AsleepInTheBack: Rating Art Is Dumb

Mort. 01.18.24	this is ur brain on sputnik
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	what i did this morning instead of listening to music what a dork meta irony or something something
JohnnyoftheWell 01.18.24	this is ur brain on sp
Mort. 01.18.24	special penis?
Sniff 01.18.24	Life is short. 3.5 everything.
Dewinged 01.18.24	I actually like the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 solution. I think of rating as just a way to organize yourself, reminders if you wanna call it that way. As long as it makes sense in your head the rest doesn't matter.
Dewinged 01.18.24	Or do like bloc and don't rate anything.
someone 01.18.24	more places outta adopt RateBeer's system, where you have to rate the item based on your opinion, and then rate it within the context of its style. in music it'd probably work as follows: "i hate this new Deafheaven album, but its core descriptors are black metal first, shoegaze second. as such it is a 3/10 for me, but then 5/10 for black metal and 7/10 for shoegaze" i am not an expert, nor do i particularly care if this would have worked, i will be taking no questions
ffs 01.18.24	how many arts must a man rate down
Mort. 01.18.24	is a man not entitled to rate art as he likes? NOOOOOOOOO, says the album with a 4.5 average. you must write a review
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	oh how I yearn for smaller increments, yet I know in reality this would be a painful process. I understand overthinking. I think your previous scale looked decent tho. Differentiating seems more 'important' at the top end and you don't need an exact 0.1 scale
Mort. 01.18.24	is a man not entitled to use increments? NOOOOOOO, says the greedy moderators. you must be a staff member
BaselineOOO 01.18.24	Rating should be banned on sputnik. We already have RATE your music for rating music.
dedex 01.18.24	rating art is dumb indeed but imma still slap phat 3.7s cause i don't know how else to do it at this point
Kompys2000 01.18.24	I've definitely drawn up "rules" for what i think the "difference" between a 3.5 and a 3 "is" but really you just gotta go off vibes. Life's too short to agonize over it right?
pizzamachine 01.18.24	We’re doing MATH this morning children :D class leaves
DadKungFu 01.18.24	I rate Matisse and Renoir a 3.5 but Chagal gets a 4.5
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	Coleman (musician) > Coleman (bodybuilder) > Colman’s (mustard) amirite
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	really you just gotta go off vibes [2] makes list redundant 12345 is the way tbh probably I’m just not that brave
Butkuiss 01.18.24	Y’all think about it too much. Ratings are only useful in a relative sense (I.e. displaying to others than you like JoJo’s debut more than her follow-up, but not as much as the PussyCat Dolls debut). There is no inherent meaning behind the values assigned themselves, and I get an inkling that most people skew more positive (assigning a 3 or 3.5 to music they find “average”) here on sput anyway.
Butkuiss 01.18.24	Anyway, the pedant in me is mad that you got rid of 2.5s, but I personally agree that once you decide you dislike an album, splitting hairs over whether it’s a 1.5 or a 2 gets pretty close to a terminal need to touch grass. We naturally tend to consume more art we enjoy than art we detest; splitting hairs on positive ratings to display relative preference makes a lot more sense to me than splitting hairs over whether you hate Brokencyde or Thrice more.
Flugmorph 01.18.24	thank you for this list. we reached peak autism.
KevinKC 01.18.24	rating simplifies stuff, but it allows us all to argue. "It's not a 4 !" "Album 3 shouldn't be rated higher than Self-titled first one !" Blablablabla. :) Rating people's physical appearance is a lot more problematic. There will always be very beautiful and handsome people, and people who are a lot less appealing physically, but I think that giving a grade to someone's physical appearance is particularly dehumanizing.
ToSmokMuzyki 01.18.24	.5 ratings rulz
sonictheplumber 01.18.24	i just farted!
