I'd like to inform you all of an addition to the PureZC Site and Forum Rules, under rule #12. Let me start by saying this is a very sensitive subject. We believe that everyone should be allowed to express their opinions in all areas of the site in ways that don't harm other members. We don't like to come across as engaging in censorship or policing of opinions. However, we've recently encountered some situations where we feel we need the flexibility to take action when certain ratings and reviews styles are counter to the welfare of the site. We really wanted to have something on the books so no one would be taken by surprise if we take this kind of action in the future.
Essentially, we believe there's a sort of "community consensus" or "baseline" for star rating scores, that's demonstrated through the average range of scores reviewers tend to give. What makes this challenging is that this isn't a solid number, but more of a general view pieced together from many reviews. This is not at all to say that you can't rate something zero stars if you think it's warranted, even if most people think it deserves five stars. This is targeted more at larger patterns, such as someone repeatedly rating many quests much lower than everyone else. You can have "high standards," of course, but past a certain point it starts to mess with the way the database ratings system works. For example, in an extreme case, imagine a reviewer deciding that by "professional standards," none of the quests here could hope to go over a 3-star rating, because without a high budget and dedicated team, they'll always be "amateurish." This would pull the ratings of every quest they played down, give an inaccurate impression of the quests' quality according to most members' expectations, and could hit the quest makers hard.
In cases like this, the staff may ask the reviewer to modify their scores, or if other options fall through, remove their ability to rate content altogether.
I know this kind of thing may sound alarming, and some may view it as a "slippery slope" that allows the staff to censor opinions they disagree with. However, I want to stress that most members will never have to worry about this rule at all. This is meant to be exercised only in extreme cases, and multiple staff members will always be involved in discussions on this to serve as a check and ensure we're being fair.
We also want to remind everyone that, as already stated in the rules, we expect criticism to be constructive and respectful. Again, harsh opinions are fine, but please keep the creators' feelings in mind and avoid reviews that could be taken as disparaging or cruel.