About Opinions

David Pogue writes a very popular tech blog in the New York Times. Last week he reviewed the new Flickr interface and according to this week's post he received feedback from many readers who were offended by his opinion.

He wrote:

To me, it seems that some people fundamentally don’t understand the function of a critic. Drama critics, movie critics, restaurant critics, music critics, tech critics — all of us, it seems to me — are hired specifically to present our opinions.

I would never describe my weekly columns as “news stories,” even if there’s sometimes a news element. They are reviews meant to guide readers toward products that, in my opinion, are good or bad.

You can certainly disagree with a critic. Sometimes, knowing that you almost always disagree with a certain critic is just as helpful in guiding your buying decisions as always agreeing.

But in the end, a reviewer is entitled to like the new Flickr just as much as longtime photographers are entitled to hate it.

The reason I am quoting this excerpt from Pogue's blog should be clear to most of my readers.