Sounding Off FAQ

[mx]

To avoid some potential confusion, I've decided to write this thread explaining the new 'Sound Off' feature on Sputnikmusic and the changes to the site culture it may require. Please note that this feature is under construction, and a bit of a mess write now. In fact, the only reason I'm writing this now is that I have to go away for the evening and I don't want people to be confused.

What is a 'sound off'?

Sound offs, or user opinions, are short mini-reviews about an album. Think the shortest of the blurbs, and similarly informal. The best way to give an example:

Not a soundoff: This album totally RULZ!!! HARDCORE XXXXX! Monster Metal !

Soundoff: I just purchased this album yesterday and so far, I'm really impressed. Billy Goat and the Bah Bah Singers have made a beautiful album that is carefully constructed all the way through. I particularly like "through the meadow" and the sheep chimes halfway through the second verse. Overall, this is a very solid album for lovers of sheep music and I recommend that you pick it up.

You get the idea. This means that even if you don't feel like writing full reviews, you can still contribute your musical opinions to the site, and help people decide on their music. The goal, eventually, is to have a lot of these for every album. A user can read the full review of an album, and then browse 20 or so of these 'sound offs' to get a good picture of the album.

How are they different from blurbs?

Not very, to be honest. The difference is that sound offs don't have to be accepted by moderators, and don't have to be 'professional'. This doesn't mean that they will be groundless, contain profanity, or be downright stupid. It just means it's more casual. Some of the longer blurbs were turned into reviews, the shorter ones were turned into soundoffs.

How does this affect reviews?

Reviews can be short and still be quality reviews. There are different styles to writing - you can be exhaustive, or be concise. Each are equally valid. Since blurbs have been eliminated, the minimum length for a review has been decreased, provided that the shorter reviews maintain a high quality.

- Please no longer say 'this review is too short', unless it is really missing critical detail
- I don't expect reviews as a whole to decrease length really, just there shouldn't be a pressure to drone on just to fill space
- Just because reviews can be short doesn't mean that they don't have to be comprehensive.
- Reviews are still longer than a paragraph - this isn't allmusic.com reviews or rateyourmusic. Think 2-3 paragraphs, mininum, or over 1,100 characters.

How will soundoffs be integrated?

Through each album page, through the profiles(possibly) and through the main page, with a reduced emphasis on album comments.

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=59

To see the new system in action.

Will there be sound off guidelines?

Yes, but I'm not finished with them yet.



In all, this should provide a big shift in the culture of the site. It's for reviewers, but a seperate part of the site is nonw for the general public to contribute. Hopefully this will increase participation in the site.

[Hep Kat]

One slight problem: I know we're not going to say "this is too short" anymore, but what about users who don't participate in the community? Do you have an idea on how to make that common knowledge throughout the site? Some sort of announcement...maybe another message on the comment box?

[niobium]

I guess I have to wait and see how this is going to fly with me. I think the only way to do that is browse Sputnik like I do, and maybe find myself doing a couple out of instinct, or see the general public pick this up effortlessly. I think the former is more likely to happen.

[mx]

This is on the main page of sputnik

[Hep Kat]

This is on the main page of sputnik

Ah, alright, I see that now. Good job on having all the bases covered :thumb:

[Brain Dead]

Just a few questions. You say that sound offs are like short blurbs. What if you want to have a discussion about the quality of an album? It would be tough to have that kind of a discussion with what are essentially short blurbs. Also, what if you want to talk about something unrelated to the album or the review, like, say, the quality of mainstream rap in general? Would that be a sound off or a comment?

[Damrod]

Yeah, that would be great to pin that down. Are we to kick all album related discussion from the comment section now? :confused:

[Brain Dead]

This new idea seems like a bad one so far, but let's see how it works itself out.

[mx]

Brain Toad, all of those would be comments. Sound Offs are standalone opinons.

Look, an example of soundoffs would be most of the reviews on Amazon.

[Hep Kat]

Brain Toad, all of those would be comments. Sound Offs are standalone opinons

I think you just confused a couple of people there, boss ;)


Anyway, thank you for clearing that up.

[mx]

I removed that whole section because it was confusing.

[mx]

If you guys are confused, Vague Dan just used the feature perfectly:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=59

Look at the review, comments, then look at the sound off, and you'll see what I mean

[Hep Kat]

If you guys are confused, Vague Dan just used the feature perfectly:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=59

Look at the review, comments, then look at the sound off, and you'll see what I mean

Yes, that's what I did earlier for a Foreigner album. All I wanted to know about discussion in comments, and that's been clarified.

