Everyone's a critic now

As a restaurant critic, I try to be fair, informative, and have some fun. As a lover of food, I've also always viewed restaurant criticism with a good dose of caution. Reviews can be helpful to diners, and ultimately even the restaurants, but by their very nature they are also imperfect products, mainly because the reviewer, no matter how fair-minded and well-versed, ultimately brings only one perspective to light. With the Internet, that's changing. A recent article on MarketWatch looks at how the Web has allowed everyone to weigh in on dining experiences, and how the broader community of food lovers are finding ways to connect and communicate. It's a great thing for democraticizing the review process, and ultimately will also be a great thing for diners -- as the weight of public perspective becomes more visible and influential with restaurateurs, they will respond (if they are wise) by making their products even better. That's a fine thing for us all.