# People who don't understand feedback at Amazon **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 5, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786 "2017-04-05T00:57:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/41 "2017-04-06T11:09:04Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Maybe I do things oddly, but I never look at “the product page” after I have purchased and taken delivery of the product and used it and formed an opinion about it. So I guess I have never experienced that intuitively obvious interface. > > But if I go back and “review my orders”, I can see a page called “Feedback”, where I can choose 1-5 stars and enter comments in a text entry field, apparently to rate the vendor. > > Normally, I do not bother to search for the opportunity and procedure for making a comment, if everything is satisfactory. I see your point. I hardly ever navigate to the page you describe. After I get the product or book, if I go back at all, it’s usually to the product page to look at comments. But you’re right. The place you’re taking about should say “Feedback about the vendor or transaction.” “Feedback” should be distinguished from “Product Review.” But you know what? Most people won’t bother to read or notice. Unfortunately. > [@jtur88](#): > > … People give the wrong kind of information in the comments, but then I’m supposed to be guided by looking at the wrong comments to know what the right comments are supposed to be??? > > … Actually, many reader reviews are long, detailed, well-written, and **extremely** helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/42 "2017-04-06T12:50:26Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > But that still leaves a lot of slack in how the product is rated. As noted above, people trash a product that doesn’t have a specific feature or whatever, not because there’s anything wrong with it. Reviews are meant to share overall product impressions, though, and to help you decided _which_ of several options you might want to purchase. While “trashing” something with one star might not be appropriate, it’s certainly appropriate to compare a product that you’re reviewing against another product of the same type. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/43 "2017-04-06T13:24:48Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Actually, many reader reviews are long, detailed, well-written, and **extremely** helpful. Absolutely, and it is probably the best source for book reviews, for which I use it liberally. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/44 "2017-04-06T13:46:47Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > And then there’s Funny Amazon Ratings. A whole world I hadn’t explored before. I’ve read through a good number of them now. They’re available at [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) and a number of other sites. > > Some are funnier (or odder) than others but I feel compelled to share [one of them](http://justsomething.co/20-funniest-reviews-ever-written-amazon-6-cracked/2/) that I think will appeal to a lot of Dopers. I remember that article. After it came out, Amazon got clogged with lame attempts at humorous reviews by people trying to get into part two of the article. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/45 "2017-04-06T20:34:36Z")
I’d like to see Amazon and other sites go to a weighted rating system. Specifically where once a review gets a certain number of helpful/not votes and a low enough helpful rating it’s no longer included in the average. Sure there will be abuses of that, but the current system is also subject to paid recommendations skewing the numbers. That just gives the code monkeys another project to figure out how to filter out the bad review ratings. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/46 "2017-04-06T21:15:00Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’d like to see Amazon and other sites go to a weighted rating system. Specifically where once a review gets a certain number of helpful/not votes and a low enough helpful rating it’s no longer included in the average. Sure there will be abuses of that, but the current system is also subject to paid recommendations skewing the numbers. That just gives the code monkeys another project to figure out how to filter out the bad review ratings. Exactly. Or have the option in the drop-down menu “most ratings.” Then you can choose that and go to the left side of the window and select 4 stars and up. That way you don’t have something with 3 5-star ratings positioned above (superior to) something with 2,750 4-star ratings. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/47 "2017-04-06T21:27:29Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I’d like to see Amazon and other sites go to a weighted rating system. Specifically where once a review gets a certain number of helpful/not votes and a low enough helpful rating it’s no longer included in the average. Sure there will be abuses of that, but the current system is also subject to paid recommendations skewing the numbers. That just gives the code monkeys another project to figure out how to filter out the bad review ratings. [They already do this](http://www.geekwire.com/2015/amazon-changes-its-influential-formula-for-calculating-product-ratings/), as of a couple of years ago. > [@](#): > > With the help of a new machine-learning algorithm, Amazon will give greater weight to newer, more helpful and verified customer reviews (written comments) and ratings (the 5-star system) when determining top reviews to display, and when calculating a product’s overall rating. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786/48 "2017-04-07T04:08:12Z")
SD mission accomplished. Ignorance fought! I had missed that news. Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-who-dont-understand-feedback-at-amazon/783786.md?page=2)