Two thoughts:
1. A few people have mentioned in this thread that they appreciate honest reviews in determining where to eat, etc. The fact that you read reviews and that you appreciate them (I do too) does not mean it's muttar. It can be very useful, but still totally assur. Those aren't mutually exclusive.
2. Personally I think it's quite hard to keep all the conditions set out in
@mevinyavin 's summary
here. To be sure, I just went and looked at some food reviews on DDF, and here are some examples:
- Rule # 2 requires that "One must be entirely factual, and not exaggerate even slightly. Thus, one must also avoid using opinionated negative words like terrible or awful." In looking around, I found lots of non-objective, exaggerated words like "terribly dry" or "inedible", which is almost certainly a stretch. (Note: if you're a foodie, your "inedible" is likely edible to lots of people who aren't so into their food.)
- Rule #4 says that "Believing that the product line as a whole is bad just because yours was defective is, to say the least, unscientific." This would seem to disqualify a lot of what's written. Some examples from what I found: Your meat was burnt? Well, are you sure that they burn everyone's meat, or maybe that was an exception. Or the manager yelled at you? Well, did you see him yelling on other days, or is it possible that his house burnt down this morning and your request was the straw that broke the camel's back? (As a personal example for Rule #4, I once ordered a dish at a restaurant and it was fantastic. Went back a few weeks later, and the same dish was overdone. Had that happened on my first time, clearly a negative review wouldn't have been warranted, knowing that it may be the exception.)
- Rule #3 requires that "One must be motivated by the need to help others avoid the pain that one experienced, and not motivated by a desire for revenge." I can't speak for others, but personally, if I'm 100% honest with myself, when I've felt like leaving a bad review for a business, more often than not it was at least a bit motivated by a desire to get back after feeling like I was ripped off by a bad experience. Even if there would be a toeles, I'm pretty sure that disqualifies me from saying it, even if it would also help others.
In short, IMHO:
- CAN a negative review be allowed? Yes
- ARE most negative reviews written in an allowable manner? No
- Does helpful=muttar? No