I try to read some reviews here and there, but yeah. A lot of the time it seems like work. I mostly only read reviews of things I've kind of had my eye on or reviews from certain people. Some are just poorly written. I mean, I'm not a great writer (I don't actually find my reviews that interesting to read mostly, but that's another story), but I at least use correct grammar and whatnot.

I'm the same way. I usually read the ones of items I'm interested in or by certain reviewers. Sometimes I browse them to see how others write.

I'm not the greatest writer either, but I would never use smilies in a review. Only in forums or comments

I actually read almost all of the reviews posted on almost a daily basis. It's one of the things I do for me when the kids have gone to bed (and I'm sitting here alone). Some days I don't have time and I don't worry about it, but I read them 4/7 days a week usually. (There aren't many new reviews posted on weekends.)

I don't always leave comments, but I always vote. I don't believe I'm an expert writer or anything. I appreciate it when people vote on my reviews, even if it's not a good vote, so I vote.

Sometimes it does feel like a chore when I'm having to force myself to finish reading a review. When I get to feeling like that I just take a break and not read any for a while.

I try and read a handful of reviews at least once a week, or at least I'm trying to. Given I'm only a 5.3 rated reviewer I don't know that I can always give the best advice, but it's good to see what other people are writing to maybe get some pointers.

I'm on the forum whenever I'm on the computer, but I don't always read the reviews. Not that interested in buying most products anyway right now!

And @Boink you might be able to give some pretty good advice. Besides - leaving comments will actually help your rating.

So is it totally rude to suggest spell/grammar check in a comment to someone who writes a terribly written review? I'm really holding myself back right now and it's so hard!

Fine, I did it. I feel like a bitch, even though I tried to be sweet about it. But come ON! It's sad when people don't realize how badly their spelling and grammar are.

Ok, now I'm being a bitch for making fun. I'll stop now. *sheepish sigh*

*bump*
I've been thinking about the original question lately. There are so many reviews out there, and I don't know how I could read even a small percentage of them. I like the feed for new reviews, and it's nice to give someone a boost who doesn't have comments or votes yet (or has few). But what about those other reviews that are older? I tend to find contributors whose writing I like, and read their stuff, or I find toys I like and try to find out more about it from reviews, which helps me find more writers I like, etc. But the numbers just overwhelm me.

I also don't like smileys/emoticons in reviews, but I think they are fine for comments or the forum.

Emoticons (for some reason when I see "smileys" my brain often inserts the extra "i" to make it similes) are for very informal writing, and reviews really ought to be considered business writing. That's my standard, although I can't swear that I always live up to it. I try to read the reviews of toys that might interest me, and a selection of other new reviews, but there just isn't the time to read them all.

Boink - keep on testing, reviewing, and commenting. You're developing your style, and you can give good advice. Remember rating is pretty rough, and really doesn't mean much outside of the specific equations used to determine it.

Several posts came up asking about letting people know about errors. I think that the private messaging feature is a great tool for this, as you can kindly bring things to people's attention without publicly embarrassing them.