To me extremely useful and useful are both "good" votes and sometimes I choose useful if I found the review hard to get through or it gave a description of the product without any kind of talking about how well it worked, I can tell what something is by the product info but I read the reviews to see how well it worked and how well it's made and stuff like that.

Sometimes I think a review on an item someone didn't like can be only "useful" or "somewhat useful" but only if they disliked it so much that they are not being objective or not really explaining why they didn't like it. If the person disliked it so much that they didn't even use it, then I can see that being only "useful" even if they described it because it's not really adding anything "extremely useful" for those that wouldn't mind whatever it was that made it unusable for the other person. But in general I think negative reviews can and mostly ARE just as useful as positive reviews, maybe even more so because you know it's an honest review and not an over exaggeration.

and I've tried to fix that 'wh y' in the first sentence twice and it won't let me LOL

I rate negative reviews as I would positive reviews, or even neutral reviews.

Review length doesn't really have an effect, unless it's extreme. You can't really say everything you need to say in one paragraph.

I will say that leaving out an opinion completely does make it more "useful" instead of "extremely useful," as reviews are more answering the question "should I buy this? why?" and not "what are the facts about this toy?"

I wouldn't vote lower just because someone didn't like the product. I tend to like longer reviews with LOTS of data and description. I don't like to read a review and afterward start thinking, "Well, what was the toy made of? Can you use it for this or that? What was the size?" Stuff like that. And when people just say things like "It will make you cum like crazy." I can't vote, because there is no reason to know what will make ME "come like crazy." Also, improper syntax, a lot of misspelled words, too much slang or really subjective comments ("This toy is gross!") don't do much for me.

I tend to like reviews with a lot of description and some personal experience, with all the data about the product included. If this stuff is missing, I either don't vote or may vote slightly lower than if the review was more detailed. I'm a detail oriented person and like to read details, I guess. I also want the review to answer virtually all my questions about the product. That's why I read it in the first place.

But, no, if someone doesn't like a product and had good, descriptive reasons for not liking it, it won't cause me to vote lower at all.

A negative product can be QUITE helpful, if well written. It lets us know what to avoid or how a product can be changed to be more useful.

Thats exactly what I was thinking. I have read some negative reviews where I was still able to see that the toy would suit my interests because they explained exactly the shape, size, and performance. But when someone just says that something sucked or won't get you off, I wonder, how can they know what will get me off? As long as a review paints a picture in my mind of what it does and how it might feel, I'm happy, whether or not the reviewer was.

Seconded. This is the reason I would downvote a review. Yes, "I don't like how this feels" is a valid part of a review. But for god's sakes, WHY? We're not all the same person. In order for a review to be useful, it has to includes the "whys" or it's just not useful. Yes, it's awesome to know if you liked it or not, but if you don't include the "whys", that review is now only applicable to you. I have no idea why you didn't like it, so I will just disregard your review.

As for length, I think it has something to do with it. I have a hard time believing that all of the "whys" can be answered with a shorter review. I've seen it once in awhile, but it's normally just not possible.

For me, an "Extremely Useful" review is something that answers virtually any question I have about the product. Were the textures different? Did they hurt? Shape? Size? Material? Soft? Gentle? Beginner-friendly?

Useful covers the vast majority of the bases, but doesn't dig into the details that I personally would want if I was looking to purchase the product. (I'm a picky little bugger when it comes to purchasing toys.)

Somewhat useful started into being a useful review, but it honestly covered only some of the basics. It needed more thought/information to be higher rated.

To me, most of the "Worth Reading, But Not Useful" reviews I've rated have either been general statements about the product type-reviews (Rabbit Vibrators are great for double-penetration. - Well, that's nice. Now what about this one in particular?) or have been reviews where the person basically gave a blow-by-blow account of their use of the toy. Worth reading because maybe you might find something useful, but it's so personalized that it's not generalized the vast majority of people.

Not Useful is used for something that I honestly think is just a waste of space or is obviously a fake review.

Really, review writing basically makes me think back to my Psychology classes. Your "experiment" has to be personalized and specific to what you are studying, but if you get TOO specific and personalized, it won't focus on the general audience that it is meant to apply to.

Yes. That's my take.

I agree.

Someone on here said to read every review as if that is the only you may ever come across, regardless of how many other reviews there are on the same product. It doesn't matter if they liked it or not, I still like see the descriptive angle and one's personal experience with it.

In any review, I look for important info. If the review has everything it needs but is not favorable towards the toy, I will give it a useful to extremely useful vote. I don't think it's necessary to vote down unless the review itself seems incomplete and is missing information.

We used to do anonymous voting and it was very, very abused. Down-voting due to fighting, drama and arguments was the norm, where now it is the exception.