Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

In this blog I'm going to express what makes a good reviewer in my opinion. Your opinion may differ or you may not agree with me, but I just feel like saying what a good review should look like.

For some reason people come to this site and think of the review system as a way to comment about the flash or audio submission. Yes you should comment about it, but it's called a review for a reason. So review the submission.

Tips to keep in mind when reviewing:

Don't give the submission a low score if it lags and everyone else isn't having any trouble with the lag. It's your computer and/or internet connection that has the problem not the submission. Now if a bunch of people talk about the lag then consider it in your score when reviewing a submission.

It's too hard!

Don't give a game a low score if it's too hard. So be it that you suck at the game, not everyone does suck at it. Now if the game is nearly impossible or extremely hard for everyone that reviews then you may want to think about considering it when you score the submission. The best thing to do when reviewing a game that is hard is to practice it and play it several times. Check it out with other people to see if it's really hard. A good example of this would be the new Fear Unlimited game. I find it extremely easy and so does a large population of the people that play it, but yet you see numerous low reviews of "It's too hard" just because the person is bad at the game.

Personal Opinion

Don't let your opinion overpower the quality of the submission. Perhaps the submission is about goths, perhaps it's about politics, or perhaps it's about Mario dying and you just happen to love Mario. Don't review a submission low because it's not something that you like. Review the quality of the submission instead. Not everyone likes the same thing and what's it really matter if Mario dies or not? Does that affect you in real life? What the hell does it matter if you voted for Obama and there is a McCain support flash? You're going to give it a low score just because you don't agree with it? Bullshit.

Medals

For games that have medals don't review the game on the medals itself and nothing else. Giving a submission a low score because you couldn't get a medal, because the medal was too hard, because the medal is glitched, etc.. That's just retarded. Let the person know in your review what you feel, but don't let it affect your score. Remember your reviewing the submission not the medals on the submission.

Youtube

Don't say a submission belongs on youtube unless it really belongs on youtube. Just because a submission is liveaction video doesn't mean it doesn't have it's place here. Video belongs here on newgrounds if it has a plot, is funny, has any flash in it, etc.. Videos that don't belong here are ones of someone playing with their dog or skateboarding, etc.. Everything by everyone except for the really generic youtube videos like mentioned before. Video is perfectly fine if done well.

If you don't like a submission

If you don't like the submission you should do several things. List what you didn't like about the submission. Just saying it sucks doesn't help the author fix what's wrong with it. Along with what you didn't like say how to improve. For example if you didn't think there was enough comedy give the some examples of good things to add and where to add it in the submission. If your good with flash or audio even in this case then give them technical tips on how to fix things.

Opinion on author

Don't review the author. Your reviewing the flash submission remember. Don't even mention the author at all unless your mentioning how much effort or time that they put in or should have put in to the submission.

DOESNT WORK

Don't just look at one aspect of the submission. Say a submission doesn't have working audio or the preloader doesn't work then don't give it a 0 just because of that. Something like that does deserve the score to be lowered, but not so dramatically. Also, if a submission won't load for you, but works perfectly fine for others don't review it yet. You want to give it an honest review and if it doesn't work for you and does for others it's probably your computers fault.

Sound

On the subject of sound what happens when you can't hear anything on the submission, but other people seem to hear things fine when they review it? Then again it's probably your computer, your speakers, your bad hearing, etc.. If it's not like that for other submissions then it's ok for you to lower the score because of faulty audio. Always make sure to have your speakers on. There isn't anything more annoying then someone giving you a low score because they forgot to turn their speakers on or up.

Length

This all being said you don't have to write huge reviews. The most important things are if you don't like the submission say why and how they can fix it. Think of every scenario that they could make it better and put it in your review.

Spam

When reviewing spam review it like a real submission. Why should you review spam like a real submission? A big purpose of spam is to make people mad, even though I never understood why people would get mad over a flash submission on a website. So if you give it an honest review not only are you getting your points across that you didn't like the submission, but your also teaching other people how to review properly without giving the spammer the satisfaction that they would get from a "pissed off" reviewer.

Praise

If giving a submission a review of praise then it's perfectly fine to be brief. For example, "I really like this movie. I loved the animation/graphics, the storyline was hilarious, and the music synced up perfectly for the submission. Keep up the good work." You're going to run into situations where you can't find anything wrong with a submission in your own opinion. It's perfectly fine to leave reviews like this every now and then even though not all flashes are perfect so most of the time there will be room for critiquing the submission.

