What's your checklist for giving specific rating to a story?

[retiisi]

I've seen people give 1star ratings to great stories, and I'm just confused if people actually feel the stories deserve 1star or they were upset about something.
For me I usually rate with the following:

1 is only for stories that are an absolute and complete mess.

2 is for stories that have big problems with written english and big spelling mistakes, but has something like interesting setup of MC.

3 is for stories where the writing is mostly understandable english with some spelling mistakes, but doesn't have much else.

4 is for stories that are written in good english with minor spelling mistakes, and has somewhat coherent plot.

5 is for stories with basically no spelling mistakes, coherent plot, and likeable characters.

As you can see I personally put a lot of weight just on the grammar, but I know that for some that has less value than some other aspects, so I'm interested what those might be.

 

[LilRora]

I think the vast majority of 1-star ratings are given because of something specific that actively deterred someone. Depending on the scale we're adapting, it's generally difficult to actually find a story genuinely worthy of a 1-star rating.

What you have here is probably the most logical system possible that takes into account all possible stories you may find, but there's a lot of people that have far more skewed or drastic standards, and many ratings are given emotionally, not logically. I've seen many people give 3-star reviews to stories they enjoyed but found a few flaws in.

Because of this, there is a longstanding issue with 1- and 5-star ratings that isn't really possible to fix - the same rating means completely different things to different people.

For me it would be something like this:
1 - atrociously bad, difficult to even read either because of grammar or the story itself
2 - very bad, not hopeless but in need of a thorough rewrite
3 - bad, I may read it but only if there's something really interesting about it, otherwise it's a no
4 - solid, there's things that could be improved but it's easily readable and the story is engaging
5 - great, virtually flawless grammar and really good story
+-1 cause preferences, emotional reactions not included.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

5- I'm actively sucking you off and promoting your story to others.

4- I'm not obsessed with it but it's a pretty damn good story. Would recommend.

3- Good. Not going to ever read it again.

2- Wut. While it was decent enough to get me to read it, it has far too many flaws for it to get anything near average (3).

1- I'm roleplaying as someone retarded with deep emotional issues. (In truth, if I would give something a 1 star, I would already have dropped it and not even bothered to continue or give it the time of day or extra braincells to review it.)

 

[georgelee5786]

5—i'll serve you all my life

4—I'll serve you for one year

3—i won't do anything for or to you

2—i'm going to steal your house

1—I'm going to sodomize you

 

[Zinless]

5 - average

4 - sorry, your story is really not for me. But Im sure you work hard on it, so giving it less than four stars feels really bad...

3 - I hate you personally

2 - The world hates you personally

1 - ??????

 

[RepresentingWrath]

1. Really bad story.

2. Bad story with a couple of redeeming qualities.

3. Good story that has a couple of mistakes.

4. Good story that has almost no flaws. Yet I don't enjoy it as much.

5. Either the story in my opinion has undeservedly low rating when I take quality in consideration, or the story is that good.

 

[Deleted member 41774]

1 - Blud thinks I'll read that lol lmao even

2 - I didn't think the shitty LN I read could be topped with something worse

3 - Eh it's aight

4 - That is good. I'll read whenever free.

5 - I hope this doesn't get an anime.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

0. I didn't rate the story because I forget to rate stories often. Or I simply didn't like the story.
5. I liked the story, and I remembered to rate it.

 

[BigBadBoi]

1 - Abyssmal Dogshit
2 - Shit but not complete utter dogshit
3 - Below mid. Actual slop. Had potential but completely wasted.
4 -either mid, above average or pretty good
5 - Pure Unfiltered Kino

 

[JHarp]

1. You have offended me deeply and personally. So as such like an Italian gangster I'd make you push up daisies. Or more likely my dropped reading list.
2. I only read it because I want my brain to pretend it is doing something. Sometimes I just need negative brain activity to keep me going.
3. The words might be meaning something but no brain cells were grown in the reading of the novel.
4. Eh pretty passable.
5. I might mention your story should I be forced into a conversation that passes by the subject.

