Quality of reviews in general seem to be poor

[BUFF]

Why am I suddenly reminded of this?
http://www.totse.com/en/ego/science_...n/enlight.html

[TooNice]

Playing devil's advocate maybe, but I think some of points davidstone28 made are valid. Not sure about the title, it is harsh, but I suppose good for getting some attention (which is the whole point if you think of headlines and such).

And though I do respect Gordy's detailed knowledge of cases (I think he's probably established himself as a "Case master" ) I can actually understand why his long reply wasn't seen as particularly helpful.. Most of the replies were geared toward why -not- to put certain information in, rather than a straight answer to the question themselves.

Some may argue that if you can afford to spend £200 on a case you are less worried about cash and that someone scrapping together £50 of cash to get a lanboy would be far more decerning

We could argue all day with example on either side. But at the end of the day, I am sure that most people would appreciate more content than less.
(I personally fall in the category of people who -would- pay a lot, but only if I am really assured that I want that product.. And I appreciate all the details I can get from reviews to make the most informed decisions I can)

I can go on with other part, but I am sure everyone *can* notice the trend in the reply.

And though the reply may seem fair, the one thing I like about storagereview (for hard disk reviews), is that they went into great length in standardising their test methology, and the depth of their methology.
You can get the sound in dB from the spec, thats great.. But how about subjectively? Two fans can have the same volume, but one might be more unpleasant than the other.
Temperatures are best tested in a controlled environment, agreed. But as long as similar (preferably same) components are used, being able to contrast the ambient temperature with the case temperature will give *some* indication.. Which is better then none IMO

Anyway, I wouldn't go as far as saying the review was poor, but there are places for improvement. To be honest, I use Hexus more for the forums than the reviews.. I tend to look at more than one review websites anyway, if they are available.
I do find Hexus to be a decent place to ask specific questions not covered in reviews in general.

[Flibb]

I really like the Hexus review system, I prefer a review that doesn't portray subjective ranking systems as scientific data. Lots of review sites give loads of graphs and data but when you look in depth at the data it tends to be rather shoddy. Part of my job is calibrating scientific equipment used in the pharmaceutical industry, its hard enough getting good results with the gear we have, let alone with the equipment available to a review site. I have got well a truly fed up with graphs that give no useful data and are just used to justify somebody's opinion. One site has a risk of personal injury graph for cases. Yes it can be interesting to know if there are sharp edges but how do you measure that? Maybe a bleed ometer in ml of blood. To me what stands out about Hexus is that they link external reviews, so you can build a review from a variety of sources. Much better than the lots of graphs and we are GOD attitude of some sites. I work in a very strict QA role and its better not to collect data, than to portray crap data as fact.

[Gordy]

And though I do respect Gordy's detailed knowledge of cases (I think he's probably established himself as a "Case master" ) I can actually understand why his long reply wasn't seen as particularly helpful.. Most of the replies were geared toward why -not- to put certain information in, rather than a straight answer to the question themselves.

That point was just me being devils advocate and I did agree with some of the points brought up. I just want to give some info as to why some of the stuff wasn't/couldn't be done.

[TooNice]

@Flibb: I don't know what review website are you refering to specifically.. Or the type of product.

But generally speaking, I haven't seen graphs been mis-used that often (though I've yet to see one made for cases).

And the fact is, when it comes for items such as cases, or even speakers and games.. Much of it is subjective. With a CPU/Graphic card you can get hard numbers. Plot them in a graph, and it helps visualise how a particular GFX card scales with resolution, CPU etc.
For components that are very subjective (i.e. cases) I do not take the reviews as "facts". That said, you can often see a trend. If more than one review reported sharp edges (I don't think you need to bleed yourself to notice that), then I'll know that there is a reasonable chance for that to happen. However, if thats mentioned in one review, and not at all in the other, its harder to tell if its just one bad sample.. Or a trend across every cases of that type.

That said, the reason I've never really bothered criticising a particular review site, is because if I am not really satisfied with a review.. not big deal, I can usually find another one sooner or later. And Hexus does make things easier by linking to some external review sites.

[BEANFro Elite]

well me thinks that magazines have got it wrong by making only one person review a game so as to have only one point of view, i think it would be better if the magazines got all their staff to review the same game so as to have a larger number of reviews and as a result a higher quality review.

Failing that, the magazine could hold competitions that allow ordinary gamers to go to the magazine's offices to offer their reviews to supplement the overall review.

Don't get me wrong though, i'm not saying they should all write their own seperate reviews for a given object/game, just when it comes to wrapping up a review, all the staff/people should give offer a sentence long point of view of what they thought.

If all else fails play a demo of the game or take a trial of/rent the object if you're still undecided...

P.S. I personally hate lists in magazines, especially the regourgitated ones, absolute filler.

[DR]

Firstly lets not all pick on David for his feedback - thank you.

Seriously if you do want to give me some feedback ping me some info and we can go from there.