Contibute to TechSpot by writing reviews?

[young&wild]

I m sure that most of the members here in Techspot in some ways has learnt alot of things and wouldn't be of what they are today if TechSpot never existed.

For the past few months i have seen many people in techspot planning to upgrade their pcs, perhaps they might want to write reviews about their new hardware to repay TechSpot/ contribute voluntarily (if they have the time).

Perhaps our experienced contributors Julio, Thomas and others might provide us with some guidelines to write a review.

 

[Vehementi]

I would be happy to write a review about pretty much anything I own (computer wise). But, I don't really have very many brand-spankin-new stuff in my rig, so I don't know how I could be of help.
Perhaps if I get speakers...
If not, anyone's welcome to send me something to review. If they don't mind not getting it back

 

[Arris]

Well there is nothing to prevent users from writing about hardware and posting it in the forum. I remember Rick posted quite a detailed post about an MSI motherboard he purchased and others added their experience and information about that board to the post (I actually referred many forum visitors to this User Review who were talking about buying the board Rick had purchased) . This would provide a great reference for people considering purchasing that particular piece of hardware. Plus if the review is popular it would show up under the hot threads list on the front page of Techspot. I don't think Julio would be completely keen on posting user reviews of hardware without having to QC everything first which would probably add to his already large workload. Maybe even have a user review forum or something?

 

[Julio Franco]

First of all, thanks to young&wild for bringing up the topic. I agree with all of your opinions in some way and while the idea of an User Reviews forum sounds good, unfortunately in my experience, this would end up being used by just a few of you (the most hardcore members :grinthumb) and its exposure would be limited, obviously that's not the optimum way of doing things, I can tell you that.

In order to achieve some good results (that is, in terms of member participation) we would need some kind of infrastructure so that people could post straight forward and get feedback from the article; at the same time visitors could get inmediate news on new reviews, comment on them and rate them (we have seen this before and could be made).

Now, if you ask me, I would say the best way of doing things at this time is the following: those of you interested in contributing with a full blown article that could make it easily to the editorial part of the site, you can contact me anytime and we will work together for bringing content to the masses.

In the other hand, those of you mostly interested in commenting on your new or old hardware, feel free to do so in our current forums, if you get a bit detailed and is well worth a read (even when it's not a full review) we will give it a post on the frontpage so that more people can read your material and further comment on it.

Sounds ok to you?

 

[MrGaribaldi]

I like the idea of ppl posting reviews in the current forums... Adding a new forum just for a couple of reviews seems like overkill to me...

It'd be better to see how many reviews we get in, let's say, the next 2 months, and if it's sufficient for a new forum, just move them over...

And the fact that you'll link the reveiw from the frontpage if it's good enough is a good incentive imo...

If I ever get enough money to buy anything for my 'puter*, I'll try to write a review, allthough it won't be on a "top of the line" machine...

* which should hopefully be in 3 weeks time

 

[Vehementi]

I think this is a great idea. Writing the reviews in the current forums may not be the best idea, however. I think a new forum titled "User Reviews" may be the best.
Julio, I would reccomend either you or someone else who knows what they're talking about to start a "Guidelines for User Reviews" thread, like the one for posting news.
I'll be happy to write a review of my case, HDD, or speakers once MS Office comes. Those, besides my sysbo, are the newest things in my rig.

 

[TS | Crazyace]

Writing a review is a very time consuming task. Just be aware that the reviews we post take somtimes either hours to put together, it's not a five minute thing. I would love to see anyones input though, because it is you guys that keep our gears turning.

 

[Julio Franco]

Of course, I believe readers are aware of that and that's why I proposed the two different solutions, as the full blown review requires hours of work and committment while a commentary would take less time, still extremely useful but doesn't need the same kind of dedication.

BTW, MrGaribaldi, reviews doesn't need to be always about high-end gear, there is a lot of people looking for info regarding budget priced and more mainstream products, so any collaboration is welcomed.

 

[young&wild]

Having a Member's Review section in the forum is nice. I m sure that not all of us have the experience, this section might be a great starting point. Perhaps when we get enough exposure, we might be able to write in a more proffesional manner.

 

[Vehementi]

The first one, by yours truly, appears to be done -> User Review: Western Digital Special Edition 120GB HDD