Like on RR i look at reviews and scores to find new novels to read. But i noticed that the whole WN review system is busted. People toss around 5 star reviews like it's candy, even when it's obvious that the author does not deserve it. And yes most of the original novels would not even survive a day on RR for comparison. There are plenty of hidden gems, but most of them are not. It's turning into a real chore to filter out all the garbage to find a good story.

My friends explained it with "yeah, its qidian", but what do you guys think about this? Do people here really have such bad taste? Are they using massive amounts of bots or is it something else?

    Heh.. I post honest reviews.. Well.. You know they remove all low rated review and they have these bots that post high rated review.. I mean CEO novel.. No not that ceo novel.. I meant the ceo novel getting translated up here got a freaking 3.8 star rating! Seriously? In novel updates its less then 2.5!! Also i am really a superstar and other novels.. So i just ignore the rating in webnovel and check novel updates.. They have honest reviews... No bots!!!!!!

      SweetsTomato I didn't invite friends or anything, look at my novel, it has four stars.

      Danuja I think that it is the people that aren't bothered enough to use 2-4 star reviews. I see either people spamming 1-star reviews or 5-star reviews. On RR there are people that are so harsh that I have to wear a bullet proof vest just to enter the comments section. It feels like a bullet hell when you enter.

      • Not correct punctuation? -1 star.

      • The novel isn't your style? -1 star.

      • Isn't picking up the pace? -1 star.

      • There are not 3k words in one chapter of your novel? -1 star.

      • Not enough chapters even though the novel started 5 days ago? -1 star.

      • ...

      These are the kind of comments you will see a lot in RR. And I mean A LOT. There are probably like ten more comments that people like to use to write a review on RR. RR users also like to comment on every novel that they think are bad. In Webnovel, people are just kind hearted, even if they think the novel is bad, then many don't post that it's bad. In RR everyone and their mothers will post a comment if they think your novel is trash.

      RR is legit a battlefield.

      If you write a novel there, you might want to bring some equipment:

      +Bulletproof vest

      +An oxygen tank and astronaut suit (You Will be sent to space by the hater one day)

      +Some sort of gadget to prevent others from triggering you

      +Grammarly to make grammar mistakes less often (remember Grammarly doesn't solve everything, still check)

      And around a billion other things.

            idkmylifeisamess
            Then simply don't write if you scated of criticism, whats the point of you writing if you just gonna cry when someone says something bad about your novel
            Royal road has harsher criticism but it helps authors get better as there are many helpful readers on there
            Its still better than giving high star ratings on trash, if you dont know ypur story is trash when it is, how do you expect to get better
            And OP lots of sites have an abusable rating system its just that WN's is utter trash and they dont care about the Bots, they care about nothing other than making money. Which they are currently failing at. I seriously dont bother to read the originals from this site because they all the same or just a carbon copy from a TL one, they dont even carbon copy the good ones and just repeat the same tropes and cliches that people constantly complain about. RR is better in terms of quality but still theres alot of trash and cliche novels but its not as bad as WNs lol

                Gothic_Temptation I agree with everything there but I have a question.

                If you could pick between easy or hard, on single player which would you pick? I would go easy mode 100%! I understand the message od getting better through failure, but I'm still a skinny wimp in real life, i'm not a fan of hate. I prefer easy. If you want to be hardcore, then RR is for you. I prefer WN, it is neater and has more of the cliche novels I enjoy. (Just my opinion, I never liked hard mode anyway)

                    Danuja That's probably because people are allowed to review a novel more than one time. The ratings here are not really accurate so try not to trust them and read the novel first before giving your first thought about it.

                        A massive problem is that authors are asking for review swaps, which is great, but want/expect 5 stars regardless of what the other person actually thinks. I am really after some constructive criticism (key word being constructive) but i also get the feeling if i do an honest review of someones work they would find mine and give me a one star just out of spite. Also see below for the first brilliant and helpful review i received after my first chapter.

                        MagicWaffle7

                        Poopy-di scoop
                        Scoop-diddy-whoop
                        Whoop-di-scoop-di-poop
                        Poop-di-scoopty
                        Scoopty-whoop

                          Nier_Xue

                          Yeah the bot thing is realll pain in the ass. Is that even allowed?
                          But they really are in need of good mods to monitor things.

                          (if qidian is reading this, psst yes you, i'll even vollunteer wink wink)

                              Nier_Xue

                              NU Rating: https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/ratings-of-1-star-should-be-given-a-low-weight.72479/ or https://forum.novelupdates.com/threads/how-do-people-vote-for-novels-without-a-review.74501/

                              No rating is honest. Even in NU. Check the review, but ignore the rating.

