Burda Style For people who sew

This isn’t really a feature request, so much as an “unrequest.” I have to say, I’m not fond of the 1-5 ratings. I think it makes sense in certain contexts, like if you’re rating a pattern. In that case, people who are considering making the pattern might want to know if people are satisfied with it before investing time, money, and effort into it. Sites like Ravelry make good use of ratings for that purpose for patterns, and for people’s personal projects only offer the ability to say that you “heart” something, not that you think it’s bad.

I don’t have any gripes about the way my projects have been rated, so this isn’t sour grapes. But I just feel like in a community in which so much is about sharing what you’ve created for others to see and getting feedback so you can improve and learn, a 1-5 scale doesn’t add much. Plus I feel like it gives people an opportunity to be anonymously negative or mean. Back when it used to just be comments, I rarely saw comments that weren’t encouraging or helpful. This is still the case— people are positive, or at least constructive. Why add the opportunity to cut someone else’s work down? And now, sometimes I see something which is perfectly nice (or maybe not that nice, but what does it matter?) that’s got a 1 rating. What is that good of that? (And sometimes I see things that I personally don’t like with a low rating, and still, I don’t see the point. If someone really feels that strongly that they want to give something a low rating, why not instead just put a comment that says, “You might want to try ironing the seam allowances open as you sew- you’ll find this makes for a much more professional finish”?)

The fact that people are using their skills, exercising their creativity, and just flat out MAKING things deserves praise, even if the outcome isn’t to everyone’s taste. The fact that the creator bothered to post it at all means that they take at least a tiny bit of pride in it. If someone doesn’t like something, and wouldn’t be willing to post a comment to that extent, why should they be allowed to indicate that they hate it anonymously? Voting “1” isn’t that different from just posting a comment that says “THIS SUCKS” and we all know that people wouldn’t do that! Rating doesn’t benefit the person who made it because it doesn’t suggest any way that they could improve their work, and it doesn’t benefit the casual viewer to see that a project has an average of 2 stars from 7 people. The ratings don’t even add that much if something is rated highly. I’m guessing that people click on things because of the picture, not the rating, and my guess is that most of the people who post creations would rather get a nice comment than a high rating from someone who looks at their stuff.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant. It’s not meant to be a criticism of BurdaStyle in any way. Obviously, I love the site and the community. I do think, however, that project ratings don’t add anything to the community, and getting rid of them might actually foster a more creative and nurturing community.

-Elaine

Oct 14, 2009, 04.27 AM by elainemay

• Report as Inappropriate

10 Posts

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  Oct 14, 2009, 10.09 PMby Alden

  Hey Elaine,
  First off we really want to thank you for this post, it really explained where you are coming from and helped us understand your position. The whole team talked about this and agreed that we should move it to something along the lines of facebook with “liking.” We agree that this site is so great because of the positivity and encouragement and we don’t want that to change. As of now, we are busy fixing many bugs and as soon but as soon as we can we will revisit this issue. Thank you again!
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  Oct 15, 2009, 11.48 AMby Ichigogirl

  I totally agree, glad to hear that the team does too :-)!
  And oh, by the way, when I looked at other craft/sewing-websites the other day I realised just how user-friendly (easily navigated) and good-looking (graphics/layout) the Burdastyle site is now so: well done BS-team, with the bugs fixed it’ll be great! Especially since you take your time to listen to us users, thank you!
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  Oct 15, 2009, 12.06 PMby KateXXXXXX

  I do agree with everything Elaine has said. Thank you for putting it so nicely, too. :)

  As a teacher, I know the value of encouragement and positive reinforcement. I also know the value of constructive criticism and clear instructions that can be followed easily.

  On that note, I find that there are some superb patterns and designs on the site that are spoiled by inadequate or confusing instructions. I know from designing stuff for kids and beginner to use that step-by-step clear instructions with good illustrations are essential and make the whole process go quicker, with better results. One example that comes to mind is the Alison swimsuit… Mine isn’t quite complete yet, but I have been writing it up as I go, so some more detailed instructions can be made available soon.

  2 Replies

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    Oct 16, 2009, 10.30 AMby AnaJan

    Good point Kate.

    I would like to add something to the topic of pattern instructions. I have posted several patterns to the site. I tried to make instructions for all of them, but I guess some of the instructions aren’t as descriptive as they could be.

    The problem is that sometimes I don’t have enough time to take photos of the process as I sew, and the photos would clearly illustrate the construction. The other problem is that I am not a native English speaker and I find it difficult to explain in English some sewing specific terms and details.

    I think it would be nice to have a constructive feedback from other members who have used my patterns with more detailed information about garment construction.

