Thread: Review section

Well as of now (even though I don't even have my first straight razor yet :-)!) I plan on sticking around as a memeber :-).

I'm a little confused though. What exactly is the problem with the reviews section that we can't read the old ones? Is it a technical issue with the site? It seems to me that it's worth it and valuable to everyone to keep the reviews that were already written (I'm assuming there are a bunch?) so people can go back to the old ones regardless of whether people contribute new reviews? They're just as valuable as old forum posts which everyone can see.

It is partially a technical problem - the software was abandoned by the developers and doesn't work with the newer versions of the forum software we're using. For a year I kept it running in a very hackish way, but given the very few new reviews from that period as well as the extremely low traffic to that section, it was not worth at all my time and effort to continue maintaining it.

However, even if the technical issue was not there, I am not convinced that a dead section of the site is worth keeping. I know that a popular view is 'it doesn't drink or eat, just leave it alone', but my view of this site is 'community' not 'infomercial', and from that point of view anything that the community does not care for should go away.

Yeah, I don't hold that view. I'd like to see the reviews forum back and I was okay with the reviews the way they were before beberlin put all the bells and whistles in that no longer work. Anyway, I'd like to see the old review section back, but I'm not capable of doing the legwork to make it happen, so I'll shut up now.

Originally Posted by gugi

It is partially a technical problem - the software was abandoned by the developers and doesn't work with the newer versions of the forum software we're using. For a year I kept it running in a very hackish way, but given the very few new reviews from that period as well as the extremely low traffic to that section, it was not worth at all my time and effort to continue maintaining it.

If I had some clue as to what was involved I might try to offer my help in migrating to the new system or at a minimum recovering what was there in some read-only format... but I don't want to make any promises :-).

Originally Posted by gugi

However, even if the technical issue was not there, I am not convinced that a dead section of the site is worth keeping. I know that a popular view is 'it doesn't drink or eat, just leave it alone', but my view of this site is 'community' not 'infomercial', and from that point of view anything that the community does not care for should go away.

Of course I have my own self-serving desire for the information to appear. But that aside, I don't agree. Members of this community took the time to write those reviews so I think it's fair to preserve their work/effort (regardless of whether we provide a mechanism for people to contribute new reviews). I'm not under the impression that anyone goes and deletes old forum posts because they're dead/no one uses them. To me, killing the already-written reviews is like going and deleting old posts.

But I'm the new guy around here :-). I'll obviously defer to everyone that actively maintains the site. And of course, if it's too much work to resurrect at least a read-only version, I understand it might not be a priority now. I can certainly appreciate from my own work that people not directly involved with something assume it's easy when they have no idea how hard it actually is :-).

Well, you know the golden rule, the man with the gold makes the rules. Obviously my free work only goes to things that I want to do for free, and anybody else can contribute their free work as they see fit and cover anything that they like to see happen.

I've explained many times that I am not willing to put free work into stuff that the community does not appreciate. If anybody wants to pay me to get the reviews back the hackish way they were, I would consider it. Here's the rough cost for me doing it:
- software license $250
- setting it up ~$500
- maintenance ~$200/month.

So, at the end of the day it's how much it's really worth to you. I know that everybody has many great ideas and suggestions as long as they don't have to put anything towards seeing them happen. But this is not the case here - my free work is only for stuff that the community cares about.

Originally Posted by gugi

Well, you know the golden rule, the man with the gold makes the rules. Obviously my free work only goes to things that I want to do for free, and anybody else can contribute their free work as they see fit and cover anything that they like to see happen.

I've explained many times that I am not willing to put free work into stuff that the community does not appreciate. If anybody wants to pay me to get the reviews back the hackish way they were, I would consider it. Here's the rough cost for me doing it:
- software license $250
- setting it up ~$500
- maintenance ~$200/month.

So, at the end of the day it's how much it's really worth to you. I know that everybody has many great ideas and suggestions as long as they don't have to put anything towards seeing them happen. But this is not the case here - my free work is only for stuff that the community cares about.

