Hot take: I think we put too much trust in five star reviews

I was reading reviews for a new phone case on a big site last week, and one guy gave it five stars but his comment just said 'arrived fast'. That's about the shipping, not the product. It made me see how many glowing reviews are for stuff that doesn't matter, like packaging or a seller being nice. Now I skip straight to the three and four star comments to find actual details about the thing itself. How do you filter out the useless praise when you're reading reviews?

2 comments

2 Comments

seanlewis13d ago

Yeah, skipping to the middle star comments is KEY. I also look for reviews that mention a specific problem, even if they still liked the product.

hugo_grant13d ago

Totally agree with you @seanlewis, that's the best way to do it. I always go straight to the three star reviews... they usually have the real talk about a product's flaws without all the anger. Finding a review that points out a small issue but still likes the thing tells me the person is being honest. It saved me from buying a backpack that looked great but had a weird strap design everyone in the middle ratings mentioned.