What rating do you consider low?

D

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It depends. I will check the reviews also. I don't trust the ratings much if there are only few of them. But if there are lot of people rating the novel, then I think the rating is more fair. In that case the overall rating below 3 is low.

I personally don't give low ratings as I just drop the novel early on if it's not my liking and move on to other novels.
 

Aaky

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Assuming there are at least 50 ratings in place:

5 - Impossible
4.9 - Excellent
4.8 - Very Well Written
4.7 - Well Written
4.6 - Above Average
4.5 - Average
4.4 - Readeable
4.3 - Mediocre
4.2 - Something is wrong
4.1 - Bad
4.0 - Really Bad

Anything below 4.0 is not worth reading.
 

ForestDweller

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Assuming there are at least 50 ratings in place:

5 - Impossible
4.9 - Excellent
4.8 - Very Well Written
4.7 - Well Written
4.6 - Above Average
4.5 - Average
4.4 - Readeable
4.3 - Mediocre
4.2 - Something is wrong
4.1 - Bad
4.0 - Really Bad

Anything below 4.0 is not worth reading.

*looks at my story*

:blob_no:
 

Shard

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In my view, a 3 is 'pretty good' with 1 as absolute trash, and 5 as practically perfect. Unfortunately, it appears almost everyone disagrees, and you get swarms of people voting 'this is perfect' on absolutely everything, and 'this is trash' on things they simply dislike the style of.

Quite unfortunate, and IMO proof that a rating scale does not work given human nature. I try to stick to my own view of it, but unfortunately, that means I tend to rate things lower than everyone else, on top of rarely ever rating things. I figure at least I can offset that by giving free advertisement about stories I like, however, and have gotten quite a few folks interested in various stories.

Honestly, at this point, if a story has a five star rating, I treat it the same as a story with a two star rating, because I can't trust the ratings to be even slightly accurate to the quality.
 

AMissingLinguist

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I'll be honest, I don't read most stories here. Scribble Hub is a great place for beginners to write, but if I had to dive into a sea of junk to find a diamond, I would go crazy. I do think a 5 star rating system is fair, but most people who rate don't put much thought in why a story is good and/or bad.

5 star: Masterpiece of storytelling. The writer has crafted something that will last beyond their death.
4 star: Innovative story. The writer has written something unique, but the story is missing some minor push to make it great.
3 star: Average story. The writer is following a trend or has not enough experience to write something new and never seen before.
2 star: Below average story. The writer fails to do a number of things. Grammar, plot holes, shabby characters, etc. done in such a way as to not interest most readers.
1 star: Outlier of storytelling. Somehow, the writer has failed so hard that they have come full circle. Whoever writes such bad fiction deserves recognition, only so that new writers know not to follow in their footsteps.

Of course, these are just how I think ratings should be viewed. Enjoyment, themes, and other things affect ratings as well.

Anyways, I consider 3 and below not worth reading. Authors should try to at least be a 3.5 or higher. If I'm reading something below a 3, then I'm most likely reading something that scratches a niche that only I enjoy.
 
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Aachiin0914

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When I saw three stars, my mind would already start to panick. Dunno, but my brain recognized it as low rating.
 

placeintime

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It really depends but usually, I read what the tags are first. When I look at ratings, I look at the number of people rating it as well. Because lets says 2 people voted for a novel: 1 five stars, the other 1 star, it makes the story like around 2.5. So sometimes when u have lower ratings because of fewer people, I would say 2.5-3 for me. For a novel that has more ratings, it's like around 3.7-5
 

Yamemai

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For me:
1 = Trash, stay away from it.
2 = Needs more something.
3 = Average, has potential.
4 = Alright; looking forward to next chapter & will recommend.
5 =

Ps. The 5 star being blank isn't a typo, I just don't feel like I've seen any 5 stars yet. But it may be something like a masterpiece or what not, where it is it's own world or something.
 

bigbear51

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If we're talking this specific site and averages, then 4 because of various reasons. Individual scores would have to a 1 or 2.
 

Freemints30

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Ratings are BS to me. People give 1-star just for things not their style. Really I give 5 out of 5 stars for things to help encourage writers to keep going and give 4's if I want to give a review of things I enjoyed but wish to point out some things. If I don't enjoy it I don't read since I don't want to waste my time.

