Ponyfic Roundup is changing!

Okay, it isn't really. Well, not much. I'm still going to be reviewing several stories on a generally weekly basis. I'm still going to have some themed posts. I'm still going to rate primarily on how much I enjoyed a fic. What is changing is the scoring system. I've decided that marks out of ten are fairly pointless; as I said earlier, nobody really cares whether a fic scores 7 or 7.5/10. So I'm going over to a simple and straightforward star-rating system, as follows:

★★★★★ : Outstanding. These are stories that I'm kicking myself for not having read earlier, that leave me open-mouthed with admiration, that do something truly original on a grand scale... the top-notchers, in other words. (Equates to 9+ on the old system.)

★★★★ : Very Good. These are stories that I had a lot of fun reading and would happily read again, and that I could easily recommend. However, they may have small niggles or flaws that prevent their reaching true greatness. (Equates to 8 to 8.5 on the old system.)

★★★ : Good. There are likely to be plenty of stories in this class, meaning that I enjoyed them but that they didn't do enough to stick in my mind in the longer term. Some fics here could have been four-star stories with only minor improvements. (Equates to 6 to 7.5 on the old system.)

★★ : Meh. In this category will be placed those stories that didn't really move me either way. They didn't make me wish I could write like that; they didn't make me wish the author had a clue. Read, shrugged, moved on, basically. (Equates to 4 to 5.5 on the old system.)

★ : Poor. To finish with a one-star rating, a story must either suffer from such poor writing as to make it truly a trial to get through, be outright objectionable in some way or include content that I really do not like. (Equates to 3.5 or below on the old system.)

The New Year's Eve edition of Ponyfic Roundup will be the last to use the out-of-ten scoring system; star ratings will be instituted with the first PR of 2015. As long as it seems to work okay, I intend to continue using the star system as described above for the foreseeable future.