One-star restaurant reviews and online reviews in general inspire anguish and upheaval.

Synonyms for trauma include stress, ordeal and derangement. Among the antonyms are blessing, contentment and alleviation.

What sort of aberrant psychology is it, then, to be compelled to share trauma like this with others?

With complete strangers?

How does that relieve the pain?

Whatever happened to the simple, eloquent, "I won't be back ... you won't see me again ... never purchase this one, ever again," and so on?

One-star restaurant reviews show signs of trauma, linguists say, by Ian Sample (Guardian)

A bad meal out might ruin your night, but the ordeal could leave you traumatised too, according to linguists who analysed hundreds of thousands of online reviews.

Diners who left one-star reviews on the website Yelp adopted the same phrases as trauma victims, using the past tense to distance themselves from the event, and terms such as “we” and “us” to share the pain, researchers said.