Hint/Tip Any advice or tips for writing reviews?

[mamaste]

I've been wanting to contribute more to the VF community since ya'll have given me so much. I decided one way to do that is to write reviews. I'm not the best writer. Any tips or advice you can give me would be a huge help. Thanks.

[KarenJo]

Detailed breakdowns are lovely when someone takes the time to do one but are definitely not mandatory. I'd rather have a few short reviews than none because no one felt up to doing the details.

Some idea of the reviewer is helpful - level, styles and instructors you like, etc. Not a novel but enough to help put your review in context related to my preferences. Even just context within a comment, like 'I do a lot of Leslie and this is only a bit more complex' gives me info on both the workout and your perspective.

Comments on anything you liked or didn't like and why. IE not just 'Hate the set' but 'the set's too dark and crowded for my taste' or 'I prefer a light, uncluttered set, which this wasn't' And things like instructor, set, production matter as much as the workout to me. Ease of use of the DVD, such as long, unskippable intros or chaptering/menu issues, ease of doing part of it or a good premix are of great interest. Like it when people mention moves that tend to be love it or hate it ones or stuff that doesn't work with common limitations like wrist, knee or back issues.

They really don't have to be long or cover everything. One that makes a couple of good points pro or con can be very helpful. Again, a short review is better than no review. Thanks for doing them.

[WWWendy]

In addition to giving your own personal reaction to the workout, I personally like it when people include their thoughts about which people are most likely to enjoy the workout and which people should probably avoid it. I think that type of comment is helpful to almost everyone who reads the review. For example: "those who prefer very simple athletic choreography should definitely consider this one but those who prefer more complex choreography will probably be bored." or "This workout is great for people who like a lot of variety in their upper body workouts, but stay away if you don't like workouts that require a lot of equipment and equipment changes."

If there are any potential deal breakers that might bother some people (e.g. production values aren't great, DVD-R format, requires a monthly streaming subscription, can only be purchased as part of a set etc.) those are very helpful to mention early on.

[laurajhawk]

Originally Posted by KarenJo

Some idea of the reviewer is helpful - level, styles and instructors you like, etc. Not a novel but enough to help put your review in context related to my preferences. Even just context within a comment, like 'I do a lot of Leslie and this is only a bit more complex' gives me info on both the workout and your perspective.

On a similar note, if you talk about a workout as "fun" or "not fun", music as "good" or "bad" -- any subjective phrases like that-- then explain something about what that means to you for this workout - "fun" isn't the same for everyone, but it can still be a very useful thing to say as long as you explain it a little bit.

[bzar]

great ideas posted so far.

it might be good to include what your own level might be (beginner, intermediate, advanced) at the time you did the video. you might also include things like "i have done many workouts from this instructor" or "this is my first time attempting pilates" to give the reader an idea of where you're coming from.

write the review in a document first, save, then copy/paste the final to the input field. the edit function in the reviews section is not so great, and in case the VF software has a hiccup, you'll have the original. this has happened!

if you plan to write a long review, use paragraphs.

it might help to read a handful of reviews to get a good idea of which ones are good.

one peeve of mine - some reviewers in the past wrote the instructor's name and/or video title incorrect and it shows up separately from the other reviews of the same video!

thanks in advance for your contributions!

[sheepla]

Please, please include the length of the workout as that info is sometimes surprisingly hard to find.

[Pat58]

Some of the best reviews I've read were short and direct! I can't count how many times I've read a great one paragraph review on the boards and begged the writer to post it as an official review, but they shy away from having to make it more complex.

My suggestions would be to mention any toys needed - dumbbells, yoga mat, flex band, etc. As someone else mentioned, what you liked or didn't like, and a little bit about why.

I've written some detailed reviews but I've also posted one liners to the effect of "If you have a bad back - don't do this!"

[buffmama]

I love comparisons to similar workouts by the same or different instructors. Really helps me narrow down what would benefit me the most.

[BunnyHop]

I find it helpful when people have done a workout long enough to have time to think about their first impressions, what the workout's like over time, and how well they think it might fit into their longer term fitness plans.

Lots of workouts are okay to do for a month or a season, but IMO, relatively few are really the sort I'd want to keep forever. I realize that a lot of the reasons why are subjective, likely to be very different from one person to another, and that opinions change as your situation changes (i.e., being in a recovering-health mode for whatever reason can mean you leave some great workouts gathering dust for a while, but a permanent change in your preferences can also lead you to make a permanent change in your need for the workout), but I find it useful to know what people think about a workout wherever they are in their fitness journey. If they can manage to express some understanding of where they are currently, where they hope to be, and how a particular workout might help them achieve their goals, so much the better.

ETA: Some elements in a workout are good to know about so you don't waste time on a workout you can't manage. For example, lots of lunges or plies, sloppy organization and poor flow, inconsistent focus (i.e., is a workout jumping around from beginner to advanced moves?) can be deal breakers.

As others have said, long reviews are nice, but short ones are better than nothing. Just giving a sense of the setting, tone and pace, with some idea of the level of complexity can go a long way towards helping me figure out if I want to take a closer look.

[mamaste]

Wow! Thanks for the excellent replies. Now I just need to decide which video to review first. Thanks again for the input. I'll try to make you proud!