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So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up?

by Robin Garr » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:53 am

Yet another good reason to support your local restaurant community over corporate money machines ...

Court Rules It's Totally Cool for Yelp to Extort Businesses

Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco essentially ruled that extortion is perfectly legal — at least, if the minds behind Yelp are the ones doing it.

The way it works is this: a business can buy an ad on Yelp. Yelp can then, as thanks, raise their overall rating, regardless of what customer reviews have to say about it. Even though Yelpers are notoriously batshit insane, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a site based on aggregate reviews if you then allow businesses to pay for scores that don't reflect those reviews. This is all explicit, by the way: in the future, Yelp is perfectly allowed to do this, then publicly admit they do this, and then even advertise that they do this, should they so choose.

So the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just gave Yelp the go ahead to extort businesses by offering them higher ratings if they pay for more ads on Yelp.


Full story at the link:
http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/a-court- ... 1632255482
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Mike Hardin

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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Mike Hardin » Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:31 am

Which pretty much renders Yelp completely useless. Maybe they didn't think their cunning plan all the way through.
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Suzi Bernert » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:09 am

I never read the reviews much, but use it for locations. I did however find out recently one local spot had an outright lie in a review. The establishment cannot do anything about it. I contacted the reviewer and after he as much as admitted it was not true (and called me several vulgar names), I contacted Yelp. They did take it down. For the uninformed, this can hurt the restaurant and other businesses. I recently saw a sign posted on FB that the restaurant refused to pay Yelp for higher review, explaining Yelp's policy. Maybe if a lot more did that Yelp would rethink their policy.
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Robin Garr » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:13 am

Suzi Bernert wrote:I recently saw a sign posted on FB that the restaurant refused to pay Yelp for higher review, explaining Yelp's policy. Maybe if a lot more did that Yelp would rethink their policy.

Care to name the place, Suzi, or give us a link to their FB page? I'd like to support them.
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Suzi Bernert » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:49 am

It was a post from Eater and the establishment is on the East coast, I think. Great idea, though! :D
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Robin Garr » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:57 am

Suzi Bernert wrote:Eater

Wanker. :twisted:

They make Yelp look good.
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:58 am

Yelp contends they do not actually do this, and would not do so. Whether you believe them or not is up to you.
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Robin Garr » Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:59 am

Jeff Cavanaugh wrote:Yelp contends they do not actually do this, and would not do so. Whether you believe them or not is up to you.

Jeff, how does that fit in with the Ninth Circuit federal court ruling referenced in the initial post?
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Jeff Cavanaugh » Wed Sep 10, 2014 11:03 am

Good question. I've actually read conflicting media reports - some, like Jezebel, say they do it and are open about it. Others, like NPR (whom I trust a lot more than Jezebel) say that Yelp claims they don't. I think the idea was that some restaurants sued Yelp, claiming that they'd been penalized for not buying ads, and Yelp's defense was that while they don't do it, they'd be within their rights if they did. The court apparently agreed.

It's interesting, because the 9th circuit is generally seen as the most progressive of the circuits, I think.
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Mike Hardin » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:16 am

Here's a restaurant that's setting out to prove that Yelp reviews are worthless:

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/20 ... p-reviews/
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Robin Garr » Fri Sep 19, 2014 11:26 am

Mike Hardin wrote:Here's a restaurant that's setting out to prove that Yelp reviews are worthless:

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/20 ... p-reviews/

Wonderful! I'ma put this on The Facebook. :lol:
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Re: So, "Yelp!" is actually the sound of someone throwing up

by Steve H » Fri Sep 19, 2014 11:33 am

Mike Hardin wrote:Here's a restaurant that's setting out to prove that Yelp reviews are worthless:

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/20 ... p-reviews/


Be sure to check out their response to Yelp.
:lol:

From: [Redacted]
To: feedback@yelp.com
Subject: RE: Message from Yelp HQ [ 2800338 ]
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 08:43:36 -0700

Hi marvin,

I’m contacting you from the Botto User Support Team because we’ve received complaints from the community that you may be removing reviews in exchange of vague explanations to loyal customers.

To be clear, this violates our Terms of Service (http://www.bottobistro.com/FAQ.html), and reviews removed under such circumstances violate Botto’s Content Guidelines (http://www.bottobistro.com/FAQ.html). We also often find from loyal customers feedback that such practices do more harm than good, as the practice creates distrust amongst loyal customers and users who now eye your site with suspicion.

If you are offering this explanations in exchange of removed reviews, we ask that you immediately discontinue such activity. If we learn that this type of behavior has continued, we may take action on our Business Account which could include suspending all activity to our listing. It may also result on adding a Yelp Customer Alert page on our website and in our Newsletters.

Botto User Support Team

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