I think this is the case for anything where anyone can write a review. The same happens with restaurant reviews, for instance: people affiliated with the resta

I think this is the case for anything where anyone can write a review. The same happens with restaurant reviews, for instance: people affiliated with the restaurant will write glowing, positive reviews to try to drown out the angry 1-star ratings from pissed-off customers. The thing to do with any kind of rating system like this is to weight the positive reviews far less than the negative reviews. Also read the positive reviews with a critical eye; the ones by "plants" are usually somewhat obvious.