There has to be room in any rating system for the lowest rating, for those who deliver the worst possible service - obviously. The problem I see is that the pe

There has to be room in any rating system for the lowest rating, for those who deliver the worst possible service - obviously. The problem I see is that the perception of what warrants a given rating varies pretty widely, and most sites do a terrible job of trying to help their users calibrate their ratings. I monitor Yelp regularly for my girlfriend, who owns a wine bar. Her ratings are generally excellent - over 4 star avg., with most ratings at 5 for the past two years. However, every once in a while we see an anomalous rating - for instance: - one current 3-star says "I have to be honest, I didn't have anything to drink, I was with friends waiting for the midnight showing at the theatre next door. However, it was packed and happening and EVERYBODY was having a good time." So this person, who wasn't a patron, but who had nothing but positive impressions, still left what ultimately will be considered a sub-standard rating. This is actually most common for us with 3-stars - they are generally very positive reviews, with nothing negative at all, but with what most Yelpers would consider a sub-standard rating. Mostly when I look at Yelp ratings, it follows the same pattern - 80% of the ratings seem to correlate closely with the reviews and the typical Yelp ratings standards. 10% seem to be using a different rating standard. And 10% are just weird.