If left up to me and I knew the difficulties you have been having, I would start a forum called Member Reviews: Find out what your fellow SRP members think about various products before buying! under Shaving Equipment.

Leave it up to the members to start a thread about a product they may want to review, and other members can simply respond with either their own opinions, agreements, or rebuttals. No rankings on a scale of 1-10 about quality, price, etc. Just say in your own words what you think someone needs to know before buying. People contemplating a purchase can scan the Member Reviews forum to see if anything is said about a product first.

Let's start all over again with a clean slate and let the past reviews rest in peace. Products change (e.g. Proraso reformulated) over time. The only discontinued products that should be reviewed are razors.

It's structured no different than any other discussion forum, so it won't be affected by a future technical upgrade. This can be achieved by avoiding pictures, a rating system, minimum post requirements before being eligible to review, an A-Z scale to locate everything beginning with a certain letter, etc.

Ask members to label their threads with the name of the product being reviewed (e.g., Arko Shave Stick, Boker King Cutter, etc.) A moderator may spot two threads of the same thing and consolidate them.

K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid (no offense intended!).

I am actually going to have to agree with Ivan on this one..

And here is an an example of why

A past review Names have been blocked to protect the innocent


I don't normally write reviews but I thought I would give **** at ***** a public shout out. I've been using his ***** these last few weeks and I have really been enjoying it. When I went to check out his site I saw that he now has a **** scent. I decided to get a bottle along with the ****** that I have been meaning to try. The stuff came in today, and I was pleasantly surprised at what I found in the package! They were packaged very well along with some small soap samples that he is selling on the site. I'll try them out in the next couple days along with the two new after shaves. Thanks again!

I will say that the original ***** has a very nice scent, that isn't overpowering yet somehow stays for many hours afterwards. Every now and then throughout the day I get a whiff of the sweet smell of ******... I am also enjoying the little burn it gives after the shave, feels refreshing! I can't wait to try the *****

I understand the sentiment.

When I started retro shaving three years ago, I only knew about a handful of products and came here to find out if I could find anything better. I'd use the reviews and sift through them to find out if (1) anybody liked it, (2) it is easy to use, (3) what is unique about it. I didn't (and still don't) understand descriptions vendors use like "top notes of this, bottom notes of that, and a hint of something else." How does that musical explanation translation translate to a smell? Does a top note outweigh a bottom note? One of those things in pop culture that nobody explains yet expects you to know. I wouldn't buy anything without reviews while a beginner.

Now that I am experienced, know what I like, and am grossly oversupplied, I never look at reviews and haven't for quite some time. So it doesn't matter to me whether reviews are added or not. Ask me anything you want and I'll tell you everything I know and even offer to help, but don't ask me about anything about notes or other high-brow shave-ese.

See, in my view what it boils down to is whether senior members like you are interested in putting down their thoughts on specific product in a 'review' form. If there is interest I would most certainly put in the infrastructure.

But if that is not a form that people like, then setting up a system is not worth my effort. May be people prefer to simply answer questions and write down the same thing as a response to a question instead of a review they've initiated.

One way or another I think that if somebody wants to find out something they can do a search and if they can't find the information or want more, they can ask and usually will get some responses.

What 'reviews' do is they offer better structure so it's easier to find the information. It's much easier when looking for a reviews on a product to just go to a 'review' section then find the product in there and read through those, than it is to do a general search on that product name, and then sift through threads that mention the product.

But, all this depends not on how many people want the information in such a form, but on how many people are willing to sit down and do a write up. And that's exactly what has been missing.

Now if 20 senior members commit to writing one review every 6 or 12 months I will put in a proper review infrastructure. I may be able to even convert these old reviews and fold them into it. But it all has to start with the fundamentals - I have asked about interest in the past and have gotten exactly zero responses 'Yes, I'll be willing to write a review once or twice a year'. And if you go around the site you won't see many reviews in a simple thread form which anybody can do at any time and doesn't need permission or special structure.

As I understand it the top/middle/base notes are best described as follows:



This chart indicates that the top notes lasts rather short, the middle a bit longer, and the base is what the scent settles down to.
In other words, read the widening of the pyramide as an indication of time.