Making this post in hopes that it reaches the masses and makes people think abt this subject
I’ve somewhat noticed how high the bar of entry is on newgrounds when it comes to content, and how harsh critics can be, I’m not saying it should allow slop made by 3 year olds that’s like, a 1 second long walk cycle.
But people seem to have especially high standards and extremely clear biases towards certain creators,
Whereas fairly decent stuff made by passionate people putting in decent effort seem to only manage to break 2-3 stars max no matter how good what they make is,
I absolutely love newgrounds to bits but i really think everyone needs to be nicer with reviews and such, because amazing creators such as Krinkels, Oney, Psychicpebbles n etc have kinda set a high bar with the amazing stuff they made so long ago.
I’m hoping at least some folks agree with me and hopefully change how they view stuff uploaded here :)
Yatsufusa
As a regular user, I experience the polar opposite of what you describe: It seems absolutely impossible to get ratings below 3.x unless it looks as if the uploader sneezed, wiped their nose and uploaded 'that'. At times, even the 'daily picks' look like 'participation awards'. From what I hear, even games that do not work get lifted out of the 'Under Judgement' section unless they are named "Test 1" or something.
And of course you cannot forget simple "loops" of "artists" mashing expressionless 3D barbie dolls together, that will likely get a 4.x rating...
People who have thousands of followers will, _of_course_, get higher ratings, but that's like complaining that certain artists are famous and others are not. Their pieces get more attention from "fans" than from passerbies, which tips the scales towards a 5.0.
Heck, even stick figures can get 5.0 ratings if the only people who take the time rating them are rl-friends of the artist. I've seen that often enough.
I am not making the claim that 'every single good submission' gets the 'good' rating it "deserves" in my eyes. But in general, our community has the palate and rating sense of toddlers: As long as an upload features 'something' they like, they will rate it 5. And more often than not, the review sections _will_ reflect that.
Taste is 'of course' completely subjective and I do _not_ "blame" users for liking what they like - and neither do I despise them for 'not' liking the things 'I' like.
But I would encourage them to rate a bit more sensibly: Not everything 'you' like has to be "the best thing ever"/"the worst thing ever".
Just for reference, here's how 'my' decision-making process for rating looks like:
https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/post/goto/27999364
I don't say you have to 'do as I do', but it might provide context.