I seem to stumble on more and more reviews with exactly 88% rating.
I'm even beginning to suspect some Neo-Nazi subliminal messaging.
So what's that about?

It's probably just circumstantial on your part then but there aren't significantly/substantially that many reviews with an 88 percentile rating in general comparison to other percents. Look here:

http://metal-archives.com/reviews.php?sort=rating

On the drop menu select "81-90" and you can see for yourself each review sorting per average percent rating.

Actually, it's the 10th most commonly used review rating on the site.

After 92% it's the second most commonly used review rating that is not divisible by five.

I do have a fondness for rating good NS stuff 88 and terrible NS stuff 14.

88 is a good number if something doesn't quite make it into the 90+ but is still reasonably, I'd say nearly and almost definitely, quite essential particularly if you like that sort of thing. Depending on the reviewer of course. The reason for it being so prolific might be that when first reviewing an album many people are enjoying it a lot at that precise moment and want to give it a good mark without making out as if it's a classic.

I lol'd IRL.

That's a pretty weird statistic. In my case I guess it might have something to do with my fondness for the number 8. It's been my favorite number since I was very little.

Just to give my own take on it, the score of 90% has a very strong connotation for me. Once you get into the 90s, you're talking really good stuff there. 89%, for me, would mean something right on the cusp of that, as a number ending in 9 is almost like an unresolved chord. 88, on the other hand, feels more settled into the 80s, a nice round number. I've only give out two 88s, but the one for Desolation Angels' s/t was due to the album being held back by one weak song. An otherwise great album, with one clear flaw keeping it solidly out of the 90s.

Yeah, it's not mathematical, but for me numbers have always had a certain character to them, based on their properties. Maybe it's the same with other people.

Yeah, that character definitely does exist, and sometimes it just fits in well with the character of some albums, which is what will often determine the close point difference (I.E. whether I give 87, 88 or 89 to an album).

So what's the most common rating?

Click on the link Lana posted, it's 90%.

This.

It is likely because you're trying to go higher or lower than a 90, but using 89 or 91 feels kind of meaningless, the two point gap for some reason feels better. I think I have many more scores ening in 8 and 2 than 9 or 1.

Another possible explanation.

A lot of film critics use a 4-star rating system.

100 - 4 stars
88 - 3.5 stars
75 - 3 stars
63 - 2.5 stars

And so on.

I know why I use 88!

I think is coincidence,i have 88 in my nick but i have been using it all my life (for no real reason) and i didn´t know until recently what it is supossed to mean,it surprised me how many guys in web sites have asked me if i was a nazi.

So, is 88 your given name?

I quite agree with this. I don't really like using ratings ending with a '9 but I will if I have to damn it.
88 is in my nick too, 'cause that's when Jon was born. And is unrelated to Nazi coded greetings. 1988 saw some good albums coming out too.

Numbers can bring up certain relations for me; the list goes on with that. But not when I'm giving out a score for a review, there's nothing magical there, and with my own I just never felt there should be. One of the main reasons why I've come up with an 88, or a review that doesn't end in 0 or 5, is that I've frequently narrowed my score within 5 points of itself: 85-90. 89 is just so close to a 90 that it might as well be insignificant, but I haven't conceded with reviews that it didn't make the 'grade' or the 'cut' or something like that to fall into the connotations of another bracket of numbers such as the "90s," probably because I look at scores less like they're marking points than a reference point; for instance, I have high scores for flawed albums, not always, but I do, or some scores, like, say 75, that are easier and more returnable for that reason than a prized 90 something review, not always, but it can happen. I came close, but still haven't done one of those scales like 81-89: excellent!, 90-99: c.l.a.s.s.i.c.; scores ending in 9 and the number after are literally the next number, albeit a more deserving number. This is something like when the year '89 turned, people didn't drop what they were doing. I guess it just makes it easier for our brains to wrap around a concept by having brackets, boxes, barriers, etc. Some of them work, some are excessive, or are just simply forced to fit.

This is in a way similar, I've also given out the same score multiple times though each time for different reasons, 88 included, simply because there are so many factors with certain bands/releases that two separate albums having the same aspects holding them back or pushing them forward is very, very unlikely to make me hone in on the same number. At least it hasn't happened to me yet. Also, I'm pretty sure the only time I've used other scores as a reference point of my own is when I just started writing and only had so many written to get away with it, or if a certain band plays in a similar mold then I've raised or lowered that for certain releases, but for recordings that have drastic shifts or experiment, it's independent.

After being around the NS scene in Florida, me and my friends make a point of pointing out anything involving 14, 88, or 1488. The fact that a popular truck window sticker down here depicts the number 88 (NASCAR thing I guess) doesn't help. My holy grail is a Walmart receipt which features a total bill of $14.88.

There's actually a scene?

So if I said, "Take me to your leader?" I'd be brought to some down-to-the-bone bald, blue-eyed dude who's a perfect 88 inches tall with 14 shoes...and of course who isn't a mutt like the rest of us. Yeah, I can imagine he'd root for that Nascar guy too at the races, and if his man was losin' he'd leave as quick as the click of 2 boot heals, or just simply 88 hot dogs and 14 laps later. Ok, I'm having too much fun.

We used to do graffiti on the back of random people's dirty windows with different insignia just for shits and giggles, 88 I'm sure was included, but usually it was much more blatant in hopes that they wouldn't notice and take a risky spin around the block. You know, haha, I can see the Walmart receipt being "framing material" if it ever got in the hands of one of those guys. But the real conundrum is if they'd tip on a restaurant tab that came out to $14.88, even with good service.

I just realized I failed at counting 5 numbers in a row in my last post. If anyone is a poker player here, don't steal all my money.

Byrgan, you always seem to be on something or other when you post here.

Hehe, sometimes my imagination stretches if I get concentrated on one thing. Or so it tells me.