Shopping at the mall this Christmas was a horrible experience. I circled the lot three times before finding a parking space, inventory was a bit picked over, and checkout lines wrapped halfway around the store.

All I could think was: Man, I love shopping on the internet. Not only do I avoid the aforementioned hazards; I gain incredible shopping tools. I admit it. I’m a product review junkie. Product reviews, user ratings, price comparisons…it almost makes shopping enjoyable.

But this year something started nagging at me about product reviews. Are they trustworthy? Do the customers whose reviews I read have the same priorities as me? More to the point, what if the people rating these products are woefully ignorant?

For example, I have a friend who recently bought a new TV. I asked him how he liked it. “It’s got an awesome remote! See how it lights up?”

The remote. Really? Are these the type of people leaving reviews of big ticket items on the websites I browse? Maybe the guy who recommended my hiking boots just liked the laces, and the woman who raved about the digital camera I just bought liked the pretty blue color.

There are a few product review sites attempting to mitigate this challenge. CNET reviews pair their user ratings with a “CNET editors’ rating” to give you an expert opinion.

ConsumerSearch claims to “analyze…reviews and sources and rank them according to how credible they are, based on specific criteria we have developed for this purpose.” In short, they tend to favor professional reviews, and consider only aggregate data of consumer reviews.

Buzzillions, on the other hand, emphasizes customer reviews. They categorize reviewers into meaningful groups to help the consumer align themselves with a certain type of reviewer. For example, for shoe reviews I can view reviews by people that are comfort-oriented, stylish or conservative.

A step in the right direction, but I’m not totally convinced that the product reviews I see are accurate. But I’ll live with it. In the same way I trust contributors to Wikipedia about the Island of California or a lamp-post with a name, I’ll have to trust Epinions reviewers to recommend the best breadmaker.

After all, it’s much better than going to the mall.