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Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

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411–420 of 464 posts

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#411
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.

For me its the yelp reviewers themselves I dislike. That South Park episode really nailed. Oh you're a big Yelp reviewer, cool...

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#412
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use instead?

This might not be helpful, but I decided to rely on serendipity. Sometimes I feel like we think too much about finding the best of the 'best' and we rely on expert opinions of the crowd instead of taking a chance ourselves and trying out new things.

You seem like a perfect early user for our new social places recommendation app bibimapp.com . We're trying to create an viable alternative to crowd sourced averages which allows people to discover niche and personally meaningful places and experiences. Google places and yelp are consolidation funnels and it's ruinning how we experience the world.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#413
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.

I’m the opposite. I had to delete the mobile because of issues. Either way, seems like the times are passing them by.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#414

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.

After their bizarre cartoon-like remake I feel the best reddit experience is converging on none at all. In particular reading deeply into reply-heavy threads has devolved into rapidly scanning thin columns of text. They've managed to migrate the experience of reading a poorly designed website on mobile to the desktop!

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#415
post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is not some conspiracy theory by a few anecdotal players. This is a quite well-documented phenomenon well-known to small business owners across a wide variety of industries. I understand that the instinct is "There's no way a big company could be doing something so obviously unethical and get away with it". But just do your own research, there's articles detailing sales calls that literally offer to remove b…

> 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 behavior is not racketeering, even if it passes the duck test for extortion in my view.

The logical explanation offered in the video is that the salespeople themselves are the ones leaving the reviews, not sanctioned by Yelp higher ups. I worked a year doing web development and SEO for an agency that specialized in small local businesses, and enough of my clients had had similar experiences with the "Not Recommended" review algorithm after receiving harassing telemarketing calls from Yelp that I just assume that there's something shady going on.

I honestly just think their business model is structured poorly. Too many perverse incentives involved. I won't be sad to see them go.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't use the iOS versions, but IIRC they never really did anything with AlienBlue after the purchase, and the "official" mobile app is a totally separate project.

It was an acqui-hire. He wrote the new reddit app, too.

No he didn't. This was the developer, he's been gone from reddit for over 2 years now: https://www.reddit.com/user/jase

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#417
post #293

I can't relate to the negativity I see here. I like Yelp quite a lot. There have been a number occasions where I've found an excellent local restaurant that I wouldn't have otherwise found. Admittedly, you have to know what you're doing. If you're in a food desert, like some parts of the US, you'll need to take those 4 and 4.5 star restaurant profiles with a grain of salt. What I would really like: the ability to sel…

Yelp suffers the same issues that Amazon reviews has. General public is easily influenced to give high scores to mediocre food/products. I'd rather have reviews from trusted reviewers or a Netflix type scoring system that matches my picks with other people who have the same taste.

We're aiming to solve this problem at bibimapp.com. We're in private beta now but will be going public soon.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guess it's a matter of time before I stop using Reddit then. I already ran to Relay as an escape from Reddit's astonishingly garbage mobile browser experience. Next stop is the door.

https://reddit.com/.compact https://i.reddit.com

That’s what use and consider to be the best reddit mobile experience. The regular reddit mobile site doesn’t seem to render on iOS Safari properly most of the time, probably by design.

Re: Yelp craters 30% as advertisers abandon the site

#420

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mobile browsers should differentiate the style of links with URLs that resolve to apps. I am tired of tapping links expecting to remain in Safari and having useless “open in app?” prompts instead. I’m not IN an app, I’m in a browser; I want to use the browser. And when cancelling the prompt gets you nothing, it really feels like Yelp is screaming “NO SOUP FOR YOU!”.

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!!!!

Try reddit.com/.compact
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