They're wrong not only for the reasons that I listed at the end of the post (the factors that make Yelp and Yelpalike business work, are not going their way) but also because they keep asking for the impossible. Yelp can't give venue owners the transparency they're asking for, because that means also giving them the information that they'd need to game the system. It's the same reason that Google only speaks in broad terms about its search updates: after a certain point, the information that you need to see to prove that the system is fair, is the exact same information that you need to see in order to exploit the system. So neither Google nor Yelp shows it, and I'm fine with that.

It's hard to argue with the systematic dismissal of highly rated reviews for non-advertising entities and the dismissal of low rated reviews for advertising entities. Just because it hasn't been proven in court there are more than enough stories about the extortion business model they run. I am sure they will get their day eventually. It's hard to prove when it's all under a mysterious guise, but just wait until they get a whistleblower, wikileaks or something similar.

So it is okay for Yelp to exploit venue owners because they don't have a working viable system that protects itself from being gamed?