HarryG's BLOG

What's with newbies giving such low ratings?

I almost cringe every time I see an email with a review from a newly joined member because I half-expect their rating of my poem to be substantially lower than previous ratings received. For example, a poem of mine that has an overall 4.5 rating after a dozen or more ratings and that has been awarded an awardicon will receive a rating from a 2.5 to 3.5 from a newbie. Can they not see the poem has been more highly rated by numerous other members previously? Can they not see it has been awarded an awardicon?  What makes them think their lower rating is appropriate in view of such evidence? I just don't get it!

When I first arrived on this site years ago as a poet, I spent some time reading numerous poems to determine what I thought was an average poem, a better than average poem, and a worse than average poem for this site. I read reviews and then read the poem itself to see whether I thought the rating and comments were appropriate. Only after I had been here a while and felt comfortable that my rating and comments could be appropriate for this site did I send reviews. This seems like a reasonable approach to me. Often newbies will register and start sending out ratings and reviews the same day even before they publish anything to their own portfolio or enter their bio. They certainly cannot have much of a feel for how to review here. I just don't get why they do that!