Post-A-Thon: The Problem With Reviews

This is one of the topics that I forgot to include in my list of things I need to post:

First of all I love opinions. I am suspicious of people who are afraid to have opinions. I think that they are repressed, but that is just my opinion. But then along comes the Internet. User reviews are a popular part of the Internet. My feelings about this website feature is mixed. I have come to use the opinions posted by volunteers as a way to help choose my newest camera or book but when it comes to restaurants I have some issues. 

I think that in order for user reviews to be a good source of conventional wisdom there needs to be a critical mass. A small handful of semi-anonymous commenters is a long way from being a scientific survey. I do think that Taste Everything Once is beginning to develop the kind of bulk that develops a more useful sampling. Remi's site benefits from no competition (Spokesman? Inlander? Are you sleeping?) and always gets a good google ranking when you search a local business. It also has some regulars who take their hobby seriously. I am also glad that even when there is a bad experience the serious amateurs will give it another go to avoid mistaking an aberration for an inherently bad business. I am particularly grateful for this because I belong to a cooking philosophy that believes mistakes must be made in order to develop new ideas. Sometimes I think people will like things and I learn otherwise. The feedback is important for development. Experimentation is a difficult challenge when you are trying to make EVERYONE happy. Restaurants should not cook to the reviews any more than teachers should teach to the test.
This has all been a distraction, what I really wanted to say is, the comment section of the posts on this website is not a good place to share your thoughts about a local restaurant. Older posts tend to collect comments as people start searching the name of the place that they hate or love.  I recently had threads about Taste and Lazy Bones BBQ that have left me unnerved. I have fallen short of banning trolls but I have been tracking IP addresses in order to prevent obvious cranks with an agenda. I appreciate people's opinions but it doesn't seem right to tack on reviews to my post when there is a perfectly good outlet for your hate or hugs over at Taste Everything Once.  

And remember it is just a plate of food. Do people angrily pound on the glass demanding their money back when the latest Dane Cook movie was not as funny as the guy from the Dallas Star Tribune said it was going to be? Just like with food, I might have hated it but the guy next to me seemed to be eating it up. To each their own.