Many people as well as myself like to browse around and see other reviews, and see what helpfulness topics fellow reviewers/guiders put up.  However, lately a reocurring issue has been brought up.  When browsing through other people's guides and reviews, something caught my eye.  When i looked at the number of "yes" votes someone had, and then look at how many times it has been viewed, I was a bit shocked.

One person's guide I was looking at had 505 out of 517 "yes" votes.  I thought "wow, that's a really good guide."  Then I took a look at their views.  Over 21,000 views! (extra emphasis on the exclamation point).  And only 517 people voted.  That means out of all the people who viewed this persons guide, only about 2.5% views were votes (and this no exception for the superbly written guides, or top reviewers).  After looking at multiple guides, it turned out about the same results; only 2%-3% of the views, were votes on the guide.

People are having to put "dont forget to vote", or "please vote yes is you have found this guide helpful" because they know not many people vote for one reason or another.  This also creates another weary, but subtle issue. 

When someone buys a product from another eBayer,and the buyer sees "top (whatever rank you are) reviewer" on that seller's eBay account, most people (including me) think, wow this seller is more guinine than I thought because he cares about others on eBay by writing helpful reviews/guides.  But if someone really wants to become a top reviewer, the person could easily become top a 10,000 reviewer with only 15 "yes" votes.  All that person would need to do is write about a couple of reviews and guides, make a dummy account, or use a friends account with at least 5 feedback and vote on all of them.  Bingo, you're a top reviewer. 

There may be various reasons why someone may not vote.  One reason may be, "Well if they aren't voting, why should I".  Or seeing the lack of votes may bring down their will-power, and eagerness to vote.  Or perhaps, it is oblivious to their mind at the time because they have more urgent issues and priorities to get to, or maybe they don't think that one vote will make a difference, but whatever the reason is, it is leading to a decrease of votes, and easy manipulation of the top reviewer system.  (This paragraph wasnt meant to sound mean by the way : ) )

How I vote is, if I liked a review (and it was above my expectations), or very informtive, or i learned something new, i will give it a "yes" vote.  If i thought it was mediocre, and it was nothing I already knew, i would leave it alone and not vote.  If it just looks like you threw something up to try and get votes, i would give it a "no" vote (but "no" votes are rare for me to give).  I vote on about 80% of the guides i look at, and usually all the guides i vote on are "yes" votes.       

I just think we should give more appreciation to the people who put up these useful guides.  I don't mean you have to go crazy and vote on every guide you see, but if you truly thought the guide was informatable, then i suggest voting on the guide.  And if you didn't think it was that great, but you saw the person was trying to do good by helping others, i would leave it alone, and not leave a "no" vote because most likely, that guide will be helpful to someone else, and the "no" vote will degrade the true helpfulness of the guide.    

Now, I know my one guide I have written here wont completely change the world of eBay's Reviews and Guides section, but here is a suggestion that may help.  Every day you look on the reviews or guides page, try voting on at least 1 review or guide.  It only takes 2 seconds and it's just one click away.  It doesn't bring you to a second page, or open another web browser (no commit to"yes"), and it doesn't cost you anything.  I think that your small contribution, will make a big improvement to the Reviews and Guide section, not only making it more challenging and competive to obtain top reviewer status, but also a more fair and just way of becoming a top reviewer.  That way, when you do get top reviewer status, people will look at you with even more credibility and genuity, and I think you will be more proud of yourself for accomplishing it.

I hope this guide has changed your mind about voting.  Every vote makes a difference.  And for the people who already do vote, keep it up.

Have a great day!

Hulton-x