I suppose it depends what type of readership you're looking for. If you're looking for readership that wants light-hearted pieces, then stay the positive route. If you want to attract "serious" diners, then you have to be honest, and "tell it like it is" with your reviews. Either way you'll piss someone off. Don't worry about it. Whomever you piss off is not your target audience. A. ← I think you should always be honest with your readers. That said, you do not have to publish a bad review to accomplish this. Why not tell people where they should go or what they should enjoy rather what they shouldn't. If you ask me the negative side of this coin is more about ego, power and self importance. Just my humble 2 cents. ← If you never publish the negative aspects, then you are not being honest are you? That in itself is about power and self importance, not to mention the aspect of Why not tell people where they should go or what they should enjoy rather what they shouldn't. I'd much prefer to have reviews published fairly and acurately of good and bad, so I could make decisions accordingly as to what I might like to try, rather than what someone told me I should have. ← Again…just my very humble opinion. No reason to get all “boldy” on me. I think you might have missed my point. By all means publish a complete head to toe and honest article. My opinion is that you don’t have to publish a car wreck to be honest. First you must ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish. If you want to tell people where to eat then a negative review has no value. If you want to tell people where not to eat then, obviously, a negative review means everything. If I were publishing a magazine and I were trying to attract potential advertisers I would avoid biting the hand that feeds me. No emotion or irrational thought here…just a sound and “safe” business decision. With regards to negative reviews: A car wreck on the highway always slows people down just for the chance to have a peek at the carnage. Negative reviews do bring readers to the publication in the same way but often for self-serving purposes.
