| I'm happy to announce that the continued development of the Review section (as we promised some time ago) is still ongoing, and another of many planned improvements has now been released. Reviews can fall into many different categories, and the Review Guidelines were written to try and accommodate as many different approaches to reviews as possible. For example, some people only like to read Brief reviews: anything more than 2-3 paragraphs is too long-winded for them. Other people prefer to only read Analytical reviews which break down the series and discuss aspects of it in depth. While the current system allows for both to exist, it doesn't allow users to easily read the types of reviews they'd like to. Aside from general frustration, this also leads to many misreports of legitimate reviews to our mod team. Thus, we plan to implement a tag and filter system for reviews, to facilitate a better experience for readers, writers, and moderators combined. The first step of this system is the Preliminary Review (aka Preview) tag. Reviews will automatically be tagged as Preliminary if:
Notes for Review writers/readers:
As a final note: The changes we planned when the Not Helpful button was removed are still coming. We prioritised the Preliminary tag so that we could stop removing previews as of Winter 2017. Thank you for your continued patience on this matter. |
| nice update MAL well for those that read reviews automation can really lessen moderators workload so this is one of them |
| Finally! Good shit |
| Good work Kineta, its great! |
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| nyc ggwp |
| "Life is too bitter, so coffee, at least should be sweet..." - Hikigaya Hachiman (Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatte Iru) |
| This should help those who read the reviews, nice. |
"At some point, I stopped hoping." |
| Thanks for the hard work! Seems like it'd be useful. I'm a bit interested in seeing what's considered brief yet still informative though. |
| This is a good change. But I hope to also see the spam reviews get removed quicker. I continuously see spam reviews stay up for more than 2 days. |
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| Brilliant idea! The preliminary tag looks like it may serve a solid framework for any potential future tag. Nice to see things further categorized. :) |
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| Yeah this is definitely a good change My initial suggestion was to just have the site auto-delete all previews as soon as a series is set to finished airing/publishing, but keeping them but also auto-filtering them away like this is also a viable alternative. The main purpose is still served, namely to remove those from your sight the second a series ends since review mods aren't always quick enough to delete them the second it finishes airing Sooo yeah I definitely approve of this |
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| Nice, a feature where all parties involved can be satisfied. Reviews have always been a touchy subject on this website. No one could ever really agree what their real purpose was. |
   I envy your delusion; I wish I could live in it  |
| Nice feature, really like it. |
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| Excelllent news, thank you so much! |
| Guys if you have any questions feel free to drop em here, we'll be watching the thread. Cheers! |
| Wow an innovation finally. This feature requested a lot so it's good the see that it's being implemented. @Kineta As for special chapters of mangas in database special chapters or side stories can be added as new manga like how anime database works. We even have new entry for recap episodes. |
| Pretty good idea tho |
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Well, in that case, you could start off by restoring my preview of Re:Zero which had over 1k upvotes:  |
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| That's a nice update! Just a thing I want to ask: If I post a preview while the anime is still airing and then edit the episode count as I have seen all of the episodes when the anime finishes airing, will the review still be tagged as Preliminary or not? |
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sasalx said: Recap episodes only get new entries if they're half episode numbers. Creating new entries for specials and side stories of manga is not really feasible, nor is it the ideal solution for the anime database. We have some ideas in mind with what we want to do, but nothing concrete yet.As for special chapters of mangas in database special chapters or side stories can be added as new manga like how anime database works. We even have new entry for recap episodes. @Corny632 Reviews cannot be restored. Melody said: The guidelines state that reviews are not meant to be updated as you make your way through the work. The episode count can no longer be edited to make this clear. So yes, reviews posted while the series is airing will always have the Preliminary tag.If I post a preview while the anime is still airing and then edit the episode count as I have seen all of the episodes when the anime finishes airing, will the review still be tagged as Preliminary or not? |
| Oh, I see! One of my reviews got Preliminary'd, and I was wondering what it was about... Seems a pretty nice feature, honestly |
