Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman dismissed critics, traded profanity and highlighted one of his favorite Yelp reviews — for the well-endowed Bicycle Shorts Man of Atlanta — in a freewheeling Reddit AMA on Friday.
Reddit critics addressed the most persistent criticism of his service head on in the first exchange with Ken27238, who asked, "What are your thoughts on the claims that Yelp is holding positive reviews of businesses hostage and and not allowing them to be public/viewable?"
See also: 11 Things You Didn't Know About Yelp
"There has never been any amount of money you could pay us to manipulate reviews," Stoppelman replied, adding that Yelp uses an algorithm that highlights the most useful and reliable reviews. "I started Yelp to solve my own need of finding a great doctor, obviously we needed to protect consumer against fake reviews and spam to make sure the site is actually helpful (anyone remember CitySearch?). That's why we pioneered the development of a review filter, a technology that other competitors like Google have since tried to mimic."
When asked if Yelp's reviews are independently audited, Stoppelman answered that they are and linked to a recent Harvard Business School research paper that showed only 16% of Yelp's restaurant reviews are fraudulent.
Stoppelman also denied a claim that some Yelp salespeople call businesses and offer to plant good reviews and remove bad ones for money. "Absolutely not. Consumer trust is paramount," Stoppelman replied. When a Redditor literally cried "Bullshit," Stoppelman asked "What part of that is bullshit?" His question wasn't answered, but another asked if it was possible that rogue Yelp salespeople were using extortion tactics on small businesses. Stoppelman's answer:
Rogue salespeople” acting in their own interests against Yelp’s training and policies could, in theory, promise a potential client anything — but they have no way of fulfilling that promise. We haven’t built a product that allows businesses to remove negative reviews and a "duped" advertiser would obviously realize that right away and let us know. We have 57,000 paying advertisers who know what they get and that's not it.
Confronted by a barrage of links to stories alleging such behavior, Stoppelman linked to the Wikipedia Page explaining "The Woozle Effect," which is described as, "when frequent citation of previous publications that lack evidence misleads individuals, groups and the public into thinking or believing there is evidence, and nonfacts become urban myths and factoids."
Among the other tidbits from the AMA:
Stoppelman revealed that Yelp salespeople in San Francisco receive a base salary of $30,000 plus commission.
When asked about "hilarious reviews that have stuck out over the years," Stoppelman produced this one, about a guy in Atlanta known as the Bicycle Shorts Man who had a suspicious bulge in his pants.
Queried about the "craziest response from a business owner" to a Yelp review, Stoppelman cited an Inc magazine article about a San Francisco bookshop owner who had a physical altercation with a Yelp critic.
Stoppelman also described himself as a "three taco kind of guy."
Image: Getty/Chip Somodevilla