Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 198 posts

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#111

Post by criddell »

timr wrote: post #68
parthdesai wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Mr. Stoppelman feels he has no choice. Like a lot of small internet companies, Yelp lives in a world where one company, Google, accounts for an outsize share of its business, and could destroy it at any time." Ah the irony. Yelp is the same website that bullied small businesses to pay for positive reviews[1]. [1] http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-bus...

"Ah the irony. Yelp is the same website that bullied small businesses to pay for positive reviews" No, Yelp is accused of this. Nobody has ever shown it to be true. (I can also tell you, as someone who worked there, that it definitely is not true, but you don't have to take my word for it. You just have to not confuse accusations with facts.)

I came here looking for claims like these. It always has baffled me the number of first hand accounts of Yelp salesperson shenanigans with no documented examples.

What do you think is the root of the accusations? Do yelp salespeople promise things they can't deliver?

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#112

Post by kefka »

keymone wrote: post #34
ClassyJacket wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're absolutely right. Yelp adds no value the dozens of other review apps don't, they simply succed because they extort and blackmail small businesses. I refuse to install their app and the quicker they die the better.

> they extort and blackmail small businesses do you have any evidence of this?

(This post is copied so others can see this. Tl;Dr. User [keymone] is a developer at YELP. )

You've been consistently a bad actor here, regarding Yelp. So, I searched google with "keymone yelp" (keymone is the HN username), and found the following:

https://github.com/keymone [Name Removed] Yelp Hamburg, Germany http://www.yelp.com

Organizations @Yelp

Hmm...... Uusally people with direct interests (like yourself), will properly disclaim (I WORK FOR X, BUT NOT THEIR OPINIONS).

_________________________________

https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=1zHW3SSTF3RFjHkgHzR...

Same pic as the Github profile. Certainly not a coincidence.

_________________________________

https://twitter.com/keymone

Again, this says "happy developer" at Yelp.com

_________________________________

Yeah, I'd suggest if you were to play the devil's advocate, I would properly disclaim that "[You] work at Yelp as a developer" instead of me playing guessing games and finally google your name and see dozens of profiles with the same Skiing pic.

Frankly, you prove more of what I'm saying. So, tell me. How many proxies do you use when you seed bad reviews for companies that don't pay up? Because already, what you're doing is SHADY SHIT.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#113

Post by criddell »

bhldr wrote: post #65
kailuowang wrote: post #45

I found that Yelp's reviews very unreliable. My business owner friends told me that they are constantly harassed by yelp's sales representatives to buy the right to "clean up" their reviews. I don't see how yelp can continue trash their brand like this and blaming Google for their low performance.

Cleaning up reviews is actually not a Yelp feature. Paid or unpaid.

It seems to be a sales tactic though.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#114

Post by acdha »

nradov wrote: post #69
acdha wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you run a website where those are significant traffic? It's been a long time since not-Google search has been more than a rounding error in my experience, with the exception of Yandex for Russia and Baidu for China if you have content for those audiences. Vimeo and Firefox are trying but the trajectory has not been good.

The question was about alternatives to Google services (which do exist in almost every category), not about the share of traffic that websites receive from various search engines. If websites want to avoid being overly dependent on Google then they're going to have to get creative and figure out ways to drive traffic other than search.

Your last sentence is the point: it doesn't matter if there are alternatives which are either unused and so far the only company which has figured out how to out-drive Google is Facebook, hardly more responsive to the rest of the web's needs.

That was the problem: in search, Google effectively has no competition. The fact that there are other areas like social networking doesn't change the fact that if you're a website operator you have to work well with Google even if you can write off everyone else.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#115

Post by rb666 »

the_mitsuhiko wrote: post #41
nradov wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which Google services no longer have competition?

Google Search for a start. Youtube is effectively standing alone in the space. Google Maps is completely dominating the space (in particular there is nothing that replaces the Earth product or the parts of Earth in maps). Gmail is taking over the world over here. Most local mail solutions are irrelevant at this point and the only real alternative to gmail even intentionally is outlook now. Chrome effectively took out…

Fastmail is actually an amazing alternative over Gmail. Have been using it for half a year now and will never go back. I use my own domain with it, so even if Fastmail disappears, I am still in control.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#116

Post by kefka »

You want to see how scummy AND scammy Yelp is? Look no further than further up the thread with HN:keymone responding to me, dismissing how Yelp is an extortionist.

Oh yeah, keymone WORKS AT yelp. Probably as paid developer and proxied user to post bad posts for businesses that don't pay up. Extortion costs a bit, but pulls in dividends, I guess.

Post below is my response, and proof of said user. And just... damn.

___________________________________________

You've been consistently a bad actor here, regarding Yelp. So, I searched google with "keymone yelp" (keymone is the HN username), and found the following:

https://github.com/keymone

[Name Removed] Yelp Hamburg, Germany http://www.yelp.com

Organizations @Yelp

Hmm...... Uusally people with direct interests (like yourself), will properly disclaim (I WORK FOR X, BUT NOT THEIR OPINIONS).

_________________________________

https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=1zHW3SSTF3RFjHkgHzR...

