Pressured for 5 Stars? Thoughts?

[flake113]

Comments and perspectives from models and patrons alike welcome.

Is it appropriate for someone to pressure you to leave a 5* review?  Especially when that was not your honest, gut-reaction rating?

It's natural that we all love getting positive feedback, but if we are honest with ourselves, it's the honest well-intended criticisms that are frequently what inspire us to aim higher and put more effort into what we do.

I know for a fact that if the laziest, least-motivated worker in my office were rewarded with the same exact feedback as the most dedicated and industrious, it would not be long before everyone were half-assing it, coming in late, leaving early, and turning in slipshod work.  And as much as I personally love getting kudos and pats on the back, if I turn in work that isn't up to par, I'd rather know about it up front rather than the boss just letting it slide and eventually getting the reputation of being the resident slacker.

I would think the models would want to know if they posted a clip and it didn't get high reviews, they'd appreciate that feedback and see where they had opportunities for improvement, rather than insist they be highly rated for clips that they know aren't their best work... and honestly, not everything has to be "the best" to be of value, if it's priced reasonably for what it is.  Sometimes having a sandwich for lunch beats a t-bone steak with all the sides.  Because that's what you were in the mood for.

This does happen (though thankfully it is rare) and I'm sure I'm not the only one it has happened to.  We all want to encourage the models here, because every one of them is a rare treasure!  And we are grateful for them!  But in that mix of praise and encouragement a bit of constructive criticism and honesty should be taken in the spirit in which it is given.  If not, then why even have a "stars" system of feedback?

[Guest gorJESS]

 

Well said.

Models shouldn’t be pressuring people for 5 star reviews, at all. We got rid of “ROGOs” because they resulted in tons of disingenuous and potentially misleading reviews. Any type of… for lack of a better word, bribery, shouldn’t be happening. But realistically, of course it is. 😕 

I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence. IMHO, I despise the existence of the stars. Because on the one hand, getting a good (and genuine) review is such fuel for me. 🔥 But on the flip side of that same coin, my 0 star videos make me feel sad, even though I know it’s not because my video wasn’t “good enough”, it’s just that not many people here leave reviews. But bribe or beg, I will not do. Every review I have is genuine.

To sum it up, nobody should be pressuring anybody for 5 star reviews. And tbh, we’d all be happier in the long run if the stars would just go away. They will always be a source of conflict on Curvage.

[AJTF]

I've never been explicitly pressured for a 5-star review, but I have basically always felt like that's what's expected of me. I don't wanna push back at models here either; pride notwithstanding, I can imagine that when 5-star reviews are the norm, anything under that looks like a real black mark and probably hurts sales to some extent. My compromise is simply not reviewing anything that I would rate under 5, which is equally useless.

Tl;dr: I agree, get rid of stars. Kink content is sooooo subjective anyway.

[Jersey Ghoul 666 CLIPS]

On the flip side of this- I’ve seen members give 1-2 star ratings on clips where they state they expected something that WAS NOT advertised in the clip. 

I think the ratings are completely subjective and arbitrary and people take advantage of it on both sides. 
 

[Miss September CLIPS]

3 hours ago, gorJESS said:

 

I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence. IMHO, I despise the existence of the stars. Because on the one hand, getting a good (and genuine) review is such fuel for me. 🔥 But on the flip side of that same coin, my 0 star videos make me feel sad, even though I know it’s not because my video wasn’t “good enough”, it’s just that not many people here leave reviews. 

Same, my clips or sets that have no reviews feel like they look unappealing next to my others.

[Madilyn Mars CLIPS]

I've had some folks on here tell me how some models have directly reached out for good reviews. It's slimy. I feel like the star system is mostly a popularity contest (much like the reputation system). Unless you're worshipped heavily by said consumer, you're likely not to get any attention on the video at all...especially now without the bribery of ROGO's (despite people still trying to find ways to exploit that rule). Yet I know some of my best clips are enjoyed MANY times (based on the amount of downloads) and yet no stars. It's frustrating, honestly. A big reason why I don't really post content on here anymore. I need honest feedback, it's essential to my growth as a creator, but it's not an effective system due to it's many exploitations. I'm not willing to workaround the bribery thing, or even beg, just for a review. 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Madilyn Mars

[Guest gorJESS]

@Jersey Ghoul 666 very good point! I wouldn’t have thought of that. IMO, it that happens, that review should be eligible for deletion. Like if I make a video called “super ultra mega stuffin” and someone left 2 stars because I didn’t weigh myself or something.. I’d raise hell to get it deleted.

