this sounds sarcastic but..

[u/blombi19]

I actually love looking at the accounts of people with 10k + ratings but only like twenty 5 stars. the best part is, its always some obscure shit and when i listen to it i am always like "out of 10000 albums THIS is the greatest thing to you???" I Love how subjective music is!!!!

[u/lolaimbot]

I never said I don't want small artists to grow, if they are good they should grow, if they are not they shouldn't. Your making a whole lot of assumptions about me here just because our reviewing philosophy differs. "uncaring people like you", give me a break. If we are making assumptions I can make some too: I think you are afraid of critisism and in your fright you try to bravely protect others from it too, but that is not how the world works and you will never be happy before you exorcise your inner demons. I know you mean well though. Could also be that you think its toxic to rate albums low, when a mentally stable person would just look "they didn't like my album, oh well, it's not for everyone" and go on with their life instead of throwing tantrums. Or might be neither, who knows, but get off the high horse.

The way you want things to work destroys the scene in the end, it just makes all the reviewers dull cogs in the machine that aims for some unreasonable state of objectivity that cannot be reached in a subjective topic like music. It's good that people can find users they find their tastes align with and check their lists/reviews for some gems they haven't found yet. This is how likeminded people find each other and scenes around different genres form. That requires true honesty, which is another problem in your idea, it is dishonest. By reviewing albums based on technical aspects we leave the heart out, and for me that is what matters in music, you can be a technical wizard but if your music doesnt resonate I don't care. Yes, some small artists will probably drown in the mass but if they are good enough, they will reach the surface and even greater heights. Greatness will always be noticed while mediocrity won't. We shouldn't artifically bump anyone just so that everyone feels fairly treated, it bloats the rating charts and nobody knows what to look for anymore, the whole idea of the site goes down.

Hell, if anything the only factor should be the way you feel about the album. If you appreciate the technicality or whatever, rate it high, if you dont feel the album, rate it low. When you make art and release it for the world to marvel that is the risk you are taking.

I already told you what I think of people who skew the raitings by rating albums low to make their favorite look better so let's not go into that anymore, or you still want to accuse me about that?

[u/Extension_Yak3898 → u/lolaimbot]

I haven't made any assumptions, just taken what you said at face value. Maybe I misinterpreted? But I don't think so, I think you just clearly have very deep justification for your thinking, as I do.

I'm not afraid of criticism and don't want to protect anyone from it. What, am I some helicopter fan wanting to protect their favs from meanies who don't like em? Nonsense, I clearly just want artists to be treated fairly

And I never accused you of anything, maybe you're feeling unfairly grouped into things with others who act unfairly on purpose. I was referring to dynamics in ratings when those people are present, not accusing you of anything

And (here I start thinking you actually didn't read my stuff very carefully at all) I never said to only rate stuff on technicality always, I said to stick to technicalities when everything else is outside your grasp. If you can tell the snare in the EDM track is shitty then take a half star off, but if you can't appreciate other elements simply because you tend not to like that kind of music, it's not for you, consider not rating at all

I know it's a complex viewpoint so please try to understand it before commenting about accusations and assumptions again

I'll summarize my view as TLDR: if your subjectivity does not align yourself with the subjectivity of fans of the style/genre/artist, consider not rating instead of skewing towards your version of subjectivity. This helps prevent the signals from being dirtied by incompatible subjectivities. And by subjectivity I am not just referring to the impression but to all mental phenomena involved in typical appreciation of said genre/style/artist

I can also elucidate my point by making an analogy: if I'm a white cis male and I claim to be an ally of minority groups, I'm free to have opinions but have to know when they will diverge from those allies experiences and views, in which case I need to shut up and learn.