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Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

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Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#421

Post by rtpg »

apl002 wrote: post #199
mlrtime wrote: post #9

I don't have any sympathy for a site that purposely cripples the web mobile site to force you to install their app. They lock you out of pictures after around 20 so you have to go to desktop or install their crappy app. Yelp will not be missed.

just curious why you're against downloading the app? I work on native apps and just wondering why you have a preference for mobile web.

A really simple thing is that sometimes I really don't need the website for more than 10 minutes a year, but dealing with turning off notifications, being forced to create an account, being asked about app updates, having it on my home screen, etc is not worth it.

I think some apps feel nicer than a website ever could (because the app can take advantage of stuff like force touches better, and offer a nice custom usage of gestures). But some other places it really just feels like the app exists to push notifications...

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#422

Post by 1024core »

ex3xu wrote: post #415
1024core wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, this is not some conspiracy theory by a few anecdotal players. I've been working in the search engine industry for more than 15 years (as in, worked on core ranking algorithms and other infrastructure for a long time). I've heard similar reports countless times about ranking algorithms that our team controlled, and it was all just speculation. Once again: Yelp has been around for 10+ years. By now, surely someo…

You can try this guy for proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C67Lh4LE5LY Though if you already have confirmation bias that anyone who complains of a large company of shady behavior is a crazy nut, maybe this conversation chain is simply a waste of time. Without access to Yelp internals, it's always possible to just write it off as hearsay. Especially when, if you read my post, the courts have ruled that this behav…

> Though if you already have confirmation bias

You don't have to throw such claims around. If anything, they further weaken your case.

I watched the first couple of minutes of the video you posted. Even if we take that guy's word for it, you're talking about ONE salesperson. One bad actor. That's it. Which company doesn't have asshole sales people?

You are making a stronger claim: that Yelp itself is a bad actor. That, my friend, requires a much higher bar for proof.

Look, as I mentioned earlier, I used to work on building ranking algorithms for search engines (no, not Google). In the early days of the Internet (i.e, 15 years ago), there were lots of 3rd party people pulling off stunts like this salesperson.

You can call any business today, and try to get protection money (on Yelp) off of them. That doesn't make you a Yelp employee!

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#423

Post by manigandham »

mlrtime wrote: post #9

I don't have any sympathy for a site that purposely cripples the web mobile site to force you to install their app. They lock you out of pictures after around 20 so you have to go to desktop or install their crappy app. Yelp will not be missed.

Similar issue with Quora. Pop up blocks the site after a few scrolls, and there's no way to exit. Doesn't matter if you're in the middle of reading a long answer, the site just stops working.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#424

Post by robryan »

wlesieutre wrote: post #151
Scoundreller wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit keeps asking me if I want to download their app or Open in Safari... regardless of which browser I’m using. Not every iOS user is using Safari!!!!

Don't you want to view it in the official Reddit app for the best experience ? No, no I don't. And the official reddit app is not the best experience.

I gave up and used their app after being hit with that 100s of times. Whether it is a viable long term strategy or not they probably are driving ad revenue from it, bit of a sad state of affairs if you have to be hostile to your users to build a sustainable business.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#425

Post by nathan_f77 »

manigandham wrote: post #423
mlrtime wrote: post #9

I don't have any sympathy for a site that purposely cripples the web mobile site to force you to install their app. They lock you out of pictures after around 20 so you have to go to desktop or install their crappy app. Yelp will not be missed.

Similar issue with Quora. Pop up blocks the site after a few scrolls, and there's no way to exit. Doesn't matter if you're in the middle of reading a long answer, the site just stops working.

Yeah, I find that really obnoxious. I've stopped reading the Quora email and clicking on links because of this. I actually have the Quora app installed, but I think they must have screwed up the app links in the email, so it doesn't open the Quora app anymore (I'm on iOS, and I use the Spark app for emails.) So it's just a bug that opens the browser instead of the app, then they hide the whole page with a popup and there's no way to continue reading the answer. Really frustrating.

