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Reviews! We Need Reviews!


R. Mansfield

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[This post is duplicated from the Accordance Blog.]

 

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When we transitioned to our new website a couple of years ago, we lost the myriads of reviews that were on product pages of the old site. This is where you, faithful Accordance user, could step in to help your fellow users.

 

Do you have a titles in your Accordance Library that you would consider favorites or ones you use on a near-daily basis? It only takes a couple of minutes to give the items you have experience with a one-to-five star selection and to write a sentence or two. Yes, a review doesn’t have to be long. I mean, it’s great if it is, but most potential purchasers probably want to know in an expedient manner whether or not other users have found a title helpful.

 

Now we love positive ratings, but that’s not required. Not everything in our Library catalog is for everyone. Write from your personal experience what you liked or didn’t like about a title.

 

So, how do you post a review? It’s easy: simply scroll down to the bottom of any product page. First, click on a star giving it the rating of your choice (1 to 5 stars), and then add at least a sentence or two in the “Your review” comment section.

 

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What to put in a helpful review:

  • How the resource is beneficial to you. Is this a title you use every day? Was it essential for a particular task?
  • Recommendations. Would you recommend this title or not? Is it better suited for some users than others?
  • Constructive criticism. Do you disagree with some of the content? Do you wish a reference work included content left out by the author? Is there an interface suggestion for Accordance in how the material could be presented better?

 

A quick reminder of what is not helpful in a review:

  • Error correction reports. If you find an error in a title, simply pull up a contextual menu from it and choose “Report a Correction.”
  • Requests for help. Contact Tech support if you need help. Please don’t post, “How do I download my new Bible?”
  • Bug reports. We keep our developers locked in the basement so they can keep busy making Accordance better. Okay, not really! But still, odds are that developers won’t see your bug reports if you post them in a review. Instead, post bugs in our user forums.
  • Duplicate posts. Unfortunately, we get LOTS of spam reviews, so every review is manually approved. If you don’t see your review appear immediately, please don’t post it again. If a day or two passes and it doesn’t appear, feel free to reach out to me directly. 
  • Theological Disputes. It's okay to say something like, "I personally don't agree with ____________'s theology." But a review is not really the place to write an extended tirade against someone or a theological position. 

 

The inspiration for the review system on our new website comes from similar and familiar shopping sites like Amazon.com. A combined total for star ratings will appear near the top of the page near the title. Reviews at the bottom will hopefully help others make better-informed decisions. We hope that one day every title in the Accordance Library will have at least a couple of reviews or even more. 

 

One more request: if you have ever reviewed a title for us on your own website, feel free to rate the title on our product page and drop a link to your review or just copy and paste the content from your original post into a review.

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  • R. Mansfield pinned and unpinned this topic

Thank you for the invitation.

 

I would also appreciate more reviews on Accordance.

 

Thank you for switching on all the pending reviews too.

 

Though a review is not about theological debate,  I believe that in some cases a brief description of the theological viewpoint of the author(s) could be helpful.

 

Also, if the content contains plain nonsense (I don't blame you for that!), it could be worth mentioning, as with BHS. (See the review there).

 

Shalom.

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I consider this a way to "give back" to Accordance for all they've done for us with this awesome software.  I just put in 5-7 reviews right now and encourage others who are able to do so.  Let's stand up for this awesome company and software.

Edited by TYA
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Yes, the very reason I continually report bugs in the forums and by email is because Accordance is my favorite Bible software for in-depth study in the original languages.

 

I hope that you at Accordance understand that and appreciate the bugs and corrections we report to make Accordance even better!

 

Now that the reviews work I will be more eager to add reviews often. (I understand you asked NOT to report bugs in the reviews).

 

Shalom

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Yes, because bugs are merely temporary things that get worked out.  They shouldn't become a permanent reflection of the value (or lack thereof) of a particular resource.  The Accordance staff works hard to fix bugs.  I can attest to that personally.

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2 hours ago, TYA said:

...I just put in 5-7 reviews right now...

 

And thanks to a minor bout of insomnia (I will try to go back to sleep), they were approved within two hours of your posting 🙂 

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  • R. Mansfield pinned this topic
  • 3 months later...

I’m trying to put in reviews for anything I’ve purchased thus year, and I’ll go back and add reviews for other stuff I’ve purchased over the years as I get a chance. Any new purchases, I’ll review them shortly after I purchase them. That way I’m feeding the reviews system with any new purchases.

 

On theological works, I won’t get into disputes for the works, but I may mention the denomination or theological perspective of the author (and do it in a non-biased way that doesn’t reflect my own theological perspective). That way, at-a-glance, potential purchasers can know the theological perspective or denomination of the author so they can determine which works are the most useful for their studies.

 

For example, I won’t way whether I agree/disagree with the millennial position of an author, but if an author writes a work on a millennial viewpoint, I’ll mention generally the author writes from a premillennialist, amillennialist, or postmillennialist position, or if the author is an Anglican evangelical, Southern Baptist, etc.

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  • 2 months later...

At the risk of going off-topic...
For me one of the best type of 'review' is more screen shots on each and every store page.

I would say about thrice as much of them.

And please pick what actually reflects the purpose of the resource. 

If it's a commentary I want to mainly see examples of the actual commentaries. 

 

 

Pictures sell the resource. No useful pictures equals no sale.

Surely reviews add something, but I really want to see what I buy!

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  • Dr. Nathan Parker unpinned this topic
  • 4 months later...

Accordance definitely needs more reviews please.

 

I've added a few but I would also like to add screenshots when needed.

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I'll ask if our website has the ability to include screenshots with reviews, plus the ability to edit them.

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