Folks have terribly sturdy opinions on nearly every thing, and since 2004, Yelp — the positioning that aggregates user-written evaluations — has supplied a platform to train our first modification proper to criticize, exalt, and qualify. Yelp’s court docket of public opinion tends to unite itself on uncontroversial points: The 405 freeway in LA has a paltry 1-star assessment on common (which is comprehensible for those who’ve pushed on the 405). Nonetheless, since Yelp’s launch, the issue of unhelpful evaluations — like this one for a sushi restaurant complaining about uncooked fish — has been perennial, and Yelp’s powers-that-be need to guarantee the knowledge posted is being achieved each in earnest and by precise human beings.
In 2005, Yelp launched its Elite squad as a strategy to fight the phenomenon of low-quality evaluations. “Elites are role-model Yelpers who embody the spirit of Yelp,” Andrea Rubin, Yelp’s senior vice chairman of group, stated in an announcement. “They’re keen to find new companies of their space and are obsessed with sharing their discoveries with others.” Within the course of, Yelp basically established a brand new class of Yelp reviewers (for higher and a few argue, worse) — however even among the many Yelp Elites, there’s the large leagues: In December 2023, Yelp launched, for the third time, its record of the High 50 most prolific Yelp reviewers, the highest 5 of whom submitted properly over 1,000 evaluations in a single yr on every thing from eating places to parks to thoroughfares to Spectrum web.
As a part of Yelp’s twentieth anniversary, I spoke to 2023’s second most prolific Yelp reviewer, Robert Siu, who splits his time between Windfall, Rhode Island and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Siu, a self-described “discerning epicurean traveler,” has been an Elite Yelper since 2010. “To be an Elite, as a common rule, you must be pretty energetic, which is possibly one or two evaluations a month,” he says. He’s blown previous that requirement handily. Final yr, Siu estimates he wrote about 1,200 evaluations — “that’s like 4 evaluations a day” — for every thing from Canada’s Border Service Company (“Very fast and really environment friendly”) to Cafeteria Cavana in Spain (the place he was attended to by a “very energetic and attentive server”).
Through the years, Siu has perfected his model of the perfect Yelp assessment, the place brevity is paramount and something may be deserving of suggestions. The previous industrial engineer has been nominated for a Yelpie, Yelp’s equal to a Pulitzer, and he received in 2022 and 2023. He, like several self-aware particular person, doesn’t take himself or his evaluations too severely, however genuinely believes in this system as a manner of encouraging sincere criticism. Eater lately spoke with Siu to speak about what it’s like to jot down over a thousand evaluations in a yr.
Eater: How do you discover and go to so many locations? Do you must get artistic about the place you’re reviewing past eating places? You’re reviewing parks and roads…
Robert Siu: I examine in every time I can: the park, that retailer, a restaurant, an occasion, you understand, something. Principally, Yelp has stated to all of us, so long as there’s an tackle, you possibly can assessment it. I simply got here again from a month-and-change-long journey to Spain, so I in all probability [will log] over 140, 150 evaluations out of my journey.
What are your standards for reviewing a spot, particularly if you don’t spend that lengthy there? If you happen to’re not in a spot for some time and it’s effective, do you simply give it 5 stars and name it a day?
That may be a good query as a result of I take a look at my Yelp evaluations in two other ways. A method is to jot down about a spot that I actually favored, the dishes I had, the service, and so forth. The opposite class that a few of my evaluations fall below are locations that I feel folks wish to find out about. For instance, there is perhaps locations the place I actually take pleasure in myself, or it’s a restaurant that has not been on Yelp earlier than and I is perhaps the primary one to assessment it. Then I add the tackle, I add the hours they’re open and details about it, after which I write a assessment. So one [review style] is extra my want to share my expertise, and the opposite is to attempt to be helpful to the group and unfold the phrase about a spot or an expertise that I’ve had.
Do you see the Yelp Elite group as a pressure for good?
If you happen to see a reviewer that solely has one, two, three, 4, 5 evaluations they usually blast the place, I don’t even contemplate {that a} reliable assessment. I’ve a gaggle of associates that I observe on Yelp, and most of them are Elites. They simply assessment 30, 40 locations a yr; they’re energetic, and I sort of know what they like and don’t like. That manner I do know if the assessment is one thing that aligns to my likes and my dislikes.
Generally the enterprise homeowners get slightly upset about it they usually don’t take a look at Yelp as a optimistic pressure or an goal pressure. But it surely’s actually by no means been notably goal.
It additionally form of created a brand new class of meals criticism. Now there’s an enormous group of people who find themselves prolific and don’t essentially write for an enormous publication.
Yeah. It simply creates a wider space for folks to have the ability to discover sources of data. If individuals are huge [users of] social media, they may take a look at Google evaluations and Yelp; some folks which are extra quaint would nonetheless learn a newspaper or, you understand, take a look at a assessment from a trusted supply from 30 years in the past. It relies upon. Folks look and discover info in numerous methods. So I feel we complement one another.
What do you hope to get out of your Yelp Elite membership? Are you on the highest tier or is there a tier that you just’d wish to get to?
The preliminary Yelp Elite principally will get a pink badge. After 5 years, you get a gold badge, after 10 years, you get a black badge, and I imagine black badge is the best stage. I’ve a 13-year Elite black badge.
However I don’t do it for that. I simply take pleasure in writing evaluations, letting folks find out about experiences to allow them to make their very own selections about whether or not or to not go to a restaurant or a store. However as a Yelp Elite, I really like the camaraderie: We do stuff collectively and chit chat and lots of occasions trade info and concepts about locations.
It truly is form of a labor of affection.
To depart over 1,200 evaluations in a yr is one thing completely different. For instance, I see people who typically solely write one sentence of their evaluations: I feel there’s a minimal, you must have not less than 50 or 60 phrases in your assessment for it to be legitimate. However typically I’ve seen folks solely write the minimal, like one sentence or two sentences.
I don’t know for those who can truly describe an expertise a few enterprise or a restaurant with one or two sentences. Most of my evaluations are not less than two to 4 paragraphs. I attempt to be detailed and attempt to give some info … so individuals who learn the evaluations can get one thing out of it. Not simply to have one notch below my belt of, I’ve another assessment. My aim is absolutely to attempt to share my expertise with folks to allow them to learn it after which determine, Oh, that is perhaps a great place that I need to try.
That’s the factor that lots of essentially the most energetic Yelp Elites actually need to do is to attempt to present issues that every one folks can use to their profit; to allow them to make their very own resolution about going to a spot or not.
Matthew Herskowitz is a journalist and documentary producer primarily based in NYC.
