Ratings on NoWhiteNoise are a relatively new feature of the site — and one that is long overdue, of course. As such, you may find some old recaps and reviews without a rating at all.
A NoWhiteNoise Rating (abbreviated as “NWN Rating” when shown in posts) is always placed after a writer’s review and/or recap and gives the reader a quick snapshot of what that reviewer thought of that particular episode. There are three elements to a NWN Rating: (1) The grade; (2) the label; and (3) the description. The grade is a letter grade that best represents how the writer would rate the episode. The label, below the grade, is a quick phrase that showcases the writer’s feeling towards the episode. And finally, the description is a sentence or two that allows the writer to explain his or her rating.
All ratings are chosen by the writer who authored the recap/review. As such, they are a representation of what NoWhiteNoise as a whole rates the episode but does not represent what individuals at NoWhiteNoise believe the episode should be rated. In addition, ratings are not necessarily used to compare other series and are often subjective with regards to the respective series alone.
Why we chose letter grades: The short answer is that a quick poll between writers allowed for letters to be our rating score. Letter grades are easier to use when describing an episode or a series as a whole as it allows us to rate shows within a bracket of what would be number ratios. This way, we don’t exactly need to pinpoint it to the exact decimal location of something, which would be superfluous.
If you need a better explanation of how the letter grades would transition to a number scale, here it is below:
A | 93-100
A- | 90-92
B+ | 87-89
B | 83-86
B- | 80-82
C+ | 77-79
C | 73-76
C- | 70-72
D+ | 67-69
D | 63-66
D- | 60-62
F | 0-59
N/A | This post was not given a rating.
