What I Did Instead of Changing My Ratings – Let’s Discuss

Posted April 25, 2015 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in Let's Discuss / 47 Comments

As most of you know, I was considering changing some of my older ratings, but after getting some feedback from my lovely blogging friends (that’s YOU!), I started to doubt my decision.

First of all, I felt like it would be unfair to authors – especially Indie authors – who had referred to my reviews in the past. (And, sure, none of those big-time authors would notice if I changed my reviews, but then I felt like it still wouldn’t be “fair” if I changed only traditionally published reviews and not Indies … yeah, I’m way over-thinking this.)

Secondly, once I started to actually look into doing it, I decided that the whole process would be a pain. And it was harder than I thought it would be to decide which ratings to change – as soon as I would look at my reviews, I would second-guess myself, thus defeating the whole purpose.

BUT I still wanted to find a way to differentiate those books that really stood out. The ones that I still think back on often – that have made a truly lasting impact! So, I decided to add an All-Time Favorites rating!

All -Time Favorite

Since UBB (which I use for my ratings) doesn’t support this feature, I’ve added it in addition to my regular ratings (so those books are still also listed as five stars). Now, when you go to my Reviews by Ratings page, you’ll see those All-Time Favorites listed first (I just manually added them to the top of the page). This list may change from time to time (obviously new books will get added to the list and occasionally a book that I thought would be an all-time favorite might fall off the list if it doesn’t stand up to the test of time the way I expected it to), but it should be a pretty comprehensive list of the books I adore!

I think this is a great solution, and I’m very happy with it!

Do any of you have a list of All-Time Favorites that you love to show off?

I’d love to see it, so link me up!

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47 responses to “What I Did Instead of Changing My Ratings – Let’s Discuss

  1. This sounds like a great solution. I’ve been debating doing something similar myself.
    I haven’t read most of your all time favorites. I should probably correct that since some of these have been on my TBR for quite some time.

    Amanda Marie recently posted: The Friday 56: Beauty
    • For me, it’s only a subset of my five star books that make it to my All-Time Favorites list (though there are still a few that I’m contemplating adding). This was my main problem – my five star list didn’t truly reflect my absolute favorite books. I may have loved them at the time, but they didn’t all necessarily stand the test of time and really stick with me. I wanted a list that reflected the books that I still think about on a regular basis!

  2. I think this is a great solution! This way you don’t ahve to change any rating, but still emphasize those really awesome books. I know a few bloggers who add an extra 6 star rating. And I like that method of displaying which books were really really awesome.

  3. YAY! I am glad you were able to come up with something that works for you AND gives you peace of mind! I like this idea, I may have to steal it and do something similar! I have a “favorites” category, but I don’t think I have been consistent with it, so I probably should take another look at that. And I do have a 5+ star graphic, because again, no ability to distinguish in UBB! Now, I must go see which books made your cut!

    Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight recently posted: This Week At Midnight (58)
    • Yes, I think this solution works really well. Of course, I’m still waffling on some of my selections (not on the ones I added, but on adding a few more), so the list will probably change a bit at first. I can’t expect myself to get all decisive or anything, right?

  4. I have a favorites category on GR, but it often changes. I originally made the category to have a widget on my blog of favorites instead of just what I’ve read or am reading. I looked at all my 5 star ratings and chose some for the widget. I notice that a lot of my 5 stars are books from my childhood that I’ve read over and over.

    Elizabeth recently posted: Sunday Post 4/26
    • There are actually probably a few childhood (or teenage) favorites that I should add to the list. Right now it’s only books that I’ve reviewed on the blog, but there are definitely a few series that influenced me A LOT and should be up there! Glad you made me think of it!

  5. This is a great idea that will definitely save you a LOT of work in the long run! Good plan Nicole. I started this in a way myself, on goodreads, I have a all-time-favorites shelf but I still eventually ended up changing *some* reviews, because I’m obsessive like that >.< I've definitely changed some books around on GR though, as my all-time-favorites have evolved. I hope this works for you^^ xx

    Micheline @ Lunar Rainbows Reviews recently posted: ARC Review: A Court of Thorns And Roses
    • No worries about being obsessive – you see that I’ve put WAY too much thought into this and kept changing my mind. My husband thinks I’m crazy!

    • Yeah, I had one 4.5 star review that made the list because even though there was one aspect of the book that made me take off a half star at the time, this book stands out in my mind as an absolute favorite!

  6. I’ve just decided to do this too – I give 5 stars to books I really enjoyed, but I also wanted a way to differentiate the books that I really loved, so a 5+ rating was the easiest! I haven’t really gone back and added it to my older reviews or made a way to easily search for them though… I should get on that! I’m happy you found a way that works best for you!

    Charlene @ Bookish Whimsy recently posted: Suspense Sundays (146) Two Horse Parley
    • Sounds like we’re on the same wavelength! I still haven’t gone back to all of my older reviews and edited them yet, but I just went through my five star list and created the favorites list. I figure I’ll edit the older posts gradually, as I have time.

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