                              This is RR problem: https://www.royalroad.com/forums/thread/101816 worse, RR ranking is based on rating. So...

                              There are many complaint about rating here too: https://forum.webnovel.com/?q=rating (Too many to list, but war on review are big now).

                              Rating is problematic everywhere.

                                Michael_Shaw

                                It's definitely difficult, and I restrain myself from review swaps for precisely the reasons you have mentioned above.

                                However, I have seen what seems to be a slightly better approach in reviews where the reviewer rates the novel say 4-5 stars but then leave an honest review of their thoughts where they point out flaws, without neglecting the positives.

                                Unfortunately, it's hard to win because there are those authors that will react very defensively/angrily to what you might think is constructive criticism but they think is straight up flaming (I've seen it happen even with the most reasonable-sounding reviews.)

                                You can't win.

                                    BabyTanuki Seriously? https://www.novelupdates.com/

                                    That is the best place to search for translation work. It similar to Yahoo! for translation novels. The review usually a good reason to know the positive and negative thing about a novel. This Rabbink thought most readers came from here before they found Webnovel.

                                        Jessie There is one. However, it just list RR novels. However, the list is old and barely any review.

                                          Lord_of_Potatoes Not all authors act like this, I can take criticism. However I want an honest opinion, not a hateful one. There are many factors that go into a review that influences the authors reaction.

                                              Lord_of_Potatoes Most of authors who were react very defensively/angrily is because the words the reviewer use is harsh. Even though the review is reasonable if the words you use are harsh, the author will not accept that willingly. it's all the same bro, it's like: when you work on something, you put more your time and your hard work on that something, but when the work is done, people said your work is trash, low quality, or other kind thing harsh words. What do you feel? I'm sure you will be pissed too right? it's the same as the author.

                                              Danuja Don't compare original section on WN and RR. How old RR? How old WN's original section? Wn still need time to grow. Also, most original author on WN is a newbie author. So of course there will be big difference between RR and WN.

                                              Nier_Xue There are many WN haters on NU since the WW and WN conflict. So it's not surprise WN's novel get low rating there.

                                              This is only my personal opinion.

                                                      HotIce Hey Hotice,

                                                      Yeah, I totally agree! BUT I have seen situations were reviewers were reasonable in every sense of the word (good critique, no harsh tone or personal attacks at all) where authors have reacted a little bit extreme. That's what I mean by a reasonable review. And this is coming from someone who is an author himself. Of course, if someone is attacking you unfairly and screaming hate, then have at it.

                                                          EldridSmith
                                                          Yep, of course! We're all human beings with different personalities and ways of responding. As an author myself, I also wish for honest opinions that can point out flaws, without being hateful. However, I have seen some pretty extreme situations to reviews I thought were fair and not extreme or derisive. But I totally agree, there are many factors that affect an author's reaction. It's hard to feel someone's tone/attitude when its just written word.
                                                          Have a great day!

                                                              HotIce

                                                              While i see your point i disagree with your statement that they shouldn't be compared. While RR is alot older the fact stays that WN has a fundamental flaw which will not fix itself. The site is riddled with bots and fake reviews so that authors can artificially increase their ratings.

                                                              WN offers certain rewards when one reaches premium. To meet the demands low quality chapters are pumped out daily with record speed. There's a reason why my reviews on WN are ALOT harsher then on RR. WN haters aren't the reason, its just that 90% of the stuff is garbage tier. Authors do not care about the quality of their work, they'll just drown out bad reviews.

                                                                  I agree the reviews on WebNovels are typically an inaccurate indicator. Someone else had mentioned that authors do review swaps. I myself have done a few of these because we need 10 reviews for our rating to even show up to viewers. It's a big disadvantage not having a rating appear when you show up under daily updates and such. It's hard getting ratings. My novel was rank 97 last week and is 97 again this week. I only have 20 ratings despite being top 100. Some other authors even higher than me haven't even hit 10 ratings yet!

                                                                  I've always felt NovelUpdates has the most accurate reviews overall (though still not perfect). Unfortunately, they don't allow Originals yet.

                                                                    SnoozySloth It's a big disadvantage not having a rating appear when you show up under daily updates and such.

                                                                    I think empty rating made an advantages since it showed your novel is new. That would attract certain type of readers.

                                                                        EldridSmith I think your novel is a perfect example of what OP was talking about. Your novel is far from perfect and in my opinion does not deserve that 4.9 rating it has. Also, all the reviews are just complimenting your novel or summarizing it. They are rating it 5 stars simply because they like it, and don’t pay attention to the actual quality of the work.

                                                                            CsK Isn't that what reviews are about?
                                                                            Each person has their own view of "quality" and how "good" a novel is. Everything is perspective.

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