I don’t think it’s unreasonable to be asked to rate wood screws from 1 to 5.
If it’s received as intrusive, then ignore it. Life is full of intrusiveness and the ability to filter is essential to personal well-being, productivity, happiness, and so much more.
With regard to Ian, is he annoyed or just too polite to answer honestly?
Writer Ian Bogost is distressed by surveys and businesses asking for your feedback.
One of the problems is people are self-intimidated to give it a 3. A three exhibits product averageness but also personal mediocrity! But no, it doesn’t! A 3, like a C grade, is average, and sometimes—perhaps most times—that is “good enough”. The product worked just as it should, no better and no worse, its “experience” was average. The rating of the wood screw is unrelated to my individuality.
We all know people that rates everything as (and only as) “colossal fail of biblical proportions” or “The.Best.Ever.in the history of this or any world”. Don’t trust these people. Their reviews, at least in part, are simply reflections of their insecurity… their attempt in convincing you (but more importantly, themself) that they have the knowledge and experience and worldliness to really know what is good and what isn’t—that they are better than you. This one flaw doesn’t dismiss their friendship but it is a window into their being, and even more so when they publicly broadcast “their wisdom” beyond their friend group.
On the other hand, don’t be bullied into a 5. Most of us have experienced the after-sales appliance or car repair request: Please leave me a 5 because anything else is a fail. If that was true, the rating scale would be 1 to 2. Given up to 5, a 3 is you-did-what-you-should-have-done, and a 1 is a fail. While possible, it would be rare for an oil change to garner a 5.
Embrace the 3. A wood screw should just be a wood screw. I don’t need--I don’t even want--a wood screw to bring me nirvanas, I don’t need it to be the best wood screw north of the South Pole. I only want things that truly matter to bring me this level of joy or emotion. Equating a wood screw’s happiness potential to my family, to my friends, to milestone’s in life is insulting to my family, friends, and myself.
A three is okay.