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Ta-da! Our re-vamped Reviews section is live - please let us know your thoughts

62 replies

KateMumsnet · 03/05/2012 16:07

A quick nudge to invite you all over to our new, gussied-up Reviews section. Do come and have a good look around - we've given these pages a lick and a polish and (if we do say so ourselves) we think the place has scrubbed up nicely.

As well as giving our appearance a bit of a spritz, we've tried to streamline the whole process. It's now quicker and - we hope - more intuitive to rate a product you own, a campsite you've visited or a best-seller you've read, or to find out what other MNers think of a product you're mulling over.

And we've extended and expanded our reviews categories - you can now browse and upload reviews for techie products from apps to e-readers, and peruse Mumnsetters' recommendations for your next family car (or nippy little sportster, if that's what tickles your fancy). The eagle-eyed amongst you will note that these product categories are currently terrifyingly empty - so do feel free to review a tech product or vehicle you own .

There are around 20,000 reviews overall, each one generously uploaded by a MNer who felt moved to help fellow MNers avoid costly mistakes, or find a sanity-saving product. Reviews are central to the MN ethos of making parents lives easier - so a huge thank you to all of you who are seasoned reviewers, and an extra eyelash-flutter to those who might be persuaded to upload a tech, car or any other review over the next few weeks Grin.

This is still very much the beta version/ work in progress, so apols in advance for any glitches or bugs that you might come across - do let us know about them here and we'll do our best to fix them sharpish. And don't forget to let us know what you think of the changes overall - good or bad! - and tell us your suggestions for how we can improve things further.

Many thanks,

MNHQx

OP posts:
HelenMumsnet · 04/05/2012 18:55

@AitchTwoOhOneTwo

oh yeah, certainly. but it would be interesting to know how many people would see the 'min 100 chars' thing come up and think 'fuck that for a game of soldiers'. i know i do.

But it ain't that much, really. Your post that I'm quoting is longer than 100 characters, innit?

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 04/05/2012 18:54

meaning that great/rubbish is actually more help than nothing, iyswim?

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 04/05/2012 18:53

oh yeah, certainly. but it would be interesting to know how many people would see the 'min 100 chars' thing come up and think 'fuck that for a game of soldiers'. i know i do.

HelenMumsnet · 04/05/2012 18:37

@AitchTwoOhOneTwo

but, but, but... in what way is 'great', 'rubbish' or 'okay' not a helpful review? esp in light of other reviews around it. ten rubbishes is a pretty clear 'do not buy'.

Cos it would be good to hear why they were rubbish/great, no?

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 04/05/2012 18:34

but, but, but... in what way is 'great', 'rubbish' or 'okay' not a helpful review? esp in light of other reviews around it. ten rubbishes is a pretty clear 'do not buy'.

GreatGooglyMoogly · 04/05/2012 17:54

CatherineHMumsnet, I was looking at the Double Buggy section, but it sounds like there are similar problems in other sections.

ThisWeekonFancyPuffin · 04/05/2012 17:46

Please put them in star order.

Am I the only one who trawls though for the worst rated and then laughs at the offending products crapness Grin

[Probably need to get a life emoticon]

JustFab · 04/05/2012 17:26

Yep, things are overlayed for me too so I quit out as hurt my eyes to read it.

HelenMumsnet · 04/05/2012 16:33

@AitchTwoOhOneTwo

oh yes, that 'review must be over x characters' gets on my nerves at campinguk as well. it just means i never do it.

We can appreciate that, Aitch, but we'd previously had a bit of a problem with some people posting reviews that just said, "Great" or "Rubbish" or, even more maddeningly, "OK" - which was all a wee bit unhelpful.

AitchTwoOhOneTwo · 04/05/2012 16:06

oh yes, that 'review must be over x characters' gets on my nerves at campinguk as well. it just means i never do it.

fusam · 04/05/2012 16:04

Question, why doesn't mumsnet team up with Amazon or kiddicare and have a buy button or link and get a recommender fee? I have recommended books on my blog with a link to amazon and received a small cut.

KateMumsnet · 04/05/2012 11:22

Ah yes, the comedy titles Blush... we ummed and aahed, but decided that since those reviews will eventually sink to the bottom, to be replaced by spanky fresh ones, we probably couldn't justify a trawl through 20K of them in order to smarten them up!

OP posts:
SarkyWench · 04/05/2012 11:02

oh and there are some comedy titles for reviews where the first line of the review has been cut off at an unfortunate place.

KateMumsnet · 04/05/2012 10:51

You're quite right SarkyWench - we're on it.

OP posts:
SarkyWench · 04/05/2012 10:25

you need to sort the ordering out.

I just looked at the parks and zoos section and all the 5 star places rated by only a few people are hidden down the bottom below the 3 star ones with lots of (shit) reviews.

YouveCatToBeKittenMe · 04/05/2012 10:23

My immediate thought was that it's nice but then I thought it needs to be in alphabetical order because I am slightly obsessive tidy

Can we have a reviewer of the week now...who receives a fabulous prize?

KateMumsnet · 04/05/2012 10:01

Hello Bluerinse, we've put in a minimum because we want to make sure that the reviews are properly useful rather than just one-liners - but we can imagine in that particular instance it might be hard to squeeze 100 characters out!

We'll keep an eye on it - we can reduce the minimum if it's not quite right.

OP posts:
ripsishere · 04/05/2012 09:37

I'd never been there before. It does look lovely and spangly.

CatherineHMumsnet · 04/05/2012 09:11

GreatGooglyMoogly - in which section is that two star review higher than the five? That shouldn't be the case, so we'll go and have a look.

BlueRinse · 03/05/2012 20:56

I've just tried to add a review but it is telling me the review needs to be over 100 characters?

I can't think of anything else to add about Asda smart price conditioner being great value for our weekly nit comb conditioner Confused

BlueRinse · 03/05/2012 20:45

In style & Beauty here the options are listed twice.

Is it sad that the first section I looked at was for washing machines?

MrsKitty · 03/05/2012 19:23

What onehandflapping said. All overlaid and looking 'not right'.

HotPinkWeaselWearingLederhosen · 03/05/2012 18:58

Is all this tarting up the reason Mnet has been arseholed to buggery all week, because bloody techs been decorating?

GreatGooglyMoogly · 03/05/2012 18:22

It does seem a bit misleading though, having a 5 star rated product near the bottom and a two star rated one much higher up!

nowit · 03/05/2012 17:45

Looks Blush