| Nice! Albeit, I wish the "# of helpfuls" section wouldn't be in such a small font when ut comes to using mobile phone desktop format. This seems like an interesting system for us. |
CodeBlazeFateMar 3, 2017 5:01 PM
| Being wrong is just an occupational hazard. Follow me on twitter. I have an anitube channel so feel free to check it out and subscribe if you like what you see. |
| @Kineta I see. So how about adding another counter in the same manga edit page? I mean we still will have Chap. Read: and Vol. Read: in main page but when a manga gets a special chapter or side story manga database mods can create a new counter for that kind of episodes. As for database they will not be unique or key so that part will be optional. With that we don't have to worry about those kind of episodes for reviews because code only will looks for main chapter number. Also if posiable I like to hear what the dbm team thinks. |
| Thanks for your ideas, @sasalx This is one possible solution we're contemplating, but it's not an easy task and requires a lot of thought. It's also somewhat off topic of this thread. I'd like to wait to discuss this more until a later date. |
| Nice idea, I just hope not too many people start filtering because of MUH NO DROP POLICY. If a work is awful it's no shame to stop watching it. |
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| These changes are good. Looking forward to the next updates. |
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| Cool. Should be useful. |
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| These changes sound useful. Thanks Kineta + team! Analytical reviews which break down the series and discuss aspects of it in depth Have you thought about how this might interact with the rules around spoilers? Maybe Spoilers is another possible tag? |
JoshFeb 27, 2017 8:01 PM
LoneWolf said: @Josh makes me sad to call myself Canadian. |
| Nice addition, thank you :) |
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Swiggy said: I don't know of a good example off the top of my head, but used to bump into them when I was the only one review modding (years ago). A few good quality sentences can convey the same thing that a TL;DR paragraph on a lengthy review can. Consider that a reader may only be interested in questions like, "are there fillers/plot holes?" or more simply "is this anime worth my time?" A writer doesn't need to pen an essay to give information a synopsis and entry data can't.I'm a bit interested in seeing what's considered brief yet still informative though. Stealing a TL;DR paragraph from adventureflame's review of Kuma Miko: This anime is about an insecure, ill-informed shrine maiden and her constant abuses that lead up to an ending so odd that the manga's creator needed to apologize for it to ensure his sales weren't jeopardized. While the music as well as art are surprisingly decent, it's dragged down by the poor characters and lax story. Essentially, if you enjoyed the lip curling suffering of vulnerable youths such as in Watashi ga Motenai, then expect the same without as much payoff. I have a little fangirl crush on Yasumoto Hiroki, and would have enjoyed the setup of the series. However, this paragraph (and just skimming the first sentences of many reviews) is enough to warn me off of the show before beginning. This is what many users who prefer brief reviews are more after.For myself, I can tell you that before I watch a show, I will only want a brief review of it—and usually I get this from a friend who knows my taste well enough to sell it to me. It isn't until after I've finished watching a show that I will want to read a more analytical review of the series, when I'm not afraid to be spoiled or have my expectations influenced prior to watching. Sometimes even synopses give too much away in my book. Josh said: Yep, Spoilers is another planned tag.Have you thought about how this might interact with the rules around spoilers? Maybe Spoilers is another possible tag? |
| Nice to see this update and imo, definitely welcome as a new feature. Thanks MAL :> |
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Kineta said: What about implementing actual spoiler tags into reviews? You knowJosh said: Yep, Spoilers is another planned tag.Have you thought about how this might interact with the rules around spoilers? Maybe Spoilers is another possible tag? |
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KingKatsura said: If you mean a review you made for a show before finishing it then it's always going to be preliminary, regardless of whether you finished the show later and/or updated the review accordingly. You can't get rid of it in that case (the system would be pointless if you could)So how do I get rid of the preliminary tag on a review for a show that I've completed |
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| thanks god |
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| Not bad , so this what xinil was talking about. |
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| I like the prelim tag, I get that, but kinda pissed you removed my first review. Bump it down, sure, but it's bullshit to retroactively change the rules and use it as an excuse to erase people's work. |