Watch the whole thing

For almost every flash you should watch the whole flash submission or listen to the entirety of the song. Yes I'll agree that most of the time a crappy loop is going to be a crappy loop no matter how many times you watch it. It only takes that one time that a movie is a crappy loop or crappy in the beginning and then the author makes it amazing after. I've seen it done a couple of times since I've been here on this site. So watch it all no matter if the person is a spammer or if they are a well known artist. How would you feel if someone didn't watch all of your submission before they reviewed it?

Stolen

If a submission is stolen or you think it may be stolen don't say it in a review. The review space isn't for saying the submission is stolen. If you think it may be then PM an administrator of the site and just leave the submission alone or give it a regular honest review.

Other reviewers

Don't comment on other reviews directly or even indirectly. So no saying you agree with someone or you disagree with someone. Instead put the review in your own words even if it does sounds similar to some other review. I'll keep stressing this that the review space is for you to review the submission. Not mention others.

Demos

Review it like it is a regular flash. What the hell is the purpose of saying things like "demos don't belong here put them on blah blah blah"? Think about it. If someone is posting a demo they obviously want someone to critique what they have so far so their final product turns out well. The only way for them to get this critique is to submit the flash for people to review it. Not question why it's here if it's not done.

I hope this is helpful to some people and if it even changes one person from their low quality youtube style comments that they call reviews then I'll be happy.

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Clubs and Threads

Movie Makers Club

Club explanation - This is a club for people who act, direct, edit, video tape, etc.. anything that has to do with making a movie.

My role in club - I created the club. :)

Newgrounds Mafia

Club explanation - A nice lounge type club where the occasional mafia story is made up and shared.

My role in club - Just a common member.

Ghost/Supernatural Club

Club explanation - Talk about anything that is unexplainable or interesting. Topics covered are ghosts, dreams, demons, UFO's, monsters, etc... Pretty much anything that you can think of that is paranormal or ghost related.

My role in club - I created the club. :)

Zombie Survival Crew

Club explanation - You can create a zombie plan on how you would survive a real life zombie outbreak. There are a lot of rules and regulations for your plan though and more times than not your not going to be accepted into the club until you fully fix your plan.

My role in club - I'm a coleader in the club. I am one person who can accept your plan if I think it's done well enough. It has to be good for me to accept it though. ;)

Resident Evil Club

Club explanation - Obviously to talk about the game series, movie series, and book series of Resident Evil. It is currently dead, but perhaps with this schedule and Resident Evil 5 I might be able to slightly bring it back to life.

My role in club - Bring the thread back to life.

College Life Club

Club explanation - If you are planning on going to college, are currently going to college, or even if you are already done with college or university here is a good place to just sit back and talk about college life.

My role in club - I created the club. :)

American Football Club

Club explanation - Post anything about American football. Whether it be high school, semi-pro, college, NFL, etc... Talk about it here. During the NFL season we pick who we think is going to win each week.

My role in club - Just a fellow fan of the NFL and college football.

Horror Club

Club explanation - A great place if you want to talk about horror movies that you have watched. Anything else horror related is welcome in the club. If you want to become a member you must list your top 15 favorite horror films.

My role in club - I'm a coleader and one of the few "active" members of the club.

Audio Review List

List explanation - The list of people who have the most audio reviews on the website. It is currently updated by sonofkirk.

Audio Response List

List explanation - The list of people who have the most audio review responses on the website. It is currently updated by sonofkirk.

Flash Response List

List explanation - The list of people who have the most flash review responses on the website. It is currently updated by Coop83.

Top Saves List

List explanation - The list of people who have the most saves on the website. It is currently updated by Coop83.

Wi/Ht Regulars List

List explanation - A list of people who have been voted as a Wi/Ht Regular. These people help out a lot in the Wi/Ht forum. This is currently updated by Bahamut.

Level Up Lounge

Thread explanation - Post your level ups here and a small portion of the newgrounds population will congratulate you on it.

Review Request Club

Club explanation - People request quality reviews and we give those people quality reviews. It's a great way to get your review count up, review response count up, and at the same time help people get better with your reviews.

My role in club - A long time member and reviewer of the club. Sometimes I request reviews on my movies.

Facebook Club

Club explanation - If you have facebook or plan on getting facebook you can talk about it here.

My role in the club - Just a regular member.

