A friend is selling his house. Apparently, real estate brokers now have a way of reporting the comments (reviews) from potential buyers at open houses, and he was crazy enough to read them.
Of course, this is incredibly unhelpful. He can’t rebuild his house to sell it. Hearing that people don’t like his custom cabinets or the layout of the living room isn’t actionable–especially since the other half of the comments contradict the first half.
What’s actually happening is that someone who isn’t qualified or emotionally connected enough to make a purchase is looking for something to say. And humans are really bad at explaining our irrational feelings in the context of rational reasons. So we make stuff up.
And we’re equally bad at hearing comments about things we can’t change.
By all means, ask a second doctor before you get surgery. But in just about every public setting, the comments aren’t going to be particularly helpful.