"First to Review!" with no review seems a little lame...

07/08/2006 Gil "chickencat" S. says:

If you use the "search talk" feature you see this issue has been discussed at length: http://www.yelp.com/to...

07/08/2006 Tommy G. says:

So it has...

Well my 2 cents: I wish I could talk about a place and opt out of the "stars" so I'm not really rating it.

For example, when I see a new place I'd like to mention it and ask about it but can't without giving it some sort of rating.

Also, I tried to make a "list" of places I'd like to go, but couldn't do that either without reviewing them first -- sort of a catch 22.

And that's all I have to say on the matter.

07/08/2006 Mori "effin' genki" Y. says:

Try the bookmarking feature...

07/08/2006 CHERiE "my plan is to travel the world in a panda suit" Y. says:

ooh.. you could bookmark them and then review them after you go?

07/08/2006 CHERiE "my plan is to travel the world in a panda suit" Y. says:

jinx :P

07/08/2006 Mori "effin' genki" Y. says:

pinky swear?

07/08/2006 Marsha Z. says:

If you want to ask about a new restaurant, you could always pose your question here on the Talk board.

07/08/2006 Poe .. says:

How do you guys feel about reviews of things like; my wife, my dog, etc.

07/08/2006 Kristina "Cupcake Commando" R. says:

Oh my God.  My husband can review his WIFE?  ME?  I'm so dead...

07/08/2006 andy r. says:

Replace 'seems a little' with 'is unbelievably'.

As for topics-I love 'em all. They don't come up unless I search for 'em anyway. If I come across one in a profile, I just consider it as contextual info on the reviewer (+/-).

07/09/2006 Ralph "HNIC" C. says:

i normally do not come across the off beat unless I somehow land on a person's profile.  I certainly would not think to look up a review on "air"  The off beat can be funny and give you some idea about the person, but I wouldn't make them my only reviews.  I'm in favor of the off beat reviews, although "my record collection" left a little something to be desired.

07/09/2006 Suzanne B. says:

Offbeat will not come up with the search function - it only looks up businesses, etc.  For instance, if you type in 23 Year Olds, you'll get nada, yet several Yelpers have reviewed that topic.  You have to find it through the various Yelp profiles, lists, etc.  

About reviewing 'odd' topics - bring it on...!

07/09/2006 Suzanne B. says:

Oh and Kristina - I've met your hubby and somehow I think you might be safe.

07/09/2006 Kristina "Cupcake Commando" R. says:

Oh dear, sweet green bunny...how naive you are...

07/09/2006 V e s t i g e .. says:

how do you guys feel about reviewing someone else's wife or gf?

07/09/2006 Kristina "Cupcake Commando" R. says:

As long as you're nice about it, it's fine...but you have to be NICE about it, y'hear?

07/09/2006 Poe .. says:

Collin, I'd be happy to review your wife/GF/BF etc. just send 'em over for a sleep over.

07/09/2006 V e s t i g e .. says:

you're weird, you know that, poe?
you're really weird.
you're weird.
i like you weird.

07/09/2006 Poe .. says:

Oh Collin, flattery will get you everywhere.

07/09/2006 Ralph "HNIC" C. says:

poe - you beat me to it! I do like the way you think!

07/09/2006 Poe .. says:

Sometimes the off beat reviews are entertaining, sometimes not. What puzzles me is that we are rewarded for the number of reviews on this site. Sometimes you'll see a profile with 600 reviews but upon closer inspection you will see 100 on things like "my athlete's foot", "my mom's sister's cousin's roommate" and "my cat's ringworm". It's just puzzling is all.

07/09/2006 Poe .. says:

Great minds Ralph...great minds...

07/09/2006 Ralph "HNIC" C. says:

it is like people are racing to that ever elusive "most reviews on yelp" title - the "off the wall reviews" are the equivalent of doping

07/09/2006 Gil "chickencat" S. says:

Who did the first silly review?  "Men" was a classic, as was "Boyfriends."  The first one I can remember is Jean W's review of her friend Alice.

At least the "first" thing isn't as bad as it got on fuckedcompany.

07/09/2006 JayChan H. says:

Is Yelp giving out prizes for volume?
Do you get a free meal if you're first to review?
Will occasionally reviewing strange things (cat's breath) really ruin the legitimacy of the rest of my reviews?

"Confused? You won't be, after tonight's episode of...Yelp".

07/09/2006 Kevin S. says:

I went all the way back to my first review, in January 2005.  It was for Town & Country dog grooming:


Then I started paging forward to look for my first "silly" or non-business review.  I found my first review of a non-physical business, Shutterfly.com, on 3/24/05.  I'm pretty sure someobdy had reviewed a website before that date, probably Yelp.com, but I'll see if I can figure it out.

The first listing I created, also on 3/24, was Foster City Dog Park.

Now, where's the first really silly review.  

BINGO.  My first silly review was for the Mexican Consulate, on March 25, really the third day I ever Yelped.  I was paging through business listings when I came across Mexican Consulate and at first I thought , "what a clever name for an upscale Mexican restaurant."  Then upon closer inspection I realized it was for the actual Mexican consulate--I had no idea such establishments would be in Yelp's database.  So I reviewed it as if I really thought it were a restaurant:

http://www.yelp.com/bi...

So far nobody else has reviewed it as such, although I am pretty sure other consulates, including those of the Phillipines and France, have been reviewed.

I added Half Moon Bay Crab Boats as a business, even though it's not really a business but a concept, on 3/25 as well:

http://www.yelp.com/bi...

3 other Yelpers found the review and chimed in.

By March 30 2005 I had also added places that weren't listed like the Conservatory of Flowers and Belmont Farmer's Market, and soon after another website, a review blog called The Implusive Buy:

http://www.yelp.com/bi...

I made my 100th review on April 3rd, 2005, and to commemorate the milestone, I reviewed Yelp.  Others had already reviewed it but I deliberately waited until my 100th review to do so.  My 200th was Mt. Diablo State Park five days later, and my 300th was the Golden Gate Bridge.  By that time I had decided my x00th reviews would always be something of particular specialness to me:

http://www.yelp.com/bi...

At the time the bridge was not listed, but I added it and later reviewers and edits were combined in with the ones that came after mine.  Now it's treated like a real place and shows up in searches, which not all added locations do.

I still can't tell what the earliest silly review is, but I'm sure it happened sometime in the first few months of 2005.

07/09/2006 Poe .. says:

I don't really care if silly things get reviewed, like I said they can be funny,a nd if I don't like them I could just skip them.  We do get "rewarded" by the number of reviews though. You get street cred if you have lots so, you get those threads started about you if you hit a certain number, etc. It's all harmless just puzzling for me is all.

07/09/2006 Ralph "HNIC" C. says:

JayChan or is it Rod Roddy

07/09/2006 JayChan H. says:

I met Rod Roddy @ Farmers Market in LA next to the CBS Studios a few days before he died. I think he passed me his thoughts in a X -men style mind throw. He'll be BAAAAAAAACK!

Come oooooooooooon down....

07/09/2006 JayChan H. says:

...an X Men or was it a Vulcan thing?