4 ms·

In case you want to dig in deeper, Frank Brader's dog business on Yelp now has 4 stars from 5 reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/haus-von-brader-dog-obedience-tr

In case you want to dig in deeper, Frank Brader's dog business on Yelp now has 4 stars from 5 reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/haus-von-brader-dog-obedience-training-north-riverside http://www.yelp.com/biz/haus-von-brader-dog-obedience-traini... Justin G, the negative reviewer, was a Yelp Elite member from 2006-2008: http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=z25c9TyWY1TdVEGxkj34jw http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=z25c9TyWY1TdVEGxkj34...

mcantelon 15y ago
I'd get rid of the punitive filtering too if negative press came out. I wonder if "Elite" indicates paid? Yelp does pay, or has paid in the past, some reviewers.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- pbreit 15y ago
  No need to speculate about "elite": http://www.yelp.com/elite http://www.yelp.com/elite You can argue that the benefits of being "elite" equate to compensation but that's a pretty slippery slope and I'm not sure entirely useful.
- meowzero 15y ago
  They don't get paid. I've been Elite for about 3 years now. But they do get invited to Elite only parties which they get to sample free food and drinks.
- HaloZero 15y ago
  I believe Yelp does pay reviewers for "seeding" a city when they launch in a new area in order for there to be content when they open in the city.
- mikeleeorg 15y ago
  A friend of mine committed himself to get Elite status one year. He did it too, by writing hundreds of reviews. Though he tried making most of them pretty funny, he eventually switched to a strategy that emphasized quantity over quality, because he didn't feel he was getting there with just high-quality reviews. Surprisingly, this seemed to work, though perhaps his multitude of reviews were genuinely useful enough. He didn't get paid for any of this either. It was just for the parties, grand openings, and extra-special treatment at restaurants. I don't have any way of verifying these accounts, but I see a couple of stories about Yelp paying (non-Elite) reviewers to write reviews: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/yelp_reviewers_paid/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/yelp_reviewers_paid/ http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2006/12/paying_people_t.html http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives... There's also a thread on Yelp about a supposed popular paid reviewer too: http://www.yelp.com/topic/redding-paid-reviewers-suck http://www.yelp.com/topic/redding-paid-reviewers-suck I recall reading somewhere that when Yelp started, they seeded their database with paid reviews as well, to surmount that chicken-and-egg problem of new social networks & review services. I wouldn't consider that a negative mark against them though.
pbreit 15y ago
The 4 new reviews appear to have been generated by the article and I suspect 2 or 3 of them will eventually be hidden. And rightfully so since they are content-free and by new reviewers.

mcantelon 15y ago

I'd get rid of the punitive filtering too if negative press came out. I wonder if "Elite" indicates paid? Yelp does pay, or has paid in the past, some reviewers.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
pbreit 15y ago
No need to speculate about "elite": http://www.yelp.com/elite http://www.yelp.com/elite You can argue that the benefits of being "elite" equate to compensation but that's a pretty slippery slope and I'm not sure entirely useful.
meowzero 15y ago
They don't get paid. I've been Elite for about 3 years now. But they do get invited to Elite only parties which they get to sample free food and drinks.
HaloZero 15y ago
I believe Yelp does pay reviewers for "seeding" a city when they launch in a new area in order for there to be content when they open in the city.
mikeleeorg 15y ago
A friend of mine committed himself to get Elite status one year. He did it too, by writing hundreds of reviews. Though he tried making most of them pretty funny, he eventually switched to a strategy that emphasized quantity over quality, because he didn't feel he was getting there with just high-quality reviews. Surprisingly, this seemed to work, though perhaps his multitude of reviews were genuinely useful enough. He didn't get paid for any of this either. It was just for the parties, grand openings, and extra-special treatment at restaurants. I don't have any way of verifying these accounts, but I see a couple of stories about Yelp paying (non-Elite) reviewers to write reviews: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/yelp_reviewers_paid/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/yelp_reviewers_paid/ http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2006/12/paying_people_t.html http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives... There's also a thread on Yelp about a supposed popular paid reviewer too: http://www.yelp.com/topic/redding-paid-reviewers-suck http://www.yelp.com/topic/redding-paid-reviewers-suck I recall reading somewhere that when Yelp started, they seeded their database with paid reviews as well, to surmount that chicken-and-egg problem of new social networks & review services. I wouldn't consider that a negative mark against them though.

pbreit 15y ago

The 4 new reviews appear to have been generated by the article and I suspect 2 or 3 of them will eventually be hidden. And rightfully so since they are content-free and by new reviewers.