Yelp is YUCK!

[stevemckinnis]

Yelp makes my dog howl! There are too many filtered reviews (I have eleven filtered and 5 active). I'm over YELP. I’m going to go with GOOGLE. One day a review is up, the next it's gone, and then it's back again... YELP sells ads to web companies, puts them on the page about my services... I'm a free lance web designer that means, I WORK ALONE... I'm not a store front and I'm not a cheap designer who doesn't know what they are doing... it’s also very difficult to get a client to post a review. I don’t dictate what they say/write or post or rate, but it’s gotten old with the back and forth and one day it’s up and the next it’s not, and then it’s posted up again and not filtered… so I’ve removed the links to yelp off my site (http://www.stevemckinnis.com), and I’m not going to encourage any web clients to update or use their listing on yelp anymore…   I'm a little incensed by the unethical and inconsistent way that they are running their business... so I'm going to back off and encourage the people I work with to utilize other services.  It also is disconcerting that I can not delete or opt out my profile. Once you are listed on YELP and I didn’t list myself there, they did… I can’t erase it.  And contrary to other folks, I don’t have any negative reviews… but I am tired of their constant phone calls to purchase ad space and then the lame tactics they use to tamper with my reviews and page listing.  They need to get a consistent policy in place and make it fair across the board as well as offer an opt out and removal of your business off their site. For e-mail blasts, legally, there has to be an opt out so why not on someone’s web site?

Update 10/29/2011: Today it's FOUR active and TWELVE filtered (http://www.yelp.com/...e-mckinnis-san-diego). Not retaliatory? Doubtful.

Update 10/30/2011: Now it's THREE active and THIRTEEN filtered.  See all the reviews at: http://stevemckinnis...iltered-reviews.html

[Steven Avery]

Hi Folks,

Yes, I read about their unethical practices in regards to restaurant reviews.  So I look for sites that have a better reputation, such as http://www.urbanspoon.com/ .  Also Chowhound.  I've also considered a subscription to Angie's List.  And when I complimented a puter store I did it on a Yahoo page.  Nonetheless, in some areas, if you want to compliment a vendor, Yelp still seems appropriate.

Yelp got the lead in on this review world, and they seem to have, to an extent, sold out, although they come back and give lip service to integrity at corporate.   The idea of pressuring vendors to buy advertising in order to affect the review inclusion-deletion decisions is abominable, and that seems to be one of the Yelp directions. If not officially it is done at a decentralized city and salesman level too often.  Afaik, they have not cleaned up their act, as pointed out in your post.

Shalom,
Steven