Hmm…well, when they tried to push their ad packages on a business I was involved in a few years ago, we were told we’d get preferential treatment. What that treatment involved wasn’t specified beyond expedited dispute resolutions, but it was strongly implied that they were more likely to erase positive reviews of non-paying businesses because they claimed it was astroturfing, and positive reviews would appear above crap ones as sponsored ads if we ponied up. They otherwise refused to divulge details, and I told them thanks but no thanks, but I’m glad the Ninth Circuit had more luck. Still pretty shady to me.
In principle I’m in favor of review sites, just not ones with opaque policies only a judge will ever see, even if they’re sued.
It’s rare I disagree with XKCD, but the first amendment protects you from all forms of retaliation from the government over free speech, not just arrest. The government can’t censor you, or raise your taxes, or harass your family, or sue you for damages over something you said (with some very well defined exceptions).
Ultimately, the government is the entity that has to enforce this contract so I don’t know that it’s completely outside the purview of the first amendment. For example, not so long ago, the Supreme Court ruled that protestors can’t be sued for emotional distress on free speech grounds. Essentially, because of the first amendment, the government isn’t able to award damages over the exercise of free speech. That would seem to apply here as well.
The only question is can you sign your right to free speech away in a contract if you’re merely a customer, and just how liable can you be for breaching an agreement of what appears to be $5 worth of service.
One star reviews are bogus anyway if you can’t choose zero stars. Can you leave a zero star review on Yelp? This will make the difference in the value of each star and how badly this Dallas Mutt Cutts have been slanderised.
Fair;
0 = 0%
1 = 20
2 = 40
3 = 60
4 = 80
5 = 100
A company can respond with a private email or leave their own comment under the negative review. Suing the customer sounds like a carpet bomb approach.
Maybe you don’t own fish so I’ll try to make a comparison. Cloudy water is the same as if you overfeed a dog and then cover it in all the extra shit you get from overfeeding.
(This reply of mine is off-topic for the posted article)
I read xkcd for many years, liked lots of it, but sometimes the nuances of Randall’s views would really rub me the wrong way. He’s clearly a very bright guy and I think xkcd is a good thing for the world in general, but I concluded eventually that it’s not for me, and I stopped reading it. I’m not mentioning this to advocate that others do the same, but I am struck by how infrequently I see any sort of criticism or dissent regarding xkcd… and I think there’s room for a substantial amount, and that it’d be a healthy thing for the xkcd ecosystem.
Ok. However, if Yelp’s 1st amendment statement galvanizes a bunch of people into action through outrage, I’ll be fairly forgiving of the veracity of the statement being off.
