I got to thinking the other day inspired by an article from… I forget from where, but the point was: what’s the meaning of reviews?  What does it mean for something to score a 9 out of 10?  What’s the quantifiable difference between a 9 and an 8?  7 and 8?  Does something become not worthy of my time at 6 or 7?  Or 8?

Really, a similar enough thing can be said for systems that rate out of 5, or larger.  Systems that rate out of 4 are also somewhat worthless, while three point systems can at least convey some information due to their abstraction.  But even still you have questions – where does the line between “I should go see this” and “This isn’t worth my time” fall?

The AV Club’s system of rating movies – on a grade scale between F – A+ – is useful, because we can all (at least, if you’ve ever taken a class anywhere) understand the difference between a “C” and an “A+” nearly instinctively.  We know anything below a C we’re likely not to like, and anything that’s B and higher won’t be a waste of our time.

And so it is with this in mind that I shall, whenever I give a rundown of a product I’ve recently acquired and appreciated, no longer use a quantifiable system.  Instead, I shall use the following qualifiers:

• Gold Rating:  You need to go see this/read this/play this/whatever.  A gold means that whatever value you get out of the item will so far outweigh the cost you put into it that it is a greater crime not to go see it.  A gold rating is a must-have, those perfect (or near perfect) expressions of form and function that are so rare in our world.
• Silver Rating: You should go see this/read this/play this/whatever.  A silver means that the cost/benefit analysis weighs in your favor, regardless of who you are, and that it’s worth your time checking out.  A silver rating is a “recommended” item – that is, I feel no shame whatever in recommending it to my peers.
• Bronze Rating: Otherwise known as the “Qualified recommendation”, the bronze means that the item is good, for whatever it is, and fans of the type of item will likely enjoy it, though rarely will anyone who knows they don’t like this type of thing will enjoy it.
• Nothing: Anything else?  Gets no recommendation.  It doesn’t mean it’s bad – it just doesn’t mean it’s very good.  A film that’s a rental?  A book that just helps pass the time?  A television series that adds nothing to the landscape?  All of these would get no recommendations.