One thing that is hard to wrap your mind around is that when describing the effects 'less is more'. It is very difficult and irritating to read a report that analyses a roll from every possible angle, and the report just drags on and on and on.
Fortunantly these report often get trimmed for readability.
The main focus of pill reports is for it to act in a harm reduction manner. Using this umbrella we can put a framework in place on what defines a good report. I'll put the main points in order of importance.
First of all - the pill discription must be as total and detailed as can be made. If you look at the posting guidelines there is a large section on this. Time and time again two similar pills will come out and confusion rains supreme - a detail such as 'the star had 6 points' means a hell of a different when there is also one with 5 points. Try looking up 'white star' in the Australian forum for an example of this. It took a while before people started defining the star correctly. Of course, a good picture also helps.
Secondly - a test result
Thirdly - suspected contents.
If you have at least these three then there is enough information to post a decend report. You don't have to consume the pill or write any description of effects. The Harm Reduction focus dictates there is enough information already for a good report. The all important "if it doesn't turn black - throw it back" test has just been answered.
Everything else after this point makes up 20% of the useful information.
Fourth - a rating that matches the duration and type of effects. Many users don't realise that the rating system (as flawed as it is but thats another topic for discussion) is a bit deeper than how much you enjoyed a pill. To achieve a higher rating certain aspects have to be met. A pill with a peak of 3 hours does NOT get a 9/10. It gets a 7-8. More information about this can be seen from the pillreports.com front page.
Fifth <--- (notice this is last in order!) The description of effects. Let me quote the most relevent part of the posting guideline, this will give us a... uhh guideline on what is to go here.
"Be clinical in your descriptions of effects. Avoid jargon phrases where possible and put some thought into your descriptions"
This leaves a bit of scope, although sometimes a bit too much and the user ends up writing a long story and everyone has to pick through it all to get the appropriate information. Relevent bits that go here are (not all inclusive): come up and duration times, adverse after effects, any factors that may have influenced the experience (poly drug use etc), if more than 1 of the same pill was consumed, similarity to another pill (eg a line of same press/same effect pills from the same source), and any other appropriate effect description.
These guidelines apply for a typical MDMA pill. Of course things get a bit different if reporting on something that is not MDMA but may be Speed, Ketamine, PMA etc, and there is provisioning within the rating system and the contents list for this.
Hope this makes everything a bit more clear
