Ha, this was probably the worst pub I visited during my crawl of Strood and I think the landlady has just made my point. The pub wasn't busy and the landlady certainly wasn't rushing around checking food for an invisible football team. She was plain and simple rude. The music was so loud that the bar was vibrating.
I'll not be posting a reply as it will only start an argument, but it is good to see that my reviews get read!
WE ARE THE BREADMEN - UP THE BEES 
I don't see a problem with these reviews staying, they both allow anyone to make an informed decision about whether to visit or not.
It also raises an interesting point about the 'worth' of reviews. We tend to value those of the 'prolific reviewers' yet decry the 'one drop reviewers'. From my perspective, and I suspect others will be the same, many of my reviews are based on one visit to a pub for a single pint - in effect a one drop review. Conversely those who we consider to be one drop reviewers are more likely to be regulars, or indeed involved with the running of the pub, eager to promote/defend the pub, and can give a more rounded view. Just a thought.
I've just joined Alcoholics Anonymous - I still drink, just under a different name.
As ever Millay you make a very good point, sadly the one drop reviewers we get are not usually satisfied regulars or licensees but those letting off steam about a bad sunday lunch. Tonight or tomorrow's reviews will probably include a crop of those who waited "hours" for a poor quality /cold/badly cooked/served meal as well as some from those who wish to air their own prejudices.Originally Posted by Millay
As you say, the regulars who review their local are more likely to be those defending their friend the landlord/lady/manager (and in the other place are often put up to it by said friend) from some poor review by someone else, but I think "prolific reviewers" have the breadth of experience of many pubs which should give them an idea of the relative merits of a pub and will also be more objective than a satisfied regular. We also have a track record to look back over with prolific reviewers so we can assess whither we generally trust their reviews or not or whither they like the kind of pubs we do.
Having said that I find almost any review is useful in some way if approached with a critical eye so I wouldn't wish to decry anybody's review of any pub except on the grounds of allegations, irrelevance or malice.
Have to admit I am now veering towards deleting the reply. We do say replies aren't allowed, but we tend to let that slip for people who work at the pub, as the person hasn't stated they work at the pub then it should probably go to make sure we avoid this happening too often.
I would draw a distinction between one drop reviews and one visit reviews. One drop reviews are reviewers who leave one review (generally a complaint, it is a tiny proportion of one drops that are positive let alone involved with the pub), and whatever they write is fairly meaningless for me as it has no context. If you are writing to complain, then lets face it, you are prone to ranting, I know I am, so everything written should be taken with a dose of salt. Similarly if you are writing a one drop positive review then prone to exaggeration holds just as much, if a person mentions they own/work at the pub at least it is easy to see where they are coming from, and hopefully what they are proud of in the pub so got some respect for that category of one drops.
One visit reviews are a completely different beast, unless someone writes that they are a regular I assume a review is a snapshot. And where it is from one of our prolific reviewers you can look at other reviews they have written and gain some context for their snapshot, you can know if the reviewer is looking for the same thing in pubs as you, and where you distrust their opinion. So whilst I appreciate that it was a one off experience for the reviewer I can compare it to a body of snapshots. And where they like the same sort of pubs I like then I know that these are the places I should look to for new places to visit.
So to summarise, one visit reviewers are the bread and butter of this site, they hold it together. One drop reviewers are responsible for 99% of the grief I get from running the site, not only do they do just 1 review against the 100's some of our reviewers have left, but that 1 review is worth 1% of a single review from one of our regulars.
[Edit: Dammit, posted and found that oldboots had beaten me to most of the punchlines, must type faster in future]
Sometimes of course one drop reviews do build up a picture of the place, often unfavourable
I would expect some rudeness or Fawlty trained staff here for instance, but in this case it may be the views / walk is worth it?
I totally agree. I think you can usually judge the merits of a review by the way it is written. I also applaud Strongers' attitude - there is nothing to be gained in starting an argument. My reviews always focus on the beer/quality and ambience of the pub. Food, to me, is an extra, which if good, is the icing on the cake.
Nigel Rowe
XKCD are one of the finest web comics out there, if you like humour of scientific bent then subscribing to them is a must. Today's comic said much about how I feel about the reviewer subject:
Direct Link
XKCD are one of the finest web comics out there, if you like humour of scientific bent then subscribing to them is a must. Today's comic said much about how I feel about the reviewer subject:
Direct LinkCan't fault the logic. I suppose the pub equivalent is that you can always get served easily at the bar. You'll probably find yourself sitting in a corner with a stale pint and a bored barmaid intensely watching Trisha on daytime TV though.
I've just joined Alcoholics Anonymous - I still drink, just under a different name.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote