New York Yelp's hotest reviewer is Stefon K. Founded by an unknown Manhattanite, this user's got everything: Mother Theresa on a ketamine binge, live-action Furbies, Laotian children in birdcages and a connection to one of Saturday Night Live's favorite characters.
posted by Apropos of Something on Jan 13, 2012 - 50 comments

How would Cormac McCarthy review products and services for Yelp? Yelping with Cormac, a Tumblr blog, rises to the challenge and shows us how. [more inside]
posted by killdevil on Nov 7, 2011 - 17 comments

Is that review a fake? A new paper from Cornell researchers proposes an algorithm for sussing out fake reviews from websites. Here's a summary of tell-tale signs.
posted by empath on Aug 24, 2011 - 71 comments

Fuck You Yelper, a collection of unhelpfulful Yelp reviews
posted by The Whelk on Aug 4, 2011 - 148 comments

"It's completely unethical for doctors to force their patients to sign away their rights in order to get medical care." Ars Technica dissects doctor "privacy" agreements that seek to limit patients' ability to post online reviews by making them sign the copyright of any future reviews over to the doctor, in exchange for vague (and possibly illusory) extra privacy protection. Doctored Reviews offers info and tools for fighting "anti-review contracts," whose language comes primarily from an "anti-defamation protection program" sold by a company called Medical Justice. Sources quoted in the article express doubts that this kind of "privacy blackmail" would hold up in court, with some wondering if Medical Justice is actively deceiving doctors by selling them a product that won't work as advertised. [more inside]
posted by mediareport on May 24, 2011 - 30 comments

A few days ago, Los Angeles Times food critic, S. Irene Virbila, was photographed and kicked out of Jordan Kahn's new Beverly Hills restaurant, Red Medicine. [more inside]
posted by PBR on Dec 23, 2010 - 85 comments

John Billes—whose extracurricular exploits as an undergraduate at UT Austin brought us iPhone-controlled dance floor lights, R/C cars, and yes, even full-size automobiles—has created the KegMate—a keg-mounted, Arduino-controlled data-logging suite with an iPad-based user interface—in his spare time, while working at Yelp.
posted by defenestration on Aug 17, 2010 - 9 comments

Yelp facing class-action lawsuit over extortive ad sales. "The victims tend to be small businesses, such as our client, who often have no choice but to pay Yelp exorbitant sums in order to prevent further harm to their livelihoods." First reported a year ago in the East Bay Express, "Several business owners likened Yelp to the Mafia, and one said she feared its retaliation."
posted by Afroblanco on Feb 26, 2010 - 64 comments

Subways were the first application. Using the iPhone 3GS' camera, GPS, and compass, several new apps overlay information on a live view of the world around you. This week, Yelp joins them. William Gibson, eat your heart out. (A brief introduction to augmented reality for those who need one.)
posted by spitefulcrow on Aug 28, 2009 - 31 comments