Some stuff that was weird about this rollout, from the Verge article:
- opt-out process required sending a scan of your drivers license
- GoFundMe page added a suggested donation of 15% to GoFundMe
- Yelp showed fundraising links for international retail outlets like L'Occitane
Strikes me as something that would be great as an opt-in. As an opt-out, it's understandable that "I'll stop doing this if you send me your drivers license" didn't go over too well, particularly from a company that many small business owners understandably mistrust in the first place.
"I assume the DL was to prevent bob's pizza from cancelling joe's pizza's go fund"
I assume they have a concept of "claimed sites". That statement implies they were doing this for sites/properties where they had no idea who owned it. Which makes it even more over the top stupid. That they are collecting funds for an entity which they only have very circumstantial evidence even exists. What a crazy arrogant culture that this idea made it through an approval process.
For example, my wife and I made a fake restaurant on FB out of our backyard for the 3 or 4 gatherings we have a year with friends and family. It ended up on Yelp, through no effort we undertook. It's just our backyard.
How on earth is this legal? Yelp started fundraisers for restaurants, made a barrier for them to collect those fundraisers, and is presumably holding on to a ton of cash people thought was going to the restaurants? This feels like plain fraud.
I pretty much guarantee you there's a back end contract between GFM and Yelp sharing some of the admin. Yelp isn't just doing it for free and allowing GFM to pick up money for free, especially with the "suggested 15% donation overhead".
Without having a clue about the situation and never having heard of it, "SF bar owner" and the colorful language made me pretty sure it was jwz, and I was not wrong. :)
For our newer viewers he's something of a character, and worked on a few important pieces of software before becoming a bar owner instead.
For those that don't know he is the proprietor of DNA Lounge/DNA Pizza.
They are going through a rough time atm with the lock down. If you are in SF and love DNA consider ordering a pizza and/or some cocktails or contributing to their Patreon to help the club get through the shutdown.
Yelp is actually pretty bad. They replaced restaurant phone numbers with a GrubHub number without telling users so they can get a cut of any phone order.
Beyond that, some people have been able to restructure their food business around take-out and are doing fine, don't need any kind of bail out and it looks absolutely shitty for them.
I know there's that whole "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission", but seriously, there are limits to it.
Readit News
Some stuff that was weird about this rollout, from the Verge article:
- opt-out process required sending a scan of your drivers license
- GoFundMe page added a suggested donation of 15% to GoFundMe
- Yelp showed fundraising links for international retail outlets like L'Occitane
Strikes me as something that would be great as an opt-in. As an opt-out, it's understandable that "I'll stop doing this if you send me your drivers license" didn't go over too well, particularly from a company that many small business owners understandably mistrust in the first place.
However the whole thing is despicable on Yelp's part. Then again despicable appears to be a core part Yelp's business plan.
I assume they have a concept of "claimed sites". That statement implies they were doing this for sites/properties where they had no idea who owned it. Which makes it even more over the top stupid. That they are collecting funds for an entity which they only have very circumstantial evidence even exists. What a crazy arrogant culture that this idea made it through an approval process.
For example, my wife and I made a fake restaurant on FB out of our backyard for the 3 or 4 gatherings we have a year with friends and family. It ended up on Yelp, through no effort we undertook. It's just our backyard.
For our newer viewers he's something of a character, and worked on a few important pieces of software before becoming a bar owner instead.
They are going through a rough time atm with the lock down. If you are in SF and love DNA consider ordering a pizza and/or some cocktails or contributing to their Patreon to help the club get through the shutdown.
Xscreensaver is great though.
Fun documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q7FTjhvZ7Y
Dead Comment
Dead Comment
1) Owners who aren't active on Yelp may never notice this feature, and so the money is never claimed.
This is big, your customers think they are supporting you and instead they support Yelp.
2) Yelp may be taking a cut? But I can't find any evidence to substantiate this claim.
Even if they were not taking a cut, they can make interest earnings on the parked money.
Personally, I would not allow Yelp to do this on my behalf because I own the relationship with my customers, not Yelp.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wjwebw/yelp-is-sneakily-r...
That's likely the whole goal this thing was set up in the first place.
1. It's causing unneeded additional stress to the business owners
2. It causes harm to their reputation
3. It was done without their consent
4. It's being done on a mass basis for [Yelp/GoFundMe's] benefit
5. The process to opt-out is arduous
It doesn't seem like a ridiculous request that you get the owner's consent before you involve them in some kind of business arrangement.
I know there's that whole "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission", but seriously, there are limits to it.
Deleted Comment
With any luck, they’ll pursue criminal charges and not let them off with a settlement.
It's only fair to make it opt-in, if you're then also getting compensated for it.