This month, instead of a rant or a tip of the hat, I have a task for the beer people out there. If you are a Yelp’er, unlike me who find the service completely un-helpful, please rate your favorite breweries and craft beer bars with actual helpful reviews.
No more 1 star because somebody looked at you wrong after you had one beer. No deducting a star because the food truck outside was slow. Conversely, no 5 stars with no explanation as to why.
Instead, put some detail into it. Are the beers rotating or standard? What are your favorite beers? What are your least favorite? Explain what the strong points of the beers are. Add in how many times you have visited to add context.
As with most things on the interwebs, the extremes seem to be the meme that is cited the most. If enough people put enough detail into reviews, then maybe we can sway the debate away from the “stars” system which invariably stand at 3 or 4 for everything no matter how good or bad, to a conversation.
If good, solids details are there, then you others can reliably use your information and not automatically discount it. If rational details are there, Yelp might not have such an easy time hiding reviews.
Maybe the beer world can help fix Yelp and other review sites.