Outdated WHF reviews

[KeithT]

This isn't so much a question, more a beef about the content of this web site!

My boss who knows little about hifi has asked me for some advice on buying and amp & cd player. I've sent him links for a 5* budget system/a mid priced system/a how much! system. Unfortunately unless the review says it's a 2012 award winner there is little to date the review, some of the products are now 4+ years old and therefore irrelevant. |(

So come on WHF, how about putting those in an archive file?

 

[BigH]

Yes good point. I have requested that dates are put on the reviews but that fell on deaf ears.

 

[John Duncan]

I do wish they'd sort out the date, certainly.

If you 'view source' and search for 'dtreviewed' you can see it, so it should be straightforward to display it.

I'd keep old reviews though, they're handy for checking against s/h or discontinued stuff.

 

[Andy Clough]

This is a common complaint, and one we're acutely aware of. The really annoying thing is that the date of each review IS stored in the CMS, it just doesn't pull through to the main site. It's with the dev team. FYI, all the reviews in the Buying Guide of the magazine do have the relevant test dates.

But like JD I want to keep older reviews online as they're useful for reference, and there's a healthy secondhand market for hi-fi so it's still handy to have those reviews online. And the lifespan of hi-fi products tends to be much longer than TVs and AV kit.

What's more, we also update the Best Buys section of the site on a regular basis with the most up-to-date kit:

http://www.whathifi.com/best-buys

 

[KeithT]

You're right, they are handy and are good to see how manufacturers develop a product line. But in this instance they're just bloody annoying!

 

[BigH]

I agree keep the old reviews but need some sort of date so people know if they are revelant. I found this when trying to make a list of speakers for auditioning. Can you not just put the date at the end of the review?

 

[Andy Clough]

Can you not just put the date at the end of the review?

On new reviews, yes, not sure we can go back through all 3000 existing reviews on the site! Would prefer the CMS to do that job. I'll have a word with the Web Ed.

 

[KeithT]

Good man! As you say, the date on new reviews is easy, would an archive section not clean up the review section and bring some clarity to it all?

 

[radiorog]

As Andy says, the reviews in the magazine are dated, so i just go the the shop to check if a certain review is current. I am pretty sure that when a product is deemed now slightly outdated, the star rating it has may be depreciated, ie: from a 5 star to a 3 or 4 for example. I had presumed that the star rating on web reviews were then updated also. Is this not the case?

:?

 

[professorhat]

As Andy says, the reviews in the magazine are dated, so i just go the the shop to check if a certain review is current. I am pretty sure that when a product is deemed now slightly outdated, the star rating it has may be depreciated, ie: from a 5 star to a 3 or 4 for example. I had presumed that the star rating on web reviews were then updated also. Is this not the case?

:?

AFAIK, star ratings can only be dropped if an older product is re-reviewed (usually in a group test against a new comer for comparison sakes). If that were to be the case, the web rating (as well as the Buyers Guide rating) would be updated with the latest review and star rating. The star rating of old kit which isn't re-reviewed would otherwise remain as is i.e. a product which received 5 stars four years ago would still show as having 5 stars today since no test has been performed to see if the rating should remain as is or be dropped compared to new kit.

Clearly re-reviewing all old kit habitually as well as reviewing all the new kit is not practical, so most kit will keep the same star rating it received during its original review.

 

[radiorog]

As Andy says, the reviews in the magazine are dated, so i just go the the shop to check if a certain review is current. I am pretty sure that when a product is deemed now slightly outdated, the star rating it has may be depreciated, ie: from a 5 star to a 3 or 4 for example. I had presumed that the star rating on web reviews were then updated also. Is this not the case?

:?

AFAIK, star ratings can only be dropped if an older product is re-reviewed (usually in a group test against a new comer for comparison sakes). If that were to be the case, the web rating (as well as the Buyers Guide rating) would be updated with the latest review and star rating. The star rating of old kit which isn't re-reviewed would otherwise remain as is i.e. a product which received 5 stars four years ago would still show as having 5 stars today since no test has been performed to see if the rating should remain as is or be dropped compared to new kit.

Clearly re-reviewing all old kit habitually as well as reviewing all the new kit is not practical, so most kit will keep the same star rating it received during its original review.

Oooo, I see! yep, well i have definitely seen ratings dropped in the past but didnt realise this was why. In that case, i agree whole heartedly with the OP. However, surely in the modern spreadsheet world, it can't be difficult to have reviews at say 2 years old (or any other date) to be flagged up and quickly re-considered rating wise. I mean, in the mag there aren't that many product reviews.....old ones disappear all the time...otherwise there would be thousands in there. So I would guess that on a monthly basus, only about 10 - 20 items would be flagged up for a re-star (if that many). I'm sure people on this forum could re-star 10 items in about 2 minutes..

 

[BigH]

I would like to see the original rating because that was what it was at the time, if its been amended then there should be some indication that it has rerated, otherwise how do you know?

 

[Andy Clough]

prohessorhat is right, we only change the star rating if the product in question has been re-reviewed in a subsequent Group Test and beaten by newer competitiors, or had its price substantially altered. We simply don't have the resources (or stock) to go back and re-review every product we've tested.

The Buying Guide in the magazine only contains more recent 4- and 5-star products, whereas the wesbite has more than 3000 products we've tested going back to around 2008.

 

[BigH]

The Buying Guide in the magazine only contains more recent 4- and 5-star products, whereas the wesbite has more than 3000 products we've tested going back to around 2008.

Yes but not hifi, speakers about 300, amps 100 and cd players 100.

And how many have been amended?

If you just did speakers that would be a big help.