Same pic as the Github profile. Certainly not a coincidence.

_________________________________

https://twitter.com/keymone

Again, this says "happy developer" at Yelp.com

_________________________________

Yeah, I'd suggest if you were to play the devil's advocate, I would properly disclaim that "[You] work at Yelp as a developer" instead of me playing guessing games and finally google your name and see dozens of profiles with the same Skiing pic.

Frankly, you prove more of what I'm saying. So, tell me. How many proxies do you use when you seed bad reviews for companies that don't pay up? Because already, what you're doing is SHADY SHIT.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#117

Post by jimmywanger »

x0x0 wrote: post #99
jimmywanger wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've read her article. ( https://medium.com/@taliajane/an-open-letter-to-my-ceo-fb73d... ) It really has nothing substantive to say except "I'm struggling, pay me more." She even points to several facts in her article. "She ended up leaving the company and moving east, somewhere the minimum wage could double as a living wage." "But boy did I not anticipate a decade and a half ago that a car and a credit card and an a…

If you want to support a company that pays employees $12.50/hour in sf, that's your choice. However, I don't support that, and the thing about employment at will is we can use how a potential employer treats employees to evaluate the employer. > Neither are they responsible for paying you what you think is necessary for a comfortable life. However, kindly don't misrepresent the contents of Talia's article and shift t…

> However, kindly don't misrepresent the contents of Talia's article and shift the goalposts

I have not misrepresented anything. Please point me to an instance in my comment where I have.

In addition, I'm not shifting the goalposts. She said herself that she had a car, an apartment, residence in the US, credit cards, and a college degree, and she wants more. I believe she already has the bare minimums, as she would be considered incredibly wealthy by about 80% of the world.

> Because she's asking for the bare minimums, not a comfortable life.

As I pointed out earlier, she wants a comfortable life. More importantly, in her article, she has not pointed out any negotiations she's done with her employer to ask for a raise. She is simply demanding more money, for no good reason whatsover. If you cannot demonstrate and communicate the value you're adding to the company as well as your willingness to leave, why would the company give you more money?

Also, this article seems like emotional blackmail that plays into the current zeitgeist of "tech is bad, you should give more money away". If she gave compelling value add arguments, she'd definitely get paid more. Right now she's only presenting her wants and needs - the company doesn't care.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#118

Post by kefka »

You wanna see how scammy and nasty YELP is? Look further down and see my criticism of Google and Yelp, and who responds. User [keymone] criticizes my choices at going against Yelp... And here's what I found out.

Usually, Googlers will say "I'm a googler but this is my opinion." Well, we get no such disclaimer. And wouldn't ya know. Yelp engineer. So you wonder whom I consider more scammy? Yeah. Yelp.

Good job, proving my point.

____________________________

You've been consistently a bad actor here, regarding Yelp. So, I searched google with "keymone yelp" (keymone is the HN username), and found the following:

https://github.com/keymone

[Name Removed] Yelp Hamburg, Germany http://www.yelp.com

Organizations @Yelp

Hmm...... Uusally people with direct interests (like yourself), will properly disclaim (I WORK FOR X, BUT NOT THEIR OPINIONS).

_________________________________

https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=1zHW3SSTF3RFjHkgHzR...

Same pic as the Github profile. Certainly not a coincidence.

_________________________________

https://twitter.com/keymone

Again, this says "happy developer" at Yelp.com

_________________________________

Yeah, I'd suggest if you were to play the devil's advocate, I would properly disclaim that "[You] work at Yelp as a developer" instead of me playing guessing games and finally google your name and see dozens of profiles with the same Skiing pic.

Frankly, you prove more of what I'm saying. So, tell me. How many proxies do you use when you seed bad reviews for companies that don't pay up? Because already, what you're doing is SHADY SHIT.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#119

Post by ekianjo »

tuxracer wrote: post #26
mrunkel wrote: post #13

I find all this hand wringing over Google to be so tiring. Google is doing what is best for it's customers. Be that advertisers and/or searchers. If they stop doing that, they'll lose their market dominance. Last I checked, nobody is forced to use google to search for things, nobody if forced (except for perhaps android users) to use Chrome. I'm not a laissez-faire capitalist by any means, but I don't see that Google…

> nobody if forced (except for perhaps android users) to use Chrome Unlike iOS you can install different browsers on Android directly from the Play Store. These can actually be different browsers with their own rendering engines not just alternative UIs on top of Chrome. Firefox on Android for example uses the actual Firefox rendering engine, not Chrome.

You can, but by default you get Chrome, which is about the same thing people were fighting Microsoft over in the Netscape-IE days, but this time on Android.

Re: Yelp’s Six-Year Conflict with Google

#120

Post by ekianjo »

criddell wrote: post #107
bdcravens wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More interesting is the HN (and elsewhere) crowd that never relents on Google apologetics, yet presumably would be (and among those older, were) among the Microsoft critics.

You're describing me and it pretty much comes down to trust. I trust Google a lot more than I ever trusted Microsoft back when they were the bully.

Why do you trust Google a lot more? What did they do to deserve your trust?
Post reply on HN