Things to know about me and how I do things here on RYM:

1.) The majority of my ratings are pretty high. Most of my ratings are three stars or higher. The reason for this is because I try my hardest (with a few exceptions here and there) to only listen and rate music that I like or think I will like. Often times, if I'm listening to an album and I don't like it after listening to a few tracks, I just stop listening and move on to something else rather than trudging on and giving the album a poor rating. There are far too many great albums out there that I want to hear for me to waste too much time listening to music that I know I won't like.

2.) I don't use five star ratings. To me, five stars means perfection, and I don't believe perfection exists. I don't use five star ratings for the same reason that I wouldn't use a zero star rating (if it existed). I only rate albums somewhere between a half star to four and a half stars, and I don't even usually give a four and a half star rating unless the album is at least ten years old. I want any ratings that high to stand the test of time (for me, at least!)

3.) I only rate albums that I have listened to in full, from beginning to end. I can't bring myself to rate an album if I've only heard part of it. I know people on this site do that, and if that works for them, that's great, but I won't. The large majority of my ratings even are for albums that I've listened to in full multiple times.

4.) I mostly only rate full standard albums on this site. Sometimes I'll rate compliations, and less frequently I'll rate EPs, but I never rate singles here. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with doing that, I just choose not to.

5.) I love to discover brand new music and listen to a pretty good number of new releases every year. I make a very strong effort though to re-listen and re-rate albums that I have previously rated on this site, which is why most of my ratings on here are from 2013 or later, even though I've been a part of RYM since 2007. I want to have a familiarity with every album that I rate here. If I come across a rating for an album that I don't remember listening to, I will probably either delete that rating, or listen to the album again.

6.) My tastes seem to be very different than the majority of RYM users. I haven't rated a whole lot of the RYM canon, and despite having over 1300 ratings, I only show up on one user's compatibility list (that I know of! It's grotek if you're curious!).

7.) The genres that I listen to most are rock based (alternative, indie, blues rock, garage rock), but I am also very much into rhythm & blues and soul, and find myself getting more and more into genres like americana and country (but real country, not the pop country that gets played on the radio).

8.) As much as I love this site, I hope to never take too much stock in what this site or its users tell me I should and shouldn't like. If you like Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd, that's great. But If you like Nickelback or Justin Bieber, that's fine too! Don't let the community here shame you and tell you your taste in music sucks. The only thing that matters about your music is whether or not YOU enjoy it. Whoever you like, own it and be proud of it. This site needs people who are passionate about genres like disco or nu-metal just as much if not more than it needs another passionate Radiohead fan.