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Yelp Rewarding New York Reviewers With Free Beach Party

To you and me, the crowd-sourced review site Yelp is just one of many stops on the information superhighway before we decide on a restaurant for dinner, but for others it's a lifestyle. No matter how earnestly you use the site, you're welcome to Yelp's big beach bash at Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, NY, with the Manhattan skyline and East River as a backdrop.

True to the yelping tradition, this won't just be a barbeque and beer shindig; guests who RSVP will enjoy "Hula Hoop girls, popsicle purveyors, sunscreen, masseuses, a shaded relaxation lounge, games, prizes, a Yelp photobooth and much, much more." Not to mention that everyone will be able to share their choicest review vocabulary during a sampling and judging of ten drinks in The Ultimate Summer Cocktail Competition.

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Yelp / Review Websites / Websites / → All Tags

Top-Ranked Travel: Businesses (Do Not) Heart Yelp

That "intimate," "romantic" cafe looked like the perfect place to take a first date until you Googled it and discovered it was "way too jammed with tables" and "serves everything congealed."

As the popularity of San Francisco-based review site Yelp grows, businesses are starting to criticize its amateur reviewers--because they're cutting into profits.

While the Yelp founders defend the site as giving power to the masses who comment on coffeehouses and rate restaurants, owners of the businesses under review claim an untoward relationship between the tone of reviews and the amount of advertising they've purchased on the site. One shop owner told The New York Times, "Yelp does not respect us as business owners," since users submit rankings without consequences.

We've always regarded Yelp as Citysearch minus the pop-ups, but occasionally it gives us bright ideas. How much stock do you put in "crowdsourced" review sites like Yelp?

Related Stories:
· 'The Coffee Was Lousy. The Wait Was Long.' [NYT]
· Websites coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Yelp Store]