![\"Thinking](\"\/assets\/blog\/thinking.jpg\")
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When I first started the Table Tennis Database<\/em> in 2008, I wanted to provide a platform that helps people to get really accurate and useful information so they could make an informed purchase. Reviews and ratings can be very helpful for this, but they have their limits, and there are many ways to misuse them. I wanted to provide a bit of a guide so you can get the most out of them. This information is also great for giving<\/em> reviews and ratings that are helpful to others. Let’s begin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Numeric ratings cannot be believed to be 100% accurate. As the founder of a ratings website, I’d like to say that these ratings will give you a perfect picture of how a particular rubber or blade will perform, as well as bring world peace and end poverty. But ratings can’t do all that. If I had a group of scientists in a lab, doing controlled experiments, maybe we could reach that level of accuracy. So use these numbers as an estimation, not as scientific measurement.<\/em> People will try their best to rate accurately, but in the end it’s subjective, so leave some wiggle room for error.<\/p>\n If an item is only rated by 1 or 2 people, it’s hard to trust the accuracy of the numbers because you’re putting a lot of faith in one or two people’s abilities to rate accurately and in their opinions. The laws of statistics dictate that the effect of these issues shrinks with more ratings. If you’re comparing two rubbers that each have 30+ ratings, you can believe the average ratings are more likely to be accurate as everyone’s differences average out.<\/p>\n A specific reviewer will be more consistent in his or her own ratings. Jane Twinklemeister<\/em> might have reviewed the two blades you’re comparing. If so, you should probably look at her ratings, especially if she has rated a blade that you’ve tried yourself; then you can use that as a baseline to compare to.<\/p>\n Don’t simply look for the Overall<\/strong> rating to make your decision-making super easy. It’s a hazy stat. “Overall” generally refers to how satisfied a player is with this item, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Joe Farmblat<\/em>‘s 10\/10 overall score means a lot for your specific case. Maybe Joe is an aggressive looper, and wanted a fast, flexy blade. Meanwhile, you might be an allround kind of player favoring control over speed. His 10\/10 may be your 7\/10. I’ve debated whether to remove the Overall<\/strong> rating completely, but decided that it still has some <\/em>value, but this is definitely a measure that you should take lightly.<\/p>\n Fundamentally, I don’t really believe in an\u00a0Overall<\/strong> rating because every blade, whether slow, fast, stiff or flexible, is useful to a specific kind of player. There’s no “universal good blade” that everyone should use, nor a “bad one” that everyone should avoid, unless it falls apart easily or is made from the tears of puppies.<\/p>\n In the end, this site is meant to give another solid opinion<\/em> to help you in your search for the perfect blade, rubber, table or shoes. It would be wise to treat it as an important part of your research, but not scientifically measured gospel. You still need to think critically as you compare options. If you do, I think you’ll make some good choices.<\/p>\n Do you have any more tips for using the site effectively?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When I first started the Table Tennis Database in 2008, I wanted to provide a platform that helps people to get really accurate and useful information so they could make an informed purchase. Reviews and ratings can be very helpful for this, but they have their limits, and there are many ways to misuse them. … <\/p>\n(1) Ratings are not an exact science.<\/h2>\n
(2) Fewer ratings = less accuracy.<\/h2>\n
(3) Compare individual trusted reviewers for comparisons.<\/h2>\n
(4) “Overall” isn’t the most useful metric.<\/h2>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n