Quizzes

RateItAll Compatibility Quizzes are little ratings games that show how you compare to other folks around the world of RIA.

For example, the beer compatibility quiz asks you to rate a variety of different beers, and then cranks out a compatibility score with others who have taken the quiz.

For example, GenghisTheHun and I are 40% beer compatible, with our biggest difference of opinion being around Corona - I think it's a good hot weather beer, and GTH thinks it's "Miller Lite for the upscale moron."



Recently, I've noticed more people taking the quizzes, which doesn't surprise me as they're pretty fun.

We've just rolled out a small, but important change to the quizzes - the paging is now on the bottom of the page, instead of the top, which makes it far easier to find quizzes you are interested in.

We have well over 100 quizzes - hopefully something for everyone. And now they're much easier to browse.

Is Your Town Represented on RateItAll?

One of my favorite features on RateItAll is the ability to rate any business in the world, whether it's already listed in our database or not.

I've been able to rate businesses from the smallish town where I grew up (Villanova, PA), and I've noticed other reviewers taking advantage of this tool to put their own home towns on the RateItAll map - places like Solon, Iowa and New Westminster, British Columbia.

If you want to make sure RIA has a directory for your home town, this is all you have to do:

1) Rate a business from your town by using this link.

That's it. Once the new business is approved, RateItAll will magically build out a directory for your town, ensuring it is represented in RateItAll-Land.

As the kids say.... represent!

My Compliments to the Reviewer

We've just introduced a new feature - Compliments. This is a replacement for the old Testimonials feature, that allows you to give a public pat on the back to other reviewers. This compliment will show up on their profile page.

All compliments are deletable by the owner of the profile page, and retractable by the poster. As we say here at RateItAll's Global HQ Compound, "What have you done for me lately?"

Here are some screenshots:






So go ahead.... reach out and give your favorite RIA reviewer a compliment today.

Wrapping Up the Local Biz Review Contest

Congratulations to Irishgit for winning both the quantity and quality scores in our recent Local Business Review contest.

He wrote the most qualifying reviews by a long shot, with over 5000 points, and narrowly beat out Twansalem for the single most helpful review. His haul? A Flip Video Camcorder and a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant of his choice.

Newcomer GinaKristie also deserves mention for her reviews of Wichita local businesses, and we had a number of folks win t-shirts.

I was a bit surprised that more folks didn't make a play for the gift certificate - all it took was a single review of a local business to qualify.

But I guess in these booming economic times, a $50 gift certificate is no big deal :)

We will be sending out prizes today or tomorrow, and Irishgit, we'll be waiting for that Flip Camcorder review.

Please be nice to new members

Please be nice to new members.

Please don't jump down the throats of new members.

Please don't scare away new members.

I know that we are the old hats here, and are experts about everything, and really are never wrong about anything. This is, of course, completely true.

But we've all been on sites where the old guard jumps down the throats of newbies, and those sites suck.

Let's not become that site. Everyone was a newbie at one time. Fresh blood is good for the conversation, good for the discourse.

Please don't make us have to legislate this problem away.

Local Biz Contest Update

We are entering the final 34 hours of our local business reviews contest.

As of this moment, it looks like Irishgit is going to be tough to beat for the grand prize. Two contestants with an outside chance of catching him are Twansalem and GinaKristie.

However, everyone is still in the running to win a $50 restaurant gift certificate just by writing a single review.

The local business review with the most helpful points between the launch of the contest and tomorrow at midnight will win its author a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant of their choice.

Why not review your favorite restaurant / bar / coffee shop in the world and see how it goes? You can review any local business in the world by clicking this link.

Also, t-shirts are still in play for anyone reaching 60 points (15 reviews + item submissions).

Scheduled Downtime: Tonight at 9PM PST

We will be in maintenance mode tonight from about 9PM until 10PM as we make some performance tweaks to our database.

Review any business, in any city, in any country

Just a reminder, as part of our current local business reviews contest, you can literally rate any business in the world.

Just use this tool - it will guide you through the process of adding the business to our database. And remember, reviews associated with businesses you add to our database count double - just 15 reviews submitted this way will get you a free t-shirt.

Write Reviews...Win Cool Stuff!

We're running a new contest at RateItAll for all you folks who love to review Local Businesses!

We have some great prizes in store and there are multiple ways to win. The contest starts tonight at 12:01AM Pacific Time and runs for just 1 week, so don't delay! If all goes well, we may run future contests on other topics such as Travel, Books or Events. In the meantime...

3 Ways to Win!

1. Earn the most total Points, win a Flip Video Mino Camcorder!
2. Get the most helpful votes on a single review written for the contest, win a $50 Gift Certificate to your favorite restaurant!
3. Everyone who earns at least 600 points gets a new and exclusive RateItAll Happy Star t-shirt !

How Do I Join in the Fun?

Register for the contest by sending an email to contest@rateitall.com and include your active RateItAll account nickname. The contest starts at 12:01AM on March 10th, and runs through midnight, Tuesday, March 17th. You can join at any time prior to March 17th, but only Local Business reviews written after registration will be considered for the contest. We will send you a registration confirmation email once you have been set up.

How Do I Earn Points?

Points are super easy to earn. You will get 20 points for each new Quality Review of a Local Business (at least 3 sentences explaining your rating). You can earn an extra 20 points if you add a new Local Business in the process of leaving a Quality Review (Add an Item Here).

Any Local Business in Particular?

You can write about any local business in your hometown or a place you've visited. Here are some ideas we came up with to get the creative juices flowing.

Review your favorite:

• coffee shop for people watching
• sports bar to watch the game
• romantic restaurant for a date
• moving company for fragile items
• farmers market for quality produce
• hair salon for curly hair
• bakery for kid's birthday cakes
• auto mechanic for reliable service

So what are you waiting for? Get started now by sending an email to contest@rateitall.com with your RateItAll nickname and earn points towards our awesome prizes.

Good luck and have fun!
The RateItAll Team

Official Contest Rules

• Contest starts at 12:01AM PST on Tuesday, March 10th and runs through 11:59PM PST on Tuesday, March 17th.
• Participants must have valid RateItAll member accounts.
• Contest participants must register for the contest by sending an email to contest@rateitall.com with their valid and active RateItAll nickname. Points can be earned only after registration is complete.
• Points are earned as follows: 20 points for each new Quality Review of a Local Business (at least 3 sentences explaining the rating), and an additional 20 points if the Quality Review is written on a new Local Business submission. Thus, a maximum of 40 points can be earned for any single Quality Review. Recycled or reposted reviews will not be considered for the contest, and use of such reviews will be grounds for disqualification.
• Winners will be determined as follows: (1st) First prize - Flip Video Mino Series Camcorder will be rewarded to the participant with the most total points earned during the contest period. (2nd) Second prize - $50 gift certificate to restaurant of choice will be rewarded to the participant with the most helpful votes on a Quality Review written during the contest period. (3rd) Third prize - an exclusive RateItAll Happy Star t-shirt will be rewarded to all participants who earn at least 600 points during the contest period.
• Prizes are non-transferrable and are subject to change and availability.
• RateItAll reserves the right to discontinue the contest at any time, for any reason. RateItAll reserves the right to disqualify participants if we determine that contest rules have been broken.
• Questions about the contest? Email contest@rateitall.com

More Happy Star

In a somewhat impetuous and extravagant move, we have hired a rather expensive European male model to showcase our new Happy Star t-shirts.

We are going to be running some contests and promotions over the next few weeks in which the infamous happy star t's will play a roll.