Negative Reviews vs Positive Reviews - which ones do you prefer reading / writing?

[Corrie]

I read an interesting article today in The New Yorker about Jay Rayner who loves to write reviews for terrible restuarants. He says, "All good restaurants are good in the same way: they have tables; they have chairs; they have nice food, and it’s served by people who aren’t psychopaths." He then points out that people love to read negative reviews "because we’re horrible; because it’s a way to take revenge on every bad restaurant experience we’ve ever had; because it makes us feel better about ourselves [catharsis]." 

Now Jay Rayner is obviously writing reviews as entertainment and for a newspaper - not for helping people discover places to go or helping businesses get found - but it does present a fun question:

What kind of reviews do you like to read (and why) and what kind do you like to write?

[BlancheMc]

Personally I like to try and find the positive when I write reviews. I might not like what the business has to offer but someone else might, so I try and highlight who might be the target audience for that business.....they obviously appeal to someone ..or they wouldnt be in business. Right?

[SaggafA]

I mostly skimming through similar reviews to get overall perspective and read the longest reviews. Negative feedback is ok for me but taking revenge because of bad experience doesn't make it more objective for me. Every places always have positive and negative sides

When I write a review, I try to give something that other reviews don't point out at or something that I don't agree with other reviews and straight to my point

[YanniY]

I like reading both positive and negative reviews. It's true that negative reviews may sometimes be more biased. However, knowing the volume of the negative vs positive reviews could also provide a more balanced story about a place. I like to go to a place know that there are pros and cons, and enter without huge expectations. Having really high expectations about a place may leave you feeling more disappointed.

[LuisRG]

I like both of them, especially if I'm considering a certain place for an upcoming trip. Reading that it might be horrible is great to forget about including it in my trip 🙂

And about writing, in my blog, for instance, when talking about travel experiences in general, I try to talk about good inspirational experiences, but when it comes to burgers, something very dear to me and where people have come to expect of me a certain degree of expertise, I write about those places no matter how good or bad they are.

[JR_Curley]

Interesting article...my goal with all of my reviews is to share an actual experience to help others get a broad perspective of a business.

Every business is like a canvas, and all of our reviews are the brush strokes that. Regardless of which direction the brush stroke goes, or what color is on it. it paints an overall picture that make the business what it is.

I don't enjoy writing negative (I like to call them constructive) reviews for businesses, but it should always be done. Without that brushstroke, people who are viewing the business will see an incomplete picture. I recently wrote a constructive review for a business, I can only hope they read it and take some sort of action.

Interestingly enough, I read the reviews of the business before I went to it...and they were pretty decent. After I went and wrote my constructive review, I was talking to some friends about it and they all mentioned how terrible their experiences had been at the same place. Since they aren't Local Guides, and don't write reviews, their experiences weren't captured. Had I known what they'd experience, I wouldn't have gone to the establishment.

When I read reviews, I always skim through the constructive reviews to see if I can find a pattern. If I don't see one, then I chalk it up as random incidents/issues. If I see a pattern (e.g. 5 reviews state that the food was cold when delivered), then I tend to believe that it's showing a valid challenge the establishment is struggling with and hasn't corrected. 

[MartinSolari]

I think both kind of reviews are necessary, part of the same ecosystem.

I read both, but I try to filter extremely negative ones, I don't like when people use harsh words. Except when there is a pattern in several reviews, no matter the wording, you see that something is wrong and is good to know.

[Lord_Parker]

When I'm looking for reviews, I like reading the good and the bad, sometimes somebody has had a blip and the odd mistake has been made, I then weigh up the reviews and make an informed decision. A bad review doesn't mean a bad place... it coud be a bad reviewer or someone with an axe to grind. My business has a negative review on it from someone that thought it would be good fun to try and ruin my business and I can't get rid of it, yet there are others which sing my businesses praises.

[BlancheMc]

Yes I have spoken to a few business owners who say that they have received negitive reviews from people who have never been customers. It would be great if google had an option for business owners to respond so they can fix any issues

[GregW]

I tend to ignore the gushingly positive ones and the destructively negative ones. It's the ones in the middle who are more likely to give a true indication. 

Ultimately it's the reviews that give a reason for being positive or negative that are the most useful and it's something I try and be aware of when I write my own reviews.