    Since the site’s idea is an open sourcing, I think everybody would benefit from this kind of help.
    On the old site there was a space for comments on the pattern page. It was removed from the new site, which I believe was a wrong decision. That feature was a source of additional information about the pattern to all members. Instead of comments, there is a rating feature, which is good (when it comes to patterns and techniques), but not informative enough.

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    Oct 16, 2009, 02.32 PMby Alden

    I agree good instructions are essential, we have been going back and fixing our early BurdaStyle hand drawn patterns into a cleaner computerized version. We are always looking to give you the best quality, and we do that with your help! Katexxxxxxx I can’t wait to see your instructions!

    Di you guys know you can comment on each individual step of the instructions? If you add additional information in there, people will see how it relates to the step. If something is confusing and you can explain it better, please do :) I knwo as a novice i sometimes need things explained to me a couple different ways before I understand what to do

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  Oct 15, 2009, 01.50 PMby wzrdreams

  I agree with everything Elaine said, and I’m glad to hear that our feelings are being taken into account.
  Further to what Katiexxxxxx said…. I agree that some of the pattern instructions aren’t always clear. Sometimes I think it’s a wording issue, and sometimes I think a picture is really all that’s needed to make sense of the written word. Because of this sort of confusion I made a how-to for the Jennifer neckline. It got 1 comment and 2 votes, but 17 people have added it as a favorite. Since favorited items are bookmarked on our personal pages, this statistic is truly flattering because it means that my how-to is useful to other people in the community. As mentioned, “votes” adds nothing but the potential for passive negativity. I feel that the “favorite” and “comments” options are all that is really needed.
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  Oct 16, 2009, 01.06 AMby kaitui_kiwi

  I’m gad someone bought this up, I’ve always thought it a bit silly, I think this kind of rating is better put to use (in a bit more detail though) against patterns (this is really needed btw). I agree with everyone above, this is not a popularity contest, we’ve already seem the dramas from that kind of thinking with the scarf dress challenge! Comments and “favouriting” is enough, let’s stick with genuine encouragement and get rid of the faceless ratings :)
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  Oct 16, 2009, 10.45 AMby AnaJan

  I agree with everything that was said here. I prefer comments – no matter whether the commented creation/pattern/technique was mine or someone else’s.
  I have to admit I felt a bit offended by low ratings some of my creations got. Especially because I wasn’t able to see who rated my creations, and there was no explanation for low rating. I am an experienced sewer, and low ratings will not discourage me, but some novice might get completely discouraged by these mean ratings.
  Rating a creation isn’t particularly informative, and it surely isn’t helpful.
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  Nov 10, 2009, 01.00 AMby Miss_Sylver

  Not as discouraged as somebody who doesn’t get ratings or comments sobs…grins

  But yes I agree, some of the pattern instructions are a little difficult to understand and sometimes I wonder if it wouldn’t be helpful to have two sets of instructions, one in beginner speak and then one in expert speak. At least that would give a point of reference so that novices could download both, learn the terminology but also not be completely flummoxed/intimidated by it.

  1 Reply

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    Nov 11, 2009, 11.18 PMby Alden

    This is an awesome idea!!! unfortunately at this point we don’t have the man power to do this! however, as a member you have the ability to comment on each step of the instructions should you want to go in there, that would be totalyl awesome!

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  Nov 12, 2009, 11.07 AMby Miss_Sylver

  Tell you what, I have an idea that may or may not work. I’ll give it a go over the next few days and see if it works. If it does I will road test it on a couple of friends and then send it to you. How does that work for you?
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  Nov 18, 2009, 02.06 AMby ink

  I just would like to say that I love Burda and that I am glad elainemay posted this topic.
  I agree with everyone above. As a ‘freshie’ in the sewing world instructions are very
  important and AnaJan ( I am sure people love your postings, I know that I do and
  it is difficult to post every step, particularly for an expert like yourself- who has forgotten
  the struggles of starting out- us beginners who shudder at the sight of a buttonhole!)
  I wanted to point out that I had NO HONK’in idea about what that rating system was about.
  (totally no idea) I figured it was the responsibility of the person who was posting their
  creation to rate how much they liked making it/ the overall result !!! ( I had no idea other
  people rated our work.) Seems like the rating system might be useful if the person
  making the garment rated it on the likes of ease, fit, etc….
  Just a thought!
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  Nov 18, 2009, 08.13 AMby MarmotaB

  I’d like to apologise to AnaJan – I accidentally marked her comment as inapropriate, but I actually wanted to reply to it! Which isn’t possible, because her post is already a reply to another post… but I realised that too late. Sorry!

  And my reply was to be this: Yes, I would also prefer comments on the patterns again. It was sometimes a very useful source of information from other users!

  2 Replies

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    Nov 18, 2009, 11.11 AMby AnaJan

    Hey MarmotaB, have no worries! ;)

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    Nov 18, 2009, 12.03 PMby MarmotaB

    Thanks. :-)