Your opinion is wrong!

[Tomatron]

I must say this post seems rather arrogant. At first I thought it was a joke, seeing how it says your OPINION is wrong!

I thought an opinion cant be wrong by definition.
Some like coasters others don't, and vice versa. Theres no right or wrong with it..

And the # of coasters has nothing to do with it. You like what you like. Period. Boasting about your number and how you've experienced more and thus have a better taste is just flat out elitist. Roller Coaster elitist...why to kill a fun hobby!

Swing and a miss.

Did you even read the rest of the post? The topic is about why our opinions are different and the reasons behind them, not who is right and who is wrong.

It's not a stab at people who rate rides the way they do, it's why they do.

By the way...

I think Nemesis.

HOLY SH*T! That is blasphemy in the coaster community!

POT. KETTLE. BLACK.

Back on topic now...

I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable enthusiast. I'm quite well travelled, and have been going to amusement parks consistently for 10 years. I've been lucky enough to have been to a ridden a lot more than most people on the site, but I certainly don't profess to know anything and everything. Not having worked in the business also gives me a bit less of a fuller picture of things.

Whether people like it or not, the number and variety of coasters/parks does play a small part. But there's no substitute for experience - the number of years that you've been going to parks. I would certainly consider someone who's been on a lot of rides and has been a enthusiast for a long time to have a more rounded opinion of a ride than someone who hasn't. A good example are the Mitch Hawker coaster polls - T-Express was voted number 1 by only 14 people, but those 14 people have been going to parks for at least twenty years and been on hundreds of rides.

I'm not the sort of enthusiast to just use numbers as a excuse to justify that my opinion has more value than another persons, because I'm not arrogant or neurotic about it. But by the same degree, I'm not gonna say that my experience counts for nothing.

The ratings on our site are bound to be skewed by the people who use it, because there are a lot of people who haven't for whatever reason (age, employment, financial situation, etc.) had the opportunity to visit as many places and see a bigger picture.

I can see why some some people think that a certain park or ride is great while another person has a completely opposite interpretation of the ride. And interpretation is a lot of what it's down to. One person's opinion of theming, forcefulness, roughness etc. might be different to another's. And a lot of that is down to experience.

What I have no time for are people are refuse to even see another person's point of view. There's a few of them who post here (I won't mention names, but they might know who they are). There are some enthusiasts out there who, and I'll be blunt have **** for brains, and force their opinion on the rest of us.

 

[Anonymous]

Ouch Shockwave, your biting wit stings
Anyway, what was with the Nemesis thing? I was just making a gag since I most talk to say Nemesis = GOD! I've actually never been to the park.

Anyway, I SAID the # is important...using pretty much the same reasons as you, just not nearly in as much detail. Oh, believe me I know how some enthusiasts have **** for brains. I'm no pro enthusiast here, just a kid who likes coasters more than most people.

Before we get into some youtube-esque debate over nothing I'm stopping here. One last time though, # of coasters IS important but not an end all, and anyone who flaunts it as such is just arrogant.

 

[Dave]

I ride a ride and then make my mind up in how much I enjoyed it, dosen't matter of its Dragon Khan or a Big Apple if I enjoy myself on it then sure I'll rate it nicely.

For instance I think Nemesis Inferno is not as good as Colossus, I have more fun on Colossus in my own humble opinion.
I think Furius Baco was a horrible horrible ride, nice idea, just horrible to ride, so why I rated it quite low. whiile say Erol thinks its a really good ride.

I really don't like it when people bash rides because they aren't as good as Nemesis, for instance Vampire gets bashed soooo much because of its Nemesis' counterparts in other parks, because its slow and boring (to some).

My top 3 are rides that I ride and come off with a big smile and want to re-ride and come off with the same reaction.

 

[Snoo]

I don't base rides on "airtime" or "force" which I find is a poor way to rate rides. I go by how much I actually enjoyed it. I just see them as a bonus point.

How is that a poor way to rate a ride? I find think those two go hand in hand, basing it off of what I enjoy.

Airtime is a major selling point for me, especially massive amounts of ejector/floater.

Or.. to put it simply.. I enjoy a ride with airtime and plenty of it. That doesn't mean I won't enjoy a good ride, but it means I'll enjoy a ride MORE because of it.

We all have our own preferences.

I feel people are too much of a rollercoaster critic rather than an enthusiast of them. If you get me.

I don't tbh. Being an enthusiast and a critic go hand in hand. If we weren't all critics, we would have Top 10's, we wouldn't have this site, and we would be just like the mindless sheep that is the GP.. exaggerating the GP part of course.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

I don't base rides on "airtime" or "force" which I find is a poor way to rate rides. I go by how much I actually enjoyed it. I just see them as a bonus point.