B/P List

List explanation - A list of the top 300 B/Pers on newgrounds. Currently updated by Bahamut.

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Goals/Milestones

9,000 posts
Supreme Commander
Level 27
Top Flash Review List
Top 50 on the Flash Response List
Wi/Ht? Member
Ranked 150th in B/P
800 Audio Reviews
800 Flash Reviews
Top Blam List
2 X 10K list for 2 things
VP of 11
Top 1,000 in EXP
50,000 Total Stats
5,000 Medal Points

My Latest Level Ups

Probably won't keep this up.

Final Goals Reached

Top 50 in the Audio Review List
Top 50 in the Audio Response List
Top Save List
Top 50 on the Flash Response List

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Trophies Won/Flash Achievements

Front page flash
Daily 2nd
Daily 4th

My Latest Trophy or Flash Achievement

N/A - new blog

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Bench Press Records (This year)

315 Pounds - 3 times
310 Pounds - 4 times
290 Pounds - 5 times
225 Pounds - 19 times

Updated: 04/29/09 7:17 PM Comments disabled | Share this!

The People Have Spoken

23 Comments

Apr. 5, 2009 | 8:25 PM SamIam says:

I'm amazed, that I read this entire post and I hope that more Newgrounders actually read this post. It would be nice seeing more constructive and intelligent reviews.

Apr. 5, 2009 | 8:27 PM Fro responds:

And your reviews are the perfect example of how you don't have to write long ass reviews and they can still be perfectly helpful and good reviews.

Thanks for commenting.

Apr. 5, 2009 | 9:14 PM SCTE3 says:

Read it all and bookmarked, very useful and helpful for newcomers.
Wonderful job on instructions anyway =D

Apr. 5, 2009 | 9:19 PM Fro responds:

Thank you :)

Apr. 5, 2009 | 11:39 PM TheSongSalad says:

maybe. not sure what you're talking about though... i assume flash right? football flash sounds dope, so yeah. would you or someone else make graphics?

on another note, wow. nice post here. that's a good idea to make this.

Apr. 6, 2009 | 10:59 AM Fro responds:

I'll get to you when I have the chance tonight sometime.

Apr. 6, 2009 | 5:17 PM Metal-Therapy says:

lol YouTube. It looks like you put some effort into this, nice job.

Oh, and you've only got like 7 more users to pass before you're in the top 100! :O

Apr. 6, 2009 | 5:23 PM Fro responds:

Effort throughout the last couple of days. More of a rant than anything else.

And I'm trying. :(

Apr. 6, 2009 | 9:00 PM knightsofthecircle says:

All valid points, but I think Tom once said that he intended Newgrounds for both flash and live-action movies, but I guess the idea fell through.

Apr. 7, 2009 | 6:58 AM Fro responds:

You still see live action every other day or so here.

Apr. 6, 2009 | 10:36 PM SimCorder says:

Thanks for writing this, its going to help me out a lot when I'm gonna give some 0 reviews a go.

Apr. 7, 2009 | 6:59 AM Fro responds:

That's usually what people find the hardest.

Apr. 7, 2009 | 12:17 AM SupraAddict says:

Great guidelines. You're the next review mod to be :3

Apr. 7, 2009 | 6:59 AM Fro responds:

Seems like they have enough. ;)

Apr. 7, 2009 | 7:06 AM Sonofkirk says:

Kick ass contribution as always, I'll make sure to add it on my blog as an improvement news post.

Apr. 7, 2009 | 7:34 AM Fro responds:

Thank you. I think I still have more to add to it.

Apr. 7, 2009 | 1:29 PM SuperMarioBrosS says:

ARE YOU RIPPING OFF MY REVIEW GUIDE?

LOL probably not.

Why the fuck aren't you a review moderator?

You already have some kick-ass advice yet those mods don't appoint you for being one.

(I'm on my way to a deity whistle! Wish me luck!)

Oh yeah, I see A LOT of false information in your post.

Apr. 7, 2009 | 2:30 PM Fro responds:

I never knew that you had one.

I also made one of these about a year ago or so and this is just an update of my old one.

Um mine isn't about abusive reviews either. Mine is about how to write helpful reviews or I guess how to not write useless reviews.

There is nothing false in my post at all. If you really think there is then tell me. Remember it doesn't have anything to do about abusive reviews though.

Also, I'm fine with not being a mod. Obviously they would make me one if they wanted to. I'm perfectly fine with being a regular user.

