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I've kind of developed a personal system for looking at user reviews. You can sift through them and sort of tell if it is a legit review (as opposed to a paid advertisement in the guise of a review), and if the review is intelligent and thoughtful, and if the reviewer has similar tastes. Also, I seek reviews that mention at least one good and bad thing about the product. If a review does not meet the criteria, I don't take it into consideration. There are people that take the time to provide thoughtful reviews, you just have to find them amidst all the detritus.
Generally, I put more stock in mainstream media reviews, but you have to be careful there too. For example, Publisher's Weekly gushes about almost every new release it seems, including some truly bad ones. Then, inexplicably, they will trash a book that I found to be excellent & so did most other reviewers. Go figure.
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