| TEN COMMANDMENTS: 1) If Evangelion and Psycho-Pass are his only 10s, he probably also worships Tool and smells like cheesy puffs 2) Freudian psychosis =/= good writing 3) Moe blob art style is only ok in pure slice-of-life comedy 4) It's ok to enjoy shounen. Having fun is allowed 5) It is not ok to enjoy isekai (jk, it is, I just fucking hate it) 6) Creator breakdown =/= good writing 7) A story does not have to be wrapped up with a bow. Life is messy, why would a good story need to be tidy? 8) InuYasha is proto-Twilight 9) Ecchi CAN be good, but is almost always an abomination 10) If God is real, They allowed Super Kid to happen, so fuck Them |
| I like this idea. It makes things more simple and to the point |
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| Thanks for continuing to make updates to the review process! I still think an auto delete on series conclusion function would serve better in not letting previews grab the top spot on the helpfuls side of things... but this is a start. Reviewers everywhere commend you making MAL great again! @Kineta |
"Man always thinks about the past before he dies, as if he were frantically searching for proof that he truly lived." -Jet Black (Cowboy Bebop)  |
bastard_of_young said: Which rule are you speaking of? We haven't retroactively changed any rules. The preview rule was implemented at the end of Spring 2013—a year before you joined the site. I think you may be confused.I like the prelim tag, I get that, but kinda pissed you removed my first review. Bump it down, sure, but it's bullshit to retroactively change the rules and use it as an excuse to erase people's work. We haven't allowed any BBcode in reviews, so I'd never really considered that. I still think having a bright red "Spoilers" tag at the top is the best to deter readers who really, absolutely don't want to be spoiled. The final review is also cleaner this way, without breaks in sentences/paragraphs due to buttons. |
Kineta said: Which rule are you speaking of? We haven't retroactively changed any rules. The preview rule was implemented at the end of Spring 2013—a year before you joined the site. I think you may be confused. I might be confused, I just started actually using my account recently. I just got the notice that it was deleted right after this thread went up and I wrote my first "review" after 1 episode because I saw that many others had done so without being taken down for months. Hell, there's are still reviews up of that very series that watched 2 out of 12 episodes to my 1. I don't get how those opinions are vastly more valid than my own. And not that my opinion holds weight, but I don't understand why a simple priority system can't be used to just bump the previews down and exclude them from the front page stream. I don't love the idea of content being erased unless it's irrelevant. People can get an idea about a series from an episode or two and those opinions are valid. Again, I don't mind them taking a backseat, but outright removal I don't dig. |
bastard_of_youngFeb 28, 2017 7:43 PM
| TEN COMMANDMENTS: 1) If Evangelion and Psycho-Pass are his only 10s, he probably also worships Tool and smells like cheesy puffs 2) Freudian psychosis =/= good writing 3) Moe blob art style is only ok in pure slice-of-life comedy 4) It's ok to enjoy shounen. Having fun is allowed 5) It is not ok to enjoy isekai (jk, it is, I just fucking hate it) 6) Creator breakdown =/= good writing 7) A story does not have to be wrapped up with a bow. Life is messy, why would a good story need to be tidy? 8) InuYasha is proto-Twilight 9) Ecchi CAN be good, but is almost always an abomination 10) If God is real, They allowed Super Kid to happen, so fuck Them |
| @bastard_of_young One episode reviews are not allowed as per the Review Guidelines. These rules came into effect in June 2013. The reasoning for them can be found in detail here. Of particular interest would be: If you've seen other 1 episode reviews on TV entries, then it is because they have not been reported/removed yet. They will be. |
| @Kineta I guess I can understand that. Thanks for clearing that up. But what's to prevent users from lying about how much they've seen and still basing their reviews on what they've actually seen ie. repost my review as is, but say I saw 5 episodes rather than just the one? I guess elimination based on a metric that can be easily fabricated doesn't quite click with me. I'll get over it, just raising questions now. |
| TEN COMMANDMENTS: 1) If Evangelion and Psycho-Pass are his only 10s, he probably also worships Tool and smells like cheesy puffs 2) Freudian psychosis =/= good writing 3) Moe blob art style is only ok in pure slice-of-life comedy 4) It's ok to enjoy shounen. Having fun is allowed 5) It is not ok to enjoy isekai (jk, it is, I just fucking hate it) 6) Creator breakdown =/= good writing 7) A story does not have to be wrapped up with a bow. Life is messy, why would a good story need to be tidy? 8) InuYasha is proto-Twilight 9) Ecchi CAN be good, but is almost always an abomination 10) If God is real, They allowed Super Kid to happen, so fuck Them |
| @Kineta : Thank you. ouo Is there a minimum amount of content or maybe even a loose word count a brief review must have? Also, is it the writer or a mod who will be tagging whether their review is brief/analytical (I'm not sure if it's an either or type of thing with those two tags)? I know some of this is being planned so I understand if this might come off as me asking questions without definite answers. It's just this thread inspired me to write some reviews of different types possibly! |
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