Star Ratings: What They Mean

For the 6-star reviews, I rate each story between one and five stars.  Please note that these ratings are on a curve.  I'm doing all 6-star stories, after all, so I expect them to be high-quality.  These reviews would be pretty boring if every one of them ended in "Surprise!  It's a pretty good story!"  With that in mind, my rating criteria is as follows:

• ★★★★★: This story stands on its own as a work of literature, never mind as a pony fanfic.  If copyright laws weren't a thing, it could be commercially published.  I'd buy a copy, anyway.

• ★★★★☆: This story was well-written, interesting, and engaging.  It deserves to be 6-starred.

• ★★★☆☆: There are some minor problems with this story, but it is still unquestionably a high-quality work.  I wouldn't feel that this story had been unfairly slighted were it not 6-starred, but I have no problem with the rating.

• ★★☆☆☆: Although this story still falls among the 10% of ponyfics which reside outside of Sturgeon's Law, there are significant and noticeable issues with the story or writing.  A good read, but not something I would have awarded the highest possible star rating to.

• ★☆☆☆☆: There are significant, systemic problems with this story.  I do not believe it deserves 6 stars.

Based on this rating system, I expect to award a lot of 3- and 4-stars.  Again, please bear in mind what these star ratings denote.  A story that I'd 5-star in a heartbeat on EqD might only get 3 using this system.