Apr. 9, 2009 | 8:49 AM Cooliam says:

very helpful, u shud make a flash on it

Apr. 9, 2009 | 9:11 AM Fro responds:

I think it would be a boring flash unless I implemented much animation into it.

Apr. 10, 2009 | 10:08 AM pinoyisazn says:

Since this is a comment and not a review, I'm going to say some off-topic things first. I just happened to find you in the forums, reading a comment of yours. That being said, the forums are a great way of seeing other people's views on certain issues. As for this particular post, I liked what I read (sorry, I skimmed some of it).

I think that, depending on the flash, lag may be a viable reason to complain, but there, of course, needs to be reasons to do so. If the author doesn't put a warning, and knows their flash causes some computers to lag, then I think a reviewer should tell the author. If you have a terrible computer, you're going to know it yourself, but if there's something you know your terrible computer can handle, then mention it.

When you mentioned the example of FU2 as being too hard, most people complain about its difficulty because it's not a game you can pick up, play, and beat. The average gamer can't beat the first non-tutorial level in their first try, which is why many people are discouraged by the game, in terms of difficulty, and not due to this game's glitches (which grow on you ^.^).

Usually, when I write reviews, they are lengthy. Most reviews for others are relatively short. I feel that my reviews, although lengthy, are detailed enough to be deemed worthy of reviewing. Sometimes I add a comment here or there, but that's because I want the author to know what I thought of this and that.

I feel that some reviews really do need to take in consideration of the author. Of course, as you said, it's within the context of how much time they've spent on it. This is a weird issue to address, since it's sometimes the author of the submission that changes the opinion of the reviewer. If you've seen better work from the person, it's a more recent work, and it's obvious they could have done better here and there, then I think it's okay to mention the author (or more so their other flashes).

You may want to word your "sparm" section a little differently, in my opinion. It was somewhat awkward to read. As for my opinion on what you're talking about, some spam gets through, and reviews are made, which are also mostly marked down as "useless". Usually, spam submissions aren't really looked by the average newgrounds visitor, since they'll notice the low score and not bother with it. That being said, the few reviews made (that are good) are marked down, with no one really marking the page as "helpful".

In regards to your "praise" section, I find it hard to believe that there's nothing to critique about. People who give reviews of 10 sometimes even mention how this or that didn't work, but that they still loved it. That's when considering the person giving too much praise when they noticed a slight issue. With people -not- noticing an issue, leaving a review about how good something is without critiquing is somewhat strange. I know few of us, if any, are professional critics, but I've never read a review saying a few words of praise. I think a little comparison would help, saying how it reminds the viewer of something else. The author may have been inspired or may find the other person a worthy rival, which still falls under praise.

When it comes to other reviewers mentioned, I think it helps. It shows that you're not the only reviewer who experienced a problem, and it may shorten your review as well as not regurgitating lines. I think a fine example is when there are certain games that have "WASD" and a mouse, with no way of changing the controls. The few genetically handicapped left-handed people in this world will have a little more trouble with this submission than your average right-handed person. It's a minority, but it's still a large enough minority to take into consideration. Why spam the same words? There -are- reviewers who do this, and I sometimes question if they just have multiple accounts. It doesn't really help to repeat the same words, really (and I've realized I've been doing that here too).

I just wanted to give my opinion on your opinion of a good reviewer. To be honest, I looked at my reviews a few hours before reading this, and I really felt that people judged my reviews correctly. All of them, that is, except for one. The only problem was that it was on a religion-related submission, so MANY people have their own varying opinions, and they follow it dutifully if religious, so I can't blame them. I hope others read this, because despite my opinion, this guideline is really solid strong.

Apr. 10, 2009 | 10:53 AM Fro responds:

Agree with your lag comment. It's just something that's kind of implied though. The author should simple say something like turn the quality down, but I'm talking about reviews that give a 0/10 because it's too laggy.

Fear Unlimited is actually one of my favorite games on the site now. I was trying to get a few people to realize that games take practice and your not going to be good at all of them right away.

As for comments in my review I usually add comments in all of my reviews. Especially if I'm reviewing a friends work or someone that I know. I always put a little conversation in there since it tends to leave to an author response. The biggest thing is to actually review along with the comments.

