The Pacificklaus Ratings

So, what do these ratings I use in my diving destination reviews mean? 4.773/5 gobies? 4.98/5 gobies? Are 4 gobies better than 3.8 blennies? What should I make of the second digit behind the coma in these ratings?

It’s a joke about the ubiquitous rating systems all over the internet!

The History of Western Philosophy, Bertrand Russell’s classic, has 4.4 stars on Amazon. “Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence”, a volume of contemporary inspirational stories has 4.9 stars. So that’s the better book???? How do you even measure the quality of a philosophy classic and a commercial inspirational book with the same rating?

It’s simply a misunderstanding that something as complex as a book or a diving location can be measured with a single rating value. This is not a scalar value like a weight lifted or a distance jumped.

None of the places I review suck. They are all really good dive spots. But what is a better location on a scale from 0 to 5, a place with spicy night-life or a quiet beach resort? Diving with strong current and big fish, or muck diving? It depends on your preferences! Such an assessment can’t be put into a single number. You’ll have to actually read the dive location reviews and think about what you want.