In reply to Darren.

I can't decide whether I think that's a good idea... On the one hand, I sometimes wish I could just rate a plugin and not bother with the review. But then again, being forced to write the review makes me stop and think about the reason for my rating, and most of the time, I find that I do in fact have something to say, regardless of whether my rating is positive, negative, or neutral. Overall, I think the reason for the rating is more important than the rating itself, if ratings are to be truly useful. People who look at ratings and reviews to determine which plugins to use aren't going to find ratings helpful if they don't have a context. For example, if you're looking for a plugin and are comparing two or three, you might look at the ratings first, but if they're pretty similar, then you'd move on to the reviews for more details. Making reviews optional could be useful in getting more ratings, but would those be quality ratings?