Flugmorph 01.18.24	snnnnniiiiiiffffffffffff...oh yes my dear....sssnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiffffffff....quite pungent indeed...is that....dare I say....sssssssnniff...eggs I smell?......sniff sniff....hmmm...yes...quite so my darling....sniff....quite pungent eggs yes very much so .....ssssssssssssssnnnnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiffffff....ah yes...and also....a hint of....sniff....cheese.....quite wet my dear....sniff...but of yes...this will do nicely....sniff.....please my dear....another if you please....nice a big now.... BBBBBBRRRRRRRAAAAAAAPPPPPPPFFFFFFFFLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPFFFFFF Oh I was not expecting that…that little gust my dear….you caught me off guard…yes…so gentle it was though…hmmmm…let me taste this little one…just one small sniff…..sniff…ah….ssssssnnnnnniiiiiffffffffffff…and yet…so strong…yes…the odor….sniff sniff…hmmm….is that….sniff….hmmm….I can almost taste it my dear…..yes….just…sniff….a little whiff more if you please…..ssssssnnnnnniiiiiffffffffff…ah yes I have it now….yes quite….hhhhmmmm…delectable my dear…..quite exquisite yes…..I dare say…sniff….the most pungent one yet my dear….ssssnnnnniiiifffffffffffffffffffffff….yes….
Sniff 01.18.24	I was summoned?
Flugmorph 01.18.24	nice.
Egarran 01.18.24	If I want to impress somebody I make sure to rate what they have rated, thus getting them to reluctantly accept my presence.
ToSmokMuzyki 01.18.24	flug get a room god
ToSmokMuzyki 01.18.24	i humbly reject your mating ritual eggy
JohnnyoftheWell 01.18.24	"I get an inkling that most people skew more positive (assigning a 3 or 3.5 to music they find “average”) here on sput anyway" this is problematic and should be ban-worthy correct way to use ratings should always be a) intuitive and b) relative (as per Butkuiss comment) though, and I think it's silly to belabour or mechanise it any further than that. real ones know that they aren't really for rating aRT but for symbolising your relationship with it, which is fine and uncomplicated and usually not too much strife because you should already understand that inside-out increments are defs a mixed bag and are only useful where they match clear intuitions (e.g. I like these 10 albums more than my 4.5s but less than my 5s therefore they are 4.7s is helpful, but "these 40 albums are almost 3.5s so they are 3.3s whereas these 40 are almost 3s so they are 3.2s is something i struggle to maintain any semblance of strong opinion on in most cases). using all increments is a hubristic sod's move and i feel sorry for anyone who's wasted their time going down that path
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	Agreed ITS ALL RELATIVE is the way fwiw @flug and the like this list was made with comedic self depreciation in mind pls pinch salt in reasonable quantities and don’t read with a seriousness that it doesn’t deserve
ToSmokMuzyki 01.18.24	i award medals ranging from diamond to rusty tin can
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	1 an literal shit 2 rusty tin can 3 an apple that is neither ripe nor rotten 4 an apple that is ripe 5 the best apple
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	"I get an inkling that most people skew more positive (assigning a 3 or 3.5 to music they find “average”) here on sput anyway' (2) Yep and I am a proud advocate for not doing that because it's silly Honestly it's a personal thing and is (of course) relative, but I don't see what I could hope to achieve by giving everything I like an immediate 4+
Egarran 01.18.24	>it's silly to belabour or mechanise it any further than that proceeds to belabour in agonizing detail
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	Adapt to the pond you’re in, though, is kinda how I view it. If my 3.5 is the normal sput user’s 4, for example, there are some perks to simply posi rating with them (more influence over album averages, getting to be a hype person on the stuff you really like, etc) though I do think I often go with a safe 3 or 2.5 when a 2 is in order, hence part of the reasoning for my rating system shift - I’ve now moved basically all 2.5s into 2 and all 1.5s into 1.
ArsMoriendi 01.18.24	Rating is only dumb if you think there’s an objective way to go about it It’s otherwise, a useful tool to remember how much you like stuff But also 2.5 isn’t pointless, it’s the “this is boring” rating
dedex 01.18.24	"using all increments is a hubristic sod's move and i feel sorry for anyone who's wasted their time going down that path" don't feel sorry for me i love my life!!!! "It’s otherwise, a useful tool to remember how much you like stuff" yeah that's how i personally see it
Flugmorph 01.18.24	@asleep when i talk about autism this flippantly I always mean it in jest dw lol
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	“ Rating is only dumb if you think there’s an objective way to go about it It’s otherwise, a useful tool to remember how much you like stuff” This is true. For context, list is coming from the perspective of someone who kept his 5s cropped to only 5 5s for about 5 years and has been very particular about them and is having a moment of relative frantic freedom and reflection. I suspect rating mentality will shift with further time.