Yeahh, umm, so what actually dictates how much you enjoy a ride then, like Snoo said?

That's almost like saying if you went on a Big Apple with friends, and had a "jolly good time" on it, laughing hysterically and everything, that you'd rate it higher than say, riding Millennium Force by yourself.

 

[jfeaster]

Oo, well actually, to me I think it's a big mistake to "correct" people's opinions, or to tell them they're wrong. Whether they've been on five coasters, or five hundred, if they like a coaster then so be it. As long as they personally enjoyed it, I don't see why they should be corrected.

This captures what I wanted to say. An opinion is.. well.. an opinion. Someone in history enjoyed Manos: Hands of Fate and they're entitled to it. Some like as much airtime as possible. As for me, I like airtime, but mixed in with a well themed and well sequenced ride. In short, some would rate a ride that was nothing more than 2 miles of bunny hops as the best ride ever. I would say that it sucks in it's lack of creativity. To each his/her own is my point.

 

[Ian]

*and I bet this topic was secretly aimed at me*

Don't flatter yourself!

Interesting replies so far. Keep 'em coming!

 

[marc]

For me I rate Nemesies, Mamba, Khan and many others 8's and 9's so thats why Saw got a 4. It does not complete on any level with some of the best coasters in the world. I think my vote for it is very fair tbh, I would not miss the ride if it went tomorrow just like X/NwO and the Fish.

Saw looks good, but I just found it totally forceless and just does not do anything well. I did like the pops of airtime but I like forcefull coasters.

I tend to split my coasters up anyway as I dont think you can compair the different types and styles, when I vote on CF its more about the enjoyment level of a coaster.

So for Saw did I enjoy the coaster, not really. Did I like the theming, again I thought this was poor. Then its how I compair it to other Eurofighters which I do not really like anyway. Rage gives me more or a buzz so Saw comes lower than Rage. Simple really.

But everyone likes different things so I would never tell anyone they are wrong, I just also find it funny that somone have given it a 9 and other well known coasters a 5. I just dont get it like Ian says.

I am very hard to please though when it comes to coasters and I prefer older coasters that just went for it so you could feel your face going funny.

I look forward to see where it ends up on the main poll and the end of the year, I have a feeling it will end up best UK coaster but I hope not.

 

[Screaming Coasters]

I don't rate coasters in order of preference, I rate them for what they are and is a reason why I don't have a top 10 list.

 

[The Grape Wizard]

I respect people on their opinion, because everyone is entitled to one. But on the Saw front i can't say because ive never been on it.

 

[Emmett]

Its interesting reading everyones posts up to now and I can sort of see the points of view from people who rated Saw high and people who rated it low.

In my opinion I didn't feel it was a great coaster, Eurofighters are bland enough and the theming was pretty poor on Saw. I only rated a 4 and I feel that with the more coasters I ride, the more critical I rate them. The ones I've rated 10 are the likes of Troy, Zeus, The Ultimate, Goliath and there is no way Saw even comes close to them. Even Balder I'd only rate it an 8 so giving Saw a 4 looks generous.

Even if people have only done a hand full of coasters I can't believe they have given Saw a 10. Even at Thorpe and within the other UK parks there many coasters much better than Saw.

 

[Brookes]

I don't base rides on "airtime" or "force" which I find is a poor way to rate rides. I go by how much I actually enjoyed it. I just see them as a bonus point.

How is that a poor way to rate a ride? I find think those two go hand in hand, basing it off of what I enjoy.

Airtime is a major selling point for me, especially massive amounts of ejector/floater.

Or.. to put it simply.. I enjoy a ride with airtime and plenty of it. That doesn't mean I won't enjoy a good ride, but it means I'll enjoy a ride MORE because of it.

We all have our own preferences.

I agree with Snoo on this one. I mostly rate rides on the force because that's the main part of what I love about rollercoasters. Montu is my favourite coaster because of the amount of force you get and I really enjoy that, whereas even though Sheikra is much higher and faster, which some may believe is better, and yes is a lot of fun, it sits at #6 because it isn't that forceful, yet it is also above Dueling Dragons which are more forceful. I'd say I rate my rides on a compromise between how enjoyable they are and the forcefulness/airtime.

Back onto why people rate certain rides how they do, I just believe other people have different opinions and that is what they think. I do believe other experiences on other rides affect it as I remember Space Moutanin: Mission 2, one of my first coasters, coming off thinking it was amazing. But then I went back after two years after riding about fourty other coasters including B&M's and Intamin's which I hadn't rode before, and thought Space Mountain: Mission 2 was just rough and bumpy and not that enjoyable.