[The Jungler]

If you guys are confused, Vague Dan just used the feature perfectly:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?albumid=59

Look at the review, comments, then look at the sound off, and you'll see what I mean
Thanks for the name check.

[Hep Kat]

^^^
Directly under the reviews box.

[mx]

Changed it Med, should be clearer now.

[Zebra]

"Note: Comments are for replying to reviews and making brief comments on the quality of the music. Soundoffs are for slightly longer paragraphs on the quality of the album. An example is <insert example here>."

This is slightly disappointing. If you disagree with the reviewers opinion on a certain song/album then how will you present your points without writing a soundof?. I think you should be able to discuss the music/album in the comments section that way you can possibly generate a good discussion.

[superpeer]

Man, I love Billy Goat and the Bah Bah Singers.

[JohnXDoe]

Here is one of my blurbs that was converted to a Sound Off:

http://sputnikmusic.com/soundoff.php?albumid=6384

Maybe that's a fair example of what a Sound Off might be? Oh, and my other blurbs were moved into the "Reviews" section of my Profile. This one, the shortest, was not. So, is their a difference between Sound Offs and short reviews? Sorry if this has been asked and answered already. I hadn't much time to browse today.

[Iluvatar]

Sound seem to really just be pure opinion without much backing up, while short reviews still have to be backed up with examples and such within the music. A couple of my blurbs that were turned into reviews really don't fit this criteria ;-/

[JohnXDoe]

Hmm. I see. I only wrote four blurbs. Three which were two, three, and four paragraphs long, respectively, were turned into reviews. Only the single paragraph Townshend blurb recieved Sound Off status. So I think I'm starting to get the idea.

[Iluvatar]

I had four of my single paragraph blurbs turn into reviews, which is fine since they are detailed, but I still don't get exactly how they decided on which became which. Probably a word count filter of some sort.

[JohnXDoe]

Interesting. I have several reviews in the beginning stages. Being real busy (and sick) lately I was going to get around to finishing them this weekend. I think I will turn them into short reviews and see how that goes. I've been guilty of writing overlong reviews sometimes. This may help me strike a nice balance. I think I can turn in fairly high quality short reviews. My former Concrete Blonde blurb, for instance. As a short review I'm very happy with it. Although I will make the others a bit longer and with a bit more content. Example:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=6548

Still too short for me to consider a review, but not by much. We'll see....

....and the converted Townshend blurb/Sound Off, of course. For those who didn't see it at the bottom of the last page:

http://sputnikmusic.com/soundoff.php?albumid=6384

So I guess that's the difference....sort of.....

[Iluvatar]

That actually could have been turned in as a full review before with the previous standards in all honesty.

This (http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=6585) is an example of one of mine that got turned into a review. Rather large difference when you think about it, really.

[JohnXDoe]

Hmm. That's interesting. My Townshend blurb/Sound Off is not much shorter, if any. Maybe a hair. The only thing I can figure is it is some sort of word count filter. And the Townshend review is just slightly shorter. But really, I'm just guessing. And I'm in no mood for counting words right now....


EDIT: My other two former blurbs, now considered full reviews:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=6330

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/album.php?reviewid=6426

[niobium]

Just a problem I've noticed with the sound offs so far.

The bumps don't work. I tried to bump this (http://sputnikmusic.com/soundoff.php?albumid=652), and I got this (http://sputnikmusic.com/bump2.php?soundid=35). I know it's still in its beta mode, I thought I should report it.

[Kingofdudes]

For some reason I have the option to edit/delete other people's sound offs

[stinkypoptart]

great. i think i'll make one of these tonight.

[black guy]

It seems like this feature is just making people put in more effort to get to the only reason they use this site.

[Iluvatar]

^ How so? It's really just making it easier. They don't have to write a shout-off, the options just there for them to do so.

[Hep Kat]

It seems like this feature is just making people put in more effort to get to the only reason they use this site.

It's an optional feature, though. People only need to use it if they wish to share a slightly expanded opinion on an album.

[black guy]

No, I mean the people who decide which albums they should check out by reading peoples opinions on here.

[Hep Kat]

No, I mean the people who decide which albums they should check out by reading peoples opinions on here.

