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Suggestion: User Equivalent to “Must Hear”

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#1

This suggestion is being made due to the recent discussion revolving the new Sleaford Mods’ record, Spare Ribs. It received a Must Hear based on critic reviews, but currently sits at a 55 user score. Someone (@Fhhgvnjscvbbg) in the comments of the album suggested that “At this point, the user score should just decide what album is a must hear”. Now while I like the idea, I think the critic Must Hears are still a crucial part of AOTY and should remain, however, I would love to see a user based “Must Hear” be implemented to the site. I would suggest the title, “User Favorites” or something along those lines. And my suggestion for the criteria for this “user favorite”; I think albums with an 80+ user score (to fall in line with MH criteria) should receive this “User Favorite” title, but given that it’s received 500+ ratings. To hopefully persuade @Rob to implement this feature, I have some statistics for you. (All statistics are as of January 16, 2021)

645 albums currently hold a Must Hear title
411 albums currently fall under the 80+ score w/ 500+ ratings
This would make the user equivalent more exclusive…

…but simultaneously also more inclusive as Must Hear’s only go back to 2003 while 80+ user scores with 500+ ratings go back DECADES.

If implemented, it would “reward” classic albums that won’t ever receive a Must Hear.
One example being The Beatles. Not a single album of theirs has a Must Hear, but 7 of their albums would fall under this User equivalent.

Anyway, I would love to see a user equivalent to the “Must Hear” title and I think it would definitely add a new interesting dynamic to the site.

21 Likes
#2

Perhaps a User’s Must Hear equivalent can represent as a Starred Green Banner, whilst Critic’s Must Hear remains the same.

I think what will hamper down is both low/high scores and low quality reviews that have no bearing to any counterpart (Someone rated 50 and only written a negative remark in one sentence) and of course bot scores (Trust me, 500+ perfect scores on BTS last year was a sham).
So to avoid score tampering and/or contradictory reviews, I think their should be certified users that accumulate big followers that can hold the candle to User’s Must Hear.

7 Likes
#3

Considering the server is built around user criticisms I think it would only make sense to include this feature.

5 Likes
#4

I think this being based upon “certified users that accumulate big followers” is, well, not a very great idea. The whole point of this would be to validate the overall voice of the users, and I don’t think that a select few big users would probably reflect the opinion of the users. And, there are plenty of users on AOTY who only rate albums w/o writing reviews. Why is their score not important? Lastly, to counter your bot argument, bot’s are typically taken care of and won’t be a factor in this User equivalent.

3 Likes
#5

I also agree that there should be separate critic and user must hears as to not take away from the critical aggregate purpose of the site as well.

5 Likes
#6

Yeah I dig this. Kinda like bolded albums in RYM. It would be like the best albums of all time according to the users. Only thing is that 500+ ratings is a tad too much. Albums from other parts of the world don’t get much ratings but still are loved by the users and should hold that tittle too.

2 Likes
#7

Why not using only “one method” but combining both critics and users ratings? For instance, a “Must Hear” album could be a 80+ for critics with 10 publications and a 80+ also for users with at least 250 ratings… what do you think about that?

1 Like
#8

Just… combine both of them, if it’s a 80 from both critics and users, its a must hear. But that wouldn’t work for albums that critics dislike, but we love, because AOTY is mainly about the users, so I’d rather just seperate between a “critic must hear” and “user must hear”

1 Like
#9

maybe the user’s must hear format could have a star in the top right corner, so that it’s different, yet similar, to the critics must hear design

1 Like
#10

This is a great idea. I’m all for user favorites.

3 Likes
#11

Definitely agree with this. I also wish I could give records an individual Must-Hear, as I can’t do anything but rate & review them at this time & sometimes I don’t have enough time to sit down & write out a full review. I don’t know how it’d work with what you’re proposing, though.