It’s not so much about the tragedy of the commons, but companies like Tripadvisor put together such that the business owners being rated are actually the customers. Their systems are designed to allow the business owner to manipulate it to their benefit.
Are you one half of that couple?
Relying on internet ratings alone to spend a precious evening of an intercontinental international vacation.
Just open Zagat, really.
Good luck with that. They seem to only cover the US these days.
I think this might be one of the pebbles that starts the eventual landslide that kills sites like tripadvisor.
I am off to work on the “uncle Bill” bot, which will be a trustworthy version of this rubbish. I love food, and hate paying for it, so I’m always an open ear to the food scene, and I can navigate my way round new towns and places with minimal difficulty.
Methods include understanding how people respond when you ask “what’s good to eat around here?”, and interpretation of human nature, which frankly the googles and tripadvisors can’t yet do.
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I think food blogs are a much better way to find nice places to eat generally.
Same principle as the Guide Michelin and Zagat’s (which I’d never heard of before your post so thank you for expanding my knowledge, shame that it seems to have been killed off by Google). just updated for the modern age.
Rather than relying on the aggregate reviews of a bunch of people who almost certainly don’t have the same standards and expectations as I do, it’s a lot easier to find a blogger who is at least consistent in their reviewing standards.
You also stand a bit more of a chance of getting recommendations for places that are actually good right now, rather than 'were briefly good six months ago when they were really popular but are now just cashing in on the reputation".
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Yep - I was working on a food app, and one of the key parts was the simple ageing of recommendations, driven by (1) time, (2) staff changes, especially chefs, (3) season; also moderation of scores according to frequency of visits to locality [i.e. people from abroad who are suckered into eating at Joe’s Shiteatery count for little], and moderation according to a “food quality reporting capability” score with some form of influential audit
That is the kind of thing that I can see is incredibly useful but also scares the crap out of me. 
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Don’t worry - Blockchain is gonna take care of ya!
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