1/2 Star Ratings

[Sinnylicious]

I use Netflix to keep track of movies I've seen by rating them with the stars. However, almost every other movie I see deserves a "1/2 star" rating. What I mean is, the movie deserves 3 and A HALF stars in my opinion, but I can only give it a 3 or 4 whole star. Maybe I'm just over zealous about ratings, but this bothers me. Can't Netflix give us the option rate in halves?

[Cheryl]

I'd much rather have the zero option than the half-star option also.

[wowwee123]

Isn't the Not Interested = 0 star?

[Mort in Detroit]

Exactly. I said it before on the blog: If we need to be so precise, why don't we rate it 1-100? Five star ratings have been plenty to make my recommendations very accurate. In the end that's what matters.

I also agree that there should be a way to rearrange reviews--especially on controversial movies with 1000 reviews where the positive reviews have been voted one way and the negative the other.

[beeswax]

The only times I feel wishy-washy enough to want 1/2 stars is in the netherworld of movies I didn't like enough for 3 and didn't dislike enough for 2. I usually have to do some sort of soul-searching about whether I liked it more than disliked it, and I'm usually vaguely dissatisfied with my answer.

But Adrien is right about more options making me more indecisive. I rate far fewer movies on IMDb's scale of 1 to 10. Which is also based on its supposed "objective" criteria of "horrible" to "excellent."

It's much easier for me to decide if I "liked" or "really liked" or "loved" something, than to choose between a 7 or an 8 or a 9 "excellence" rating. And I'm really stingy with the 10s over there, but at Netflix if I love something I feel perfectly happy giving the full five stars.

[MakaBallz]

I too agree with you....I would rate a lot of movies 2 1/2 stars, but because that isn't possible, i just usually round up to 3...which isn't a completely accurate reflection of what I thought or felt about the movie. But oh well....until Netfilx does something about this "1/2-star rating" issue I will just be patient and hope to be able to give an accurate rating sometime in the near future~

[Biff]

If they're not going to do half stars, then they need to add a sixth star right between "didn't like it" and "liked it". It could be called "indifferent", "blah", "Eeh", something along that line. Most of of my ratings are a three when I actually didn't like or dislike it.

[photo heathen]

If you are indifferent towards a movie or otherwise have no strong feelings, then by definition you "didn't like it". Right?

[Biff]

True, but but saying "didn't like it" equates to saying disliked it, which isn't accurate. "didn't like it" is a negative, I want an "indifferent".

[PGDGM]

i'm happy with the way the rating system is set up. my rate count is in the thousands and review count in the hundreds and I've yet to come to a film where I thought it needed half of another star. If anything the half star would feel like a cop out to me. As is I have to really decide if that movie was a brilliant 5 star or could have used a little more work 4 star film. Just saying 4 and a half would be too easy. I guess I'm going off of the emotion system mentioned earlier. Either that or I'm just too passive and go along with it cuz thats how it is set up.
About 75% of the reviews or notes I read state that they rate the movie "3 1/2 stars" anyways :-p

[Spindaddydad]

As is I have to really decide if that movie was a brilliant 5 star or could have used a little more work 4 star film.

PGDG, my sentiments exactly. It makes you make a decision. Nothing is less useful to other members than indifference.

[ewd76]

Once they had half stars, people would want quarter and three-quarter stars.

[Elena]

I think that the real movie-lovers among us would always wish for more precise ratings because we have more precise opinions. I am sometimes frustrated that I can't mitigate my star ratings with say, a half point taken away for a bad casting choice, or something like that. But then I remember that that's what the reviewing function is for. Since the ratings are mostly for my own reference (with the secondary purpose of recommending to a few close friends and faves), having a way to make comments is just as important as having a rating scale. Used together, I find that the system works pretty well.

Also, one of the things I look at when adding films to my queue is the average rating. Considering that some people will round up and some will round down, I doubt that adding half stars would change the overall experience much for me.