If the answer to the OP's question is "NO," as many here affirm, then what are you doing on the Audiogon forum? We're sharing opinions about SQ here, are we not? And without even listening together, so that none of us has any way of norming or otherwise checking the "objective" validity of the opinion offered, other than its logical persuasiveness. If how your system sounds to YOU is the only thing that matters—and, in the last analysis, it is—then reading reviews or audio blogs is worse than a waste of time. Its distracting you from the real purpose of this hobby, and possibly planting false seeds of doubt where once there had been delight.
On the other hand, there are a lot of potential purchase choices to be made, and one would like to make them in an informed way. "Informed" here means: seek out a dealer with the item you want, and listen for yourself; borrow it (or purchase it with return privileges) so you can hear it in your own room before you commit. But to guide us in the direction of which components to seek out for a listen in the first place, we...read reviews, seek the opinions of others, etc. So, YES: of course other people's opinions can affect your own. We are social beings; we share this world, these human bodies; we can reasonably expect to learn from one another.
And then, there's the delight one takes in sharing one's own delight with friends. Žižek tells a joke about an ordinary guy who finds himself shipwrecked on a deserted island with Cindy Crawford (update at you whim). Eventually they wind up sleeping together. Afterwards, she asks him if he's happy. "There's just one more thing that would make me even happier," he replies. "Will you dress up like my best friend Bob? I can sketch a mustache on your lip...." She thinks this is odd and more than a bit kinky, but she complies. And then, nudging her with his elbow, the man says: "Hey Bob, you know what just happened to me? I just slept with Cindy Crawford!"
