Reviewing reviewers

It's likely we all have reviewers we trust as well as those we don't. And, the reasons are obvious. You wouldn't necessarily value your mechanic's opinion on gardening. Out on the town yesterday we turned to Yelp for help finding a restaurant. Yelp, an online app of personal reviews, is really a hit or miss affair—mostly miss. The problem with Yelp is simple. You don't know anything about the person writing the review. If you're looking for fine dining, trusting the review of someone whose diet consists of fast food isn't meaningful. One restaurant in Nashville, the Farm House, looked good, but the first review gave it but one star, and a thumbs down. "The problem with farm to fork is that all of the focus is placed on quality of the ingredients, and flavor takes a back seat." That negative review was the best recommendation we could have asked for, and we enjoyed a marvelous lunch of fresh foods. Flavorful too. The point is simple. We choose reviewers because their tastes match our own. We read reviewers because they have better access to, and knowledge of, the gear we wish to consider. Good reviewers, the really good ones, work hard at their craft and they have always been in short supply. But they're important and many of us would be lost without their sage advice. If you find one you like and enjoy reading, send them a note of encouragement once in awhile. It's got to be a tough and lonely job.