Professionally written reviews for qs scenes?

[epoch]

Quick question ... has anyone ever thought of asking for or providing honest, professionally written reviews for producers and their upcoming quicksand scenes? I think it would be a great way to promote new scenes, provide a new selling point, and give the viewer honest feedback they can use before deciding what to purchase. Many times a viewer will purchase a scene from a producer, be unhappy with it for whatever reason, and instead of seeing what else that producer has available will just not purchase from them anymore. That is unfortunate due to the increase in quality over the years with every producer involved. Professionally written reviews could completely undo this problem and add so much more benefit tot he entire process. Money is tight for everyone so it is difficult to choose which scene or dvd to purchase, and I think this could be a great service to provide...and best of all, it'd be free!

I'd love to throw my hat in the ring for this if anyone is interested. I am a professional writer, it is my career, and I have several bodies of work published (of course, for obvious reasons, I cannot divulge my true identity here, and if I am approached to write a review, I would write it under the pen name Epoch). When you think about it, books get tons of reviews, as do movies, tv shows, etc...so why not qs scenes? And I don't mean just general consumer reviews (helpful though those are)...I'm talking about true professionalism here. So I am curious, what do you all think about this?

Thanks everyone.

Epoch

[Viridian]

I've thought about it, but I feel torn between providing a critique for potential buyers and their choice on what to purchase, and supporting our own producers. There are some videos which I have purchased but actually disliked, but I didn't think there'd be any good in actually voicing it in a public forum.

Another thing is that a lot of the scenes will target specific audiences and interests, and most of the time people will buy (and enjoy) scenes which suit their preferences (e.g. type of substance, submersion, models, etc.). It's fairly hard to compare different scenes, in my opinion, and in the end every video ticks the right box for everyone: contains quicksand.

[Fred588]

My personal opinion is that this is not such a good idea. If a review is paid for by the producer then it is clearly subject to bias. Whether it is or isn't its still going to be the opinion of the writer. Having seen the extreme, even diametrical divergence of opinion on all sorts of details that go into scenes or stories, the opinion of one writer is likely to be the precise opposite of another's.

[Duncan Edwards]

Another thing is that a lot of the scenes will target specific audiences and interests, and most of the time people will buy (and enjoy) scenes which suit their preferences (e.g. type of substance, submersion, models, etc.). It's fairly hard to compare different scenes, in my opinion, and in the end every video ticks the right box for everyone: contains quicksand.

Having seen the extreme, even diametrical divergence of opinion on all sorts of details that go into scenes or stories, the opinion of one writer is likely to be the precise opposite of another's.

That pretty much sums it up for me too. Not that a review is an inherently bad thing it's just that there are so many different opinions and personal feelings it's difficult to say this is good, bad, right, wrong, etc. I've shot videos in the past I was very proud of and others didn't care for them. There have been some I thought were awful that people grooved on because of one specific detail. This isn't Hollywood or even art, it's a fetish.

Now what I would love to read would be more constructive feedback from the viewers themselves. If you get a video and don't like it then you really owe it to the producer to email them and tell them what you didn't like. If it was a real disappointment for reasons of production values or whatever I'd be willing to bet producers would work with you on making you happy. Nobody wants a dissatisfied customer but if they never hear what is wrong it makes it damn difficult to get it right later. This is a small market and it really relies on the audience to help.

[Ace]

Now what I would love to read would be more constructive feedback from the viewers themselves.

If you get a video and don't like it then you really owe it to the producer to email them and tell them what you didn't like.

You begin by saying you'd like to read constructive criticism, but in the next sentence, you urge customers to email the producers directly, ergo, privately. This is is a confusing and conflicting message to send. (Unless you're referring to criticism on your own product, with yourself as a producer, but I thought you were retired/on hiatus/inactive in some way in that field, and maybe I'm wrong, I dunno).

And on that thought, why do you suggest a private medium for such a topic anyway? Doesn't making it a public topic make more sense? Customers can have an open discussion with both each other and the producer about their common complaints if they have any; ya know, hence the term "discussion" board. If nothing else, then at least for the reason of potentially saving the producer the hassle of having the same conversation multiple times with multiple people privately, right?

If it was a real disappointment for reasons of production values or whatever I'd be willing to bet producers would work with you on making you happy.

I recall one producer in particular being quite closed-minded on the subject of constructive criticism (criticism regarding your precise example, in fact).

[Sekani]

There is no aspect of constructive criticism that inherently requires it to be public instead of private. In a public venue, it takes some tact to be able to give criticism and have a discussion on it without being a jerk. This is a skill which I find most people do not have, and it's even rarer online. Instead, emotions and egos get involved, and it all devolves into a big mess.

