Yelp Wanted

Yet another lengthy investigation (entitled "Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0," no less) into the advertising tactics of Yelp revisits issues that have been brought up before (questionable sales pitches, etc), but also some curious tidbits about the role of timing in all of this: "In another six instances, positive reviews disappeared — or negative ones appeared — after owners declined to advertise. Because they were often asked to advertise soon after receiving negative reviews, many of these business owners believe Yelp employees use such reviews as sales leads." Bonus: as he did with last week's LAT piece, CEO Jeremy Stoppelman has submitted his response to the article. [EBX]