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If a writer writes a review on Epinions and nobody reads it,does it really help?
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 245
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Member Visits: 12,438
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Total Visits: 292,820
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About gatorgirlie
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Epinions.com - gatorgirlie's profile
Update: Sorry all, but I don't think I'll be coming back to Epinions. If you still want me to read and rate your products, email me and I'll check them out... I still love to read reviews.
There are a few factors that contributed to this... The first being that we're buy my husband's optometry practice soon and I will be leaving home to help run it. Wow, true small business owners!! I also started my own company this past year with Made By Moms and I'm going to keep working to get it off its feet. We're doing well right now but things in business could always be better. My son is getting older and taking shorter naps, plus I love spending time with him... all these factors have contributed to a severe time crunch.
Then, also, are the Epinions' factors. When the search engine went down last year and became impossible to use, I haven't really been keeping up with writing reviews. I used to enjoy seeing when hundreds of people, thousands of people, read my reviews, and when you see those reviews going from a couple hundred hits a month down to 10, it starts to lose its sparkle.
Thank you for letting me become a Top Reviewer and Advisor on one of the greatest websites online and I hope to keep in touch with many of the friends I've made on here. Take care!!
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My status: I'm around much more often now -- I'll try to do my new hats justice :). However, I still have yet to resolve the start-up issues my computer is having (simply because I don't want to surrender my precious CPU to Circuit City so they can replace the power supply). Eventually my computer will end the great fight and I'll be forced to fix it, but until then.... I shall read, rate and comment as much as possible :)
Oh... and it's great to be a Florida Gator!!!!
I just wanted to give everyone a helpful place to access my reviews. This gets updated sporadically, so don't plan on it being 100% up-to-date at any given time. I'm also planning on organizing it better, but I'm planning on doing a lot of things... :) Enjoy.
Here is a list of recently updated reviews and the date of the updates:
While I'm working on getting my lists updated and in the correct format... let me include a few links to some specific reviews that I feel are the most helpful to consumers:
Some uninteresting things about me
Hello Everyone! Since this is my profile, let me introduce myself. My name is Jen and I am mom to an absolutely gorgeous little boy, Aidan. My hubby is pretty handsome as well, but he's playing second fiddle to said boy. We've been married since 2002, so we're going on five years. I graduated from high school with honors, went on to one of the top public universities on a full scholarship (Go Gators) and proceeded to graduate from UF in 2001. After college I got a job in management but decided it wasn't for me, so I became a High School Mathematics teacher. I worked as a teacher until I had my little boy, then quit because I wanted to stay at home. I have many hobbies -- I like to read, watch the Discovery/History Channel, study ancient civilizations, decorate my house, go camping, watch football/baseball/college basketball and go antiquing. I'm quite the dork and am a big Star Wars fan -- to the extent that I will attend Sci Fi conventions. Writing on Epinions is another hobby that keeps me sane when at home -- life can't all be cleaning, cooking and watching my son :). I belong to a mom's group -- which is one of the best things I've ever done -- and we meet up at least two or three times a week. I'm a huge sports fan -- especially the Gators and the Yankees. I love the NFL but I don't really have a "favorite" team... I just like to watch football. My husband is a lifelong Hurricanes fan, but hey... nobody's perfect. I'm a registered Libertarian who loves discussing politics, though I must say I'm an all-around malcontent when it comes to government and the way it operates... so some pessimists say I verge more on an anarchist than a Libertarian. I disagree. :)
What else? Let me tell you why I'm on Epinions. I enjoy writing the reviews and, also, the feeling that I am helping someone. I try to write reviews from a consumer's perspective for a consumer. I take this website very seriously -- I have always, and will always, look to it for guidance on what to buy. I write mainly in the Kids and Family section now but I'm trying to branch out. As of right now, I'm both an Advisor and Top Reviewer in Kids and Family, and I'm a TR in Home and Garden as well. So far I've accomplished two of my goals for this year (I'd like to throw in a Top Reviewer for Books as well if I can find the time). I try to welcome all newer people and would mentor anyone if they ask. Part of my duties as an Advisor is to try and mentor new members -- so if you ever need any help you're more than welcome to contact me. People should try to avoid taking any of my comments as negative because I'm not trying to be critical -- I'm trying to help you become more familiar with Epinions and the way it works.
I'll close with this little tidbit... The song my husband thinks describes me... over any other song in the world is "She's Always a Woman" by Billy Joel...
Lyrics:
She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes,
She can ruin your faith with her casual lies,
And she only reveals what she wants you to see.
She hides like a child but she's always a woman to me.
She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you,
She can ask for the truth but she'll never believe you,
And she'll take what you give her as long as it's free,
Yeah she steals like a thief but she's always a woman to me.
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants,
She's ahead of her time.
Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in,
She just changes her mind.
And she'll promise you more than the garden of Eden
then she'll carelessly cut you and laugh while you're bleeding,
But she brings out the best and the worst you can be.
Blame it all on yourself cause she's always a woman to me.
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants,
She's ahead of her time.
Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in,
She just changes her mind.
She is frequently kind and she's suddenly cruel,
She can do as she pleases, she's nobody's fool,
But she can't be convicted, she's earned her degree,
And the most she will do is throw shadows at you
But she's always a woman to me.
