>Your point 2 takes care of itself without needing regulation, for exactly the reason you describe: normal people who read reviews ignore the ones about e.g. th

>Your point 2 takes care of itself without needing regulation, for exactly the reason you describe: normal people who read reviews ignore the ones about e.g. the bad wine selection. I would probably agree if it was just that. Nowadays review sites are like a massive neon sign hanging above your shop saying '2 star review!!!'. That's often all people see before even having a chance to interact with the business. Reviews also get aggregated, so for instance on Just Eat, if I give 5 stars for delivery and 2 for food quality, the overall score would still be OK( which,in this case, makes it easier for the business but less informative for the customer). Also (and I realize this is tangential to your post), the idea of having to explain why you are unhappy is ridiculous in my view. >Also (and I realize this is tangential to your post), the idea of having to explain why you are unhappy is ridiculous in my view. Whenever I visit a pub or restaurant,I pay attention to the state of the toilets because it's often a good sign how serious they take the whole thing. I've been to places where the food is amazing but the place itself is filthy. So I can go and leave a review saying the place is shit.. The owner of the place would have no idea how to improve/change/fix. Now if I go and say the food is good but they need to clean the place, that's something the business can work with,should they decide to, and refusal to improve a known issue,as you said, would result in more people complaining about the same.