Yelp

[BRule]

Actually I've seen it with many businesses. Yelp just caters to the complainers who think they should know how a business is run. Trust me my dislike for yelp has nothing to do with my girlfriend's parents restaurant, I used one example just because I know that wasn't true, they have only a small handful of negative reviews (like 1 1 star from someone who wasn't seated and 1 2 star and a few 3s) it spawned from some awesome places I used to go to back in NJ that had a handful of people go out blasting 1s for it because of dumb **** that drove their rating down and potentially cost them money. Yelp also discourages interaction with reviewers so businesses can't publicly address the issue. Pick on another one, woman goes on a rant about not having more gluten free options at a cali-mex restaurant in NJ. Not realizing that wheat tortillas are most commonly associated with cali-mex. Essentially her lack of knowledge of a style of a style of cuisine led to her dislike of the menu selection. A bit of research and she'd realize she'd probably want tex-mex or traditional mexican where things are done with corn. But like the ignorant consumer that all too often consumes yelp, she assumed she was right.

We should just get rid of the internet.

 

[sturg33]

This really is a dumb thread

 

[BRule]

This really is a dumb thread

This is true, even for Zito.

 

[zitothebrave]

We should just get rid of the internet.

No, just don't use yelp to base an opinion on. Instead you know, try things. People all too often rely on the opinions of others who may have different tastes, or not you know, know anything about the cuisine they're commenting on. To put a real life spin on things. People usually don't ask me if something is spicy because things that some folks perceive as having a kick I perceive as properly seasoned. Therein lies the issue if you would. Everyone has their own tastes, and instead of bashing a place cause it doesn't mesh with yours you don't go. There's a mexican place up here, it's not good mexican. I will say that. It's good food in it's own right, they locally source as much as possible and make their own tortillas, but as far as mexican flavors and what not, don't come close. I never talk **** about it to others, I've never gone to yelp to negatively review it. Place is still in business and still does pretty well with the locals because it's food the locals like. I lived where you could throw a rock and find good pizza, up here the pizza is totally different. Is it bad? No. Just different and instead of pizza I find other things that I can order and enjoy.

So again, yelp is terrible, don't use it, go to the place you want instead. Try it out once or twice. Don't trust review sites where someone who doesn't know what cali-mex is can counter weight someone who knows what they're talking about. Not to mention the other issues with Yelp (hidden reviews, again, no business to consumer interaction allowed) just drives home the point that the old way of doing things is often better. I have learned to treat movies and music the same way. Don't let others opinions derail your enjoyment of something new or something you like.

 

[BRule]

No, just don't use yelp to base an opinion on. Instead you know, try things. People all too often rely on the opinions of others who may have different tastes, or not you know, know anything about the cuisine they're commenting on. To put a real life spin on things. People usually don't ask me if something is spicy because things that some folks perceive as having a kick I perceive as properly seasoned. Therein lies the issue if you would. Everyone has their own tastes, and instead of bashing a place cause it doesn't mesh with yours you don't go. There's a mexican place up here, it's not good mexican. I will say that. It's good food in it's own right, they locally source as much as possible and make their own tortillas, but as far as mexican flavors and what not, don't come close. I never talk **** about it to others, I've never gone to yelp to negatively review it. Place is still in business and still does pretty well with the locals because it's food the locals like. I lived where you could throw a rock and find good pizza, up here the pizza is totally different. Is it bad? No. Just different and instead of pizza I find other things that I can order and enjoy.

So again, yelp is terrible, don't use it, go to the place you want instead. Try it out once or twice. Don't trust review sites where someone who doesn't know what cali-mex is can counter weight someone who knows what they're talking about. Not to mention the other issues with Yelp (hidden reviews, again, no business to consumer interaction allowed) just drives home the point that the old way of doing things is often better. I have learned to treat movies and music the same way. Don't let others opinions derail your enjoyment of something new or something you like.

I didn't read any of this.

 

[zitothebrave]

I didn't read any of this.

Kind of like a yelp reviewer not reading a sign to realize what kind of cuisine a place has.

 

[BRule]

Kind of like a yelp reviewer not reading a sign to realize what kind of cuisine a place has.

You need to find something more important to focus all of this anger towards.

 

[jpx7]

I like Yelp and utilize it to find restaurants and misc. attractions when traveling. The key is to take a formulaic approach when analyzing reviews. If the overwhelming majority of reviews are positive, and the overall number of reviews is significant, then you can usually draw the appropriate conclusions. Fake positive reviews and needlessly negative reviews are easy to parse out. If in doubt, cross check Facebook/UrbanSpoon/etc.

Tripadvisor is decent for hotel reviews and sights, but in the past couple of years they have become increasingly corporate; many of the hotel reviews are solicited directly by the hotels themselves and you really have no way of knowing exactly how legitimate they actually are.

I have noticed, in general, that the type of person who reviews on Yelp is more of the wannabe critic (my calamari was soggy and water only refilled twice) while TripAdvisors are cost oriented (omg, free bread!!! or endless praising of the free in-room coffee).

 

[gilesfan]

People are far more likely to run the internet and complain about a bad experience than they are to praise a good experience. Or better yet, if you were generally content, you aren't going to run a post a review on yelp.

It's like Zito has never used the internet before.