I'm not sure if that's a complement or not... but I'll take it as such :)
My WOT:
My WOT is not a popularity contest. The people who are on my WOT are those who I feel benefit the Epinions site greatly with their presence, rating and writing. I don't play the "Add me, add you" game and I never will. If you add me, I'll read put you on my watch list and add you after I observe for a while. Do I see you being active in the Epinions Community? Are you trying to help others? If so, I'll add you. Please understand that I update my WOT whenever I remember it, and between writing reviews, rating reviews, writing comments and participating in the Epinions Message Boards, that doesn't leave me a ton of time. Thus the WOT is updated only sporadically. If you do not write a review for a long enough time, please don't be surprised if you disappear from my WOT. I will keep you on my alert list and if you start writing again, you will be readded to my WOT. If you notice I haven't been here for a few days and you want to email me about a review you wrote, I will read and review it. Otherwise, I try to catch up with the alert emails when Aidan's asleep :). Actually, I've been falling farther and farther behind with my ratings because I'm trying to do so much. Please don't feel offended if I don't rate one of your reviews -- if you're on my alert list, I truly enjoy reading you... I just simply don't have enough time.
How I rate:
Very Helpful:
I usually go into reviews assuming they'll be "helpful." If you impress me, your review will receive a "very helpful." How do you impress me? Most of the times, it isn't that hard. If your review is well-written, easy to read (ie: split into paragraphs) and informative.. you will receive this mark. Informative doesn't mean simply ranting about customer service -- give me some background on the product. I can think of a few examples where the person simply talked about how the product was broken, but never took the time to tell the reader what the product was. Also, don't just regurgitate the product specs. While it's nice to have it in there, I do want to know about your experiences with the product. Length has nothing to do with the way I rate -- there are short reviews that are VH and long reviews that are not. Basically, look at it this way... This is what a "Very Helpful" review has:
- An excellent amount of product information
- Quite a few personal experiences, both pros and cons about the product
- Few spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors
- Readibility (ie: it's easy to read)
Helpful
I used to say that I rarely rate this, but I've been finding myself rating this more and more often. Whether I'm getting a bit tougher in my ratings or if I just realized that some reviews simply aren't "very helpful," is a hard question to answer. Maybe you are missing some product information or maybe you're missing some personal experience or perhaps you have a problem with spelling/grammar/punctuation... it could be any one of those... or it could just simply feel like a "Helpful" review to me.. Remember that rating is a judgement call, but I will always try to justify why I rated a certain way. So... summary... A "Helpful" review may have a few grammatical or spelling errors, be missing some product information or missing a few personal experiences.
Somewhat Helpful
This is rated if you have some good information, but you're missing a sizeable chunk. This can also appear if your grammar is so bad it is not distinguishable as the English language. Have you completely missed any sort of product information (such as what the product is)?? Have you left out any sort of personal experience with the product? Most of the time this rating occurs from a combination of the two -- a little bit of product info and a little bit of personal experience... but not enough to really help a consumer make a purchasing decision. This could also include reviews that simply rant about a particular aspect of the item without covering other pieces of information or it could be placed if you never actually used the item you're reviewing (such as the product arrived broken). Unless someone else has already left a comment, I will always let you know why I rated you SH... and I will try to offer a few suggestions on how to improve. If you'd like more detailed information or have any questions, you're always free to email me.
Not Helpful
This is fairly self-explanatory. If I didn't feel you helped me make a decision, it is not helpful. There are many contributing factors. Is the review hard to follow/read? This can occur if you have one large paragraph; splitting your paragraph into different sections makes the review easier to read. Did you just regurgitate product specs? Is the review mostly plagarism? Have you explained what the product is/does? Do you have any useful information at all? Is your grammar/sentence structure/punctuation/spelling neaderthalian? One last time, I will always let you know WHY I rated this way and how I feel you can fix it.
Other Epinions Stuff
If you do update a review, please email me and I will be HAPPY to rerate. If you choose to email me, please put Epinions in the subject line of the email or you run the risk of being deleted as spam. There is also one more thing: if you admit in your review that you A) didn't use the product or B) used the product in a way it shouldn't have been used (ie: an iron as a hair straightener), you will automatically receive a NH.
I expect my reviews to be rated fairly. What does this mean? I take the time to read and evaluate your reviews in a professional manner. If your review was Very Helpful, I will rate it with VH -- even if I disagree on your opinion on the product. I expect the same respect be given to my reviews. If you are so petty as to downrate me simply because you disagree with my viewpoint on a product, I will more than likely block you because you are a disservice to the Epinions' community. This is an opinion community and all opinions are welcomed.
I also have no time to deal with revenge raters. If you revenge rate me, I will simply add you to my block list and ignore you. Take the constructive criticism and use it to improve yourself, don't react like an 8 year old in a state of pique.
One more thing -- I promise that I will NEVER hide my name when I rate something. I don't believe in "hidden ratings" and will never rate that way. I feel that anyone who does that is pathetic, and I am proud to stand by any Not Helpfuls that I give out. If you choose to ignore any constructive criticism I may give and revenge rate me, that is fine. No skin off my nose -- trust me, I'll have enough ratings that your puny little Not Helpful won't matter a bit.
I also wanted to invite everyone to particpate in the Epinions Message Boards -- especially the Kids and Family ones located on my Favorite Links. It's a great way to learn about the Epinions Community, improve your writing and get to know some great people.
Well, anyway... Please feel free to email me about any comments or questions you may have (remember, Epinions in the subject line)-- about my reviews, ratings or my profile... or heck, if you'd like any help using Epinions... I'd be happy to help. I look forward to reading your reviews and Happy Epinioning!
Here's a Christmas photo of the family :)
One of me and my little man on Christmas
Isn't he adorable?
I love him to pieces
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