@Miss September I personally believe that stars/reviews have little to do with whether a person watches our videos or not, but that’s just my opinion. I know other models disagree. Um… I don’t want to get too blunt outside of the models forum, but basically I think that if a video “tickles his pickle”, he will watch it whether there’s 5 stars or 0, 35 reviews or none. 🤷‍♀️ For me it’s more the way it makes ME feel to see 0 stars. They scream at me: “not good enough! not good enough!” and it takes a while for my brain to tell it’s negative committee to sit tf down. 😅

On 9/21/2022 at 4:19 PM, Madilyn Mars said:

I feel like the star system is mostly a popularity contest (much like the reputation system

This. 100%. Also, your whole post is important feedback to Curvage itself! I get that the star system is supposed to be “good” for the people who watch our videos, but they can be pretty detrimental to our wellbeing. Thank you for posting that, seriously.

I’d love to see a poll happen in the models forum about the star system. But I doubt it would make a difference.

[Wendy CLIPS]

The funny thing is that I often get messages from users telling me that my videos are great, but they have never left a review.

It's actually funny because I think every model gets reviews from the same people all the time. (It happens to me) And most of the people who contact me privately to tell me that my videos are great may never have bought one, because precisely, the only way to know if someone has bought a video is a review.

Positive comments are welcome and also suggestions for improvement, -or why not- even ideas for future videos.

[Chazzz von Brütal]

Super interesting topic. I hate to say it but part of this issue may be tied to the sheer volume of models here selling clips. It’s competitive because, let’s not fool ourselves, some models on here are making bank! Which is great but then again some aren’t and want to. 

So personally, as a person who has bought my fair share of clips, I only review a clip if it’s positive and genuine. I have bought a handful of “dud” clips that I didn’t like but I don’t feel it necessary to tear someone down w/ a poor review. I know and respect that models work hard here to make a name for themselves and the actual art of gaining is physically difficult and challenging to maintain. It’s also damn expensive. To eat essentially twice the “normal” amount of food on a daily basis is literally doubling someone’s food budget. Also, rapidly growing out of clothes is expensive and annoying, I’m sure. Buying two plane seats, etc. So I would support doing away with the stars and reviews because it’s just not needed. 

[GarethV76]

16 hours ago, Chazzz von Brütal said:

Super interesting topic. I hate to say it but part of this issue may be tied to the sheer volume of models here selling clips. It’s competitive because, let’s not fool ourselves, some models on here are making bank! Which is great but then again some aren’t and want to. 

So personally, as a person who has bought my fair share of clips, I only review a clip if it’s positive and genuine. I have bought a handful of “dud” clips that I didn’t like but I don’t feel it necessary to tear someone down w/ a poor review. I know and respect that models work hard here to make a name for themselves and the actual art of gaining is physically difficult and challenging to maintain. It’s also damn expensive. To eat essentially twice the “normal” amount of food on a daily basis is literally doubling someone’s food budget. Also, rapidly growing out of clothes is expensive and annoying, I’m sure. Buying two plane seats, etc. So I would support doing away with the stars and reviews because it’s just not needed. 

Your whole comment here is more or less how I feel about reviews tbh, & couldn't agree more!! 

[BustyBlue CLIPS]

I would never ask for reviews let alone pressure for them or give people free stuff to review I don’t operate that way and it doesn’t give an honest outlook onto my videos or me as a creator. Yes the reviews help but is it really worth selling out like that, hell nah. Like other models have said the thought of getting 5 stars on a video is rocket fuel to me, I find it odd however that if a video gets a relatively high amount of sales but it will only get 1 review, very few users seem to review clips even if it’s not 5 stars. I’m not sure why that is, if they don’t want their user name attached to it or if they just don’t want to. I would rather have 30+ 3 star reviews that gave me positives and negative’s over 30+ reviews of 5 stars that said “loved it” and nothing I can build on. But any review to me is a positive. I’m just glad people stick around to watch me at this point 😅. 
 

