Learn why "social influence bias" affects crowd-sourced ratings sites.

And when you do, please don't insist to me that somehow the same science does not apply to RateAdvocate.

Because it does. I'm a liberal arts kind of guy, but even I can appreciate science on widely scattered occasions.

How Yelp Is Giving You Bad Advice, by Jessica Leigh Hester (City Lab)

 ... It’s no secret that many of us turn to crowdsourced sites to gather information and weigh options. Quantcast estimates that Yelp’s traffic—combining desktop and mobile visitors—is in the realm of 5,270,925 unique monthly users. We’re trying to find the experience that gels with our specific cravings, however niche. But are we actually learning anything from this “collective intelligence?”

Turns out, we’re suckers. In a study published in Science, researchers found that reviewers are easily manipulated by “social influence bias,” a feedback loop in which positive reviews beget more positive reviews. Another study, this one by Harvard Business School professor Michael Luca, corroborated these findings, concluding that restaurant reviews are influenced by ones preceding them—sometimes bumping up Yelp-style evaluations by as much as half a star.

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.

Red Room redux: Welcome to genocidal grammar and tyrannical misspelling.

I never cease to be amused by the era of lunacy empowerment, and this sort of trolling seems to be happening with more frequency since last year's election, suggesting that one tormented person is responsible for multiple comments under different names.

"Manny" uses the words "shrine" and "idolized," as did the previous offended party, to whom I forwarded a prompt reply and received no response or acknowledgement. That's because the last thing he wants is dialogue ... and that's because thinking is so very hard.

"Manny" sent no e-mails, unless he botched the .com address; even dud newalbanian.com addresses are forwarded to me for examination.

Worst of all, having selected Yelp as platform for sharing his dullardry with a mass audience, "Manny" files his one-star review under Bank Street Brewhouse, while the supposed "shrine" to which he refers is at our Grant Line location.

Yep, we're all experts now. Even when we don't know Jack Schitt.

Won't be back? Don't make promises you can't keep.

Let's just say that if you're the sort to trash my establishment on Yelp, while at the same time confessing that you love Applebee's, Longhorn Steakhouse and Penn Station, there's (a) a good reason why you didn't understand what we're trying to do at BSB, and (b) you're an asshole.