Yelp has created an extremely risky, hugely optimistic gambit: the company announces that it’s implementing a feature that allows users to report businesses because they do not follow covid-19’s security protocols, which will appear in notifications on the company’s page. Will people prove themselves as measured arbitrators of justice? Yelp is testing an upset population.
Yelp announced the change today in Press release note that ‘multiple user responses’ from logged-in Yelpers are required to give an enterprise an orange question mark, indicating that’ social distance may not be enforced by most users’ and / or ‘staff may not wearing masks according to most users. “(Truly, bad offenders can both get orange disgrace.) Conversely, if enough customers congratulate a restaurant for doing well, the business can get up to two green checks:” Social distance is enforced according to most users “and / or” staff wear masks according to most users. ”
The obvious immediate observation is that it looks perfect to facilitate online sellers online! But then again, this is not quite different from what Yelp has always been.
Yelp is not completely blind to this plight. “To prevent people from potentially playing the system, we do not disclose the number of responses,” a Yelp spokesman said in a statement he shared with Gizmodo. The company said it had “advanced technology implemented” to prevent potential abuse, but how the technology works remains a mystery.
The feature makes you wonder if Yelp has seen too many complaints from companies with covid-19 rules. It seems that the company has so far given priority to protecting businesses from damage. covid-19-related reviews and permitted businesses to report their own safety measures and socially distant options. But those were early days, when not everyone appreciated having business owners do it. just like disturbed as a customer what to wear their masklessness anyway as a sign of honor.
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Yelp still implements the feature, which now appears in only a few hundred businesses. Even if it gets out of hand, Yelp’s faith in us is deeply inspiring.