| DarkD said: User scores need to be done right for them to work. The user has to be a confirmed owner of the product, then the user score becomes better than the professional critics. |
This still isn't perfect. Amazon is full of 1 star product reviews from users who are upset that UPS damaged the product during shipping. Also people often rate products early on and will seldom go back and update their rating if something changed. Lots of products or games could wow you right out of the box. Problems may not be evident until weeks later.
It's always going to be up to the consumer to synthesize user reviews, professional reviews, the taste of professional reviewers, their own tastes, and the tastses of the community at large in order to make a choice.
You're always weighing pros and cons. I'd trust a journalist over someone who rates pretty much anything as a 0 on metacritic.
I'd trust my friend who has owned a phone for 6 months over a CNET reviewer who spent a weekend with it.
I'd trust myself above all when a superhero movie starts getting 95/100 from users and critics alike.
