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Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

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Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#51

Post by thaumasiotes »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #50
thaumasiotes wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some of these problems seems like the cause is because its hard to complain in person. I was recently in an airport in Japan looking to use the meal voucher I'd been given due to a delayed flight. What was available locally was a coffee shop with a very long line (well, not a long line, maybe ten feet, but keep reading), which operated like this: - The person at the head of the line would advance and speak to the c…

I think the interesting thing about this post is the sense of entitlement. Why does a businesses operating in a way you dislike entitle you to yell at them and break their rules? Maybe the cause is conflating not getting your way with active harm. Refusing to serve you would be neutral, stealing from you would be harm.

Refusing to serve me is harmful to the shop in the most straightforward way you can possibly imagine. They make less money for the same amount of work.

Their entire operation is harmful (to them, and to everyone who buys from them) in the same way; they could easily double the number of customers they process by having one of the idle employees making the drinks instead of the cashier.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#52

Post by s1artibartfast »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #51
s1artibartfast wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the interesting thing about this post is the sense of entitlement. Why does a businesses operating in a way you dislike entitle you to yell at them and break their rules? Maybe the cause is conflating not getting your way with active harm. Refusing to serve you would be neutral, stealing from you would be harm.

Refusing to serve me is harmful to the shop in the most straightforward way you can possibly imagine. They make less money for the same amount of work. Their entire operation is harmful (to them, and to everyone who buys from them) in the same way; they could easily double the number of customers they process by having one of the idle employees making the drinks instead of the cashier.

Yeah, I just think that is a strange standard for "harm". I dont think anyone would be harmed if they refused to serve anyone and every employee was idle. What if they dont want to double the number of customers and care more about something else.

I think it is best to approach interactions without entitlement. They dont owe you service, and can choose on which terms they will engage.

Your concept of harm reminds me of how some people think they are "harmed" if someone doesn't want to date them, becoming angry and aggressive.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#53

Post by thaumasiotes »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #52
thaumasiotes wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Refusing to serve me is harmful to the shop in the most straightforward way you can possibly imagine. They make less money for the same amount of work. Their entire operation is harmful (to them, and to everyone who buys from them) in the same way; they could easily double the number of customers they process by having one of the idle employees making the drinks instead of the cashier.

Yeah, I just think that is a strange standard for "harm". I dont think anyone would be harmed if they refused to serve anyone and every employee was idle. What if they dont want to double the number of customers and care more about something else. I think it is best to approach interactions without entitlement. They dont owe you service, and can choose on which terms they will engage. Your concept of harm reminds me…

> I dont think anyone would be harmed if they refused to serve anyone and every employee was idle.

The owner might have a different opinion.

> Your concept of harm reminds me of how some people think they are "harmed" if someone doesn't want to date them

...and? That's a pretty commonly recognized harm. For example, it's the basis of the tort "alienation of affections".

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#54

Post by mrguyorama »

gnopgnip wrote: post #31
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

So what do you use instead?

I pick a restaurant and go to it. It's almost always fine.

We managed for centuries without comprehensive reviews of every single restaurant from every two bit individual who thinks they have a valid opinion on cooking. I genuinely don't understand, don't you people ever do anything you haven't been recommended by an algorithm?

I have never looked at reviews for restaurants. I will use Google maps to look for "nearby" places, but I will not look at the reviews.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#55

Post by s1artibartfast »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #53
s1artibartfast wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I just think that is a strange standard for "harm". I dont think anyone would be harmed if they refused to serve anyone and every employee was idle. What if they dont want to double the number of customers and care more about something else. I think it is best to approach interactions without entitlement. They dont owe you service, and can choose on which terms they will engage. Your concept of harm reminds me…

> I dont think anyone would be harmed if they refused to serve anyone and every employee was idle. The owner might have a different opinion. > Your concept of harm reminds me of how some people think they are "harmed" if someone doesn't want to date them ...and? That's a pretty commonly recognized harm. For example, it's the basis of the tort "alienation of affections".

Alienation of affection is not when someone chooses not to date you. It is when a third party interferes maliciously, and even then it is recognized and very few jurisdictions. If you try to sue a random woman on the street for the harm done by not wanting to date you, you will be in for a rude awakening.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#56

Post by zamadatix »

aimor wrote: post #11
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Yelp is bad (really bad) but so is everyone else. I still use them on road trips alongside Google Maps and Apple Maps simply because none of them show all the restaurants in an area. It's kind of unbelievable how frustrating it is to try to get a complete look at all the restaurants nearby some location. Then again, it's a good trip if Google Maps doesn't ask me to turn left across three lanes onto a private alley an…

I feel like it used to work better than before. I don't just mean "and they all had more of the restaurants" I mean there will be a ton of restaurants in the map and Google Maps will only pick about half to make red when I click "Restaurants". It'd make some sense as a density problem but it still shows the restaurant markers, just with orange labels instead of red ones!

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#57

Post by JohnFen »

jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Me too. I avoid Yelp because they're worse than worthless, and I'm always surprised to hear that anyone finds value in them.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#58

Post by [deleted] »

aimor wrote: post #11
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Yelp is bad (really bad) but so is everyone else. I still use them on road trips alongside Google Maps and Apple Maps simply because none of them show all the restaurants in an area. It's kind of unbelievable how frustrating it is to try to get a complete look at all the restaurants nearby some location. Then again, it's a good trip if Google Maps doesn't ask me to turn left across three lanes onto a private alley an…

[deleted]

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#59

Post by JohnFen »

viccis wrote: post #6
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Same. Yelp is for finding pics of menus and food. Googling " restaurants reddit" is for finding good places to go.

Reddit is better than Yelp (what isn't?), but I haven't found Reddit to be particularly useful for this sort of thing.

Re: Everybody gets a star: Yelp's effect on restaurants and reviews

#60

Post by JohnFen »

Larrikin wrote: post #22
jader201 wrote: post #3

I guess I’m in the minority, but I can’t remember the last time I used Yelp to find restaurants. It’s been obvious for years (it feels like at least 10, maybe more) that they can’t be trusted. I’m actually surprised they still get enough traffic to be sustainable.

Yelp ratings are basically useless, except for egregious things like cockroaches found running around. The worst part about the site and Google is that they paginate restaurants in a local map view by rating. It would be better to see everything all at once for certain views. But restaurants that delist themselves for whatever reason from the review sites, also delist themselves from me ever going to them. I'm never…

> I'm never going to choose a restaurant where I can't see pictures of the food and the menu before going ever again.

That's certainly a choice, but you're missing out on a lot by doing that.

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