I was recently looking at some online reviews for a place that I've stayed at some years ago (it was hell and I'll never stay there ever again), and there where both some very bad reviews (which mirrored my experience there) and also some very good reviews about the place.
(it wasn't a jail BTW )

I can't understand how anyone in their right mind could give such a place even just an OK review, let alone a good one. This got me thinking, how does anyone trust an "online review" in that case?

NOTE: I have intentionally withheld the name (or type) of the place because I don't want to offend anyone nor cause any trouble for LQ because of it. Also, I'm asking in general - so it could be about anything you like, as long as it's an online review of some kind.

I selected Don't know/Other because It Depends and Sometimes were not offered as options. I am more trusting of reviews that include meaningful comments.

Never trust online reviews, you don't know the reviewer, their likes or dislikes, totally worthless in my opinion.

I will sometimes read revues, specially for books and music, but I always take them with a pinch of salt and ultimately make up my own mind, based on my own tastes and what I know of the author/musician.

Also selected Don't know/Other.
I'll read on-line reviews, but don't usually give them much weight unless they're significantly unanimous (+ or -) and there's a significant number.

Generally not, I do read some reviews, and I give a little more credit to reviewers that reference options/alternatives etc... and generally disregard reviews that are overly positive or negative in nature. Too many times, overly positive reviews are employees, family members etc...and overly negative reviews are from competitors, ex boyfriends/girlfriends etc...

I tend to trust them based on the way the review is written. The choices of words and the phrasing tends to make me trust or not. Getting second opinions helps from other sites. Using verified buyer helps.

I'd still like to give a 0 (zero) star. Why start off at one?

I look at multiple reviews of a place. Often you can throw out the best and the worst as the former are likely shills and the latter might be competitors or just plain trolls. You can get a fair feel for something by looking at multiple reviews. If they're all negative but 1 or 2 its probably a good idea to stay away.

You also have to know the site you're dealing with. Yelp actually accepts advertising and I found once that a fairly negative review I'd done didn't show up unless I took the effort to look at "all reviews" rather than "recommended reviews". All the "recommended reviews" were positive for this particular company but the "all reviews" showed many negative or neutral none of which were "recommended". Yelp claims they have an algorithm that does the "recommended" selection but so far as I could tell the algorithm was skewed in favor of folks that advertised with them. Similar companies that did NOT have advertising on their site had negative reviews in the "recommended" section. I've never relied on Yelp for anything since then.

Some of the hotel booking sites like Expedia get the reviews from people who have booked through them so I tend to trust those more but again I look at multiple reviews rather than just their overall rating. Generally speaking 2 star overall though does mean its not going to be great. If you just want a place to sleep at end of day 2 star is somewhat acceptable but you're better off going to the 3 star places if you don't like surprises. On my recent drive to California the 2 star places were generally cheaper but not optimal.

Stuff isn't true just because you see it on a monitor.

Some of these places will pay for reviews. Sometimes, persons who have a bone to pick will gin up negative reviews. My first real job was in a complaint department, and I can attest that persons who get what they pay for are much less likely to speak up than those who feel aggrieved, whether the grievance is legitimate or not.

Then you get merchants that try to game the system: https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/b...fine-backlash/

Plus some outfits pay for clicks. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...w-sellers.html

I will trust a review in my local newspaper or other legitimate publication long before I will trust reviews on sites where persons can just volunteer reviews with no vetting, That doesn't mean I automatically dismiss them, just that I keep some very large grains of salt in the salt cellar.

Sometimes it is all you've got.

@MensaWater
While that's true, just throwing away equal numbers of the extreme positive and extreme negative reviews tend to lead to the more persistent shills getting an unduly positive result. Just look at the reviews of almost anything on Amazon and you'll wonder how the five star guys and the one star guys can be reviewing the same product (sometimes they are not, of course -some Amazon reviews mix the 'Mk1' and 'Mk2' versions of the product or the 'standard' and the 'plus', which is unhelpful...particularly as I think most people don't even notice that this is going on, as the reviews usually don't state what exact product they are reviewing)

I tend to be more persuaded by reviews that offer reasons for their opinions and which aren't scattered with very obvious grammar mistakes ('to' and 'too' is an obvious way of sacrificing credibility and coming across as a 'ranter'), but it isn't a very reliable process.

i trust only game reviews, like if 3-5 sites say some game is good i tend to trust em.

"trust" or "consider"?
i do not trust them, but i will consider them.

also, this:

Yeah, I noticed the "verified buyer/customer" bit on a reviews sites I looked at the other day, good point.

I wonder the same thing myself, it seems to be that way on most/any reviews site I've looked at too. I guess they don't consider it a "review" if it did have a "0 rating". But I agree with your question, it really makes it even harder to trust them if they insist on at least one star, instead of starting at "0". Good point once again.

Another good point and distinction too. Although, if you don't trust them, why would you consider them? I guess is another question again.

Although once again, it seems from the responses thus far that, not a lot of people "trust" them, but might "consider" them. I guess one more question I'd have would be that; if you don't "trust" them, how much would you "consider" them?

Interesting comments all the same but (speaking about all posts/replies in general that is).

Thanks for the opinions.

(I wasn't ignoring this thread BTW, I just wanted to see what kind of responses I'd get before replying back myself.)

It came out in one of the many trials that a certain company from Washington State was paying second and third parties to place false endorsements in the media. I was not at all surprised as I had used the same products and found them seriously lacking.

As to hotels, I've noticed over the years many will go to great lengths to have a beautiful lobby (the first impression), but the rooms are definitely inferior. Or, you get a great rate via one of the online booking services only to check in and find "miscellaneous fees" added to your bill and/or you are shown to probably the worst room in the hotel. Last time that happened I turned right around, went back to the main desk, took the paper work, including the credit card hard copies, the clerk happened to still be holding in his hand and went out the door and down the street to another hotel.

As with just about anything else it is, caveat emptor.

...and I just noticed this (Here's Why Amazon Can't Fix Review Spam):

http://www.lifehacker.co.uk/2018/05/...ix-review-spam

to quote from the sum up:

which probably captures the situation at its worst.