I mean, it's asking for trouble isn't it?

Even if there's an assumption behind a review that it can only reflect someone's own opinion, the very fact that reviewers do their write ups with statements about an albums quality rather than simply making it clear throughout that it's their own opinion just makes them seem incredibly arrogant.

I mean what's wrong with reading a few reviews which include comments beginning with, "In my opinion...", "Of course this is just what I think, but..." and "It's my view that this music is shit/ brilliant", just makes it read so much better and you're really willing to give the review the time of day rather than be put off by the presumption behind much of it.

What's the big deal? Many commentators on these boards are cautious in their views and include comments like 'IMO' in their posts when we all know all they can ever be doing is expressing their own opinion anyway. The thing is, regardless of the person's views, posts like that always encourage a good discussion rather than antagonise.

I know it's not a really big deal and I don't think it matters THAT much but then again, I would generally welcome reviewers phrasing their comments much more explicitly subjective (and modest).

I guess some people like a heated debate but most of the time I think the kind of discourse that reviews made as if they're statements of fact encourage, put me off.