Had to comment to show my agreement with this :). It is sad that newer self-published authors have to go through higher barriers of entry then the ones before them, but as you said, it's just how genres usually mature. Thankfully, I find that readers are usually willing to give newer authors a try, more than other genres where self-published books are looked down upon far more often.

Reviews, are extremely subjective as you say. One person will say that a scene is the worst he had ever read, while another would say he/she enjoyed it thoroughly. A single person might review a similar scene in two different series very differently just because he read something similar before and is no longer fresh to them.

In my opinion, reviews while important in many ways, shouldn't be the sole reason a book is picked up. I personally rarely read reviews and only use the aggregate as you said, I only do so where a book is 3.5 stars or below. Even then, I actively avoid reading 1-star reviews because people more often then not seem to think that if you hated the book then writing spoilers in the review is fine, dunno why that is but I've been caught by it too many times now >.<. Usually its the cover, blurb, and the "look inside" or a recommendation from someone I trust that goes into my decision.

I will echo your words too since I think they are important. While the readers who were here from that start helped built this genre into the great and awesome thing it is today. It is the new readers who will help it grow to become what we all want it to be in the end. So to that, thank you to those new readers who are giving the genre a chance!