*Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. -Gene Fowler
The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it. -James Bryce*
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Mouthshut is a sanctuary for various birds. Just like a sanctuary have various kinds of birds coming from all over the world; MS has various types of writers. These members/birds make this sanctuary beautiful. What makes it much more unique and interesting is the style of writing each one of us has. Just like the birds have their own flying style and eating style, the writing style of each member makes them very unique in their own might. Some of the styles you may see that MS Members
♣write in a detailed and analytical manner
♣write comically
♣write sarcastically
♣write short and effective with brevity as the forte
♣write junk(some)
♣write to kick out the reviews posted by some good writers
♣and so on.
As you can see, MS has become a panacea of sorts for some members to while away boredom. For some, it is a healthy dose of online browsing. For some it is the online friendship circle. MS is basically a consumer product review site to help consumers make a learned decision. While all of this is attainable, the single most important thing that many members forget at times is “Writing Reviews on Mouthshut”. As I have my own style of reviewing a product, I will focus on some do’s and don’t of writing nice reviews.
DO’s of Effective writing
♣Be Honest and Clear
More than anything else, the honesty of the review would help the members the most. Since it comes straight from the heart, it is likely to make the best impact on the readers. Also, by being honest one should not be prejudiced. If you dislike a product, specify the reasons on why you didn’t like the product than going on bashing the product. While some will like the bashing, if they feel the same way, you are not doing a clear justice to the readers. I have written very few reviews that were slightly unclear that I rectified later. It was a lesson learned for me. If you are ambivalent with a topic, make sure you send the message clear and straight.
♣Be detailed, if possible
Many people love details. Then there are some who are in shortage of bandwidth and time love short and sweet reviews. One cannot satiate both the type of readers. While reading some of the oldest reviews, I found that many 100-150 word reviews were rated VU by 80-90% of the members. I was amused as good as you. This tells you something, while details are welcome, it should not be the factor to decide the effectiveness of a review. There are topics that hardly need 300-800 characters to tell you the effectiveness of the product and there are many for which 8K are not sufficient. Every bit of extra detail helps people in many ways.
♣Write the review in an Editor
This is very important for many reasons. The very basic one is that you have a copy of what you write. Always save a copy. After that, you can use a word-processor, if you have time and software to check for visible spelling and grammar errors.
♣Format the reviews
Visibility and formatting the reviews help the readers in the best possible way. Highlight the important words and lists. As the reader tend to get lost or carried away sometimes, whilst reading longer/detailed reviews, every bit of formatting helps. Formatting helps short and sweet reviews the most for they make the review a visual treat. You can always experiment the formatting
♣Read a lot
This is certainly important to learn new tips. Read a lot of reviews in this site. You will always get a tip or two to improve. You can also take hints from professional reviews.
♣Write your own
Personal touch and experiences add tremendous value to a review. You can light up an otherwise lame review with your personal touches and experiences.
♣Edit, Re-Edit and add finishing touches
You can consider your reviews to be a mid-term test or an exam. Instead of writing all the stuff and posting them without a second thought, wait. You can edit your own writing and then give your finishing touches.
♣Write on the product you used/know
This is very important. There is a tremendous wealth of information available on the Internet. Do not write something general and you do not know. I mean this for products. While there are debatable topics where you can go freelance, you should not go freelance mode of writing for products. You are making the readers fools by doing so. You are blatantly not helping them. On the other hand, personal experiences certainly help readers make a learned choice.
♣Write on some topic that is closer to you
If you love music, write on music. If you are effective in software reviews, do them. If you are a movie critic, write excellent movie reviews. If you are a bookworm, write book reviews. Always write on the topics that are closer to your heart. They bring out the best in you.
Don’ts of Writing
♠ Don’t write to vent off your anger and frustration, unless it is about a product that made you angry. You may end up passing some to the readers. Be a good judge of yourself to do this.
♠ Don’t write if you are depressed – MS is a consumer review forum. Not a depression curing clinic. If you are depressed, take help from the professionals. Obviously, you will not be very effective if you are angry, frustrated and depressed. It is better to wait and then write
♠ Don’t write a review just because another member(you despise) has written very highly/lowly about a product. – This is a matter of kiddish behavior. If you want, you have a right to remain stupid and idiotic. Anything you write and say can and most likely will be ignored.
♠ Don’t write to reflect your personal egos and prejudices– Don’t write to reflect your own supreme egos. The reviews written like this are like eggs falling on a granite floor. You know what happens to the eggs. Your ego will be broken like an egg. Instead of writing such reviews of no meaning, you can throw some eggs on your head. This way you will have your ego intact, if you like.
♠ Don’t write reviews on products you didn’t use – It is rather very stupid and blatantly idiotic for a person(20 years old) living in USA to be writing a review about Timbuktu Airlines that was closed down 25 years ago. Talk about logic. This is quite evident in some of the reviews written. They are blatantly copied. These reviews can be caught quite easily.
♠ Don’t Plagiarise – This is the highest form of atrocity a reviewer can do in this site.
♠ Don’t rush your reviews – While first reviews get a lot of reads, do not rush and lose the effectiveness of your review
♠ Don’t write for readings – Do not focus on topics that are likely to get you more readership
♠ Don’t write controversial reviews, unless you have a solid reason to justify your stance
I Hope you liked the Review. Do comment if time permits
KALIL
Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written. -Anonymous
When something can be read without effort, great effort has gone into its writing. -Enrique Jardiel Poncela