In a review of Perlman’s rendition of Bruch’s violin concertos the review author writes:
Come. On. Is this the kind of editorial reviews that Roon wants in its user interface? It makes you folks look bad.
I had seen another one by the same [reviewer]
(http://www.allmusic.com/album/beethoven-symphonies-nos-1-9-overtures-violin-concerto-limited-edition-box-set-mw0001838731) some time ago.
Just personal attacks and not a critique.
Both are indeed bizarre, but the way to solve this is for Roon to allow users to hide or delete such reviews, not for Roon to attempt editorial involvement in millions of albums.
Personally I think it would be very cool for the Roon community (which is quite large now) to be able to comment on reviews, and to be able to view comments by other Roon users. This would be an interesting bit of added value once Roon starts to leverage our user accounts more actively. Some way away, I suspect, but a nice idea if they should find the time.
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I really like this idea but I suspect it’s complicated. How does Roon decide which community reviews to use for the published Roon community review for each album? I don’t think they could stuff every review into our meta data tables without us complaining. Nor would I want to go into every album review to whittle it down from 100s to a few. Does that mean Roon incorporates a ‘review board’? Does Roon’s review board get complaints of censorship? Do they get complaints of carrying bad reviews (damned if you do, damned if you don’t)? Are the roon community reviews kept online and the album entry provides a link?
I do like this idea, just not sure how it would be easily implemented.
We’re aware of the limitations of only having a single review and are considering ways to make this better. No promises or timescales though.
FWIW, here’s another by James Leonard which beggars belief: http://www.allmusic.com/album/mw0001843111
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Wow…James Leonard sounds a bit like Mr Trump. Am glad that being cute is the most important factor in his reviewing of music.
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Yeah, the contrast to the opening line on her allmusic.com bio is rather striking:
Hilary Hahn is among the world’s greatest violinists of her or, arguably, any generation.
But apparently that’s not what matters.
Yes, that one is rather disgusting, isn’t it…
The one reviewer that counts in your collection is you. It’s so very personal.
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Sure, but the reviews have such prominence in the Roon UI, and probably 95+% of them are useful and helpful and give me some background as I discover new albums and artists. For that reason, I don’t want to just hide them all entirely.
I agree that while the user’s personal opinion is more important, the reviews can be informative or at least amusing sometimes. I’m glad they’re there. (And that’s coming from someone opinionated…)
In this case I don’t think Roon needs multiple reviews, it just needs a “disable James Leonard” checkbox in the settings. Reading that Hillary Hahn “review” just leaves you feeling slimy.
This [Carlos Kleiber / Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra]
(http://www.allmusic.com/album/release/beethoven-symphonien-nos-5-7-mr0002131403) review also struck me as batshit crazy.
I see no review there (browsing on my phone). I’m curious what batshit craziness they say about Kleiber…
No batshit craziness about Kleiber; in fact, he states that his 5 and 7 are two of the greatest classical recordings of all time. No, he goes on a rant about the CD releases being inferior to vinyl. He may have a point, but it’s a weird review.
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Batshit…??? Laughing a bunch!!!
The guy’s a complete joke - not read a single classical music review from him that does not suck! Shame we can’t block particular reviewers at the very least.
We are basically paying for this metadata and access to the reviews. We should be able to have higher quality and control. It’s not an editorial, it’s a distinct pattern of crap.
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Hide review is the most practical option