Maybe the option to leave an anonymous review could be of use I really don’t know. Someone mentioned calling a poll on the review system and it would be very interesting to see what both users and models have to say on that. It’s not a surprise though that models that have a larger fan base attain more reviews and thus sit at the top. But it is good that the site has areas that new models can be found and be promoted so more users can find them. The system isn’t perfect but if it was used more frequently in an honest way I think it would work better than it does now without any changes. Basically leave more reviews and give constructive feedback everybody wins, thanks 😂💙

[Jorin85]

 

If I have to, I don't tend to leave critical reviews based on the content, but rather the quality. I don't know how the mod approval of clips works, but I have purchased clips that have had massively out of synced audio, videos that have been blurry/out of focus the whole way through. Videos that have picked up full private conversations of people off the camera (public stuffings/people filming in a shared house with their bedroom door open etc).  I've purchased longer, edited videos where the same footage was used twice in a row - or the edited video has had no continuity.

To me, these don't seem like problems that should be addressed by viewers in reviews. I am not sure how it works, but it seems to me that these are issues that should have been picked up by mods before the videos went live. Again, I don't know how that works.

My critical feedback tends to be if the videos contain  what they say they will - if what is in the screen grabs and description more or less matches the video.

I tend to make purchases based on the theme/genre/content - and that is what I tend to base my decision on.

If I can tell I won't enjoy something at all, won't buy it.

If I  did buy it, did not do much for me, I tend to not to leave a review. But that is just because it is very much a personal, esoteric thing. I personally may think "there wasn't enough of this. Or "there was too much of this".  But to  a lot of other people, it may be just right. Or amazing for them.

The constructive feedback that I think of giving is, IMO, too much based on my own personal preference on what I enjoy, and may not necessarily reflect what the majority of people are thinking. 

Unless, as previously stated, the production value is low, or the content does not fully reflect what is in the video, I tend not to leave a constructive review because I think it's too much based on my own personal preference.

 

[CarlGnarl]

On 9/20/2022 at 4:33 PM, flake113 said:

Comments and perspectives from models and patrons alike welcome.

Is it appropriate for someone to pressure you to leave a 5* review?  Especially when that was not your honest, gut-reaction rating?

It may or may not be appropriate, but it's like getting an instant text message from a store I've just bought something at, or a Groupon deal that wants you to rate your service. I paid my money, I got the goods, I don't owe you anything and do not respond to either a request for 5 stars or any stars, unless the content was outstanding - and I have bought some clips that were a complete waste of money. Sorry!

[S77]

@Jorin85

Hi,

You raise some interesting points. A lot can be said about the idea of moderators catching and not approving clips that do not meet minimum levels of quality. In fact, you would be surprised to see how much stuff is not approved for this very reason. It's one of the things I think that sets Curvage apart. Every clip gets manual approval by a human!

However, it's important to remember, models here are not employees of Curvage. We operate a website that they use to sell content and as such we walk a fine line. We cannot tell them HOW to work, or WHAT to produce. If the clip plays with enough quality and a person could responsibly enjoy it plus it meets all the other guidelines, then it would likely be approved.

Consider also, that many models are learning as they go and over time their quality for video and editing improves. They learn what the customer wants to see. They cannot gain this experience if they are blocked from doing so.

If a model consistently creates content that does not meet a customers expectations, then customers will migrate their business to other models.

Rest assured though, that clips which are egregiously bad or contain other issues are certainly blocked from sale.
Some examples of things we would block

• Clips that don't play or otherwise glitch
• Clips that are < 2 min long
• Clips with obvious and egregious nonsense like a giant part of the video has a black circle blocking out everything good.
• Clips that are duplicated
• Clips that are misrepresented in the screen shots or title.
• ETC.

Thank you