How often do you rely on online reviews when making choices?

I have found that, if I am making purchases of clothing online, I tend to read the reviews to determine the proper size. Generally, however, I will stay with my usual size unless the reviews really stress that the item runs big or small.

With respect to restaurant reviews I rarely ever look at them. To me, people seem more apt to give a negative review to a restaurant than they are to give a positive review.  I do not understand the reasons why, but that has been my experience.

As a small business owner who had my own experience with malicious reviews-I blogged about it many years ago-I will  go out of my way to post a positive review.  If I have had a poor experience, as I had recently in a restaurant I have frequented before, I would contact the business owner directly instead of trying to destroy their business with a public negative review.

So I am back to my original question, how often do you rely on online reviews when making choices?