When you read customer reviews on Amazon

[darkxshade]

I usually skip the main page reviews[most helpful] which are often a 5/5 with multiple paragraphs that simply just repeat what is already described on the product description in a context with personal experience. I really don't care for that, I almost always just click on the 2-4/5 star and read the mid rated reviews as I feel they have a more balanced opinion. I don't start with the 1/5's because some people can really get bitter when they had a bad personal experience with it which does not reflect the product on the whole. Curious as to what the majority here does. Clearly if everyone does what I do then the mid rated reviews should be on the main page as most helpful but they're generally not.

 

[gaidensensei]

Sometimes there are people who seem to have personal agendas against the companies and stuff for things they technically shouldn't..

It's like those people rant and grade 1/5 on newegg for a particular item is DOA or doesn't work. They need to take it with the mfg, not newegg.

 

[darkxshade]

It's like those people rant and grade 1/5 on newegg for a particular item is DOA or doesn't work. They need to take it with the mfg, not newegg.

like this but I appreciate its motive
http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Rings-Pic...2473988&sr=1-1

 

[DaveSimmons]

I look at the most helpful and some low-star reviews. In game and book reviews there are usually some most-helpful that do give reasons instead of parroting the product text or plot.

The low-stars either have good reasons or are bitter cranks, and I take the extra second to click the helpful / not helpful button to say which they were.

 

[Farang]

Low star reviews first. Generally you can tell if they are a real complaint or if the customer is an idiot. You can also see if there are recurring issues. High ratings are generally useless, because they don't provide enough specific info and you don't know how long the customer has had an item before reviewing it. Everyone thinks their new digital camera is awesome when they first get it, and don't want to admit they made the wrong choice.

 

[shortylickens]

I try to get opinions elseware. The reviewers on Amazon are amazon customers, meaning regular Americans, meaning jackasses. I cant trust them. Most of the 5/5 reviews are people who clearly dont know what they are talking about and arent critical enough to find anything wrong. Thats not helpful.
Most of the 1/5 reviews are folks just naturally angry and also not good at being objectively critical. They find things wrong they couldnt possibly know about or check. They are just ranting. Thats even less helpful. Especially when its not even directly related to the product itself but the shipping or customer service.

 

[jtvang125]

Most of the reviews with low ratings are just idiots or people with totally unreasonable expectations.

I remember reading a review where someone gave a 2/5 on a center channel speaker. He said he would have given it a 1 but since it sounded pretty good he gave it a 2. The low rating was because it had little to no bass at all. WTF!?

 

[shortylickens]

Most of the reviews with low ratings are just idiots or people with totally unreasonable expectations.

I remember reading a review where someone gave a 2/5 on a center channel speaker. He said he would have given it a 1 but since it sounded pretty good he gave it a 2. The low rating was because it had little to no bass at all. WTF!?

Thats the kind of person who gives high ratings to Bose cuz they have cute boxes.

 

[silverpig]

I find user reviews to be pretty useless for the reasons already presented. Either people are bitter about some other part of the experience and give all 1/5, or people review their product just out of the box and say they love it.

The ones I find most useful are the ones that go something like: "I bought <x> 5 months ago and..."

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I voted "Lowest rated", but I read a few of each to get a balanced view of people's experiences. I also consider a 5 star rating system (with 1 being the lowest score) as a 4 star system (1 = 0, 5 = 4).

 

[PingSpike]

I voted mid rating. There are sometimes some helpful 1/5 reviews, but most of them are zero detail useless things like "don't work no good" or people that complain because their $300 netbook didn't run Crisis or something.

When people rate in the 2-4 range, they often have a decent break down of why.

 

[trmiv]

I read a sample of both, but I like to read mostly the negative ones.

What I hate is when some idiot gives a 1 or 2 star review for a product because the shipping was slow or something.