c0rinne.net

Website Reviews

The point, the imposition, and the perfection

Bear in mind that this may go against all “website designers” beliefs. But you know what, oh well. That’s what I do. Firstly, I want to say that I don’t believe that every reviewer acts in the way I have outlined below, this is for those outliers who need to learn a bit about respect. However, I will not name names, or even give examples because I know that others can recognize things, and it is not in my nature to embarrass people. I leave that to those who care little about the people sites they ridicule.

Website Reviews

Although I know this isn’t a new thing, I have seen more and more people talking about website reviews. I’ve seen tons of “unsolicited” and solicited reviews, and the one thing that I have thought consistently is, “ouch.”

I understand that the purpose of a review is to offer constructive criticism to the website owner so that they can improve their sites. However, I’m not so sure that certain reviewers know what constructive criticism is. I think a lot of them are caught up in the sensationalism of the review, they want their review site to be “hot,” so that other webmasters will want reviews as well. But you know what, I’d rather not.

Awful

Quite a few of the reviews that I’ve read seem to only focus on the bad parts of a website. Now, in my opinion, a review is supposed to be about the website as a whole, not the nit picky, grammatical bs that someone can find to harp on for 5 lines in their review. It’s ridiculous, and in my opinion, it’s very rude. I’m sure that if half of the things were written about that reviewers websites, they would be pissed too. But of course, if their site is reviewed, they are very gracious, at least none some of the time.

Elitist

One of the biggest problems that I have with these website reviews is that the reviewers have developed an elitist attitude. They (supposedly) know what it takes to make the perfect website, but I would have to disagree. If there was such a thing as a “perfect website” (this has nothing to do what so ever with Perfection–I say this because I was just there and I don’t want my criticisms to be linked to it) then I’m sure we would see more perfect websites–because we all know that people tend to copy others.

Listen up

This is what I have to say to all of those reviewers who decide it’s alright to completely bash someone else because they “can”. If you want to criticize unjustly, then please make sure that your own website is “perfect” because as they say, “people in glass houses should not throw stones.”

Disclaimer of sorts

I fear I may get some backlash from this, but let me just say that my purpose is to point out that there is a difference between a website designer and someone with a website. If you are a website designer, then yes, I believe that there are certain standards that you should be aware of and you should adhere to. However, if you just have a website, like myself then I think you have different standards. Your website is not geared toward everyone, and many people may not like it; however, even more may love it. Do I think that I should get a review (and I haven’t yet, as far as I know, nor have I asked for one) saying that my font sucks, my content sucks, my “about me” page sucks? No, and I probably will send you the link to this page. I am not going to redo everything because of a review that I never asked for and/or a review that seems to want to criticize something that works for me.

You have your opinions on what is right, and I have mine. I’m willing to listen to anyone, but if you don’t know what constructive criticism really is, then I think I’ll pass.