I've thought a lot about this myself, and I must say that I have mixed feelings on the subject. On one hand, it might be nice if comments were required, if only to help explain the ratings, but on the other, what's the use of wringing comments out of readers when they don't have much to say? I know that I've rated books without reviewing them, as a means of simply tracking/tallying the books I've read, and based on some of the alternatively gushing and dismissive "reviews" I've seen on this site, I've often wondered why readers bothered in the first place, adding nothing substantive to the discussion. Then you see those reviews by people who clearly have no concept of even basic spelling, where the only proper response is something along the lines of "thx fore ur too sense, buddy!"
When I see a three-star rating with no review, I get it -- the reader was more or less ambivalent about this fairly decent read. What bothers me are the one-star and five-star ratings that are given without any explanation. I mean c'mon -- the book was THAT good or THAT bad, and you have absolutely nothing more to say about it? I guess one star implies "hated it" and five stars implies "loved it", but without any reason given as to why, ratings alone do nothing to help other readers find the books they'll enjoy and avoid the ones they won't.
Still, I guess every reader has their reasons for rating/reviewing as they do, and I'd probably be the first one to tell them where to go if they somehow expected me to fall in line with their personal approach.
When I see a three-star rating with no review, I get it -- the reader was more or less ambivalent about this fairly decent read. What bothers me are the one-star and five-star ratings that are given without any explanation. I mean c'mon -- the book was THAT good or THAT bad, and you have absolutely nothing more to say about it? I guess one star implies "hated it" and five stars implies "loved it", but without any reason given as to why, ratings alone do nothing to help other readers find the books they'll enjoy and avoid the ones they won't.
Still, I guess every reader has their reasons for rating/reviewing as they do, and I'd probably be the first one to tell them where to go if they somehow expected me to fall in line with their personal approach.