Yelp is doing better

As negative/realistic as I have been in the past, Yelp has been making some positive improvements to their site and their mobile app.

The best thing I've seen is that they've been giving business updates more of a priority, and they're also sending e-mail concerning the results.  Several times, I've received positive notice that the changes were made, such as hours or phone numbers, within a day.  On the other hand, I'm still seeing a duplicate for Jungle Jim's in Fairfield, OH but I won't notify them a third time.

When searching in the app, I'm more likely to get the results I need, close to where I am.  I still think it's odd how I'll search for Target and I'll receive a list of them, most further away that I've already reviewed or regularly visit, but the one where I am is fairly far down the line.  It's better but still odd that it doesn't appear at the top.

Obviously, the app was changed to allow full reviews without making a computer necessary.  We've come a long way with mobile devices, so it's less difficult to churn out a full review now.  However, I see a lot that were obviously written in the dark with salsa all over the display.

The "Something's a bit funky with Yelp" message is cute when my connection isn't good, but it's usually not Yelp's fault.  The "Yelp is down for maintenance" message is annoying though.  You'd think it would be down for maintenance in the middle of the local (it's not night at the same time everywhere) night, not in the middle of the local day.  Everyone takes care of business when they can, though.  They might not have anyone working at night.  At least, it's not like Twitter where my primary account was hacked 3 times in 4 days and I ended up deleting it, just to stop the problem.

I'm still weirded out by the "Hold on, Tiger" messages when I'm out shopping and the app thinks I'm going too quickly, when there is someone in the Cincinnati area who apparently doesn't actually visit most of her check-ins--she drives past a place to stay on top.  Many times, I'll be leaving a place and I may still not be able to do the check-in.  Yes, it's not a competition, but it's easier to remember where I forgot something, if I have a path in Yelp.

I've seen a huge, weird issue.  One of my Yelp friends suddenly had all of his reviews hidden by the filter.  They all seem to be legitimate reviews, and he enjoys writing the reviews, but it's frustrating that every one of them is hidden now.  I've randomly checked my own, and haven't found any hidden but I currently have 677 reviews, so it's difficult to know which could be hidden.

The last thing is a bug concerning the Useful, Funny, Cool votes.  Certain reviews are sorted so that they're in the middle of a group of reviews with "Useful 3", but that isn't attached to that certain review.  By the positioning, it's apparently counted as "Useful 3" but just doesn't display it.

I like using Yelp.  No service is perfect, and I don't expect perfection.  Four Square allows check-in offers,.  Trip Advisor allows you to review, but nothing really has that combination that Yelp has.  If things become less weird, I suspect that more people would trust it.  Right now, you need a grain of salt from time to time.

It looks as though I won't be Elite for 2014.  Whether the Cincinnati Elite page is messed up or they're excluding me for some reason, I don't know, but when I use the "Nominate someone" form, as I believe I did last year (and there is nothing else to use), it says that I'm already Elite.  Oh, well.

Never mind that.  It looks as though the web page had not been updated for several days after the e-mail was sent.

Update 2014.03.17: Happy St. Patrick's (Padraig's?) Day!

I'm continually amused by the data changes at Yelp.  I went to a home-style restaurant and looked at the address which still had the wrong U.S. highway--7 instead of the correct 27.  When I made a correction--again--the "moved" the restaurant to a new listing with the correct address.   It's mind-boggling.

They still have a duplicate for Jungle Jim's in Fairfield, Ohio (and I'm not mentioning it for fear of another snarky e-mail), but the new listing for Dick's Sporting Goods in the Dayton Mall was removed, while the old one still exists.  You'd think that they'd want to clear out the duplicates so they'd have room for the legitimate locations.

I'm Elite again, though the Cincinnati Community Manager has ignored my existence for whatever reason.  I have yet to go to an event, but it's cheaper for them if I don't, correct?