[iainmerrick]

Slight tangent--

I think 1-4 stars is the ideal rating style. I wish that were used more often.

A choice of 1-4 stars gives you enough freedom to express your opinion, without being overwhelming. It's a small enough range to be reasonably objective (almost everybody will interpret it as 1 star = bad, 2 = passable, 3 = good, 4 = great). And with an even number of choices there's no middle "meh" option -- you're forced to make a choice between 2 and 3.

Of course it's important not to ruin it by adding extra options, like 0 stars or half-stars. (That was Ebert's big mistake!)

Edit to add: to relate this to the parent post, I'm thinking that maybe ranking things as 1-4 stars in several categories could be the best if both worlds.