Negative Thoughts

Perhaps it is a sign of my thought process, some cynicism pushing through. Maybe I just believe that the negative presented is generally more indicative of the true nature of something that the positive presented.

I skipped on over to Amazon.com to look up a novel this morning and read some reviews. I spent a few hours there last week looking for toys for Luke for Christmas and his birthday.

In both instances, each time I pulled up an item, I went to the customer reviews and looked for the person (or people) ranting and raving about how awful the product is. In one instance, the product wasn't given less than three (out of five stars) by any reviewer. In another instance, the product didn't receive about two stars by any reviewer.

Clearly, Product A = good and Product B = bad. This is where reviews are helpful and clear cut.

But most of the time, there is a range from one to five stars. And I gravitate to the one star ratings to find out what was bad. Sometimes I shake my head and the expectations people have of plastic and paper. Sometimes the only understanding I get is that the reviewer is an idiot. But these glimpes into other people's heads are pretty useful in deciding whether or not to buy a product.

But I'd rather read 10 bad reviews than one good review. They're just more interesting.