I have encountered the battle between the sense of fair play and my natural bias for my friends on a number of occassions. I found that my bias almost always wins. A lot of people say I am wrong or that it is a mistake to let my bias win. But when they encounter the very same battle, I find that in an outstanding majority of the cases, even their bias wins and not their sense of fair play.
This leads me to conclude that it is an involuntary process. I think we tend to favor our friends and loved ones involuntarily, by instinct. I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong in that. A lot of times, I believe that doing something that is against our instinct is stupid. It is saying that you are a better judge of what is right or wrong than nature.
So all those who think that biased ratings in favor of friends just for the sake of friendship is wrong, are making a big mistake. I hold that it is basic instinct. I like to go by my instincts although a lot of self-proclaimed sophisticated humans find it raw.
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To extend our graciousness towards our friends is our instinct. What is not our instinct is to hold grudges and to act so in spite of knowing that it goes against our sense of fair play. You get that feeling inside you, you know? That you’re not doing the right thing. My concern is not that some people get tumultous positive feedback in spite of being only mediocre. My concern is when some people target each other and criticize each other as though by default, i.e. without even bothering to know what the other person is saying.
If I NU a review just because it was walking_dude writing it, then I guess it would be doing that: criticising by default. That I do not appreciate his stand on the government’s role in the economy is another issue: however, I cannot simply NU him without reading his remarks!
This is the only real concern area. I don’t want to get statistical and bother about how big a problem this is. The truth is that a lot of us do just this. In his review, Anuj suggested that we should always rate a review on the basis of its merits. Ideally speaking, therefore, the positive bias should also not be encouraged. But it is our basic instinct. I haven’t really found myself acting instinctively when I have that negative bias. There is always a voice of reason poking me. So I guess acting on our negative bias is not our basic instinct. I’m generalizing, I know, but you didn’t have the brains to think along these lines so far so don’t give me a hard time about it.
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An interesting question is: Who is mediocre and who is not?
That is such a hopelessly subjective consideration that every human being will have a different answer. I find that most people trying to be humorous on this forum are hopelessly mediocre. I also find most of the modernists talking about free speech, free expression, free markets, you know the archetypal anti-orthodoxy brigade, as completely mediocre. When I read a movie review, I get irritated if it talks about the story and gives out the basic plot. I like to focus more on the emotional aspect of the movie or the message it is trying to convey and I can like only such a movie review that assesses as to how well the message was coneyed.
Can you pick up the shot gun of my opinions, fire it indiscriminately at me and say that you are justified? NO! These are my opinions and you have no remedy against them, much as I have no remedy against yours. So if you find Afrank’s reviews marvelous, I can’t stop you from doing so. Even if I did find her reviews mediocre(and without intending to be rude, a lot of times I do), I cannot impose my judgment on you, nor can you impose yours on me!
So the whole debate is complete hogwash!
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In the end, the only real trick behind rating a review is: Rate the review the way you feel like. People like Anuj and me can keep talking on how to rate a review. All you have to do is, turn around and say,
"My rating, pighead, shut your pie hole!"