Anyway, I guess they've done a lot of testing for the popup and it's better for their business model. Maybe they can show more ads in the app. But not sure why they can't just show the same ads on the website. The weekly digest email is actually great and it would keep me coming back to Quora, but they've ruined the whole experience.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#426

Post by nathan_f77 »

apl002 wrote: post #199
mlrtime wrote: post #9

I don't have any sympathy for a site that purposely cripples the web mobile site to force you to install their app. They lock you out of pictures after around 20 so you have to go to desktop or install their crappy app. Yelp will not be missed.

just curious why you're against downloading the app? I work on native apps and just wondering why you have a preference for mobile web.

I'm actually not against downloading the app. What really grinds my gears is when companies screw up the "app links" in their emails, so that the link opens in the browser instead of the app, and then they show an "Install our app!" popup. Then I click the install button, and it takes me to the App Store. And then I click the "Open" button on the App Store page, and it brings me to the homepage inside the app, but there's no way to find the content that I was trying to read.

This has happened to me more than once, with Quora being the latest offender. I don't mind the broken app links, but at least add a query param to the URL and set a cookie so that you don't show a popup and ruin the experience for your existing users.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#427

Post by OpenBSD-reich »

Deimorz wrote: post #270
Scoundreller wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So now that reddit’s Death has begun, what’s our alternative?

Disclaimer: self-promotion I worked at reddit for almost 4 years, but quit and started a non-profit so I could work on building a site that would be able to stick to the principles I believe are important: no advertising or investors, open-source, privacy, higher-quality content, etc. It's not incredibly active yet since it's in invite-only alpha, but it gets several hundred posts a day and is coming along well. Ther…

DM an invite plz.

Hopefully Tor isn't a problem. In the Age Of Snowden, I use it almost exclusively. Also might I suggest a .onion gateway (and maybe a .i2p gateway too)?

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#428

Post by starchturrets »

nhauz wrote: post #313
oe wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Install an ad blocker that supports hiding page elements. I added these to 1Blocker on iOS.

That one costs money. Is there a free blocker? I use Firefox Focus, but it does not let me add custom elements.

Adguard is free and supports custom elements. As a bonus, it’s open source. These are the rules I use:

www.reddit.com##.xpromopill

www.reddit.com##.active.xpromopopup

www.reddit.com##.amp.snackbar

www.reddit.com##.navframe > .xpromominimal.dualpartinterstitial

www.reddit.com##.xpromoadfeed

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#429

Post by tomglynch »

istjohn wrote: post #341
zelon88 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. After I received my first positive review on the site they called me and tried selling me all kinds of advertising. Hundreds of dollars per month worth. I declined, and around the same time my review went from being on my business page to being buried behind a "View Reviews that are not recommended" link. It's a total scam and they should be dragged into court and their internal memos and procedures turned insi…

As long as we're sharing anecdata, I too was agressively pursued by their sales department after my first couple reviews. I declined, and nothing happened. My business became one of the highest-rated in its category locally. I even sucessfully requested the removal of a fake 3-star review (I know all my customers, and the reviewer was never one). And all along, I never paid Yelp a cent. I have since spent money on Ye…

Playing devil's advocate here but maybe they had already targeted many similar businesses in the area and were giving them all bad reviews. For these bad reviews to make a difference, there needs to be one with good reviews.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#430

Post by richjdsmith »

thoughtexplorer wrote: post #311
vikingcaffiene wrote: post #210

Good. Yelp is utter trash. They've shaken down several friends of mine who own and run restaurants. Either you pay for their premium services or a bunch of 1 star reviews start magically appearing on your business Its a well known racket and they should be run out of town on a rail for it. On a more personal note, they also refused to adequately protect my wife when we encountered and reported an unscrupulous vendor…

> Either you pay for their premium services or a bunch of 1 star reviews start magically appearing on your business How do you square that claim given that both current and former Yelp employees say they do no such thing? How do you know those reviews are fake vs coincidence? I've heard a lot of anecdotes and conspiracies about this, but have never seen actual proof. No documents, recorded phone calls, court cases et…

Not sure, but at a business I worked for a few years ago, we perused Yelp reviews for a while. It worked, and over about 3 months we ended up with 13 five-star reviews, and one four star.

Not bad, right?

Then we got 'the call', declined, and within 3 weeks, all but our single four start review was gone from the profile. I no longer work there, but last time I checked, they had zero stars. I can't wait to see yelp fail.

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