15 years
Arthur Frommer has some interesting viewpoints on user-generated content:
- Some personal history may explain why I'm sceptical of user-generated travel websites
- Cruise Critic's message board scandal casts further doubt on user-generated websites
- Ask, and Frommer still has the answers (mention of UGC)
He also wrote an interesting article about Yelp.com and UGC:
As for restaurants, Yelp presents the usual conflicting opinions, leaving the distinct impression that the favorable comments are from totally inexperienced persons without palates. In its review of the (Greek) Parthenon Restaurant in Chicago, it runs nearly a dozen gushing, over-the-top raves from people who look upon the Parthenon as the ne plus ultra. Yet interspersed among those comments are people of Greek descent who consider the Parthenon the worst Greek restaurant they have ever visited. Stacy L. says, "I'm Greek, and this place is the worst Greek food I've had in Chicago." Kara B. says, "This restaurant is probably the worst in the nation." Kristen F. says, "It was terrible."
Which comments should you heed? And wouldn't it be better to follow the advice of long-experienced food writers or travel journalists who have eaten in scores of Greek restaurants in the course of their lives?
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