Comment by bobf | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bobf | Hacker News Reader

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Another problem I've seen with Yelp is reviews that aren't actually for the intended place. My father-in-law owns a few restaurants. One of them has >300 reviews (solid 4 stars), but shares part of its' name with another restaurant with >1500 reviews (3.5 stars, with a heavy downward trend).

Most reviews posted for his restaurant are either 4 or 5 stars, with the majority of lower reviews referencing the other restaurant either by name, menu items, or decor. I'm not sure if the issue is one of UI design, mobile app, or poor search handling - although I heavily suspect search is the culprit.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to address these mis-posted reviews, that I've seen. I would love to hear any suggestions that would help though.

Change your name. Seriously. Even without Yelp, you don't want potential customers hearing via word of mouth about how bad your restaurant was when it really was the one down the street.

Names are relatively cheap to change and if you select a name that is related (like say, shortening it or incorporating part of the old name in the new one) and communicate what is going on with regulars, you'll limit any short-term decline in business.

That's a perfectly reasonable suggestion, but I don't foresee it happening. They've been there for >10 years, and have been very successful. The name isn't actually similar, and they're in very different parts of the city. There generally doesn't seem to be any real confusion except for a few Yelp reviews.

I worked at a review site and have decided that if I ever open a restaurant I will name it 'null' or 'NullPointerException.' The hilarity that would ensue from this would be priceless.

For the record: if you go and flag a review, in addition to the usual "abusive/TOS violation" type of stuff, you can also report that it "doesn't describe a personal consumer experience." It's not super obvious, but that's the easiest way to dispute someone who's not actually reviewing your restaurant.

I tend to use that to flag those jerkface reviews that are basically "I would never go there" rants.

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