JohnnyoftheWell 01.18.24	"proceeds to belabour in agonizing detail" of course the difference between illustrating something obvious and thrashing out something counter-intuitive would be lost on you of all people
mryrtmrnfoxxxy 01.18.24	idk how ppl have so many low ratings. yall sitting through things you don't dig? i gave yeule 2 songs and won't return. are yall rating those?
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	@flug we good my lad
GhandhiLion 01.18.24	Can you not make a system "intuitive" if you stick to it? Is scoring things as intuitive when starting from initial inexperience? When I first started rating I don't remember rating being intuitive. I started by rating things consciously in relation to scores given to other albums. (My 5orites as a starting point) "increments are defs a mixed bag and are only useful where they match clear intuitions" I wouldn't say only useful but mostly yes. Increments that are not clearly intuitive can still be useful if they are derived as an average of individual song ratings. I use them as a reference point to rank albums.
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	I think you can only get it intuitive with experience, I agree my doe eyed original rates were conscious in the way you’ve articulated nicely. I’d also pay undue deference to average rating or general public opinion, which is a v hard thing to screen out of your subconscious, but at least I no longer consciously go “well it’s pink floyd” and smack a 5 on it because of classic status.
onionbubs 01.18.24	5 everything
ToSmokMuzyki 01.18.24	rating farts is dumb
CaliggyJack 01.18.24	Shut up nerd
Kompys2000 01.18.24	Anyone here remember those /mu/ macros that gave you a 10 by X grid for rating every song on an album out of 10, and below you were supposed to average out the track scores and then also put what your actual score out of 10 for the album is? I wonder if people still do those, kinda lit to just come out and say yeah we basically all bs our ratings let's crunch more numbers and see what it do lol
Mort. 01.18.24	i join sputnikmusic i rate my favourite albums as 5s. i rate the albums that are not quite favourites but nearly favourites as 4.5s i rate those albums i hate with a passion a 1 i then continue to rate albums in relation to those i have already rated i never worry about ratings again
chemicalmarriage 01.18.24	Making a list with ranked albums about rating art being dumb is smart as fuck good work great job
GhandhiLion 01.18.24	" /mu/ macros that gave you a 10 by X grid for rating every song on an album out of 10.." Lol I don't remember that. Did it adjust weighting for song lengths? I'd imagine the outputs would cause an upset for albums with one long track like Meddle haha
SomeCallMeTim 01.18.24	"5 everything" hell yeah onion, take theacademy route full send
SharkTooth 01.18.24	rating is a measurement of enjoyment. if I really like a thing, I'll give it a 4-5, which is why i have over 200 5s rating isn't a big deal, just go off your feelings
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	“ Making a list with ranked albums about rating art being dumb is smart as fuck good work great job” who said this list was ranked how do I turn off the numbers mods mods MODS?!?! The system is rigged Why is this featured
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	‘idk how ppl have so many low ratings. yall sitting through things you don't dig? i gave yeule 2 songs and won't return. are yall rating’ Yeah, some people do I tend not to, unless in extreme circumstances. I like to give everything at least one full spin. Also, a few of my lower ratings are things I previously enjoyed but no longer do.
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	How are you meant to expand your taste if you don’t try/persevere with/rate stuff that doesn’t immediately appeal? Kinda interesting as well just to keep vaguely aware of / in touch which musical developments outside of one’s preferred lanes - could understandably result in some low rates. Idk I very much used to be of the mind of staying in my own box with my own favourite things and not adventuring far beyond that, but that didn’t feel like a very fun long term game.
mryrtmrnfoxxxy 01.18.24	I would give Harry Pussy, geroegieorgieeovieogoerir, royal trux, thrown ups and all them 1s or 2s if i could get through the shits edit: guess i got thru harry pussy i 2d it and forgot
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	Agreed completely Asleep 👍🏻
Hyperion1001 01.18.24	rating things is fine if it’s just a catalogue of what you like and don’t like. rating albums over the years has preserved things I would have probably forgotten about if I hadn’t kept a record (too much information too small brain). beyond a personal catalogue I don’t see much of a point, and certainly no point in getting super hung up over it. I changed my approach years ago to just be “degrees of how much I like something” and it’s been nice.
