Poll on Food Critics

A food critic accepts advertising money from restaurants and states he will not patronize a restaurant based on the owner's political affiliation. Do you trust the review as being unbiased?

I stand by my poll question, but apologize for my Obama-Joker avatar which I have since deleted. I haven't posted in a very long time and forgot what image I had selected. After the recent tragedy in Colorado, that avatar is obviously inappropriate.

100% dumb. Have at it *expeletives deleted*. I hope I wake up tomorrow and see this post gone.

Explain why it is dumb?

If your competition gave money to someone reviewing your establishment and the reviewer rips into your political beliefs on a regular bases, would you have concerns on the validity of your review?

I stand by my poll question, but apologize for my Obama-Joker avatar which I have since deleted. I haven't posted in a very long time and forgot what image I had selected. After the recent tragedy in Colorado, that avatar is obviously inappropriate.

Oh, I get it. You disagree with Robin's political views and want to trash he and his livelihood on his own website. I remember the avatar, and it was quite creepy. Your motives are disturbing.

I stand by my poll question, but apologize for my Obama-Joker avatar which I have since deleted. I haven't posted in a very long time and forgot what image I had selected. After the recent tragedy in Colorado, that avatar is obviously inappropriate.

Oh, I get it. You disagree with Robin's political views and want to trash he and his livelihood on his own website. I remember the avatar, and it was quite creepy. Your motives are disturbing.

You didn't answer my question. So if Robin reviews a random chicken sandwich establishment, we should trust the review?

I don't have time for this now- I'll check in tomorrow. Good luck with your mission.

"You disagree with Robin's political views"

Please advise where I stated this.

Odd. I've always found Robin's reviews to be spot-on. Indeed, much more integrous than the little troll spoiling the room for the night...

I trust Robin to be able to separate his personal views on restaurants and their political affiliations from his job as a critic. I am pretty sure Robin has commented that the actual product and service at said chicken establishment is rather top notch (hell, so have I). His job is to review a restaurant on their ability to deliver a great dining experience. Rarely do things like political views factor into that (well, maybe in Roger Baylor's case... ).

I also trust Robin to separate advertisers on the website from his job as a critic. If we bought ad space here and Robin trashed us in a review, it would be because we deserved it and need to tighten up our act. I would not pull the advertising or stop advertising here. I would get my act together and hope like hell the next time we got reviewed we did our job better. I certainly wouldn't expect my ad dollars to put the kid gloves on Robin's review, nor do I think they would.

Not sure what has prompted this attack. Of all of us here, Robin has behaved the best during many of the heated topics and never has it impacted his ability to do his job.

I would certainly encourage the lack of participation in the poll. No one has voted yet - good. Wrong place for this discussion.

[Robin Garr]

I'm not even going to respond to Mr or Ms Dylan, but for the record, the Google ads that appear on this forum are not under our control, except that I can block specific advertisers. I have, in fact, blocked ads from Chick-Fil-A. The ads from local businesses who contract directly with HotBytes are handled by others, with a firm understanding that purchasing an ad position is done for their benefit, reaching food-interested readers on the region's primary restaurand Website, and has no bearing on reviews. I think most people have no problem with that.

I'm not even going to respond to Mr or Ms Dylan, but for the record, the Google ads that appear on this forum are not under our control, except that I can block specific advertisers. I have, in fact, blocked ads from Chick-Fil-A. The ads from local businesses who contract directly with HotBytes are handled by others, with a firm understanding that purchasing an ad position is done for their benefit, reaching food-interested readers on the region's primary restaurand Website, and has no bearing on reviews. I think most people have no problem with that.

You know, it wasn't until the advent of internet journalism that publications had to figure out a model to handle the tensions between paid advertisements and reporting.

Robin has never given me any reason to doubt his integrity.

Though, I do judge his objectivity on a case by case basis.

[Robin Garr]

You know, it wasn't until the advent of internet journalism that publications had to figure out a model to handle the tensions between paid advertisements and reporting.

Yeahright. Anybody ever wonder about the restaurant ads that surround the reviews in LEO, the CJ and the New York Times?

I can testify that LEO has always been supportive, even when negative reviews prompted both the downtown J. Gumbo's - not Ronnie! - and the Brown Hotel to throw the LEO rack out into the street.

The CJ used to have a strong wall between advertising and critical reporting. I have no real reason to doubt that they still do; you rarely see a negative review there, but I believe that's based more on Marty's positive nature than editorial intervention.