Some of the comments I hear about What The Feis dot com are thanks for the feis reviews. They help new families get a mental picture of what to expect, or help folks going to new feiseanna find out more about a feis they may be attending for the first time, even if they are seasoned feis goers. I am afraid however, that feiseanna reviews have slowed down on What The Feis, due to a combination of 3 parts busy schedules and 1 part burn out. Over the years I have written, as close as I can estimate, around 100 reviews and I feel they are getting a bit repetitive.

Thankfully I have had some folks step up and help, providing a few dozen more reviews from places I can’t get to, or as a second opinion to ones I do get to, but alas, after a few, even the volunteers tend to slow down. I get it, it takes time to capture all that info and get it into a useful format. I am thankful for the time they have already given.

The other downside to having a single opinion in a feis review is it is not all-inclusive. I have had a great day on a PC stage while people were suffering on a Grades stage, or I might be less critical on a review if TGC places well, than I would be if she placed poorly… it could happen 😉

So today, it hit me, as I was reading responses to a facebook post I put out there regarding how the weekend feiseanna went, what about a ‘community review’?

Community Review, what’s that?

Lots of people have an opinion on how a feis went. Some good, some not so good, and Facebook is great for throwing out a quick comment or two. Problem is, it’s a pain in the buttocks to find that info the next time you need it. Scrolling through FB posts can be mind-numbing, and I highly doubt a feis committee will be able to, or even try to, see anything that people say about their feis if they have to spend a lot of time searching for it, unless, there was site that captured that info in one place, in any easy to find and use format. Somewhere Google could spider and have search results available when people Google the feis. You guys see where I am going here?  😉

Introducing the WTF Community Review

How about on What The Feis?

All I ask is that you do what you are doing now, taking a minute to type in a comment(s) about the feiseanna you attend, but do it here in addition to, or instead of, Facebook. They can be either positive or negative, but if they are negative, present them in a positive manner. We would like people to learn from what we have to say, not be put off by our whining.

Interested?

Here is I see it working. I will create a Community Review for a feis, and open up comments. You simply add your thoughts in those comments. Categories you can comment on are (but are not limited to):

• Venue
• Judges
• Musicians
• Food
• Vendors
• Results
• Feis Flow
• Awards
• Hotel
• Parking
• Local Eats and Attractions
• whatever else would be helpful to someone else

If you have a negative, be nice, and try to add a positive. I have never been to a feis where everything sucked.

Please do not use the anonymity of the internet to be nasty, the comments are moderated. The hypocrisy of me asking you guys to use your real names is obvious, but it would be nice. I am Mike btw 😉

Community Reviews will be labeled (CR) in the title so you can tell if it is an individual author or a group effort.

And that is about it. I am going to put one out there, so lets see how this goes.

Thanks!