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	Is there another way?
normaloctagon 01.18.24	With hype on this, definitely keeps stuff from slipping through the cracks for me
ConcubinaryCode 01.18.24	Just remove all pretention and make albums a thumbs up or a thumbs down, no more wishy washy agonizing over increments if the album is between two others that you scored. I think it's the fault of comparing albums to others even when they have no right to. It's a problem so many people have with ratings that it's become a meme across several mediums.
BaloneyPony 01.18.24	unless people make full time careers out of rating and reviewing music, no, it doesn't fucking matter lmao. Just rate it how you feel it. No one's score is that important. An album's legacy is in constant motion. The good, the bad, the average scores--we need them all. The overall opinion can change, so it's best to stick to your guns if you really enjoy something.
Gyromania 01.18.24	Rating your mom is dumb
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	“ An album's legacy is in constant motion.” I love this sentence.
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	Rating how you like / feel can include increments, just so y’all know It doesn’t have to be one extreme or the other
BaloneyPony 01.18.24	Rating your mom is dumb don't talk about elizabeth fraser like that
GhandhiLion 01.18.24	"remove all pretention and make albums a thumbs up or a thumbs down..." pasta?
Teal 01.18.24	I think about this way too much. I've just come to terms with the fact that people are going to like what they're going to like and most of the time, that record you gave a five will never be a five to your best buds. Ratings should probably be personal, if nothing else and the most useful would probably be a general "Recommended" or "Not Recommended".
BaloneyPony 01.18.24	let's rank all of the different pasta shapes from most Italian to least.
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	‘An album's legacy is in constant motion‘ Yeah this is a nice take (2)
GhandhiLion 01.18.24	True
BaloneyPony 01.18.24	I think about this way too much. I've just come to terms with the fact that people are going to like what they're going to like and most of the time, that record you gave a five will never be a five to your best buds. Ratings should probably be personal, if nothing else and the most useful would probably be a general "Recommended" or "Not Recommended". well, I might very much like an album, but I might never recommend it haha.
robertsona 01.18.24	I dont think very hard about rating this stuff. Mostly think of it as an imprecise correlative, sometimes one that frustrates with its arbitrary nature sure, to the ratings I'm already doling out in my head. there's an odd perhaps unfashionable part of me that feels like "rating," very broadly defined, is kind of the point of art, also broadly defined: aligning likes and dislikes, saying what hits and what doesn't, and more arguably which is better than which.
cylinder 01.18.24	Been having a lot of thoughts like these myself lately. Might take a break from Sput after I finish my 2023 list. I think it’ll be so refreshing to listen to music again without the, like you said, flash card deck of 1 through 5 fluttering through my brain.
Demon of the Fall 01.18.24	That barely ever happens to me when I’m actually mid-listen, feel damn blessed right now to be honest. Seems like a lot of you have those thoughts. I definitely debate what rating something ‘needs’ after the event, but not often during. It’s usually a retrospective thing Honestly the only time I’m considering ratings mid-listen is when something is really bad and I’m distracted because it sucks so much (Sleep Token’s latest had 1/5 potential from the get-go and didn’t ‘disappoint’ lol)
Egarran 01.18.24	>it doesn't fucking matter lmao proceeds to belabour in agonizing detail
AsleepInTheBack 01.18.24	@demon it’s a habit that comes from reviewing, at least for me, I think
AnimalForce1 01.18.24	I will say, my ratings skew positive, but only really because I tend to stick with stuff I know I'll like, and I go in with sunny dispositions. I expect my 2s and 1s to beef up a little bit more this year honestly
BaloneyPony 01.18.24	proceeds to belabour in agonizing detail It was a paragraph's worth lol. Get a life.
sonictheplumber 01.18.24	autism speaks
Egarran 01.18.24	>I think about this way too much. proceeds to tell me to get a life Just messing with you homie. Ruffle's baloney's hair.
Sniff 01.18.24	I honestly find it much easier to rate something i haven't even heard
rabidfish 01.18.24	there is only based and cringe. rating art is cringe.