On a bit more of a conversational note, I think the fact people can 'heart' chapters specifically somewhat detracts from the potential star ratings a novel might otherwise get. It is a separate system with different metrics. Especially when people are hundreds of chapters into a novel, the lack of an 'easily accessible' star rating system on the chapter page, following the idea of limited clicks for web design, likely impacts some of it.

The hearts system does help authors if they take feedback from their most liked chapters and such, but in the end hearts don't contribute to the star rating at all, which is the first thing presented on the main pages for a novel, even on the reading list.
Even in the reading list, there is no easy way, like clicking on the stars they show you for your own rating, to change/update that star rating. I can't help but feeling that limits the amount authors could otherwise get.

 

[Arch9CivilReactor]

I can’t even be bothered rating if it isn’t a 5. Unless it makes me passionately angry at something I’d voice in an actual review.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

4: I really liked it but there are some flaws. Will probably give a review and point out where it missed on being a 5.
5: Great story, technically well done, hope it sees print or otherwise helps the author make a living. Will probably explain why I felt this way in a review as well.

Anything less I only give a text review (though if I saw something so utterly horrible it merited a "1" I might give it one and an explanation) if I make it far enough to give it a review.

 

[SternenklarenRitter]

unstarred- Sometimes I encounter a work that I find myself way outside the target demographic for. If I manage to read for at least ten chapters or so before realizing its a different kind of story than I first expected, and the story has enough plot and character development, I will sometimes leave a review but leave out the star rating.
1- I haven't given a one yet. Normally, a story would have to be totally incoherent for me to give a one, but I won't read far enough in such case to care, and text so poorly organized is evidence of a new writer who I don't want to discourage. Alternatively, if I ever encounter a story sharing seriously dangerous misinformation, they would get a one (for example if they say something like making babies drink bleach will prevent autism).
2- I very rarely give twos, probably about 5% of the time. This is my default if no other numbers are flagged. This has been the case for some stories that were too depressing.
3- I need to think that an enthusiastic audience exists somewhere. This is a low bar. About 20% of stories get a 3.
4- I need to be comfortable recommending this story to people in my life. If I am reluctant to recommend it to any of my family or friends, the rating stays at 3. This is my most common rating, I give a 4 about half the time.
5- The story needs to be polished. That means plot holes have been fixed, grammar checked over, scene transitions marked, etc. I give 5s about 25% of the time.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

1. Spelling
2. Grammar
3. Story
4. Pacing
5. Personal enjoyment

I take all of these and rate them on a scale of 1-5, add the totals together, and divide by 5 to decide the rating.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

1—I'm going to sodomize you

Use condom!

 

[Premier]

I give a 5 if I like it and don’t bother if I don’t.

 

[Vnator]

1- if it's absolutely hot garbage that actually makes me angry about how bad it is. Or if it's K5R's story

 

[melchi]

Anything other that a 4 or 5 is downvoting the story.

5 is that I like it and would continue.
4 is I like it and would continue but there are parts that are off-putting.

1-3 I generally don't do unless there are a lot of other reviews that look like padding or are deceptive. Also, stories that don't have many written reviews giving anything other than a 5 or 4 could be really crushing to the author. I don't think anyone should do that unless they've given it some time and thought.

Just because you don't like NTR doesn't mean it some anon doesn't enjoy it.

 

[CheertheSecond]

1 rarely given but it must be really bad or if I have a bone to pick.

2 Not recommend.

3 for when I don't want to hurt someone's feeling.

4 is for novel with no mistake but is also having nothing remarkable about it.

5 is for outstanding novels that tried something that had never been attempted before or are very memorable

 

[Samsonchui]

5. Good! Glad I read it.
4. not bad. I’ll read this till other authors I’m following are updated.
3. why is book so bad? Gives me GUDZ!
2. I’m too indecisive but a secret jerk.
1. I’m a failed writer and secretly bitter that someelse has the balls to write