A few weeks ago, I went to the Front Porch—one of those hip restaurants near my apartment. Dark, pretentious music and a porch-like restaurant. The food wasn’t spectacular, but I am not sure if it’s because I just wasn’t in the mood for fried chicken. Or was the stress of the day getting to me? Or just because I was on the onset of a cold that I wasn’t feeling so fabulous?

Despite my recent foray in the Yelp world, I still can’t justify reviewing anything without giving something a thorough inspection. Sure, I can review the experiences where I am very pleasantly surprised. Or I can review the places that I had a horrible experience and would not return. But I believe any negative behavior is often a cause of coincidence and chance. And I would include that possibility. Nothing can be that black and white, right?

But to what point, can we hold a restaurant (for instance) accountable for poor service? What if there were two servers sick that day? What if their source of raw foods had issues in delivery? I know often we can say that it’s their responsibility because as customers we should expect the best. Yet I have always wondered what’s the difference from a restaurant from everything else? Can I hold friends accountable for unwanted negative behavior? Or do I need to go through a process of understanding? Or how about that person sitting next to me on the train? What if they never learned the appropriate social mores? Can I hold them responsible?

Earlier this year, I met a yelper who would review everything the moment after or during an experience. He even had a smart phone to help him. When is it going to far? Yelpers When are yelpers going overboard?