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No word on their elite extortion squad: http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/yelp-downgrades-restaurants-rating-after-it-declines-to-1730885786 http://kitchenette.je
by minikites 11y ago
No word on their elite extortion squad:
http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/yelp-downgrades-restaurants-rating-after-it-declines-to-1730885786 http://kitchenette.jezebel.com/yelp-downgrades-restaurants-r...
> Instead, they’ve declared that legally, Yelp is entirely allowed to extort restaurants. In case you’ve forgotten, almost exactly a year ago, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that Yelp was well within its rights to extort restaurants. As above, Yelp desperately and frantically claims they don’t actually do this because to admit to what they’re widely accused of would be to pull back the curtain on the shell game that many, many restaurant owners believe is Yelp’s core business model. The first part of the above statement is thus simple PR sleight of hand; the lawsuits have been dismissed, but not because they’re not true—because legally, Yelp is perfectly free to engage in whatever extortionist practices it feels like.
- opticalfiber 11y agoActually, the ruling stated that there was no evidence of Yelp behaving the way they were accused of. It went on to say that, even if they were, it would at worst constitute hard bargaining and not extortion. I worked at Yelp for two years as a software engineer. I have seen everything there is to see: the code, the databases, etc. There is no extortion table. There is no extortion code. Businesses like to make this claim because it generates sympathy and attention. It's just not true.
- mikeash 11y agoWhy would any of it show up in the code? As I recall, what Yelp is accused of is making fake bad reviews that go away if you give them money. That could easily be a manual process done by sales people.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- opticalfiber 11y agoThe sales people don't have access to the content moderation systems. As far as it showing up in code, I was just making the point that there is no file containing something like if business_has_paid_extortion_money: show_good_reviews() else: show_bad_reviews() ... which is how people seem to think it works. There is also no code to allow manual review ordering. They are sorted according by an algorithm with a variety of inputs including who you are friends with, who has Elite status, etc.
- mikeash 11y agoI've never seen anyone say they think it's automated. As for sales people not having access, who does, and how do you know they don't abuse it?
- grillvogel 11y agowhat is "extortion code"? you just need someone with admin privileges to do whatever they want to the reviews.
- minikites 11y agoInteresting that my comment went from +3 to -2 after you posted this, are you on the HN extortion squad too? ;)
- resu_nimda 11y agoIt could be because you posted a link to Jezebel, which is largely reactionary manufactured-outrage shlock. "Hey guys the courts totally said that Yelp is free to do whatever extortion they want, isn't that crazy?! Get your pitchforks out!" Their style is just not conducive to civil, well-reasoned discussion.
- opticalfiber 11y agoYou've discovered my secret. The squad will be along shortly to silence you... Mwahaha!