We Asked People Who Review Things Like Phone Boxes and Entire Oceans: Why?

The internet is a bottomless well of people whining about stuff, but my favourite place to see unhinged whining is in the reviews for things that don’t need to be reviewed. Like, why are there so many angry one-star reviews for the Red Sea? Just because it isn’t red? What’s there to be gained from smearing one of the Eastern world’s most iconic bodies of water? And moreover, who has the time?

Obviously a lot of people who leave comments like this are joking—but are all of them? And what exactly does Google make of this? To get an answer, I reached out to the tech giant for comment.

“Using Google Maps satellite imagery you can see that the Red and indeed Black Seas are … sea coloured,” a Google representative responded. …