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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 3765703" data-attributes="member: 22779">Just because I so very rarely get to do this:I agree 100% with Raven Crowking.You most certainly can judge something objectively.  Just because something is not 100% objective doesn't make it subjective.  It may be less objective than another thing, but, that doesn't make it 100% subjective.For example, the criteria chosen may be chosen in a subjective way, but the judgement rendered by those criteria may be 100% objective.For some, the only criteria that apparently matters is, "Is it enjoyable".  Now, that criteria is somewhat objective, since it boils down to yes or no.  Did I like it?  Yes?  Then it's good.  However, that criteria isn't very useful because it doesn't actually tell us anything.  It doesn't tell us why you think it's good, nor does it allow us to make any sort of prediction for future works.On the other hand, a more encompassing series of criteria, based on a number of elements, tells us a great deal more than just "it's good."  Going by the popularity scale, one should say that Rowling is the single best writer in English history.  She's sold more books than any contemporary writer.  However, I doubt many people would seriously try to claim that J. K. Rowlings is the best writer in the history of the English language.  Granted, trying to find out who is would fill a lot of books, but, I'm pretty sure that Rowlings can be knocked off in the preliminaries.  Names like Milton, Shakespeare, and others might be possibly better contenders, despite being nowhere near as popular.Star Wars is the top grossing film of all time.  Does that mean it's the best movie ever made?  Would anyone seriously make that claim?Things which are popular may be very good.  Things which are popular may be not so good.  To determine any sort of objective "goodness" we need a better metric than "popular".</blockquote>

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