I do take in consideration of the author most of the time, but I guess you really do have to be careful when doing that. When I see something like, "I really didn't have a lot of time and was on a schedule, etc.." I tend to leave a better score just by one or two, but when you really think about it any other can lie about that. For example I just posted my first flash lately even though I had submitted many flashes before that and people gave it a higher score because it was my first time. So what if an author just says that about more than one of his submissions to get a mercy vote or two. That's something I need to be careful about.

I like the way my spam section is worded because everything I said there was 100% true.

As for praise if you give a 10/10 I personally find it redundant to say what you liked since you obviously liked everything if you gave it a perfect score. I tend to give praise in all of my reviews and critique things in all of my reviews so this doesn't really effect me at all. I can admit that I have found nothing to say about some audio submissions because I thought they were perfectly done and not knowing much or anything about audio I could only leave a two line review. There is nothing wrong with this.

Mentioning other authors is something I put up since it's clearly stated in the review guidelines of the site.

Also, this isn't about having other people mark your reviews as helpful. I could give two shits if all of my reviews were marked as extremely useless as long as the author thought they were useful.

Apr. 12, 2009 | 10:22 AM Bloodman101 says:

Damn, you have a lot of medals.
How the hell'd you get Olympian?
Good job, mate. ;)

By the way, will BTS be finished soon?
or have you ditched that idea?

Apr. 12, 2009 | 10:50 AM Fro responds:

Thanks and probably because I play games a lot. :P

The next project is a Resident Evil themed movie.

Apr. 12, 2009 | 10:23 AM Bloodman101 says:

Sorry I meant Snow Wars, I just glanced at BTS while making that comment. :S

Apr. 12, 2009 | 10:50 AM Fro responds:

The snow wars trailer is out, but the rest of it won't ever be finished. :(

Apr. 12, 2009 | 3:17 PM Sonofkirk says:

Happy Newgrounds Birthday dude. My account will be two years old on the 14th of April, meaning I signed up 3 years and two days later than you :D.

Apr. 12, 2009 | 4:32 PM Fro responds:

I'm old compared to you young kids.

Apr. 13, 2009 | 1:01 AM Bloodman101 says:

Love the new icon. ;)
A shame Snow Wars won't be finished, it looked pretty awesome.
Happy 5th Newgrounds Sign Up Anniversary!
:D

Apr. 13, 2009 | 7:11 AM Fro responds:

The new movie might be good, but I have to get Tom to raise my upload limit because it's going to be an extremely large file.

Apr. 13, 2009 | 6:46 AM FroFro52 says:

August 15th is a better anniversary. :)
For ONE reason only. >:[

Apr. 13, 2009 | 7:12 AM Fro responds:

no shit.

Apr. 13, 2009 | 7:19 AM FroFro52 says:

Look mr. cocky brains.

Apr. 13, 2009 | 9:21 AM Fro responds:

I'm in class and newgrounds at the same time. ^^

Apr. 13, 2009 | 11:08 AM FroFro52 says:

Pathetic.

Apr. 13, 2009 | 6:09 PM Fro responds:

Suck it.

Apr. 13, 2009 | 8:22 PM GronmonSE says:

Grats on all that.

Thanks for all the reviews you've given me.

Apr. 14, 2009 | 1:29 AM Fro responds:

More to come once I get off my lazy ass.

Apr. 14, 2009 | 1:24 AM SevenSeize says:

I wish I coulda got my benchpress that high. lol. any of those numbers.

Apr. 14, 2009 | 1:28 AM Fro responds:

Need a trainer? :P

Apr. 14, 2009 | 7:29 PM darknessdweller says:

Ya know, I've noticed something about these crappy Youtube style reviews and author comments. ALOT of flash artists will say in their author comments "please rate and comment". Now, for awhile, I just thought "typical new user who doesn't understand NG Terms" but later, I realized the thought was supposed to say "Typical YouTube faggot".

AND 33 seconds before starting this long comment, I just thought of something.
Mayve half the time, ppl are writing one sentence reviews because the author said "comment" so the reviewer will leave a comment.

What do you think?

Apr. 15, 2009 | 12:10 AM Fro responds:

I think people just need to learn the difference in their words.

Apr. 15, 2009 | 2:22 PM Sonofkirk says:

BE MORE FUNNY >:U

Apr. 15, 2009 | 8:56 PM Fro responds:

Suck my dick.

Apr. 16, 2009 | 3:19 PM sammontague says:

thanks for guide hopefully i can cut down on getting reveiw banned.

Apr. 16, 2009 | 6:44 PM Fro responds:

lol spam