Monday, October 27, 2008

rant on yelp

I decided some time ago that Yelp is unreliable, mostly based on the biases of the users (because everyone values different things), and a number of other factors... Also, okay, I admit: spelling and grammar DO affect how I look at the reviews. Some may say that grammar/spelling are simply not important on the internet, but I've come to feel that the people who say this are just trying to justify stupidity and laziness. (Unless they're actually saying that all those run-ons and the blatant misuse of words are stylistic elements, in which case...!!! Wow!)
Anyway, is it really too much to ask that when people write these reviews, they try to make them coherent and cohesive and CORRECT? I'm so tired of seeing "you're," "your," "its," "it's," "they're," "their," and "there" in the wrong places. PARTICULARLY "they're," as in, "They're ribs were really good." Why would you do that? Why? Isn't it counter-intuitive given that "they're" is longer and requires an apostrophe? Wouldn't you think twice about using it? I can see someone making this sort of mistake once on accident, but when he uses it multiple times I start to think that he just doesn't know how to use the words.
I'm also tired of seeing other users rate certain reviews (mostly by the Yelp Elite, I've noticed) as "Funny" or "Useful" when the reviews just aren't. How is it funny when you've just said something like, "The service was horrible. I'm never going to this place again," or "I liked the chocolate cake?" Is this some kind of insider joke I'm not understanding? And how is the review useful if you tell me something like, "It was really busy that night, so we decided not to stay, but I've heard their fish is good?" If you didn't get to try it, doesn't that make your review a little less than useful?! All this just makes it seem to me like one big popularity contest instead of a useful network of information.
Having said all that, today I read someone's review and noticed a grammatical error that made me throw up a little in my mouth. I appreciate the attempt at eloquence but—!!!
Okay that is all. :)

(I'm just full of anger these days...)

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