4/9/2009
Robert "Nerd Alert" G. says:
As a member of the Elite Squad, I wanted you to be among the first to know about a new feature that is rolling out in about a week or so. It's called Business Owner Comments, and as the name suggests, it will allow a business owner to write a public Comment after any given review. Comments will be the latest addition to the free Business Owner's Account that any business owner can sign up for, and that lets them add Photos, post Special Offers and create an 'About This Business' section (for more info, read up here:
http://www.yelp.com/bu...). As a reviewer, you'll be emailed each time you receive a new Comment, just like when you get a Compliment.
The goal is for all Comments to be pleasant and useful. For example, if you wrote a glowing 5-star review some months ago about your favorite pub, in which you mention drinking Harp because they didn't carry Guinness... both you and other readers would probably be happy to see a new Comment saying, "Just got our Guinness tap last week. Hope to see you soon!" Here are a couple other example Comments.
Comments will NOT be a forum for a business owner to disparage a reviewer. As you've probably seen with Private Messages, most business owners are actually appreciative of honest and constructive opinions, and realize that being rude to customers is -- both on and off Yelp -- bad for business. But for those few ill-mannered folks out there, we have come up with some fairly strict Comment Guidelines -- and our customer service team will remove violating posts.
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What does everyone think about this. I think this will solve a lot of business owner frustration but may make some reviewers more wary. I'm pleased with the development overall.