> The problem with any commercial website with ratings (Amazon, Yelp, etc., etc.) is that there is HUGE incentive to game the ratings. While I agree that this

> The problem with any commercial website with ratings (Amazon, Yelp, etc., etc.) is that there is HUGE incentive to game the ratings. While I agree that this is a problem, I think a bigger problem is a simple matter of scale: Amazon is huge, and many people buy things, but they don't split reviews and ratings by what kind of person is rating them. If they wanted to make an improvement, why not show me only ratings and reviews by people who are similar to me? They have tons of data about me and other people who use the service, so it should be possible for them to say "people like you rated this on average a 4, but everyone in the world rates it an average of 2.5." That's much easier than having to read all the reviews and decide if the person is in my demographic or whether I agree with their review.