JacquelineM

I agree with you. The ratings that I give aren’t even really systematic in any way, it just happens to be how I feel about a tea at the time of consumption. I don’t even give much merit into the numeric ratings of other people of these teas, I read the notes and that influences me far more than the numeric rating.

Pfft, your wine guy is so behind the times, video gamers have been having this discussion for AGES. I agree that people rely on numbers a bit too much – that goes for wine, video games, movies, whatever. That said, I think numerical ratings do have their uses: 1. they make things easy for beginners: if I know jack-all about wine, but I don’t want to embarrass myself when taking a bottle to a friend’s house, then yes, a numerical score can be a pretty handy starting point.
2. They can be a useful comparative tool if understood within the context of a reviewers entire body of work. This doesn’t work as well with wine, but say on Steepster or on a video game site/magazine/whatever. If you get to know the reviewer’s tastes, you can figure out what they mean when they give a certain score and measure that against your own tastes. Of course, that requires both paying attention to actual written reviews and treating reviewers as individuals with different tastes, which I think are the REAL problems.
On the other other hand, I almost never look at the number scores on Steepster unless they are low (because then they are orange!)
Anyway, just my two cents! You realize that you are just going to get a ruckus in your comments instead of in discussions :P

Ewa – I’m glad for the mini ruckus in comments :) I didn’t want to come off like I was challenging the way The Overlords built Steepster, esp since they built it so that you could not assign a rating and delete ratings. I think Steepster is great to allow maximum user freedom.

Again to go back to wine talk, we have a local shop which is pretty amazing. They have a little essay about the store and they say that they won’t tell you that they will help you demystify wine drinking, but they can help you explore the mystery. That’s how I feel about tea too :) For me personally, number ratings are not helping explore the mystery, but serve to try and pseudo break down/categorize/put in a little box the mystery. And I rather not :)

That’s really interesting – I had no idea this debate goes on in the gaming world too!! Neat! It’s also something I think a lot about as I get ready to be a teacher – the grading bugaboo. Oh dear.

When I go to Physical Therapy, they ask me to rate my pain on a scale of one to ten. They should ask me what tea I had that morning. Queen Catherine (she soothes me when I hurt) means I was at a four, Supreme Breakfast is a three, and English Breakfast means I am not hurting at all! Do you think they will go for my new system?

ashmanra – I have a package all ready for you – going to the post office today on my lunch break :) HOPING that will mean lots of zeros and ones at PT! :) :) :) I’m not sure if PT will go for your new system but I will use my secret retired international spy powers to try and convince them. Don’t be surprised if they ask what tea you had the next time you go in for a session ;)

Yeah, the whole “score inflation” problem is huge in video game reviews. Most sites have adopted the 7-9 scale, no games get below a seven, just because review sites want to keep getting free review copies…

I have to wonder if this isn’t actually a direct result of the grading bugaboo (I like this term and will use it forever). Any(American)one who has gone through the public school system is basically conditioned to perceive numbers below 70 as “failing.” Which is silly, because there are MORE numbers below 70 than above and if they are all useless then what is the point of them except to make people feel really really stupid.

I agree with pretty much all of this. Aside from the problems with the way averages are gotten…palates are different and they change with time, the more experiences one has. Tastes drift.

I think this is why my rating system has always just been personal — i.e., my probability of drinking something or having it in my cupboard, not its actual quality.

And even that changes. I’ve redone the numbers many times!

I agree too. I’ve only been here a short time, but I’ve already noticed that all of my numeric ratings are “clumped.” I have a few really high ones, then the rest are around 80-ish then a few really gross teas are at the bottom. A simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down might be better.

I also have changed a lot since I started drinking tea. Some I steeped all wrong and they wre bitter. I used to put sugar in everything and milk in most. When you change those habits, your ratings change….A LOT! So I agree – they can be very misleading.

From now on I’m going to comment on your tasting logs with a number. This number will represent what your rating would have been :D

I’d say you’d give this one a 90. If you don’t agree feel free to correct me =]

LOLOL.

(you are pretty much correct! I remember I rated it a 100, but that could have been the caffeine talkin’)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Ricky, you crack me up.

Glad I could bring some laughter into your day =D

Jacqueline, I’m going to rate all your logs! You just wait! Steepster shall not be deprived of your ratings.

I’ve only posted 3 ratings so far, but on the first one I tried to give it a rating, and by the second one decided it was silly for me. Something like the way tea tastes is too complex for me to try to pin down with a number.

Sorry for the late comment – just saw this post. I am glad that Steepster is versatile enough to accommodate you, JacquelineM! I am still posting numbers but like a comment above intimated, it is pretty subjective. I still love to read your blurbs/posts about the various teas so I am glad I am not deprived of your opinions!