2 ms·

Apparently Yelp will remove positive reviews that have been posted before, and save up negative reviews for publication after the advertising pitch; to be unpub

by axus 3y ago

Apparently Yelp will remove positive reviews that have been posted before, and save up negative reviews for publication after the advertising pitch; to be unpublished if advertising is paid for. They may not actually be writing the reviews, simply choosing when to publish or unpublish them, and in what quantities, and which to count for the overall rating. It doesn't matter who's casting the reviews, but who's counting them.

in_cahoots 3y ago
If that’s the case shouldn’t there be at least one screenshot of this behavior happening? I’ve heard dozens of anecdotes over the years. You think that at least one restaurant owner would screenshot their rating and the number of reviews as soon as Yelp reaches out to ‘suggest’ advertising. The fact that this seems to be commonly-accepted knowledge without a single piece of evidence is strange to me.
- pempem 3y ago
  In fairness running a restaurant is nearly a round the clock job. Running delivery and the online reservations is more. Managing reviews is even more. I agree that its hard to believe one restaurant hasn't tracked it yet but I think its more a confluence - are you good enough/ no dip in performance that you can claim this correlation or are you confident enough to go out saying that knowing you have to defend against ppl saying "well maybe you just suck now!" - did you have time to screenshot it when it was happening aka the day Yelp called and your dishwasher was out sick and your supplier of eggs upped their price - how long does the business even run. lots of restaurants close down and Yelp is not on a top ten list of concerns - if you're established then your focus is growing business not dealing with the mafia. maybe you pay them, maybe you double down on other channels like uber eats or a new location or whatever.
  - kelnos 3y ago
    Sure, that's all totally fair, but was there seriously not even one -- out of the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of businesses -- business owner who managed to find the time to do this?
- kingofkyiv 3y ago
  [dead]

by axus 3y ago

in_cahoots 3y ago

If that’s the case shouldn’t there be at least one screenshot of this behavior happening? I’ve heard dozens of anecdotes over the years. You think that at least one restaurant owner would screenshot their rating and the number of reviews as soon as Yelp reaches out to ‘suggest’ advertising. The fact that this seems to be commonly-accepted knowledge without a single piece of evidence is strange to me.

pempem 3y ago
In fairness running a restaurant is nearly a round the clock job. Running delivery and the online reservations is more. Managing reviews is even more. I agree that its hard to believe one restaurant hasn't tracked it yet but I think its more a confluence - are you good enough/ no dip in performance that you can claim this correlation or are you confident enough to go out saying that knowing you have to defend against ppl saying "well maybe you just suck now!" - did you have time to screenshot it when it was happening aka the day Yelp called and your dishwasher was out sick and your supplier of eggs upped their price - how long does the business even run. lots of restaurants close down and Yelp is not on a top ten list of concerns - if you're established then your focus is growing business not dealing with the mafia. maybe you pay them, maybe you double down on other channels like uber eats or a new location or whatever.
- kelnos 3y ago
  Sure, that's all totally fair, but was there seriously not even one -- out of the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of businesses -- business owner who managed to find the time to do this?
kingofkyiv 3y ago
[dead]