Writing.Com 101

Reviews Tab

The public view of this area within your portfolio showcases your reviewing details including your style and preferences (if you have filled them out), an area where others can request a review from you for a specific item (if your availability is set to ON), and the visible public reviews you have sent. As with your "Portfolio" Tab, the appearance of the Reviews tab will differ based on whether you are viewing your own or someone else's Reviews tab.

Since your public Reviews tab is essentially the same view without the tools, this article focuses on the features of your private Reviews tab settings. See "Review Requests"  for information about using the Review Request feature.

Requests: Incoming
Click on Incoming to expand an area that displays your incoming requests for reviews from other members. Sort these requests by checking or unchecking the boxes by Pending, Waiting, Completed, Declined and Expired to easily see which incoming requests still need attention or are completed. Use a word in the Search Box to locate a particular request within your incoming requests. Click the column headers to change the sort order of your Incoming Requests accordingly. (See: "Review Requests" )

Requests: Outgoing
Click on Outgoing to expand an area that displays your outgoing review requests to other members. Sort your requests by checking the boxes in front of Pending, Waiting, Completed, Declined and Expired to easily see the status of your outgoing requests. Use a word in the Search Box to locate a particular request within your outgoing requests. Click the column headers to change the sort order of your Outgoing Requests accordingly. (See: "Review Requests" )

Ratings: Received
This page will give you a breakdown of all of the ratings you have received from other members of Writing.Com. This information can be useful in researching your audience. The default listing is By Item, which lists first your item which has received the most total ratings along with its average rating and the total number of ratings it has received. Click the drop down sort menu to sort this list in a variety of ways. Page through the list to view the entire list. Click By Genre to see a breakdown of your received ratings by genre. (See: "The Star Rating System" )

Ratings: Given
This page will give you a breakdown of all of the ratings you have given to other members on Writing.Com. The default listing is By Author, which lists first the author whom you have rated the most, along with the average of your ratings and the total number of ratings you have sent. Click the drop down sort menu to sort this list in a variety of ways. Page through the list to view the entire list. Click By Genre to see a breakdown of your sent ratings by genre. (See: "The Star Rating System" )

Stats
Click on Stats to expand an area that provides a summary of the various facts and figures about your reviewing, rating, and review requests on Writing.Com.

Reviews: Pending Response
This page provides you with quick and easy access to the reviews that you have received and not yet responded to. Feedback on Writing.Com is very important to our authors, and members who take the time to read and comment on your work deserve a thank you or acknowledgement for their time spent. We encourage everyone to respond to each review that is received, and this area of your Reviews tab makes it very easy to do so.

If there is a review that you know you will not respond to, click the Ignore button beside it to remove it from your Pending Response list. This operation can be undone by finding the review in your Reviews: Received listing and clicking on the Undo button.

Reviews: Received
This page displays all of the public and private reviews you have received for your items on Writing.Com. Details are shown for each received review, including your item's title, the reviewer's userlink, the group affiliation (if any), the content rating of the item and the star rating sent with the review, the public/private review access status and an option to hide the review, and if your switch on the Reviewers page is set to Show Details, the date and time the review was sent, and the total character length of the review with and without writingml. If your switch is set to Hide Details, you can hover over the binoculars icon at the upper right corner of the review to show the details for that review. The review ID is shown to the top right corner of each review.

At the bottom of each review, you can quickly and easily see which reviews you have sent a response for. If you have not responded to a review, we encourage you to do so as soon as possible. This will encourage members to visit your portfolio and review your items more often, because they will know that you respond to reviews you receive.

Click the drop down sort menu to sort this list in a variety of ways. Page through the list and scroll each review as needed to view your received reviews in their entirety. The search bars at the top and bottom of the listing can be used with the item or entry ID number, review ID number, username or handle of the reviewer, words in the content of the review, and words in the title of the item. Other review header information is not included. (See: "Reviewing On Writing.Com" )

Note: The Hide Review operation cannot be undone. Hiding a review removes it from your Reviews listings, and removes a public review from all the Public Review listings, but does not delete the review; it will still exist in the reviewer's Reviews: Given listing, and a public review can still be accessed via a review link by anyone who can access the item.

