Heads I Win...Tails You Lose

Is Yelp being evil on two levels?  A reasonable person might think they're trying to bamboozle users into thinking that the reviews on the site are all written by 'civilians'  just like them and that nothing has been changed or deleted.

At the same time, many businesspeople have come forward, swearing that Yelp is putting the squeeze on small business owners, telling them that if they pay Yelp an 'advertising fee', then well, certain problem reviews might go away. Business owners may well wonder if Yelp planted the unflattering reviews to begin with!

How Yelp Should Work

The Real Yelp - as experienced by many*

*This simulation is based on many user descriptions, you can find them in many of the comments on the articles and blogs mentioned in the Press section.