrocious. I’ve also seen “2 star” hotels with reviews commending their cleanliness and kindness.
I always read reviews, maybe to the point where it’s a problem lol. But I feel like I read them for parameters. Like, for a hotel — is it clean? For a restaurant — is it clean? Do people say the food is good (I don’t care about snooty specifics)? For items — Does it work?
Haha I also have very little to say about most books after I've read them 😅 It's why I usually leave star ratings but not written reviews.
I def agree that reviews on a commodity are helpful, but I think that's because the parameters for deciding whether it's "good" or not are so much narrower. Like, if I buy a little desk fan online - does it work? does it look good? if yes, we're good to go, but a book/movie/etc (and even a restaurant I'd argue!) is so much different.
Hotels are such a beast, though... the fact that their stars are for a whole separate system dedicated entirely to hotels is very confusing lol