Introducing – Aquarists Online Reviews

We are always looking for ways to expand Aquarists Online and one of the things which both myself and John have been thinking about is reviewing aquarium related products.

Initially we thought about providing reviews in the blog area however we decided that the problem with that is that we can only review items which we either physically use or have used in the past and there are a lot of items which we have never used.

So we had a think and John asked if there was any sort of way in which we could have an area on the site where anyone could leave reviews. I had a look and identified some software which was suitable for the task and after a bit of implementation and modification Aquarists Online Reviews was born.

So what is it?

It’s a really simple concept – anyone anywhere can leave reviews of products about which they have an opinion. Other people can then read these reviews when researching a potential purchase. It does not have to be one review per product though – each product can have many reviews assigned to it. Various criterias are assigned to each product and when a review is left each of these criterias can then be scored. This criteria is then converted into an average and if multiple reviews are present an average of all  is taken.

At present there is just over a thousand products loaded into the system for which reviews can be made. The software has been setup so that you need to login to leave a review. The reason for this is spam and unrelated content. If the system was configured to be a free for all then quite quickly the area would become full of useless information which would make the area useless to anyone.

Even though we have loaded various products into the system I am sure that there are quite a few that are not there. For this reason we have configured the application so that any registered user can submit an item into the area. When an item is submitted information can be input about the product, plus images, from where it can be purchased  as well as an editor review. All submitted items are then put into a moderation queue so that John and I can ensure that they are aquarium related – if not they will be deleted.

Both myself and John will be leaving reviews for items that we either use currently or have used in the past and would like to invite you to leave reviews of the products you use as well.

We believe that this area can be a useful resource for many aquarists, especially aquarists who are researching products prior to making a purchase. However, this type of area does require input from website visitors. As said, myself and John will be leaving reviews but we can only realistically leave reviews for products we have used -  otherwise it will be a false review. Therefore this is a resource for anyone to use and it is driven by the users of this site.

With this new addition we now have the following services available here at Aquarists Online:

Articles Section – This is where John and I load our most informative articles for others to read, rate and share. It is also an area where other people can submit their articles for others to enjoy.
The Blog – The area where we post our daily information which ranges from short pieces to informative articles.
The Forum – If you have a question or a desire to help others the forum is the place to do this.
Aqua Compare – A price comparison site purely for aquarium products.
Reviews Section – The section where aquarium related products can be reviewed.
Electronic Book – A downloadable book produced by John and I to assist beginners progress in the hobby.

So there we go – another addition to Aquarists Online! If you are researching products then this area is for you – you can see what other people think about the product prior to purchasing. Then when you are happy to purchase you can always pop over to Aqua Compare and compare the prices of the relevant product and save some money. Once you have purchased you can always pop back to the reviews section and leave your review on the product – the more people that leave reviews the more useful it will be.

Both John and I are quite happy with Aquarists Online and John jokingly calls it the A to Z site for marine aquarists. However, as we always say ‘if there is something you would like us to do on Aquarists Online let us know and we’ll see if it is possible’.