Every now and then I look at the reviews associated with, for instance, a book or a CD or some other work of art that is for sale on Amazon.
Like the reviews on Stories On Line, these reviews are written by ordinary people, usually those who have bought the CD, book or whatever that their review is associated with.
Some times these poor souls are a little confused. They mistook the name of a sophisticated modern jazz group for a heavy metal group. Or the name of a classic dance track for another heavy metal group. Or a book of subtle poetry for yet another derivative science fiction novel.
Invariably, the review is absurdly negative and the comments reveal far more about the reviewer than about whatever it is they're supposed to be reviewing.
In all these cases, you could say the reviewer is missing the point. The purpose of a review, I would say, is to impart useful information to someone who might be interested in a work of art such as a novel or a CD. If the object of a review is a rock record that could have been recorded any time in the last 40 years and sounds a lot like all the others, then the reviewer should write comments that are appropriate for the kind of person who is seeking out just that kind of thing (usually an American). If, however, the object of the review is twisted techno with references to dubstep and modern jazz, the reviewer would be doing a disservice to any potential purchaser looking for just that rather than yet another boring rock record.
And so it is with reviews on Stories On Line.
I'm just grateful that the reviewers do, on the whole, choose to review only those stories that, like American rock and country, are generally fairly indistinguishable from each other, are rarely troubled by concerns of originality or expressing anything remotely surprising or profound, and are therefore the perfect fit for the reviewers' tastes.