4 ms·

Does it really matter? All that matters is what we perceive: from the perspective of both consumers and small business owners, Yelp looks like the bad guy--and

Does it really matter? All that matters is what we perceive: from the perspective of both consumers and small business owners, Yelp looks like the bad guy--and that's probably only going to get worse. Nobody is ever going to be satisfied with their decisions. Imagine if they allowed total anarchy and didn't police any of the reviews. Small business owners and consumers would be upset about all the fake reviews. Yelp claims they attempt to filter out these reviews; opponents claim they either go too far or filter as a form of extortion. Who am I, as a consumer, to trust here? My only solution is to avoid using Yelp: then I don't have to worry about either of these problems. If I'm traveling, I ask the locals where they like to eat. I'd argue that Yelp's whole business model is flawed; it doesn't scale for this very reason. No matter which path they take, it's going to be a PR nightmare. Unless they're able to both avoid filtering and disincentive fake reviews, somebody's going to be unhappy (and vocal).

felipelemos 7y ago
> Does it really matter? All that matters is what we perceive [...] Right on point. Right now we can only trust Yelp words, and the way their software behave it's far from transparent. And it gives exactly the opposite impression. "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion"
sonnyblarney 7y ago
It definitely matters. 'Fake reviews' or 'modifying display' in an uncsrupulous manner are essentially unethical and breach the nature of the system. But in the end the real issue is I think that reviews by random people don't help that much at all. We only need basic review by some competent person and more than anything: map, address, phone number!
xyelperTTFs 7y ago
>Does it really matter? All that matters is what we perceive: from the perspective of both consumers and small business owners, Yelp looks like the bad guy nope! you don’t need to believe the truth. a lot of people don’t. but the hacker news community tends to like to surface technical truths even when they defy popular sentiment.

felipelemos 7y ago

> Does it really matter? All that matters is what we perceive [...] Right on point. Right now we can only trust Yelp words, and the way their software behave it's far from transparent. And it gives exactly the opposite impression. "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion"

sonnyblarney 7y ago

It definitely matters. 'Fake reviews' or 'modifying display' in an uncsrupulous manner are essentially unethical and breach the nature of the system. But in the end the real issue is I think that reviews by random people don't help that much at all. We only need basic review by some competent person and more than anything: map, address, phone number!

xyelperTTFs 7y ago

>Does it really matter? All that matters is what we perceive: from the perspective of both consumers and small business owners, Yelp looks like the bad guy nope! you don’t need to believe the truth. a lot of people don’t. but the hacker news community tends to like to surface technical truths even when they defy popular sentiment.