As an editor, I always told reviewers that the least useful fact in any review is whether or not the writer liked the product. But clearly, the value of any opinion depends on the reader too. Unless your views, tastes and system circumstances align incredibly precisely with the writer’s, his personal preferences are almost irrelevant. His observations may or may not be a different matter – but to assess those you need to understand both the context and his (or her) methodology.
In many ways it’s just like that rear-wall measurement for a speaker. In most cases the information is only an approximation, its universal value defined by the accuracy of the measurement itself, the driving system and the room it’s in. Perhaps we need to start thinking about reviews (and show reports) in the same way. No matter how precise or accurate they might be in and of themselves, how transferrable are those judgements and experiences. That depends on who is making the judgement, how carefully they set about it and how clearly it is explained. Perhaps we need to start asking ourselves just how ‘approximate’ those reports really are?
