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04 Mar 2010 21:56

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Biz: Yelp’s defenses of its service get increasingly angry-sounding

  • Their P.R. site, strangely enough, doesn’t allow comments. Recently, local business review site Yelp, while quite popular, has faced criticism over the way it works with the local businesses it indexes, including rumors that the site purposely favors advertisers. Recently, Yelp’s blog has been on the defensive. It culminated today with a tart-tongued post which clearly hadn’t been looked over by a lawyer, because it makes allegations that might annoy those suing the company. (Lawyers want a piece of us ’cause we got some venture capital!) Here’s a sample:
  • February 26: Conspiracy? “The allegations are disappointing, not only because they are false, but because they ignore empirical evidence in favor of conspiracy theories.” source
  • March 1: We’re weird “We’ll be the first to admit that, by conventional standards, Yelp can seem weird. We’re different than other review sites and that can throw people off.” source
  • March 4: Rawr “So it’s no surprise that today another lawyer has filed a virtually identical lawsuit making the same inaccurate claims. (Don’t worry; they’re still not true.)” source

19 Jan 2010 22:03

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Biz: Yelp: The ruiner of dreams, small businesses and Diane Goodman

  • In the past, if someone was difficult, you could just tell them to leave. But you can’t do that anymore. You talk to someone, and a couple of minutes later, it’s on Yelp.
  • Small-business owner Diane Goodman • Regarding the minor total nightmare Yelp has become for her business. Goodman overreacted to a post on the site, contacted the poster, and the poster responded back by putting her messages in the Yelp review. The result turned into an altercation at the poster’s house. With its 8 million user-submitted reviews and 26 million views, a negative review can cause significant damage to a business. As well as Diane Goodman’s mental health. source

28 May 2009 10:53

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Offbeat, Tech: Yelp is saying “Gulp” after ticking off an anti-rape advertiser

“Put the fun between your legs” perhaps wasn’t the right headline for an article on biking sponsored by an anti-rape organization. *oof* source