I’m a food journalist, and have never demanded a meal. I really don’t (and don’t like to) review restaurants, but the few times I have, I’ve paid for my meal or the organization I’m writing for has paid for it. The rare times that I get gifts from the kitchen (again, unsolicited), I make it clear that I don’t review restaurants. And when I’m given free food, I add the value of that food to the tip.

But I’m more concerned about the consumer who thinks that reading Yelp or Trip Advisor will give him unbiased information.

Who IS believable?

I am a travel consultant who does not depend upon commissions; my clients pay me a time-based fee. My advice is based on my years of experience with the food, lodging, and logistics in particular areas(primarily in the Turkey & the Eastern Mediterranean).

Yet, even as some are paying me, they still dip into TripAdvisor where they are seduced by reviews that may– or may not– be from unbiased correspondents. When I do know my clients’ expectations and can talk them out of something, I provide a good service, but I cannot always save them from the siren calls of Trip Advisor ratings and comments.

The couple bumped up to the Pasha Suite is as common as the disgruntled guests threatening the reception desk– “We’re going to report you on Trip Advisor!” in hope of snagging that same upgrade. In neither case are these potential reviewers unbiased.

Somehow a favorable article or mention of a place in a public forum give it a gloss that many find irresistible. The legions of tourists-turned reviewers feel empowered by seeing themselves in print.

More info is not necessarily making choices easier for diners or travellers.

Holly (at) hollychase (dot) com
Holly Chase´s last undefined ..Response cached until Sun 14 @ 22:46 GMT (Refreshes in 23.93 Hours)

It’s really hard to police Yelp. You have some business that clearly are having their friends write 5 star reviews (you can tell because most of the reviews happen within a few days of each other, all are ‘orange heads’ meaning no pics, and most only have the one review.

I like to check out Yelp and if there is a consistent theme or many many reviews that are all either good or all bad, then I consider it accurate. One or two bad reviews won’t stop me from visiting a place, but 10+ will.

Good luck. I hope you can straighten this out. :)

I’ve been on the boards for years (I see from your interesting-looking blog you’re a Bostonian; I was a board regular there from 01 until I moved to Denver in 07) and can sympathize but still can’t entirely agree with your assessment. Many regular hounds, including me, *have* experienced frustration at times with the mods for what seems to be inconsistent/arbitrary practice—coming down too hard here and not down hard enough there—but I tend to chalk it up to well-meaning, and in my experience infrequent, human error. (And when I’ve been really frustrated, I’ve vented on the Site Talk board. I do miss the days when the site was small enough that mods could contact you directly and tell you why a post got removed though.) In the end, no forum is going to be ideal, and to me Chowhound as close as it comes. (As you yourself note, other hounds besides yourself tried to set the record straight; I’ve almost never seen a suspect post that hasn’t gone unchallenged.)

All that said, if you think of a way and start your own, even more fair forum, more power to you; I promise to frequent it! Hell, I’ll volunteer to help!

Anyway, this whole blog post is very interesting (I didn’t really mean to hijack the comments! apologies) and I applaud Chez Geek for challenging Yelpers to come forward on these rumors—it’s not as though he started them; they’re widespread cross-country—as well as those Yelpers who take their reviews (as opposed to themselves; same goes for hounds) seriously, as well as the allegations, and are doing their part to discourage bad practice.
Denveater´s last blog ..Hapahazard

I disagree with your assertion that they heed reports well on Chowhound. There have been several occassions where I have been one voice among many, that would drill down a situation within a thread, and when the OP was exposed for omitting critical components of the “whole” story, the mods intervened and said “don’t challenge the poster,” or took comments down that challenged the poster and revealed the truth. Rather than encouraging the full story, and allowing everyone to learn something about the OP, the truth, and about the restaurant, they frequently chose censorship to protect the OP. That’s a waste of a lot of good, productive, thoughtful commentary by a lot of people to reveal the truth. No site integrity.

For example, one seasoned CH poster who is in the small CH clique, started a post calling the owner of a restaurant obnoxious in the title, also citing the name of the restaurant in the title. In his post he went so far as to say that the owner “deserved to be slugged.” So people who only scan titles had a negative impression of restaurant X and associate “obnoxious” with the owner.

For those willing to dig in, the truth of “the rest of the story” was revealed in the thread because readers challenged the Op’s surprising characterization of the owner. The OP didn’t get his way in the restaurant because he disagreed with their policy of not seating incomplete parties. Experienced diners understand why small, extremely busy restaurants don’t seat incomplete parties. Apparently this guy thought the rules were for everyone else and became irate, thus the vitriolic comments in his post.

Instead of allowing the “teachable moment” on the CH boards, vindicating the restaurant owner, the moderators took down all of the comments that questioned the OP. Eventually they removed the whole thread, long after the damage was done to the restaurant. Chowhound credibility shot to pieces again.

I’ve witnessed several similar scenarios unfold over the years with anonymous posters on Chowhound. It happens more often than many people will admit, and much more frequently than most people will ever know.

I agree with your assessment about the Yelp posters within this thread. It’s nice to read the candid, thoughtful posts by those willing to tell the truth.

http://www.servernotservant.com/