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January, 2025

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New Review Section!

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robotdna
Posts: 1232 - Karma: 2,959
I don't think this is a repost, but delete if it is.

Anyway, go and check out the new Reviews section. It's completely redone and looks great. It's easy to find stuff and easy to make reviews. Also, every user has a "gear" tab now too to show your gear that you own.

On a downside, you can't edit your reviews so if you screw up you're in deep. That's always been the case though so it's fine.



Aug 29 2013 7:59PM
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DrZoidberg
Posts: 5676 - Karma: 4,297
Can we delete our reviews? I have only one, and it's from way long ago.
Aug 29 2013 8:58PM
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broto
Posts: 9040 - Karma: 25,665
they should have a thread or area to request reviews. i have a ton of gear and while i wouldn't mind doing a review or two i'm not gonna do all of it
Aug 29 2013 9:54PM
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BWalmer
Posts: 9141 - Karma: 12,885
I updated some old reviews I did, I actually like this system a lot. I'll have to sit down one day and just start writing reviews of all my gear...might take a while, but if we want this system to succeed, reviews must be posted.
Aug 29 2013 10:18PM
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p-fo
Posts: 9372 - Karma: 6,156
I like it a lot, but the dropdown for brands at the start of the process needs to be sorted alphabetically.
Aug 30 2013 1:54AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
So far this is in an early beta phase, but we sent out a mass PM to anyone with old reviews to go in and update them.

Updating your old reviews is a great way for us to test all the data in the system and really see if it works.

We'll start regular roll-out announcements of new features over the coming weeks as we get all of you to check this thing out.

The whole concept is based around capturing review stats in data format vs. only text, and making it extremely easy and quick to enter that information.

The data in aggregate will be awesome and very searchable.

Try it on your smartphone too, its a touch wonky but its super easy to just whip out a review in nothing flat. Don't even need to add images, text or anything if you don't want.
Aug 30 2013 7:27AM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
This is looking so much better already. The one big thing I think will need to happen for people to use it more, is to make it more 'accessible'. I'm not sure where you would put the link honestly, but it seems like a feature that's hiding due to its location under the 'Gear' tab on the top main bar.

Under the 'Gear' tab we have Sell and Trade, Gear Talk, Reviews, and Subscribe to Powder. Both Sell and Trade, and Gear Talk already have access points through the forum so that seems redundant. And Subscribe to Powder? I realize the Grind Media connection, but I think if people want to subscribe they'll just go to powder, so again an unnecessary tab.

That leaves us with just the review tab sitting up there. Would that be an appropriate spot for it?
Aug 30 2013 8:17AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
Since its still in beta, we're not really pushing it out there yet. So we don't want to make it super accessible quite yet. That way it naturally controls the flow of people coming in.

Ideally if you just click 'gear' at the top bam you're there.
Aug 30 2013 8:27AM
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corona
Posts: 12818 - Karma: 32,993
Maybe the feature isn't there yet, but how do I edit my reviews? I was a little trigger happy with the sliders so didn't put them exactly where they should be for 1 of them.
Aug 30 2013 10:42AM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
Open up the product page and click "Write a review" -- instead of prompting you to add a new review you'll be able to edit the one you already created.
Aug 30 2013 10:48AM
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corona
Posts: 12818 - Karma: 32,993
Can't seem to find it. There's nothing in the 'write a review' section for editing past ones. And when I go to my profile and click "Gear" nothing is showing up, even though there are 3 old reviews I just updated. And I can find them searching through the reviews section. Oh well.
Aug 30 2013 10:57AM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
Find the product you want to edit your review of, click write a review, and you'll notice it's just your old review that you can now edit.
Aug 30 2013 11:51AM
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3mania
Posts: 2624 - Karma: 10,488
Yeah, WTF?
Aug 30 2013 1:20PM
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broto
Posts: 9040 - Karma: 25,665
probably a change in the karma formula
Aug 30 2013 5:57PM
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BWalmer
Posts: 9141 - Karma: 12,885
Mine dropped by 50,000...I thought it was just me and couldn't figure out what I did, haha.
Aug 30 2013 6:03PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
Looks like the issues are exclusive to people who have written reviews. That's my observation at the least.
Aug 30 2013 7:07PM
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robotdna
Posts: 1232 - Karma: 2,959
Thanks! Great feature!
Aug 30 2013 10:36PM
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7springsprod
Posts: 2661 - Karma: 3,181
So I received a message asking me to update my 1 review from 2 years ago and I pressed the "update" button. A day later I noticed that my karma dropped by about 5,000 and my Xchange had not moved at all. Would the loss of karma be due to my review being gone or something? I'm kinda confused and I feel that it didn't update correctly and I lost my karma because of it? Idk I'm curious.
Aug 30 2013 11:02PM
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3mania
Posts: 2624 - Karma: 10,488
So no one's gonna get in here and tell us what happened?
Aug 31 2013 1:57PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
I'll have to try writing a review to see if my karma jumps off the deep end. I'll try one a bit later tonight if I get the time. I still haven't written any, even though I'm an advocate of reviews... The old system was just that weird for me.
Aug 31 2013 8:16PM
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7springsprod
Posts: 2661 - Karma: 3,181
Anyone gonna shine light on the karma issue?
Sep 2 2013 10:40PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
I wrote a review and it didn't instantaneously jump. We'll see if it does at the midnight karma update.

