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Yelp is one those companies. I use the product regularly, but I hate doing so -- the experience is awful and the core information is rarely particularly helpful

Yelp is one those companies. I use the product regularly, but I hate doing so -- the experience is awful and the core information is rarely particularly helpful. But they still get me to come in because they have the most information about some places. What really sets me off is how much "moral" crusading they do (eg- vs. Google) compared to how much shady stuff they do. This is just latest in a long line of crummy behavior that keeps coming up over and over again.

dilyevsky 6y ago
Nothing moral about their crusade - they got booted from the top of the search results along with other doorway-style crap like about.com and their conversion probably fell off the cliff. Had to explain that to investors somehow I suppose...
- elefanten 6y ago
  Sure but it was framed, in the consumer-facing messaging, as such. They also didn't get booted from search -- they're still always capturing/clogging the top results. Google added all their own cruft at the top, but the search results haven't changed.
  - dilyevsky 6y ago
    I personally haven’t worked on search anything so don’t know the details. From purely user perspective (and very anecdotal) some search results were almost entirely seo spam from about.com, yelp, etc but it’s no longer the case.
mywittyname 6y ago
Why do you use Yelp? I've never needed it because every restaurant that I go to is on Google or maintains their own website. It's been known for years now that the reviews on Yelp are largely fake and they hide legit ones, so it's nearly useless for that as well. At least with Google Maps reviews, I can click on the reviewer and see the other places they've been.
- elefanten 6y ago
  Often the primary answer is photos. My experience with Google reviews having enough photos to find the dishes I'm considering is much more hit or miss. But your question is fair. I often ask it myself as I'm exiting the site.
- gwilikers 6y ago
  > the reviews on Yelp are largely fake Do you have a source for this?
  - mywittyname 6y ago
    There are a mountain of lawsuits with Yelp over fake reviews. This is a decent post, as it lists the outcome of a long-standing lawsuit (Yelp won) but also links out to several other lawsuits filed over the years about fake reviews on the site. https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2020/03/yelp-finally-defeats-a-false-advertising-lawsuit-over-its-review-functionality-demetriades-v-yelp.htm https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2020/03/yelp-finally-d...
- xeromal 6y ago
  The pictures are generally better on yelp because they usually come from eaters rather than the restaurant themselves.
pydry 6y ago
It's like watching a victim of a scam artist complain to the police, get brushed off and then deciding "fuck it I guess I'll become a scam artist too then". It's hypocritical and wrong but pretty understandable at the same time. This is a systemic issue.

dilyevsky 6y ago

Nothing moral about their crusade - they got booted from the top of the search results along with other doorway-style crap like about.com and their conversion probably fell off the cliff. Had to explain that to investors somehow I suppose...

elefanten 6y ago
Sure but it was framed, in the consumer-facing messaging, as such. They also didn't get booted from search -- they're still always capturing/clogging the top results. Google added all their own cruft at the top, but the search results haven't changed.
- dilyevsky 6y ago
  I personally haven’t worked on search anything so don’t know the details. From purely user perspective (and very anecdotal) some search results were almost entirely seo spam from about.com, yelp, etc but it’s no longer the case.

mywittyname 6y ago

Why do you use Yelp? I've never needed it because every restaurant that I go to is on Google or maintains their own website. It's been known for years now that the reviews on Yelp are largely fake and they hide legit ones, so it's nearly useless for that as well. At least with Google Maps reviews, I can click on the reviewer and see the other places they've been.

elefanten 6y ago
Often the primary answer is photos. My experience with Google reviews having enough photos to find the dishes I'm considering is much more hit or miss. But your question is fair. I often ask it myself as I'm exiting the site.
gwilikers 6y ago
> the reviews on Yelp are largely fake Do you have a source for this?
- mywittyname 6y ago
  There are a mountain of lawsuits with Yelp over fake reviews. This is a decent post, as it lists the outcome of a long-standing lawsuit (Yelp won) but also links out to several other lawsuits filed over the years about fake reviews on the site. https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2020/03/yelp-finally-defeats-a-false-advertising-lawsuit-over-its-review-functionality-demetriades-v-yelp.htm https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2020/03/yelp-finally-d...
xeromal 6y ago
The pictures are generally better on yelp because they usually come from eaters rather than the restaurant themselves.

pydry 6y ago

It's like watching a victim of a scam artist complain to the police, get brushed off and then deciding "fuck it I guess I'll become a scam artist too then". It's hypocritical and wrong but pretty understandable at the same time. This is a systemic issue.