Reviews: Given
This page will display all of the public and private reviews you have sent for other members' items on Writing.Com. Details are shown for each sent review, including the item's title, the userlink of the author of the item, the group affiliation (if any), the public/private review status, the content rating of the item and the star rating sent with the review, and if your switch on the Reviewers page is set to Show Details, the date and time the review was sent, and the total character length of the review with and without writingml. If your switch is set to Hide Details, you can hover over the binoculars icon at the upper right corner of the review to show the details for that review. The review ID is shown in the top right corner of each review.

At the bottom of each review, you can quickly and easily see which reviews you have received or not received a response for.

Click the drop down sort menu to sort this list in a variety of ways. Page through the list and scroll each review as needed to view your sent reviews in their entirety. The search bars at the top and bottom of the listing can be used with the item or entry ID number, review ID number, username or handle of the item owner, words in the content of the review, and words in the title of the item. Other review header information is not included. (See: "Reviewing On Writing.Com" )

ReviewTool
This tool, which is available to members with a Basic+ paid membership, allows you to create and manage your Review Templates and existing Draft Reviews. It provides a pop-up, full-size review box with additional tools including a character counter, the WritingML formatting button bar for easy formatting, a preview function, and a spell check function. Also included are rotating Review Tips above the review text area, a link to the WritingML help page, and a link to "Guidelines To Great Reviewing" . (See: "The Review Tool" )

Manage Reviews Tab
Clicking on the gear icon at the upper right of the tab will expand an area that allows you to manage your Review Settings and Details that visitors to your portfolio Reviews tab will see. When your Review Request status is set to ON, other members will be able to request a review using the form below the header information. This status is shown in your left-click handle menu.

Choose your preferred option for who will have access to your Reviews tab. Set a minimum Gift Point amount to accept, or set the option to switch your Review Request status to OFF (see "Review Requests" ). Choose a maximum content rating for your review requests and set your maximum number of pending Accept/Decline requests. Choose a cover to decorate this area and make it your own. (See: "Covers" )

The rest of the manage area provides various labeled text boxes where you can expand on and detail your reviewing style and preferences to the visitors who may access your Reviews tab. If no text is entered, then the title of that section will not be displayed. Because the display space is limited, hard returns are ignored when the submitted text is formatted, and some writingml tags are not processed in these areas.

If you fill out the first section, you will automatically be listed on the Community/Request a Review page, which showcases willing reviewers for our writers, when your Review Request status is ON. If you have not logged in within two weeks, the system will automatically flip your Review Request status to OFF.

Public Reviews
This area will automatically display all of the visible public reviews you have sent for other items on Writing.Com, filtered by the viewer's access restriction levels and content rating filter setting. This is a great way to showcase your review style and attention to detail when you review. Visitors to your Reviews tab can see how much or how little effort you put into your sent reviews which can help them decide if they would like to request a review from you.

A switch for your content rating filter setting is shown at the top right of the reviews listing. You have only one filter, which is used in multiple settings, and which can be changed in multiple locations. This is the most conveniently accessible switch for this filter.

Details are shown for each sent review, including the item's title, the reviewer's userlink, the affiliated group, the content rating of the item and the star rating sent with the review; and if the viewer's switch on the Reviewers page is set to Show Details, the date and time the review was sent, and the total character length of the review with and without writingml. If the viewer's switch is set to Hide Details, they can hover over the binoculars icon at the upper right corner of the review to show the details for that review.The review ID is shown to the top right of each review.

Page through the list and scroll each review as needed to view the reviews in their entirety. The top of the reviews listing has a paging bar, and the bottom of the listing has a search bar and a more detailed paging bar. The search bar function can be used with the item or entry ID number, review ID number, username of the reviewer, words in the content of the review, and words in the title of the item. Other review header information is not included.

If you are visiting another member's Reviews tab, you can easily reward the reviewer with Gift Points for a great review well done by using the Review Reward box at the upper right of the review, which is enabled for two weeks after the review is sent. (See: "Reviewing On Writing.Com" )1

Recommended Reading

1. Review Requests
2. Reviewing On Writing.Com
3. Seeking Reviews
4. The Review Tool

Footnotes
1  Updated by northernwrites; written by The StoryMistress