I am a fanatic when it comes to reading personal reviews and opinions in the comment sections. I like to check out the comments when I'm contemplating a purchase, taking a trip, eating out, deciding on a film or show, and practically anything else which requires making some type of decision. I've found that generally, comments can be of great help and a valuable resource. But that said, I've also found that some comments can be of little help, useless, and might actually throw you off track. It's pretty important that you avoid the extreme fanatical comments... they usually offer little informative insight and can be by someone who has little vision of the whole picture and only offers a prejudicial opinion.
It is important to sum up the overall picture. Are the comments more or less somewhat in agreement? If most are united in a consistent rating, with a scattered few reaching the extremes, then you can pretty well go with the consistent flow. Even the extreme ratings can be accurate if they pretty much dominate the overall opinion. But you can usually ignore the misplaced opinion that is extremely negative when most everyone else is positive (or reversed)... unless they bring something to the table which has been overlooked and missed by the majority!
One other thing you must keep in mind is, especially when dealing with areas of personal taste, you absolutely must factor-in that we all have our likes and dislikes! These personal likes and dislikes are not right or wrong... no matter what you think or what the other person feels, but you must know whether they are the opinion of someone who is similar to yourself in that particular area. If you don't like a particular type of music, show, food, etc, you sure can't agree with someone who is just the opposite in that area!
When you have not had the luxury of having a hands-on experience, the shared experiences of others can be of great value and well worth your time and effort.
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