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Two different areas of Texas got #3 and #1 and Matt Mitchell's list. 

Even infinite skeptics like CD should realize that if MM made a video about it, then it's too funny not to be true. 

Heh, I was pretty surprised he ranked Texas brisket heaven as the #1 region.  He's not wrong.

I figure conservatively there are 1,000 BBQ places in Texas, this is probably way low.  So, a visit to each one time would cost $20 on average, I suspect, including taxes and tip.  So, 1,000 x 3 visits by their "staff" x $20 = $60,000, plus gas, plus pay if they are paid staff.

I don't know how many places they visit.  I doubt it's a thousand.  There's no reason to visit every place in the state.  I can tell you the top 20 to visit in Austin and tell you the bottom 50 not to bother with.  These guys have been around for decades, there are no "surprises" here.  

So, they start with preconceived notions of where they should visit, and generate a "top 50", out of less than a thousand candidates.

Fine with me.

I was reading about the Michelin Guide folks coming to Atlanta for the first time and wondered how many places they could get data on, realistically.  Then I read the city tourist department PAYS them to come, some unknown figure.  Obviously, dining at higher end restaurants would quickly run up a bill.

So, I figure they start out with a pretty small list to evaluate, based on ... something.

We don't have that many BBQ places here in the metro, but there are enough to make a ranking challenging.  And here we don't have some kind of standard BBQ, it's all over the place in terms of style.  There is a place near me featuring "Korean BBQ", I've yet to try it.

Best Barbecue in Atlanta | Eater Atlanta

You yourself have provided us your own ranking of nearby BBQ restaurants.  There are some you consider very good, I think one of them is called Fox Bros, and some you don't really care for.  I'm sure you've tried some that you knew immediately were never going to make an Atlanta Top 5 BBQ restaurant list.  None of this is particularly difficult stuff.  

Sure, it's my opinion, and I've been to something like six BBQ places in Atlanta.  And I'd say four are pretty good, two were disappointing, the time I visited (only went once).

I don't claim to be any expert on BBQ or have any discerning palette either.   The last time I was at Fox Bros. I was frankly disappointed, but I ordered rubs, which I had never ordered before.  They were mediocre, IMHO.  They also have changed their fried okra which went from really good to meh.

One place I found disappointing makes the usual on line "best of" lists.  Maybe I went at a bad time.  Or ordered the wrong thing.  Fat Matt's Rib Shack, near us.  Maybe I should go back, it's packed most of the time.

I know there is variability in the restaurants we go to fairly often, sometimes they are great, sometimes a bit disappointing, on occasion they let me down, if it had been my first visit I'd probably not return.  

One place we used to go to fairly often, a tapas place, good food, nice patio, OK to food service, and then suddenly the service dropped off.  We went back a couple months later and the service was bad.  We went back 8 or so months later and the service was bad.  We haven't been back, food is still good.

I know enough owners and managers to know they still struggle to get good servers.  The pricier places can attract the better ones, usually.  I get used to top tier service at those places.

If a person dined at #1 and then #50, would most folks say #1 was better, if they were unaware of the ranking?

Supposedly, I'd know based on the fact that I'd determine my brisket would not need bbq sauce.

However, I find that to be a category error in my case and highly unlikely to ever apply to me, because I'm from Louisiana, and bbq without sauce is not something we're accustomed to, as far as I know.  i.e., if my brisket were that good, I probably wouldn't recognize it, because no matter how good it is, if there's no sauce, I'm looking around for the nearest bottle.  

Why would you want to hide the flavor of the meat behind sauce?

Do you put BBQ sauce on steak as well?