And with the actual review editing, is there a way to remove images that have been posted? I accidentally have duplicate images in there and I can't remove one of them.
Sep 3 2013 12:10AM
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Stose
Posts: 7109 - Karma: 4,123
definitely wondering the same thing
Sep 3 2013 2:57AM
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00000000
Posts: 11075 - Karma: 82,508
No need to fret! Karma changes will be rectified as soon as Paul comes back from vacation next week.
Sep 3 2013 8:36AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
Yeah, Karma is completely re-calculated every night, so all that happened is credit for those old reviews was taken away, and hasn't been transferred into the new system yet.

Please feel free to update everything and do not fear losing Karma. You'll be credited (and then some) when we re-adjust the calculation.

Also as a little insight... those with really high review Karmaz are going to start to get access to some really cool opportunities. ;)
Sep 3 2013 8:41AM
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BWalmer
Posts: 9141 - Karma: 12,885
Glad to hear this will get worked out.

Just sat down and wrote a bunch of reviews and I really love this new system, makes it much faster and easier to put together a solid review and the averaging of other reviews will really help people get a great overview of products. Excellent work guys, I've been wanting something like this for a while and it's exactly as I expected it!
Sep 3 2013 9:42AM
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BWalmer
Posts: 9141 - Karma: 12,885
Just noticed the sorting filters...holy crap those are amazing! It couldn't be any easier to located gear reviews even if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Freakin awesome!
Sep 3 2013 9:48AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
Yeah that is the ticket here.

Once we have critical mass on products, and this thing has a fuck ton of reviews in it you'll really be able to search for new products that fit the style of skier you are.

Also, you'll be able to add everything to your wishlist, and bug your friends and family around christmas to hook you up. ;)

Sep 3 2013 10:27AM
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broto
Posts: 9040 - Karma: 25,665
i think an important part of the review section would be the ability to have like a reviewer's rating VS voter's rating.

the original reviewer will give the product rating's in all the categories but i think it would be helpful to able to rate the product from the review page.

so you'd see the original person's rating (let's say 8), and then next to that rating is a sort of community rating where it might say 7.6/10 based on 12 votes. with things such as durability and opinions on style it could be very useful to have a large data pool for the ratings.
Sep 3 2013 8:38PM
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Stose
Posts: 7109 - Karma: 4,123
Not sure if this is a problem on my end or not, but in the review section, the part where there are the little sliders i cant drag the slider at all.
Sep 6 2013 12:44PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
What browser / device / OS?
Sep 6 2013 10:43PM
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Stose
Posts: 7109 - Karma: 4,123
Google chrome on an asus touchscreen laptop running windows 8
Sep 6 2013 11:27PM
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Stose
Posts: 7109 - Karma: 4,123
Also should add I tried with the touchscreen, the tracking pad, and a mouse. None worked
Sep 6 2013 11:27PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
Try purging your cache and seeing if you have the latest version of the browser. We have caught wind of some super pesky little bug with certain versions of Chrome but can't track it down.
Sep 7 2013 12:11AM
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cydwhit
Posts: 5075 - Karma: 43,050
Good to know, I saw that and thought I must have posted something that was accidentally really offensive or something, haha
Sep 7 2013 7:09PM
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Drail
Posts: 14033 - Karma: 10,205
Digging the new review format. Gonna pump out some reviews and see how she goes. As more people write reviews for the same product it should give a solid representation of the true 'worth' of said product, which is sweet.

