How do other people use (product) reviews? Are you putting value on the reviewer's opinion?
With the exception of Consumer Reports, I ignore all reviews that appear in commercial publications, review websites, etc.
I do put value on a review coming from Joe Random's hobbyist website, assuming that they aren't using affiliate links, weren't given the thing they're reviewing for free, and weren't otherwise compensated.
But I put the greatest value on people that I personally know telling me about their experience with the thing, followed by people I may not personally know, but that I've been paying attention to for long enough that I have an idea of what their tastes are.
It's very hard to know how to interpret a review (about a product, yes, but also about things like books, movies, music, etc.) without knowing a fair bit about the reviewer. Different people value different things, and a review has the most value to me when it comes from someone who values similar things to me.
Comments
With the exception of Consumer Reports, I ignore all reviews that appear in commercial publications, review websites, etc.
I do put value on a review coming from Joe Random's hobbyist website, assuming that they aren't using affiliate links, weren't given the thing they're reviewing for free, and weren't otherwise compensated.
But I put the greatest value on people that I personally know telling me about their experience with the thing, followed by people I may not personally know, but that I've been paying attention to for long enough that I have an idea of what their tastes are.
It's very hard to know how to interpret a review (about a product, yes, but also about things like books, movies, music, etc.) without knowing a fair bit about the reviewer. Different people value different things, and a review has the most value to me when it comes from someone who values similar things to me.