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Being filtered

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Photo of Belle L.
  •  
  • 1 friend
  • 12 reviews
8/31/2010 Belle L. says:

I am a new user and started yelp. But within a few weeks, my comments get filtered out? Is yelp just letting administrative people take their bias-ness and determine whose spam and whose not? Because I give out better ratings those comments get spammed out, and bad ones stay?

Not trying to make an angry post, but this does make me frustrated and need somewhat a discussion on how administrative determine spam or not. If all new users are going to be spammed out, theres only just the administrative people working this whole site.

  1. Photo of Marc D.
    •  
    • 1071 friends
    • 1022 reviews
    8/31/2010 Marc "Hole in the Wall" D. says:

    @Belle - You may find this post useful:  http://www.yelp.ca/top...

    Looking at your profile I see 3 reviews for all to see.  So things seem to be working ok, no?

    Welcome to Yelp!

  2. Photo of Peter S.
    8/31/2010 Peter "I don't do walls" S. says:

    Just keep on writing honest reviews and the filter will ignore you.

    Welcome to Yelp Vancouver
    :)

  3. Photo of Roanna Z.
    8/31/2010 Roanna "@Beandar Zee" Z. says:

    "Belle L" ?   --not Bella C? -friend of Michael and Elliott. ? what a coincidence..... or ... not.

  4. Photo of Doug G.
    8/31/2010 Doug G. says:

    Hey Belle,

    I wouldn't worry too much about having your reviews filtered. According to the Yelp help information I've read, there is an automated system for deciding which reviews to filter and which not to. Seems that once you've written a few more reviews and are a bit more "trustworthy", your chances of being filtered go down. I don't think there's any administrator that makes a decision to filter reviews, it seems to be some built-in filtering on Yelp itself. As you add more friends and write more reviews I expect you will be considered more "trustworthy" and might have fewer reviews filtered. Keep it up!

  5. Photo of Roanna Z.
    8/31/2010 Roanna "@Beandar Zee" Z. says:

    A picture of yourself is also helpful to authenticate your identity.

  6. Photo of Kat S.
    8/31/2010 Kat "with club sauce" S. says:

    Yup, just keep writing.  Welcome to Yelp, Belle.  Good reviews so far.

  7. Photo of Jenni B.
    8/31/2010 Jenni "Yelp is Not a Singles Bar" B. says:

    That sucks Belle, just keep Yelping. Once you get some Yelp cred the reviews will appear on the business listings.

  8. Photo of Catherine W.
    8/31/2010 Catherine "Wacky Whiskers" W. says:

    Hi Belle, same thing happened to me but all it is, is Yelps algorithm filtering out what might not be a valid review and it's only because you are new. Once I was more "established" my reviews were available for everyone to view.

  9. Photo of Chaz G.
    •  
    • 1 friend
    • 5 reviews
    9/1/2010 from Yelp for iPhone Chaz "Chico" G. says:

    Just keep writing Belle , maybe it's just bad luck you got filtered . I'm surprised my reviews weren't as I was intoxicated when writing em lol. Just keep typing away :)..welcome to yelp !

  10. Photo of Nathan B.
    •  
    • 0 friends
    • 1 review
    9/13/2010 Nathan B. says:

    It is terrible for Yelp to filter reviews.  My honest review got filtered and I am upset. Yelp is not specific on how the filter works.  Someone who knows the system can easily get your reviews filtered for a fee.  I know of a business where someone offered to take the bad reviews down for a fee.  It appears that people who know how the filters wok could profit from this.

  11. Photo of Larry L.
    9/13/2010 Larry "Mojofoodie" L. says:

    Here is one thing that I seem to have noticed.  I'm not sure if they were doing some kinda cleanup on the server or relocating or upgrading or whatever, but have you noticed some reviews gone missing?  Or was it just me and I'm seeing, or not seeing things.

    Being involved with programing and such, I'm always worried about data just going Poof into thin air.

    Again, it just could be me and my brain has already gone poof.....into thin air.

    but to those who are new users to the site, no need to worry.  As you write more and follow the chosen Yelp path, things will unwind and open up.

    Sometimes information takes time to process.  Heck, I remember a day when it took me two days for my email to be recieved on the other end.  I remember when we didn't even have email. I remember when we only had black and white TV!! and our fridge was called an icebox.........

  12. Photo of Crystal H.
    9/13/2010 Crystal "Queen of the Yelp-i-dom aka Yelp Ambassador" H. says:

    @ Larry - Can you PM me with more details about what you think happened? (If you can still see, or not see an example :p) Perhaps there's an explanation

    @ Nathan - It's one of those catch 22's... if Yelp got specific about how the review filter works, someone might see an opportunity to game the system. Which is why we don't outline it, sorta how Google doesn't outline its algorithm.

    Not sure if everyone's had a chance to read up on our Official Blog but there's a whole entry entitled "Yelp Review Filter Explained." http://officialblog.ye... Hope that can be a handy reference :) and looking forward to seeing more of your yelps.

    PS. Welcome new yelpers like Belle :)

    Posted by a Yelp Ambassador

  13. Photo of Luisa D.
    9/13/2010 Luisa D. says:

    Hi Belle!  Welcome to yelp!  The good thing about being a new reviewer is that you have so many opportunities to write about all the places you like, and even those you don't like.  I've never had anything filtered - hope this problem clears up quickly for you.

  14. Photo of Ching T.
    •  
    • 1612 friends
    • 900 reviews
    9/14/2010 Ching T. says:

    Roanna "my bark is worse than my bite" z. says:

    "Belle L" ?   --not Bella C? -friend of Michael and Elliott. ? what a coincidence..... or ... not.
    ----
    Now this isn't very Elite, now is it?   tsk tsk

    Belle, please ignore her.  Obviously everyone here is very welcoming.  Welcome to Yelp!!  Just like everyone else said:
    a) post a pic of your self so that you have more credibility as a REAL person.
    b) keep on writing reviews.  Once the system recognizes that you are a REAL and regular yelper, you will no longer be filtered.  
    c) participate in Talk threads - again to show that you are a REAL person
    d) send out some compliments to your fellow yelpers' reviews.  By interacting with others, it'll again show Yelp you're a REAL person.  By giving, you shall receive as well, as it's a great way to show you want to be a part of the yelp community.  People respond really well to that.

    The above is pretty much what I did when I first got on Yelp.  In addition, I also began attending events and hosted some pretty successful UYE"s as well.  Had over 100 show up to my first one, and 180 to my 2nd.  

    I can proudly say that none of my reviews have been filtered. :)  So, don't be discouraged.  Keep on yelping at your pace, but hopefully not with too long lapses in between each time.  

    Looking forward to reading your reviews.

  15. Photo of Luisa D.
    9/14/2010 Luisa D. says:

    Nicely said Ching T!

  16. Photo of Ching T.
    •  
    • 1612 friends
    • 900 reviews
    9/14/2010 Ching T. says:

    Thanks Luisa.  

    It's pretty easy to understand why Yelp filters their reviews.  I know many businesses get very frustrated when not all of their LEGITIMATE reviews don't show up, but I always tell them that Yelp is a business too.  So you can't expect Yelp to be a website to "hold" all of your reviews for you, so don't count on them being your ONLY form of PR.   The thing is that Yelp expects the member REVIEWING your business to be a regular reviewer and active participant on the Yelp site, if not, Yelp reserves the right to filter that person.  So it has to benefit Yelp too.  Without understanding this, it's too easy to assume that Yelp is out to get you or is counter acting in a way to help your business.   Remember first that Yelp is a business too.  

    So again to Belle, please don't be discouraged.  Just keep writing.  :)

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