I guess people don't have to actually write a text review, but I'm curious to see how all that goes. Without a formal form about specifics on the equipment some peoples text reviews might be very lacking, or just not really relevant towards helping someone decide on if the product is for them. I guess we'll see how people choose to express their opinions on said products.

Either way, I like the update, much improved.
Sep 8 2013 2:24PM
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robotdna
Posts: 1232 - Karma: 2,959
Quick question:

As more people review a product, do the little slidy bars begin to "average" for the main one?
Sep 9 2013 12:40AM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
I noticed the tab was changed up. Looks way better and has more relevant sub tabs.

I'm also on my iPad right night, google chrome, can't seem to edit nor find the review I wrote on an Orage flux. I'll try the PC tomorrow and see if I can find it then edit it.
Sep 9 2013 1:02AM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
Found it. It's just not appearing in the update reviews section and I can't seem to edit it via writing a review anymore.
Sep 9 2013 1:06AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
This was what caused the thought process behind the new system. Text reviews are great, but without form and format they lack consistency. You then have almost everything getting a 9 or 10 out of 10 because almost everything performs well SOMEWHERE.

The last review system had immense amounts of text reviews, but it was meaningless in terms of establishing that really wide view of a product.

That is the goal here - to have tonnes of reviews in the system that are super duper easy to enter. Text or no text.

Then, with the average opinion on that product, we have searchable data. You can then dig deeper into each person and their take on it as well as who they are as a skier.
Sep 9 2013 9:48AM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
Yes absolutely. This is EXACTLY the key behind this thing.

As we all add reviews (both staff and regular users) it builds out the aggregate information of a product. That way, you have a more holistic view of something vs. only what some single gear editor said.

Some people will write super long reviews, some people will only write text. Some reviewers you'll trust, others you won't.

However, each product page will be an aggregate of all this information, allowing you to make your own decisions about something.

As well, there will be historical information about other years of products from the same product line or manufacturer. Hopefully with enough data, we'll start to be able to really trace some accurate information about expected quality of new products and other wonderful things like that.

Sep 9 2013 9:54AM
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Byron_tha_gr8
Posts: 4573 - Karma: 14,299
Whats crazy is that if this all pans out, ns will have the best unbiased ski gear guide. Better than any mag, including Powder, and better than any other website. Im stoked.
Sep 9 2013 12:32PM
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NinetyFour
Posts: 8650 - Karma: 13,411
Blister still does an incredible job at making the most unbiased text based reviews going. I think this new system here will stack up pretty good but I think there's still the opportunity for bias in it. But it enough people use it it should average out.
Sep 9 2013 1:18PM
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robotdna
Posts: 1232 - Karma: 2,959
Oh yes, Blister will always be by far my favorite as I love them so much.

But this new addition made NS 1000 times better. Once reviews start stacking up, stuff's going to be accurate!
Sep 9 2013 5:39PM
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Mr.Bishop
Posts: 22714 - Karma: 76,725
We want to do our absolute best to provide a solid platform that provides you with a more aggregate view of everything. We hope to accomplish mixing the more standard gear guide type product features, honest reviews from trusted sources and a deep dive into mass opinion.

The hope is that you will have all the data and be able to make more informed decisions yourself on what product fits your needs and who you trust to review product.

I'm absolutely stoked on the Blister guys - I love their approach and a long time ago I used to do my absolute best to do something similar. My hope is that we can eventually find a way to assist with integration of what they do and what we're doing.

We want to provide the aggregate opinion. In my mind, there is power in having all the information available about something.
Sep 10 2013 8:55AM
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