4 ms·

Why divide by the number of reviews? They don't sell candles that don't smell.

• OJFord 5y ago
  Because then it's 'percentage of reviews that complain there is no smell', removing the effect of an overall increase in reviews whatever they say.
  • stefan_ 5y ago
    That's assuming people that smell the candles just fine review at the same rate. I think we know that to not be true, so it's just burying the signal in noise.
    • emerongi 5y ago
      If we categorized the reviews and the category of "no smell" increased in relation to the other categories, wouldn't that give a better view at the issue than looking at absolute values? Isn't this is what dividing by all reviews would effectively do, only in the context of a single category (no smell)?
    • OJFord 5y ago
      Is it? IANA statistician and wouldn't claim it to be a strong suit, but isn't it only assuming that Smell and Not-smell each stay at the same rate (per sales)? Then S/N is flat across the year (even as sales vary) iff opinion on smell (regardless of whether it leads to a review) is flat.
    • jimmyswimmy 5y ago
      I've always called this the refrigerator problem. Reviews of major goods are allowed by the fact that people don't review them when they work as expected, only when they have issues. It's hard to imagine taking the time to review a refrigerator that reliably keeps my things cold. Some people do, but I think most don't.