Grrr....
I will preface this unabashed and (admittedly fairly juvenile) rant by saying that I know getting annoyed by such things is a stupid waste of energy and time.
Okay. Obligatory mature speech done.
Why is it that some readers will review a fic with enthusiastic, delighted raves and then turn around and rate it with only four stars? That suggests to me that either they found some fault that they chose to leave unmentioned, OR they just don't believe in giving five stars on principle-- because, I suppose, like some teachers (not me!) who don't believe in ever giving an A, these people don't believe that there is such a thing as a five-star-worthy story. Even if they love it.
The ripple effect of those four stars is to drag down the overall rating of the story, so that even if it's received five stars from every other reviewer, a whole bunch of others, that one four-star rating is enough to now make it an overall four and a half. Which suggests to a casual viewer of posted fics, that... eh... it was good, but not amazing. Some little thing was lacking somewhere along the line.
Why am I ranting about this just now? Because it's happened to me in the past and it's happening right now with the posting of a recently finished fic of mine at an archive that shall remain unnamed. Brilliant reviews throughout, lovely and really enthused, and then there's this one person who cheers along with the rest and then sticks it to my rating like a pin popping a balloon. Consistently, every single review. I would rather not hear from her at all, frankly!
End of rant.
Okay. Obligatory mature speech done.
Why is it that some readers will review a fic with enthusiastic, delighted raves and then turn around and rate it with only four stars? That suggests to me that either they found some fault that they chose to leave unmentioned, OR they just don't believe in giving five stars on principle-- because, I suppose, like some teachers (not me!) who don't believe in ever giving an A, these people don't believe that there is such a thing as a five-star-worthy story. Even if they love it.
The ripple effect of those four stars is to drag down the overall rating of the story, so that even if it's received five stars from every other reviewer, a whole bunch of others, that one four-star rating is enough to now make it an overall four and a half. Which suggests to a casual viewer of posted fics, that... eh... it was good, but not amazing. Some little thing was lacking somewhere along the line.
Why am I ranting about this just now? Because it's happened to me in the past and it's happening right now with the posting of a recently finished fic of mine at an archive that shall remain unnamed. Brilliant reviews throughout, lovely and really enthused, and then there's this one person who cheers along with the rest and then sticks it to my rating like a pin popping a balloon. Consistently, every single review. I would rather not hear from her at all, frankly!
End of rant.