Is PA rating influencing the way we like an album?

Nope. I like Kansas' 80s albums, that have 2 and whatever fraction ratings. Also there are tons of 3 and whatever fraction below 5 rated albums (3.1, 3.2 etc) here that I adore. Also I hate Leprous and Mastodon, and only laugh at the ratings that they get with their miserable albums. As a specific example, I think Dream Theater - Awake is thousands of times better than Images and Words. Scenes from a Memory deserves that position, while Awake deserves it even more, I think.

So a big NO, from me.

Edited by Shadowyzard - July 02 2020 at 17:18

ForestFriend wrote: Not for me, I disagree with plenty. If I'm trying to investigate an artist, I'll try to listen to their top-rated albums to get a good impression, but I'm not going to force myself to like something because others like it.

Yes and so am I, but I feel forced to dig a band by its "better albums" to start. And at last I forget the others that might be good!

I use the ratings as a general guideline but I often take them with a grain of salt. If it's a band or album I'm unfamiliar with I tend to take it a bit more seriously then I usually would. However, even then if I see it and it's at least a 3.5 and has a good number of 4 stars I'll definitely consider it. Sometimes if the album has very few 5 stars but a good number of 4 stars it will still get a relatively low rating. Also, you have to figure sometimes at least those giving an album a really low rating just don't like that style. 

Long ago on this site Discipline from King Crimson was rated a mere three and a half stars. 

Manuel wrote: Not really. I like the reviews, since they give me an idea of the music, and helps me decide if I want to give it a try, but ratings, honestly, I could care less.

I would say that everything influences us so hard to say no. I mean there are many artists i never would've heard of without this site and reviewers so sure. Now influence how i like an album based on ratings probably not.

I have noticed that bands often show up on the main page(as in the top fifty list)when an album by them has a rating of 4 or higher. I don't think I've ever seen an artist pop up if their album on the main page only had a 3 star rating. Since that top fifty band list is about the most popular that tells me that people on here are going by ratings more than reviews. 

Edited by AFlowerKingCrimson - July 03 2020 at 00:50

There was similar thread here a month ago.
Not listening to <4 stars is a bit too much, I would say. Personally I consider anything above, say, 3.75 as pretty high. Also otherwise I guess I would have run out of albums by this moment. 

Meanwhile, what is influenced by the rating is new ratings. Seen so many reviews in the vein of "why is it rated higher than /a classical album name/, it's not greater, 1 star!"

Not at all. Look, Blå som Altid by Ache is rated pretty low on Progarchives (3.17 as of now) but I absolutely love this album.