Maybe I overlooked something and somebody can point me in the right direction. But I was looking for a forum where the members rate and review hardware and software. I see scattered threads about reviewing things. But Afterdawn really needs a centralized reviews and ratings forum. People like to see other people rate products based on personal experience and explained in a down to earth manner that doesn't over complicate the average person's mind. You could have a Reviews category broken up into several key subcategories. Or just add a Reviews subcategory to each existing category. Either way it sounds like a good idea. I justed popped back in here after being away for a long while and was looking for some good comparisons quickly. But as you can see, it wasn't that easy to get a quick comparison/rating based on people's own experiences. Searching is a pain in the ass when you just want to get to the chase quickly. Anyway, it's good to be back on the forums again and I hope you really consider my suggestion.
OK, that settles hardware products but what about software? And I was going along the lines of a FORUM that has reviews and ratings. So there can be threads that have top ten rankings and stuff like that. Selecting individual products and reading reviews on each individual product does not simplify things. I don't think people want to go to 50 different products links and read each review to get a good concept of which is the best for them. Afterdawn could set up polls on some threads to get a reader's choice on software and hardware. And if it is in the actual forums it would get more of a response than off to the side hidden somewhere.
You do keep on answering your own questions by describing what it already put in place. For example, here: http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/ It is automatically listed by product rating.
OK, let me show you whats wrong with that, DVDReasy has no ratings on it. If I was to rate that software a 5 it would send it to the top of the list as I was the only one that rated it. So people would think that was a really great product since it got a 5. Or maybe DVDReasy is a great product and nobody would know because nobody bothered to rate it. But in a forum people could ask for the top programs or a specific program without people being uninterested in that post being posted in their forum. People in a software forum are more interested in solving software problems than giving a review on a product. And that is the truth. And telling people to use a specific program is not a review. Basically, everybody is showing me to lackluster review and ratings systems. And I am suggesting a better one. So yes, technically, there are reviews (more like comments than reviews) and ratings that pretty much get overlooked by the fact of how troublesome it is to click on each and every products link to get a picture of which is best for every individual. There is no head to head comparisons or detailed experiences. The star rating doesn't tell which is the best. Just who cared enough to rate it.
The same problem exists almost everywhere with reviews. Just look at newegg...you can find HighPoint products with 4 or 5 eggs because one clueless person gave it a great review without fully testing it (they often post back a week later when they find out about some huge, obvious problem).
Well, that's why I'm suggesting better reviews and ratings system for this site. It only makes sense that a site that gives DIY information about video and audio problems should give above average ways to get the best programs and hardware. In a simple and precise manner. What better way than to give a forum to it so the experts on this site can lay down some detailed reviews? And a lot of people know who the smart ones on this site are and can appreciate their reviews. The same people who give good guides for everybody to use could also give their detailed opinions about software and hardware in a place that is designated to it. I was thinking that adding a reviews forum to each existing category would be best. That way all the reviews don't get mixed up in one big reviews category. So people who are looking in dvdr category don't have to go through a bunch of program reviews for console ripping programs and so forth. Anyway, it's just a suggestion at this point. It's up to AD to determine if they want to go this route.
