Over priced rating.

"THis isn't too bad.. I like the message, at least... But the flow was battered and it just didn't seem there at all.

************ 4.5"

I would just like to say that if you think a poem isn't too bad but is spoiled by a battered flow and not quite there then it isn't worth 4.5

I masked the name for privacy's sake, but if you read a poem and think it has the flaws mentioned above then a 4 or 5 vote is bare faced lying.

You're lying to yourself, the poet, the other people who read and subsequently rate poems based on an average score they see.

If I saw a poem like that it would get a three at best, but I don't rate poems precisely because people don't know how what rating really is.

If you're going to rate a poem, rate it honestly. People appreciate honesty and a 4 or 5 vote for a 3 poem is no different than voting a 5 poem 1.

This isn't an attack on the person who wrote this specific comment, as it is but one of so many I have seen, but more a suggestion to everyone who rates poems that they should be honest to everyone, especially themselves.

If everybody rated petry here honestly it would give those little numbers some worth, but the ultra high and ultra low voters make the system worthless.

I want you to ask yourself one simple question: Am I a cause (and part) of this problem or am I completely free of bias when I vote?

i totally agree. i never vote a poem above a 3 unless i really think it deserves it, and i would like to think that my poems which have been voted as good, are actually good, rather than people just being sympathetic, or just voting what everyone else has voted!!