Every time I recommend a show to my coworker he immediately looks it up on rotten tomatoes. It’s kind of funny because he doesn’t trust scores that are too high or too low.

Alright, I’ll bite. I actually swing by the rotten tomatoes for a quick half hearted glance to see if even THEY thought it was trash. If it’s trash to them on both of their metrics, I’ll probably mark it lower on my watch list. If it’s mediocre or higher I’ll go in with no expectation of greatness but at least knowing it may be somewhat entertaining.

Ok but like… what media?

Just movies? I haven’t read a review in years. I know from the trailer if I want to see it or not. Maybe I’ll stumble upon a video discussing something about it and become intrigued or turned away.

I do seek out reviews of video games because it is usually a significant cost and I want to make sure it’s something I’ll like. Both print and video.

I think it depends on the product. In general, review scores that are “too low” in the opinion of people are more often the target of criticism.

For example, Nintendo fans in general will give massive backlash to reviews that are not 10/10 for Nintendo games, even if the lower score is legitimate.

On the other hand, IGN often is made fun of for scoring bad games too high. This is because publishers won’t give review copies to reviewers who dont score their games highly.

There’s a video game journalist I have similar tastes to and trust for recommendations. Used to have one for movies now I usually listen more to directors for recommendations, never found one for TV. I usually get music recommendations from friends.

Even when I subscribed to Computer Gaming World back in the day for PC game reviews, I relied less on the review and more on what actual people I hung out with thought because a good game still might not be good for me but people I already know who generally like the same stuff as me are much more reliable metrics of what’s good for me.

Reviews in general? No.
But people were never supposed to “follow reviews” generally to begin with. That’s why Rotten Tomato’s is bad. It’s conceptually the wrong way to go about things.

The way to do it, is to check reviews for movies/games/shows you know already. When you find a reviewer who agrees with everything you think and seems to vibe with you, you can then trust that person’s reviews. And follow their advice in the future.

Only double toasted. I find them hilarious

I only look at negative reviews tbh. If Im looking at reviews its because I already think it could be good and am interested. I look at negative reviews to see if I can save myself time or money by not persuing.

Only after I reviewed the reviewer and confirmed that his reviews are up to my standards.

I check Steam user reviews before buying.

When I occasionally watch something I’ll glance at reviews when I inevitably look it up on imdb, but that’s after I’ve decided to watch.

Not really tbh, I avoid them like a plague at this point. It no longer keeps me entertained anymore just like most things on mainstream social media.

Gaming reviews, all the time. TV and movie reviews, never. I prefer to check those out myself.

Not at fucking all, I barely watch any mainstream media these days so that shit is irrelevant to me outside of letting me know a new dune movie came out.

Think a fair amount of people who do follow individual reviewers, but admittedly that’s mostly based on what I used to do.