[tptacek]

It's really too bad Google didn't buy them; I don't fundamentally trust Google that much more, but I do trust that Google doesn't care more about the pennies it would get from hard-selling small business than it does about the avalanche of cash it gets selling advertising to everyone.

There is, however, a special place in hell reserved for the people whose business model revolves around squeezing mom and pop businesses. It is an endless Wal Mart, stretching as far as the eye can see, inhabited by zombie greeters armed with 24-can value packs of flaming caustic Dow distinfectant spray.

[jrockway]

There is, however, a special place in hell reserved for the people whose business model revolves around squeezing mom and pop businesses.

I don't know why mom-and-pop businesses should get a free pass on everything. They seem to think that because running a small business is not particularly profitable, that they shouldn't have to pay taxes, they shouldn't have to provide customer service, they shouldn't have reasonable hours, and that I should worship them for providing me with such a valuable service.

I like local businesses, but it was nice to see the last recession kill some of the crappy ones off.

(The ones I frequent that have good ratings on Yelp are the ones that deserve good ratings. The people working there tend to be super-nice, and that makes people want to rate them highly. The places with low ratings deserve the low ratings.)

[tptacek]

They don't deserve a free pass on anything. They do deserve not to be bullied by businesses with massively more resources in ways that don't improve market efficiency.

I have no problem with Wal Mart killing off neighborhood True Value hardware stores; that has a demonstrable benefit (though perhaps not one I'd choose) for consumers.

I have a clear problem with a parasitic business extracting cash from a neighborhood cafe. I don't benefit from that at all; in fact, nobody does except for the parasite.

[jrockway]

The business doesn't lose anything by not playing Yelp's game. You would still go to the cafe if it had a few bad reviews on Yelp, and so would I. (Then again, I read the content of reviews rather than the arbitrary star rating. If someone says "1 star, I ordered a salad and hated it because I hate vegetables" then I am not going to think negatively of the business that has this review attached. I am going to think, "damn people are dumb".)

[axod]

I was looking for dedicated server hosting the other day, and that market is just ridiculously full of bad, stupid reviews.

"This dedicated server provider is terrible! They wouldn't even help me with a mysql problem" etc.

I'm sure half the hosting co reviews are done by competitors, and the other half are done by idiots who don't understand anything. And of course all the satisfied customers can't be bothered to write reviews.

It's always going to be best to get a personal recommendation than trusting reviews on the internet, for anything.

[tokenadult]

It's always going to be best to get a personal recommendation than trusting reviews on the internet, for anything.

This is precisely why many people expect social networks to play a larger and larger role in commerce.

[axod]

The problem with that is, social network 'friends' are usually pretty meaningless. They're certainly not usually people I'd trust to recommend anything.

[kolosy]

my issue isn't impact on the guys that don't play, it's impact on the consumer from the guys that do. a crappy restaurant that has 5 star reviews because the bad ones were paid off hurts me financially.

[jrockway]

If you are letting random people on the Internet hurt you financially, you are doing something else wrong. Take everything you read with a grain of salt.

[tptacek]

The thesis of your argument is thus that Yelp has no reason to exist. We differ on the reasons but agree on the conclusion. Let's call it a push.

[kolosy]

hurt financially == going to a restaurant/store/{insert random b&m service provider here} that i shouldn't have gone to, and spend more time/money + get worse service/product out of as a result.

isn't the whole point of a review system to influence people's decisions?

[BigO]

what if you had reviews made by your friends and sources you trust accessible to you online that seems like a better model than see what everyone and their dog thinks about everything under the sun..

[kolosy]

you know - these rumors were already flying by then... wonder if they had any impact on the outcome.