Discussion What is your definition of criticism?

Rrl is cool I guess, coz live fast die young leave a beautiful corpse

 

You were the first one to reply to me. I rarely start replying to people.

 

I think his point was that it is possible to be unbiased enough that it doesn't actually affect the rating, and not whether someone might have some bias notions while rating. If you set a standard for your rating system(examples of a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) then you can have a unbiased rating because there is a standard to rate by. Of course most people wouldn't do this but it is possible to be unbiased while rating something you just have to create a system to go by. If we are talking about enjoyment factor that is 100% biased but things like characters, setting, and story can be unbiased if you have a system to go by.

 

Sniff T. i could no thave said it better there is a reason i like the start of a story more than its end.
A natural death is not often beautifull bit a unnatural one demm they shiney like fifty suns across the galaxy!

 

No. It's a community fiction of rrl which has been deleted unfortunately

 

Aren't you just ignoring the criticism of your initial argument and are now resorting to what you would call 'negative opinions?'. Amazing.

 

Yes i replyd to you on the bias thingy then we had a disscusion but then you posted a comment claiming i was saying you reviewed certain novels because of friends or whatever and that it aint tru.
Those were examples but you had to finish that comment off with the cannot hold a intellectual disscusion.

Lets just stop i know what you tried to say with that comment and i should not have taken it personally but like i said i like to debunk such opinions.
That is also why i entered the disscusion of bias as its also very biased in nature at least that is what i think peace out....

 

Isn't the rating supposed to be subjective rather than objective measurement of quality? if it was objective than the vast majority of people will rate the exact same way.

A subjective opinion is supposed to be biased. it is explicitly a matter of taste. And just because the public at large has given a works a low/high rating doesn't mean you will.

Twilight (the sparkly vampires one) has an amazon rating of 4.6 stars out of 5. The public as a whole absolutely loves it. I think it is awful.

Personally I completely ignore the star ratings and instead read the reviews which bother to explain why they liked/disliked the work

 

You're right, I am not criticizing, I am trash talking. Nice of you to take notice.

 

Yes on royalroad its often done like that 1 star if you utterly hate it 3-4 if you try to be fair (at least you want to look fair to the public) and 5 if you liked it anything i like should hold 5 stars is what such people think.
Trying to not be influenced by your likes is rather impossible trying to be mature about it is possible.
So you may not be able to give a 100% accurate review about something but that is why people look up multiple reviews to see if something is at least worth buying instead of reffering to one review/rating.

Edit: oh forgot to say why people put 1 stars or lower for a novel that is maybe written fairly good.
But the reader didnt like the content so they want to show how not content they are with the novel by leaving their spit and shit stain on it.

 

Pretty much

Personally I ignore the stars and just read the review with the words where people actually explain their opinions and clarify their tastes. this gives me actual hints as to whether or not I agree with that person.

 

Yea the fun part is i ignore all high ratings when i look up a novel, on amazon its even more important.
I look for any review with the lowest rating then i read it then i go up the stars till i reach 4/5 stars ignoring most of them.

Because honestly sometimes these people that give 5 stars claim the characters to have the depth of the universe and i could not gage any harder on my own puke.

 

Technically criticism can simply be pointing out faults, flaws, mistakes, it doesn't always have to be constructive, hence why they call constructive criticism "constructive criticism" and not criticism. Pointing out loop holes, logical inconsistencies, etc, is legitimate criticism. What separates criticism from opinion tends to be a factual or logical reasoning compared to an opinionated or emotional reasoning.

On the topic of bias, it should be noted that a bias has to lean towards one side or another, otherwise it is not a bias. A scientist judging religion is a bias due to his scientific background and education influencing his opinions. A priest judging religion would also have a bias based on their background and experiences. But what happens when you ask a layman, or a child? Lacking a science based education and a religion based background means that this person is unrelated to the topic of judgment, hence they can make an unbiased opinion based on information given. The person doesn't have to be a machine or robot to give an unbiased opinion, they just need to be unrelated to the topic. They don't need to live in a bubble for all of their life, they just need to lack a preexisting opinion on the topic.

The difficulty of eliminating bias is that it not only stems from possessing prior knowledge or experience, but it can also stem from lacking proper knowledge or experience to make an unbiased judgment. For example if you were to ask a jury to make a decision without providing all of the evidence on the case, then a bias there does exist. The jury is not being bias though, because they cannot be faulted for something they were not given or made aware of, rather it is the court or those withholding the evidence that are at fault, and are hence being bias.

Depending on the situation and the degree, there is nothing wrong with bias either. Although people tend to view bias as a negative thing, they don't realize how important it is in society. When you ask a doctor for their opinion, their answer is obviously going to be biased, but that's why you want their answer. It is their education and experience that you want to bias your decision. The same goes with critics. People look to famous critics for their opinion on things because they believe the critic has more experience and knowledge to judge something more critically than they would have. Movie critics have seen many movies, and can therefore compare a new movie to their experiences. Food critics have tried a variety of food, and can therefore compare a new dish to their palate. Bias is not what we're trying to avoid when we seek critics for their criticism and reviews, bias is what we seek!

So my big question to everyone here is, why the hell are you arguing about bias? You want to possess the proper knowledge, experience, and qualifications to give criticism not lack it! If a professor says your thesis is shit, you should probably redo your thesis not complain that your professor is biased. If your publisher says your novel is the best they've ever read, they probably know what they are talking about, so go with it. No one can be omniscient about all matters, so we use other people who are more experienced about said matters to help us in our decisions.

TLDR: unbiased opinions are possible, but why does it matter? You want a biased opinion if you're looking for criticism; what's important is what kind of bias it is.

 

You defenitly hit the hammer on the nail ~ even with all you said the reason i am defending the opinion that doesnt matter what you do your biased has to do with self interest as i said earlier.
You may have no opinion on religion or science but you have a opinion on your life and religion and science or anything really triggers your self interest.
It may even be fuck this guy why is he asking me questions lets just awnser with whatever and get the fuck out of here.

 

Yeah when you look at the rating for things it is the publics enjoyment/satisfaction of it, I was just saying it is possible(not that everyone does it) to be objective if you set a standard to go by. Generally I ignore the star rating and look at the reviews too.

 

I agree, the star rating is terrible. The problem is, a lot of people have an all or nothing mentality, they view something they like as a 5 and something they dislike as a 1 (even I'm guilty of this at times). That's why I look through the reviews to see what people write and look at consistent pros and cons. I look at what people consistently compliment a novel about (and see if I'm in the mood for that), and I look at what people consistently complain about to make a decision.

But with all of the novels I've read, I'm running out and getting desperate. I'm reading things I would never read normally...

 

You just mention that being negative is bad. Now you are being negative

How interesting.

 

You obviously did not read shit, because I don't care if you talk crap. You can talk shit for all I care, but when you call judgement a criticism, you're stupid.

 

it is true that if you are following a strict standard you can get an objective rating. The problem is that it is going to be near impossible to even create such a standard for such a diverse field as "all things ever written" with such diverse genres and writing styles. Not to mention getting the readers to read the standard, understand it, and implement it.

It is an impossibility that would forever remain a thought experiment