To learn more about the wonderful world of interesting online reviews, we reached out to the moderator team of r/humorousreviews and got in touch with the subreddit’s creator, u/joshguillen. Josh was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and share what inspired him to start this community in the first place.
“I started it for the same reason most subreddits get started - an emergent interest in a niche that, until that point, didn't have an obvious home,” he noted, sharing a link to a post from 11 years ago that, unfortunately has since been deleted, but included a review that inspired the new sub.
We were also curious about what kinds of reviews end up being shared in this group. “It's interesting in that posts here are on a slider, somewhere between informative and entertaining,” Josh told Bored Panda. “At 100% informative, stories are objective but end up being funny in bizarre, unexpected and unintentional ways.”
“As you get halfway, you find reviews with kernels of truth wrapped in entertaining and enthralling containers. And finally, approaching the entertaining end, you find the classic joke posts and sugar-fueled fun,” the creator continued. “There are outliers like responses to reviews, that keep things interesting for their own reasons, as well. Regardless of purpose, the outcomes are the same: fantastic stories, short and long.”
Josh also says there’s no shortage of creativity in the subreddit. “For a place all about showing the content of others, there are occasions where original content really shines,” he shared. “Seeing the creativity of people on the internet is always great, but it's even better when they're a member of your own community!”
Finally, we wanted to know if Josh believes it’s important for us to leave reviews online. “Reviews are a marketplace of human perspectives, featuring the funny, the insightful, and the commonplace, (hopefully) free from the strings of corporations and entities that will say anything to get you to buy, no matter how true or untrue it may be,” he shared. “It's simply authentic.”
“Jenny from Maryland probably has a more reality-based experience of a product than any Instagram ad or sponsored showcase you'd run into while researching it online,” he explained. “In a world where algorithms and influencers are near inescapable, there's value in hearing from someone without a horse in the race.”
And if you’re interested in seeking out comical reviews or you happen to stumble upon some, don’t keep them to yourself! “Content is sparse due to the nature of finding great reviews these days, but it's always been a game of quality over quantity,” he added. “If you ever see any reviews that made you smile (or question your life choices) you're more than welcome to share them here!”
We also were lucky enough to get in touch with the creator of the Google Reviews subreddit to hear how their community came about. "I started this subreddit a few years back because I’ve always loved checking out restaurants ahead of times and their reviews," the moderator shared. "I noticed there was a subreddit for funny reviews on Yelp, which is on its way out, but not for Google."