I don't check ratings, I check comments and words of reviews to determine the contents. even 5 out 5 reviews can reveal things of a story that can turn me off. and one star reviews can give me something to draw me in.

However if a story is below 2 stars and it has more than 10 reviews I would wonder who the author pissed off or if it was some trashy fanfiction. But I would still check the comments.

Overall, ratings to me are more to encourage people but overall from a reader stand point, useless compared to comments.
 
D

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It depends on what platform. I usually check ratings of books on Goodreads and then NU when I used NU more. From a reader's point of view:

If its on Goodreads, 3.23-3.5 can be decent good novels. 3.5-3.8 are getting better. But 4.0+ novels are really good, usually see it never as high as 4.5 but example 4.03-4.23 kind.

If its on NU then its 4.1-4.2+ novels are decent. 4.2-4.3 starts to get be safe good. I do like more of 4.5-4.6 rated novels; those to me are a lot better and good. 4.0 novels is still an eh bit risky.

I kinda would base SH on NU. However, 3.5-3.8 novels on Goodreads is not that bad (honestly that seems good range if just starting out), and since this is site for anyone to start writing, perhaps 3.5-3.8 books are not too bad on here, but ofc, not as great as books with similar rating on Goodreads. I may not mind book on Goodreads that is mid 3 range like rated 3.5+ if I come across it by chance, but on NovelUpdates and probably SH, I like going for 4.3 or higher; although on both platforms, I generally go for 4.0+ rated books.

On NU/SH, 4.4-4.7 books are great. 4.2-4.3 books can still be a gem. Anything 3.9 below is not great, and 4.0 is risky.
On Goodreads, 3.5-3.8 books are not bad but can be decent good. Would skip 3.1 below if I do come across this. Not on Goodreads much.

Sometimes do I find novels that I feel should be rated higher, bc I liked the story. So it depends on how each feels about a novel. And it depends on the platform of ratings I'm reading on.

Now from a writer's point of view, I think scoring somewhere 3.5-3.8 is nice decent start, since barely just an amateur writer; even 3 is not too bad. But if it drops below 3.0, then I would go back and revisit to see why; anything 1-2.99 is low imo. But, goal of writing personally would be somewhere 4.1-4.3+ at least.
 
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SailusGebel

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I would consider a rating around 1-2.0 low. Also, I may be a weird one, but I prefer novels with a rating around 3.0-4.0 out of 5. Most stories above 4.0 are usually something niche. The fans of specific tags\genres spam 5 ratings while those who don't like it avoid such stories. Stories below 3.0 aren't necessarily that bad, but the low rating may indicate grammar\storytelling mistakes. So when there is a division of opinions, chances of finding something good are higher. Though, you would stumble upon countless bad novels as well.
 

Aza.Iva

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From the reader's perspective, can't say much. From the author's perspective, I'd say it's a combination of the number of people rated & the star rating itself.
 

Mechaphobic

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I don't care about ratings, but I have really good memory. I always check the tags, since I am a snowflake with weak mental strength. I hate when things like betrayal, ntr, depictions of cruelty, rape, etc. I hate being "surprised" and will likely leave immediately if it isn't tagged. I'm not one to rate anything under a 5, if it isn't good, I send my critique to the author via pm and drop it. I feel like constructive criticism is good, but I don't like leaving negative comments unless I feel I have to.
 

Jet

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Normally, anything below 3/5 is low. But that clearly doesn't apply here. Since everyone rates 5/5. I don't want to be an ass/stand out. So, I resolved it quite easily. I never rate anything, period. I just write my opinion in the comments instead. And that's more valuable, imho.

When I do rate stuff, never here but at some of my bases: movies, anime, games, comics, books, etc, my avg rating given is 5/10. And the 5/5 is so astronomical that I haven't found it in every type of art even...
 

Derin_Edala

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Rating other people's work, I give a 3 for a really bad book, 4-4.5 for average, 5 if it impresses me. (That is, 4-4.5 for "average free entertainment" -- if I don't think I wasted my time reading it, I'll rate it like this. Even if it's got spelling errors or some characters or plots I don't find convincing. I rate it 5 if it's something I wouldn't regret paying money for.)

Receiving ratings on my own work? At the risk of sounding mercenary, anything below whatever my current average is. If it's going to bring my average down I automatically consider it a 'low' rating, which I am perfectly aware makes no sense practically or mathematically, I've just got the kind of brain that likes to see numbers go up.
 
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