On the main subject, I don't know if a professional review would provide much value to a niche/fetish audience. For most people it would seem that the only type of "review" needed is whether or not a specific video caters to their interests; is the sinking fast or slow, dramatic or erotic, nude or fully clothed, etc. What would you hope to provide beyond what a basic tagging system could accomplish?

[Fred588]

I think there are two issues (at least) being confused here. One is the issue of whether is ok to have reviews or opinions posted here. I see no reason why forum members should not post their views within a particular producer's forum. Obviously, "I did not particularly care for the lack of any set up story," is a lot more constructive than "It sucked.'

The other issue is whether there is value in a "professionally written" review. The term "professional" can mean, of course, that the reviewer was paid for the review or it could refer to it being written competently. My interpretation in my earlier reply was of the former meaning.

In the consumer field the periodical "Consumer Reports" pretty clearly enjoys a strong reputation. That is largely earned in two ways. First, the reviews are systematic and comparative, with the review procedure pretty well disclosed to the reader. This makes the review replicable and very defensible. Second, and critically, the magazine itself actually buys all the products reviewed. At least I think they do). This eliminates the potential for bias from the manufacturer having any influence over the review. Within our own interest, I think any attempt at a systematic and comparative review would be impossible since each video scene is different. They are not like machines designed to do a certain task.

As for reviews simply written by forum members, I have no problems with those. Several times I have had members tell me they were going to do a review and I have been rather disappointed when they did not follow up.

[Duncan Edwards]

Now what I would love to read would be more constructive feedback from the viewers themselves.

If you get a video and don't like it then you really owe it to the producer to email them and tell them what you didn't like.

You begin by saying you'd like to read constructive criticism, but in the next sentence, you urge customers to email the producers directly, ergo, privately. This is is a confusing and conflicting message to send. (Unless you're referring to criticism on your own product, with yourself as a producer, but I thought you were retired/on hiatus/inactive in some way in that field, and maybe I'm wrong, I dunno).

And on that thought, why do you suggest a private medium for such a topic anyway? Doesn't making it a public topic make more sense? Customers can have an open discussion with both each other and the producer about their common complaints if they have any; ya know, hence the term "discussion" board. If nothing else, then at least for the reason of potentially saving the producer the hassle of having the same conversation multiple times with multiple people privately, right?

If it was a real disappointment for reasons of production values or whatever I'd be willing to bet producers would work with you on making you happy.

I recall one producer in particular being quite closed-minded on the subject of constructive criticism (criticism regarding your precise example, in fact).

Read it all again. Slowly.

Constructive feedback is welcome and useful no matter how it is delivered but if you have a problem with a particular product are you better off to put it on Facebook or contact the manufacturer directly?

It is unlikely that you will ever see my name attached to anything again but I do speak from a substantial amount of experience.

Ergo - Say what you want in this forum but expect the best results in obtaining satisfaction for your unhappiness by discussing it with the producer. Believe it or not they may not have time to read every freaking post at QSF. This is a small market and closing the feedback loop as tightly as possible can yield results. I know this for a fact.

[Viridian]

I'm probably one of those, and I've dropped the idea for two reasons: the aforementioned lack of purpose for a fetish audience, and the general availability of individual scenes removing the need judge a DVD's value. Back when only DVDs were for sale, getting bang-for-buck was an issue. Since scenes are generally priced around the same range and most scenes are literally what-you-see-is-what-you-get, there's hardly a point.

The one time I did really want to write a review was for a DVD, and it was because I felt disappointed with the overall production value, an obnoxious script, intrusive recording, a model that looked disinterested, etc.; with consideration that I only enjoyed one video in that DVD. That said, I felt I would've killed off a producer's revenue if I publicly posted a negative review, which brings me back to the point I made in my first post.

[Duncan Edwards]

I'm probably one of those, and I've dropped the idea for two reasons: the aforementioned lack of purpose for a fetish audience, and the general availability of individual scenes removing the need judge a DVD's value. Back when only DVDs were for sale, getting bang-for-buck was an issue. Since scenes are generally priced around the same range and most scenes are literally what-you-see-is-what-you-get, there's hardly a point.

The one time I did really want to write a review was for a DVD, and it was because I felt disappointed with the overall production value, an obnoxious script, intrusive recording, a model that looked disinterested, etc.; with consideration that I only enjoyed one video in that DVD. That said, I felt I would've killed off a producer's revenue if I publicly posted a negative review, which brings me back to the point I made in my first post.

Just curious if you ever purchased from that producer again?