Forum suggestion: Product Reviews

[MarkSG]

As I mentioned over in the Oxford GER van thread, my Oxford van arrived at the same time as my Rapido open wagon. So I thought it would be potentially interesting to do a side by side comparison of them, to see whether the price difference between them is reflected in the product quality.

 

But... where to put that topic? It doesn't really belong in the Oxford forum, as it's 50% about Rapido. It doesn't belong in the Rapido forum, as it's 50% about Oxford. It doesn't really belong in Layout and Workbench topics, since it's not really about my layout. OK, so it could go under Model Musings and Miscellany, since it meets the criteria for not belonging in any other forum. But, on the other hand, it doesn't really feel sufficiently left field to be properly miscellaneous!

 

It also occurred to me that there might be other people who would like to post similar review and comparison topics, and, like me, don't really know where to put them either.

 

So... my suggestion is to add a new forum in the Products & Trade area, called "Product Reviews" or similar. This would be a place for people to post reviews of products they've bought, either as a standalone review or (like my intended post) a comparison of two or more models from competing manufacturers. That would also be a useful resource for other users, in a forum that's free of wishlisting and announcement reactions which otherwise do have a habit of dominating the individual manufacturer forums.

 

Thoughts, anyone? I'm not suggesting that Andy should do this just because I want it, but if it would be valuable to other RMwebbers as well then it would probably be worth considering.

 

 

 

[Miss Prism]

My experience of RMweb is that, unlike a print magazine, a 'product review' is rarely static, and product threads (whose purpose is usually wider than a strict 'review') can drift on for years, mostly on topic but of course occasionally not. People discover new faults, new solutions, new add on bits, new prototype info, etc etc.

 

In this process, it is inevitable and natural that people will mention and compare competing products, e.g. Hornby v Dapol Prairies, and Accurascale v Dapol Manors.

 

Although I'm not against 'comparison reviews', I doubt whether they would find anything significantly new to say that hadn't been mentioned previously in the individual product threads.

 

[Wheatley]

Likewise. I'd be intetested in a review of the GER van, and a review of the SECR wagon because I might want to buy one or the other or both one day. But I'm rarely interested in comparison reviews of dissimilar things. Even if there were two competing GER vans on the market it's surely easier to find and  read reviews for each individually than try and pick out the relevant bits of (as Miss P says) an ultimately long and wandering thread.

[AY Mod]

I have looked at additional software modules for reviews but what I did look didn't really tick my boxes but I will look again. However, it wouldn't lend itself to comparison reviews. Just creating a new subforum for it would end up as an undisciplined approach.

 

I'll think on it.

[woodenhead]

And the next challenge would be who would/should be allowed to do the reviews.

 

We only have to look at the YouTube thread to know there are many variations on what constitutes a 'review'.

 

Would a review for example be one topic with many people putting in their two penneths worth or several different topics on the same item but from different people's perspectives.  The problem with unregulated reviewing is that one person will do a thread with prototypical comparisions, really put the model through it's paces and another will open a box, talk very much in general and then set it off at 200mph with several unprototypical coaches.  And this is before any bias is added.....typically we do get reviews from users of products, they are at the delivery end of a new product thread, so do we really need another thread when one already exists.

 

Generally magazine reviews are balanced, objective and stick to the matter in hand, if we were to have a review section perhaps it would be an extension of this - but then we would also need to pay for it seeing as we are then expecting magazine content for free which is an obvious no no.

[MarkSG]

If reviews are a bit too specific, then maybe a general products forum that isn't manufacturer specific might be useful. It would, of course, need a rule that something which is specific to a single manufacturer belongs in the appropriate forum. But I do think it would be useful to have somewhere to discuss products in general, and in particular to discuss differences between different manufacturers. 

[MarkSG]

3 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

And the next challenge would be who would/should be allowed to do the reviews.

 

Anyone. Just like anyone can post a topic about their own layout, even if it's not up to the standard of writing or photography (or, for that matter, layout) that you find in the magazines.

 

That's the whole point of a forum. None of us are posting professionally here, except the RMweb admin and mod team (and even then, they're not really creating professional content, of the sort that they'd publish in the mag). All of it is our opinions. And our opinions differ widely.

 

3 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Generally magazine reviews are balanced, objective and stick to the matter in hand, if we were to have a review section perhaps it would be an extension of this - but then we would also need to pay for it seeing as we are then expecting magazine content for free which is an obvious no no.

 

I'm not expecting magazine content for free (or, at least, any more than I get free already). I would expect review posts to be discussion starters, just like any other. Nor am I expecting the reviews to be balanced. I expect them to be the subjective opinion of the people who actually own the products. Which may well differ from the opinions of professional reviewers.

 

One of the advantages of a forum topic is that you can respond to it, and ask questions. Challenge someone as to why they've reached their conclusions about a model. Ask them if they have any other useful information (eg, more photos).  Contribute your own comments about the same model. And so on. And, if you're not interested in other people's opinions on the products they've bought, then don't read them. I don't read most of RMweb either - I only read the bits that interest me.

 

The only people that adding a new subforum will create any extra work for are the moderators (which is why, ultimately, this can only be their decision). For everyone else, you will either read it or you won't. If you don't, it's not causing you any problems by existing. But if you do, it may have something useful for you 🙂 

[woodenhead]

In that case reviews already exist on most products, in the actual thread related to the item, no need to create another thread about the item, simply post your views as people do now in the product thread.

 

What happens is there is an annoucement, most people get excited about the product and as it progresses they review what has been seen so far.  If the manufacturer is receptive changes are made based on those reviews and the model progresses to production where more people review the models they have actually received good or bad.

 

It's all contained in one thread, whereas a seperate thread of product reviews will potentially just spawn more repetitive threads about the same item that has already been reviewed in the main thread about the product's development.