The Lemures Files
  Guest Article: May 28th, 1998

A Li'l Thought About Reviews

By: Ruk

The pioneer group was the Amazoness Quartet. Of course, a lot of people whose pages were handpicked for scrutiny had grumbled at first. They didn't think that their site deserved to be called the Worst of the Web. But then, as time passed, the Quartet began to inspire web site authors to do better, to make SM site authors feel that they have to make their pages worth visiting. The respect became so phenomenal that the judgment of the Amazoness quartet was held in high esteem. And rightly so.

It seemed that everybody was in a frenzy to gain this group's attention. And rightly so. Soon, a lot of people realized that the cause of the Amazoness Quartet was so noble in that it helped a number of websites to improve. Soon, a few people decided to follow the pathways that the Amazoness Quartet had walked, in a sincere desire to stamp down the increasing number of worthless pages--of course, the Quartet could not handle those gazillions of crappy webpages on their own, could they? And so three other highly creative groups emerged: The "M" Squad, the Needleleaf Society, and the Fifth Witch. All three remain to be as creative and original and as noble as the pioneer group that they wanted to help.

Alas, an exasperating monster was also released. I had forgotten the handful of bitter "Worst Page Winners" who were just waiting for the right time to exact their revenge. The year 1998 seemed to be just the right year for multiplying everything: free space megs rising for every free homepage server we know; more benefits to gain for every page that you create; more crappy SM pages to be seen; and lo--more SM review sites adding up to the queue!

The last is the monster I have been talking about. Not only once have I heard the line: "Your review of my page sucked! Just wait and see, I will make my own review page and yours will be on my 'worst' list!" If that isn't the most hilarious line I have ever heard! It is to be dismissed like a housefly hovering around your meal.

A few weeks later, I find myself to have been sorely mistaken. They did make their review sites and these sites multiply like rabbits left inside a cage for a month. It is exasperating as well as annoying in the extreme--to see another review group which unfortunately lack the originality and the creativity of the first four that were created. They are actually worse than the crappy SM pages they have set out to review!

What they wanted was to give recognition to the sites that they own, or the sites that their friends own. What they wanted was to get as much attention as they could for themselves. What they wanted is to jump into the bandwagon--review teams are the in thing, aren't they? What they wanted most was to exact revenge from the prestigious review group that had put their pages on their "worst" list! Now I ask, where is the point--the noble goal--in these? Even if you hide these motives under the lines, "Our purpose is to lessen the crappy SM pages out there," the falsity could be seen in the kind of sites they even put into the "Best" category, as well as the sites they put into the "Worse" category.

I don't mean to generalize all new review teams (surely there could be some out there that could be just as original and unique as the first four), but, before even writing anybody's guest book (especially mine) and inviting the web site owner to form another review team, why can't these people blink and ask themselves: Isn't this getting a little bit out of hand?


Comments on this article can be sent to: Ruk.

Comments made on this page are opinions of the author. They are not necessarily shared by Tripod and the Amazoness Quartet.


More
[top]
  Current Lemures Top || Main || Email   
© 2002 AQ