Quote:
Originally Posted by s_stabeler
It's complicated- and if you take online reviews at face value without further scrutiny, you're an idiot- but such services DO have their uses if you think to go beyond the basic rating into actually reading the reviews to see what people actually say- particularly since it helps winnow out fake reviews. (I've bought items with surprisingly low reviews on Amazon since the negative ones all seemed fake. Considering said item worked fine for me, I suspect I was right in my analysis.)
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This.
I look at it this way: You need a service, and you have two choices:
Take your chances by going blind and choosing the nearest plumber or electrician and hope that the hundreds of dollars you will soon be parted with will come to good use. This is assuming you don't have any friends who can recommend anyone.
Do some research and read what people have said about these folks. And, yes, you do need to read. I've read one-star reviews on restaurants where someone said something along the lines of "My party of 8 couldn't be seated at 6:30pm on a Saturday. I don't care if I didn't make a reservation, that's terrible!" or "I tried clams for the first time and HATED them! Don't believe the other reviews that they have the best clams! They were gross!"
But then you have multiple reviews that indicate serious concerns, and that's what I watch out for. Between a place that has 700 reviews of 4-5 stars and a place that has 700 reviews that are more of a mixed bag, with some people having valid complaints, I sure am going to take the former one. Because I need to feel comfortable about who I'm paying hundreds of dollars for to do the job right.
As for movies, I agree you can't rely on reviews. I've enjoyed 50% movies, and thought 98% movies were overhyped. However, I may use Rotten Tomatoes to weigh if I should watch it in the theater or wait until I can stream it for a lower price. Again, that just makes sense to me. Why risk wasting money on a movie that sucks?