Often times, whether it’s a mattress or can opener or an Uber driver, a five-star rating means “nothing disastrous happened,” said Nikhil Garg, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. A recent study he co-wrote reported that 80 percent of people gave freelancers hired from an online platform five stars. If you really want to find the best product or service for your needs, you’ll need to exert some effort. When I researched my mattress guide, I focused on products with a substantial number of reviews and reviews that were less than a year old. The majority of product and business reviews are positive, with some negative ratings, and even fewer middling ratings in between, so don’t rely on the average star rating.

Source: New York Times May 25, 2019 19:40 UTC