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Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

sfgate.com

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Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#111

Post by [deleted] »

nickstinemates wrote: post #26
dwater wrote: post #25

It sounds to me like Yelp is upset that other businesses are trying to do the same thing they do. My friend was GM of a new local restaurant here, and at first they were getting lots of 4 and 5 star reviews and almost none below that. But around the time they were contacted by a Yelp sales rep to start paying for promotion and advertising, the 4 and 5 star review stopped coming. My friend watched multiple people post…

You'd think there would be some whistleblowers after all of these years of the same allegations. Where are they?

[deleted]

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#112

Post by xyst »

nickstinemates wrote: post #26
dwater wrote: post #25

It sounds to me like Yelp is upset that other businesses are trying to do the same thing they do. My friend was GM of a new local restaurant here, and at first they were getting lots of 4 and 5 star reviews and almost none below that. But around the time they were contacted by a Yelp sales rep to start paying for promotion and advertising, the 4 and 5 star review stopped coming. My friend watched multiple people post…

You'd think there would be some whistleblowers after all of these years of the same allegations. Where are they?

best guess: they have been NDA'd and the dirty work completed by temp workers or contractors.

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#114

Post by ProAm »

dwater wrote: post #25

It sounds to me like Yelp is upset that other businesses are trying to do the same thing they do. My friend was GM of a new local restaurant here, and at first they were getting lots of 4 and 5 star reviews and almost none below that. But around the time they were contacted by a Yelp sales rep to start paying for promotion and advertising, the 4 and 5 star review stopped coming. My friend watched multiple people post…

> It's the kind of behavior that's impossible to prove for anyone outside of Yelp, and they of course claim they don't do it.

Im surprised there hasnt been a class-action defamation suit. That would force discovery at least.

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#115

Post by dabluecaboose »

jollyllama wrote: post #95
CoastalCoder wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL, but can an NDA legally bar someone from reporting a suspected crime to law-enforcement?

I don't think Yelp's practices constitute a crime in the USA. The crime of a hypothetical Mafia is when they threaten violence for not paying. Yelp just changes what their site says about your business, which isn't a crime unless you can prove slander (very difficult).

In print, it's "Libel", not slander.

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#116

Post by RajT88 »

dwater wrote: post #25

It sounds to me like Yelp is upset that other businesses are trying to do the same thing they do. My friend was GM of a new local restaurant here, and at first they were getting lots of 4 and 5 star reviews and almost none below that. But around the time they were contacted by a Yelp sales rep to start paying for promotion and advertising, the 4 and 5 star review stopped coming. My friend watched multiple people post…

I've heard the same stories from several local restaurants. With one added detail, which was consistent between the 3 restaurants: The sales pitch was always $300/mo. to ensure they have only high ratings. When they don't pay the fee, the negative reviews start showing up, and the positive reviews start disappearing.

It's such a consistent story it beggars belief that there's nothing there.

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#118

Post by xyst »

I am surprised a yelp/google alternative has not been created with a feature to establish provenance of a review. Perhaps something like a receipt which contains a unique link and that person can provide a review through the link.

The review will be posted as "verified transaction" on the site and overall score of the restaurant is determined from there. "Anonymous" reviews can still be posted but won't be factored into the overall score and will be deprioritized by the system/algorithm.

Of course this does not necessarily stop businesses from pumping out fake transaction tickets and offering users to write fake reviews. But at least a paper trail would be established; and if a historically 1-2 star business with verified transactions and 1-2 reviews per day suddenly sees a spike to 4-5 stars with 10+ reviews per day over the same period. Then it can be flagged as suspicious and team can review the paper trail.

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#119

Post by g9yuayon »

dwater wrote: post #25

It sounds to me like Yelp is upset that other businesses are trying to do the same thing they do. My friend was GM of a new local restaurant here, and at first they were getting lots of 4 and 5 star reviews and almost none below that. But around the time they were contacted by a Yelp sales rep to start paying for promotion and advertising, the 4 and 5 star review stopped coming. My friend watched multiple people post…

Wow, isn't this extortion. If this allegation were true, someone in Yelp should go to jail.

Re: Bay Area woman is on a crusade to prove Yelp reviews can’t be trusted

#120

Post by mrbabbage »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #79
jollyllama wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ITT: people who have never heard of NDAs

IANAL, but can an NDA legally bar someone from reporting a suspected crime to law-enforcement?

Federal law protects whistleblowers who confidentially disclose trade secrets to law enforcement: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1833
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