ToSmokMuzyki 01.18.24	>Rating your mom is dumb what the hell no its not rate yourmom now https://www.sputnikmusic.com/bands/YOURMOM/98017/
neekafat 01.18.24	hahahaha love this and u
Ryus 01.18.24	we all need to adopt the nightbringer rating system
Snake. 01.18.24	touching grass was never an option
Sunnyvale 01.18.24	Rating art is a 3.3/5 activity at best
Djang0 01.18.24	eh who cares, numbers r fun
cylinder 01.19.24	“That barely ever happens to me when I’m actually mid-listen” “It’s a habit that comes from reviewing” Def understandable that reviewing regularly would bring on this kind of thinking. But if you’re on here often, have been for years, and are used to rating all or most things you listen to, you’re def priming your mind for it that way as well. It even works its way into my speech. Like sometimes when ppl irl ask me what I think of an album, I might say “it’s like a 3.5.” (I guess that’s not that crazy, but in my case it comes from Sputnik specifically). I was pretty obsessed with this site back in high school-early 20s but lately I’ve been waking up to how the way I tend to use it affects my perception in sometimes unhealthy ways. Self-control yeah, but that’s just harder for some people
cylinder 01.19.24	I guess what I’m saying is that this list was very timely for me. So thank you for that, Sleepy.
AsleepInTheBack 01.19.24	Happy to be of service my internet person
Icebloom 01.19.24	Yeah rating is a bit dumb, agreed with a lot of your thoughts I've changed my rating system last year because I got fed up with those pointless thoughts about whether an album was a 3.5 or a 4. Now, I just give most albums either a 3 or, when I really enjoy them, a 4., and then you can use those higher ratings for varying degrees of "I really really like this album". Bad music I just avoid (rating) altogether. Works fine to me
Dewinged 01.19.24	Look what you've done Asleep, I had to 5 the new Slift cause I didn't want to be miserable and 4.5 it. May the round numbers age begins.
AsleepInTheBack 01.19.24	Oh lord AsleepInTheBackLLP is not liable (without limitation) for any damages, loss of earnings or injury to feelings incurred as a result of (whether directly or indirectly) following its advice.
Mort. 01.19.24	is a man not entitled to make a list about rating music? NOOOOOO says the sputnikuser. it is autism. pure box drawing
Demon of the Fall 01.19.24	the organisation sonic referred to (in jest, presumably) are a vile corporation and I hope he knows that
Kompys2000 01.19.24	"Did it adjust weighting for song lengths?" Nah lol but I do remember some people not counting interludes towards the average, easier math ig
AsleepInTheBack 01.19.24	Another thought (kinda subtext of some of the comments above): I think becoming too precious about your 4.5s/5s as the albums that define you could inadvertently result in kneecapping future attempts at exploration. I found this applied to me: I convinced myself that I was a special snowflake with special taste revolving around folk and hardcore (punk) but, in doing so, probably approached a lot of other genres and artists (that didn’t fit the picture I’d built up in my head) with an inbuilt assumption of “it’s not for me” when that wasn’t true.
Demon of the Fall 01.19.24	I had the opposite problem in that for a while I was actively wanting to add new things to my repertoire (and would therefore overrate anything previously deemed outside of my wheelhouse).
Dewinged 01.19.24	I just overhauled 50 albums with round numbers, everything makes so much sense now lol
AsleepInTheBack 01.19.24	Success!! Demon I may have the same problem but not fully conscious of it yet (he says contemplating 4.5ing his second Bossa Nova album in 3 days, having only heard 4 Bossa Nova LPs ever)
Egarran 01.19.24	Sometimes I look at my ratings and notice some unknown album with a high rating from past Eg and remember that yes actually I should listen more to that, thanks past Eg.
mouldypigeon 01.19.24	Now you mention it a 1.5 does feel like a pointless rating, but I do enjoy the convenience of being able to slap an ambivalent 2.5 on all the fodder which needs more analysis to reach a good/bad decision, but in most cases I don't want to currently waste more time listening to or thinking about it. I've never rated music before I found this site, and I took it quite seriously at first while trying to stuff my listening history onto my account as quick as possible, but now I see my ratings list just acts as a tool for categorisation to make selecting something to listen to easier in future. I'm rating considerately enough to respect my future time but impulsively enough to reflect my gut feeling towards the music.
mindleviticus 01.19.24	this is ur brain on sputnik [2]