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When I see this happening, I tend to look something like this:
It has me wondering why do people think they need to give something a bad rating in order to have people actually read their review? Do they look at their ratings and go "hmmm I haven't rated something 3 or less stars lately, maybe I should" and so they do even if that's not how they really feel?
Why are people afraid to say their true feelings on a book? If all your ratings are good ones, all it means is you know how to pick out books that are to your preferred taste. It's actually really bugging me that people are lowering their ratings on purpose. I know that a lot of people will not read a book if it's been getting bad ratings or people do not actually read reviews, they just look at what the reviewer rated it. By rating a book lower, you are changing the overall rating for the book and that may make people not read it.
What this all comes down to is, don't be afraid to give a book the rating you think it actually deserves! Don't get all weird about the fact that your ratings are almost all good ones. That is perfectly okay. There is no reason to be stingy with your ratings.
I agree. Although I haven't noticed this trend yet myself. If it becomes more standard to rate books "lower", that's quite worrisome.
ReplyDeleteI notice this mostly on Goodreads. It actually bothers me more when people do it on GR rather than on their own blog because GR keeps track of all the ratings and averages them out. I know that for me, personally, GR ratings have a lot of say in wether I buy a book or not.
DeleteYeah, I think it's weird when people round down. It's generally like elementary math to always round up, lol :) I don't do half-ratings, so I don't get into that problem though. Great post!
ReplyDeleteHaha yeah. I thought that "rule" was forced into everyones heads at a young age. My math teachers always took off points from our grade if we rounded the wrong way.
DeleteI round down sometimes...simply because: If I'm giving it a half star rating (say, 4.5) it's because it wasn't quite good enough for the next rating up. In my review, it's deserving of a 4.5, but on Goodreads - that doesn't have half star ratings - it doesn't add up to a 5 star for me so I give it 4. In other words, if I didn't do half star ratings on my blog, it would have been 4 stars anyway. Hope that makes sense!
ReplyDeleteAs far as giving low ratings - and I'm just speaking for myself here, don't know about anyone else - I think very carefully before I give an overall rating (and I break it into parts - plot/pace/characters/world-building, etc). But sometimes I just get stuck in a rut that I can't get out of! I've gone through 5 or 6 books in a row before where not a single one of them was higher than 3 stars for me. Maybe I'm just picky and hard to impress, who knows.
If I read a book that I absolutely LOVE, I have no problem singing its praises at the top of my lungs. Whether I like it or love it, I'm going to be (sometimes brutally) honest.
That being said, maybe those people aren't really giving low reviews on purpose (at least I hope not!), maybe they're stuck in a reading rut, too. I actually tend to read more "negative" reviews than 5 star ones. Rant reviews are my fave! And they tend to make me want to pick up the book even more, just to see what was THAT bad about it.
I hate book ruts. I think everyone goes through them, I know that I do. And if the book is only "eh" I understand giving it an eh rating even if the last 5 or 6 book ratings you've done are the same thing. I'm mostly just talking about people who sing the praises of the book through their whole review but when you get down to the rating, they give it only an okay rating.
DeleteHaha and I have to agree about the negative reviews. When people go on rants about how much they hated a book, it always makes me want to read the book so I know what they are talking about.
Now that...just doesn't make sense. If you loved it, it should be 4 or 5! I haven't seen something like that yet, but I don't think I'd be able to keep my mouth shut >.<
DeleteThat's almost as bad as the ones on Goodreads who rate the book without even reading it. Ugh...
I hate it when people rate a book that isn't even out yet! I honestly think that some people don't put much thought at all into the books they rate on Goodreads.
DeleteLOL! You go, girl! I'm a stingy rater (though I don't rate on my blog) because I'm just a negative person but I have a friend who always used to rate everything really high and now I've got her rating lower. :( Now I sort of feel bad.
ReplyDeleteI take the rating meanings from Goodreads very seriously. The two star "it was ok" isn't necessarily a bad rating in my opinion, it just means...the book was OK, but others think I'm so mean. I'm not trying to be, I swear. Again, I'm just sort of negative.
Hahaha that cracks me up that you are so open about being negative. Don't worry, as I've been reminded multiple times lately, so am I.
DeleteI really am okay with people giving lower ratings if they believe that is what the book deserves, but a lot of people can't seem to back up their ratings and why they gave what they did. What they give and what they say just don't seem to match.
I agree with you. I think people have become tougher reviewers because they think it makes them seem like a discerning critic. But honestly reading should be fun. Pick out books you like and then if you do like them shout it from the roof tops. Don't try and look for things you didn't like so you can lower the rating.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!!
I actually have a post up about positive and negative reviews if you wanted to take a look. no pressure though lol
It is interesting that Goodreads comes up, I feel like their rating scale is different from mines, I always enjoy a book more than what Goodreads ratings are. I actually have now taken them into consideration and slightly rated differently. I was always rating lower on Goodreads if it was a .5 rating, only once can I think of rating up but I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a few love love love and a 3, no where does that go together in my world, I usually don't count there rating at all unless I know the blogger good enough to understand the rating more.
Goodreads ratings take a huge part in my decision of if I buy a book or not.
DeleteI abandoned the rating system on my reviews because I am so fickle. I would rate a book at say a 4, then weeks later I would decide I liked the book better than my own rating. I wanted to go back and re-rate it. It was driving me crazy so I decided that I would avoid a numerical rating and just try to describe my thoughts in words.
ReplyDeleteI've done that a few times with my ratings. I tend to rate based on how the book made me feel rather than an overall rating of the book. This is why I've been thinking about changing my rating system but after almost 3 years of blogging it might be a little weird to up and change it.
DeleteI am a stingy rater as well (only on GoodReads) in my opinion a 3 star rating is good. The book was decent, depending on the person, I may recommend it, I may not. But It isn't a book I am willing to RAVE about. A book has to be damn good to receive a 5 from me. As far as the half ratings go.. since good reads doesn't offer it.. Sometimes a book isn't worth the round up.. it is in between. I personally find rating systems difficult, cause in general like most things they are subjective.
ReplyDeleteI round up and down on Goodreads. I don't like getting super fractional about my ratings on my blog, but I'll do half stars. Then when I go to rate it on Goodreads, I think about whether a X.5 book was closer to the higher number or only a smidge over the lower number. Then I'll rate up or down accordingly. I hope that makes sense!
ReplyDeleteFor me, a 3 rating is for an average book. I enjoyed it, but I'm not rushing out to buy a copy for myself. So it's not a bad rating and I could have enjoyed the book, but it just doesn't warrant my money.