 

[Ingested Banjo]

[quote="jfeaster]Someone in history enjoyed Manos: Hands of Fate.[/quote]

WOOP! GO MANOS!


Funniest film ever.

I like how this topic is creating so much discussion though, it's like half the members think it's the number of coasters, half don't, some of them rate by airtime, some don't... Great topic Ian, and a new debate that we haven't had instead of endless 'Top rollercoaster' or 'Thorpe or alton' topics...

It even inspired me maybe to make a topic in the non rollercoaster section, where I just spew out a controversial statement once in a while, and everyone else discusses whether they agree or not... I think that would be interesting... might try it...

 

[Smithy]

I really REALLY dislike the taste of tomatoes, they taste really sour to me; do they taste the same to everyone else? Does everything taste the same between people, or is everything unique? How do you describe a taste?

That is the question.


Little relevance. But a question nonetheless.

 

[Blaze]

The time you rate has an effect, if you rate, say the day after, you have a fresh opinion of the ride, while if you rate a while, the experience will fade and your recolection won't be as good. This can make the ride seem better or worse, but so can rating soon after.

If you rate just after and it is good, you will rate it higher because it is fresher in your mind, but if you wait, then your mind may gloss over it and it may seem better or have the opposite effect and make it seem worse.

If the ride was bad, you will come off hating it, but if you wait, you may hate it more because you subconciously want to, or your mind may gloss over and make it seem better.

The best time to rate is probably half a week later, because it will still be quite fresh in your mind, and you will have had time to think of an opinion, rather than if you step off buzzing and wildly declair it the best ride ever, even though you have just been on Rita, or wait ages, forget most of it and declair it to be crap, even though you have just riden Nemesis.

As a result, many of my ratings are wrong and I would like to change some of them.

 

[gavin]

For instance, if A has ridden as many coasters as B but B has a wider range of coaster types in his/her coastercount:
- A's costercount: 5 B&M floorless, 2 Intamin Accelerators, 2 Maurer spinners, 1 Eurofighter.

- B's coastercount: 1 B&M floorless, 1 B&M inverter, 1 B&M Flyer, 1 B&M sitdown, 1 GCII, 2 CCIs, 1 Intamin Accelerator, 1 Zamperla spinner, 1 Maurer X-Car.

who is going to have a better opinion?

Me.

Everyone is entitled to my opinion.

I think a lot of stuff gets possibly overrated because it's new. When we ride a new coaster, or at least a coaster that's new to us, we usually want it to be amazing. I think a few people go the other way occasionally, wanting to hate something because of the ride type or the park it's in, but for the most part, people want the ride to be good, and that makes a difference.

For something like Saw, a lot of people giving it those high scores may not have ridden anything new for a while. When the whole previous year has consisted of whoring Alton/Thorpe/Blackpool, and riding their coasters to death, anything new away from the old routine is likely to score highly.

 

[CoasterKing]

I think the true CFers know what they are talking about in terms of what makes a 'quality' coaster. In fact I know that is true, as most of the highest rated coasters on here are the compact or classic woodies and the ground breaking steelies (mostly found in the US or other areas of the world unfortunatley.) Some people probably rate on specualtion rather than expirience. Saw is a fairly average coaster, however the gimmick of using the Saw franchise and the 'beyond' vertical drop thing probably makes people who aren't really enthusiasts think they SHOULD rate it higher as they have a more limited knowlege of the coaster world. Thats how I see it anyways. I wouldn't consider myself a true CFer as I use the forums only occasionally but I know that Saw is a fairly mediocre coaster at best and it doesn't compare to some of the greats out there (El Toro for example or Nemesis for the UK) Sorry if my comment sounds too Saw orientated...

 

[HarryBoyy]

I dont understand why people have put saw as a 9 or a 10 it deserves a 7 at most, it isnt THAT good. Ian isnt being harsh on his ratings but it really confuses me because everyone just thinks that because saw is a horror based ride, it is the most amazing thing in the world. But your wrong.

 

[Snoo]

^No one is wrong for their opinion.

 

[Ben]

For instance, if A has ridden as many coasters as B but B has a wider range of coaster types in his/her coastercount:
- A's costercount: 5 B&M floorless, 2 Intamin Accelerators, 2 Maurer spinners, 1 Eurofighter.

- B's coastercount: 1 B&M floorless, 1 B&M inverter, 1 B&M Flyer, 1 B&M sitdown, 1 GCII, 2 CCIs, 1 Intamin Accelerator, 1 Zamperla spinner, 1 Maurer X-Car.

who is going to have a better opinion?

Which ever one doesn't have Air as their number 2 coaster