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here. If you view sounding off only as a means of swaying people's opinions towards albums, then if anything, it makes people's thoughts and opinions on why you should/shouldn't purchase an album more organized. Especially since albums generally have multiple reviews, and people's commentary is spread randomly throughout each of them. This way, there's one central page where everyone can see everyone else's thoughts (should they choose to use the feature).

[black guy]

yeah, you're right.

[mx]

For some of you that can't see the use in this, it allows you also to write comments on albums with no reviews. We have a lot of albums in the site with ratings but absolutely nothing written for them. This helps a ton for that scenario.

You can also think of it as an explanation for user's album ratings

[mx]

Your soundoffs now appear on your album ratings page:

http://sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1
(Scroll Down)

Tomorrow I'll make it so you can hide the text if you wish

[Hep Kat]

Your soundoffs now appear on your album ratings page:

http://sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1
(Scroll Down)

Tomorrow I'll make it so you can hide the text if you wish

Awesome, that's a perfect idea.

[Iluvatar]

Holy shite thats an excellent idea. It'd actually be almost worth it even without having a sound-off page for each artist. Almost.

[labonza01]

k, so, just to make sure i'm clear on this. Sound offs are long comments about an album in which the writer is trying to sway people into listening to the album in question. what if we just want to say "I like this album, the good songs are this and that, just so you know", can we still just do comments for that sort of thing or will we get in trouble?

[Neoteric]

Your soundoffs now appear on your album ratings page:

http://sputnikmusic.com/uservote.php?memberid=1
(Scroll Down)

Tomorrow I'll make it so you can hide the text if you wish
Sweet.

[mx]

I've streamlined that page even further, you can now write the soundoffs directly from that page. Pretty cool, actually

[Hep Kat]

I've streamlined that page even further, you can now write the soundoffs directly from that page. Pretty cool, actually

That's great. I'll be able to do sound offs for all my albums in an hour or so with that feature.

[Iluvatar]

^^ OH jesus Iluvatar has 350 sound offs to do now.

[JohnXDoe]

Great balls of fire! Best feature for the reviewer......EVER.

Thanks Jeremy. It's great seeing the site move forward like this.

Now everyone can know what my all important and all knowing opinion is at a glance. :p

[masada]

now it's about time we appointed Eliminator Jr. as junior administration

progress for the people!

[JohnXDoe]

here-here :chug:

Eliminator, if you revisit this thread, are you now or were you once also something vague?

Just wondering.....:confused:

[Iai]

I just noticed Eliminator's user title. Ah, I love it when I start a trend, however minor.

I LOVE being able to see your sound-offs as part of your album ratings. And the fact that this means we can add a sound-off for an album we've already reviewed in detail. Puts more control in the hands of the reader, which is always good.

[Storm In A Teacup]

:mad: I tried to submit a sound-off of the new underOATH album, but it wouldn't let me and said I should turn it in as a review instead. So now I'm writing a review of it. :-\

[Iai]

Ah, so there's a character limit?

[Storm In A Teacup]

I checked when it wouldn't let me and it was only 186 words.

[Hep Kat]

I just noticed where sound offs have been integrated onto the main page. That's a good location, but it needs a little work.

[Storm In A Teacup]

It seems awkward at first, but I think it's nice. I didn't realize sound-offs would be made a big deal out of, but it's cool.

[Hep Kat]

Yes, it is nice. The section just needs a title or something now (which I'm sure is in the works). Something to make it look less plain, is all.

[masada]

Eliminator, if you revisit this thread, are you now or were you once also something vague I was never something vague.

I just noticed Eliminator's user title. Ah, I love it when I start a trend, however minor

it was my trend before it became a trend to point out trends based on minor trends

[morrissey]

Sounding off bubble on the main page looks awesome :cool:

edit: And I love how it is integrated on the ratings page. I can write 5 of these in no time flat, then come back later and do 5 more. Really convenient and easy.

[JohnXDoe]

Hey guys.

Are we supposed to "Sound Off" on albums we have reviewed as well? Or just albums we have rated?

[morrissey]

I think you could give a truncated version of your opinion to sum up your thoughts (or just c/p the conclusion), but that's probably more for your use than other people's.

[Hep Kat]

Sound offs on the main page look sweet :cool:

[masada]

ya tr00

[mx]

Every long band name submitted at once =)

[Dave de Sylvia]

For anyone who's interested, the character limit is 800 words at the current time.

mx: when you're editing one of your soundoffs, the edit screen inserts a / before each apostrophe.