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Ryan Tate at Valleywag has a phenomenal story about the sanity-estranged owner of Ocean Avenue Books. The owner, after reading a negative review on the interwebs about her store, found the reviewer and tried to assault him. At his home.
The Yelp reviewer in question, "Sean C.," describes the scene:
2 days ago I wrote a two star review for Ocean Avenue Books - afterwards the owner started sending me crazy and threatening emails. Tonight I get a knock at my front door - I open it and a woman tries to force her way in and I had to wrestle with her on my front steps. Finally I was able to shut the door and call 911 - the police showed up and took her away. Turns out it was the business owner! How did she get my address???????I'm now completely freaked out - need to go to the police station tomorrow and get a restraining order
A bookstore owner against free speech? Groundbreaking.
Anyway, exactly how the owner found Sean's address remains a mystery. A Yelp administrator chimed in to point out: "we're here to help Sean out in any way we can... there's no telling how this person may have unearthed Sean's place of residence, but rest assured, that information was in no way.... provided by Yelp." And while business owners grow increasingly butthurt frustrated about customers airing their grievances in a public online forum, this is something they will have to get over. Really.
Check out more wildly amusing screenshots of pre-fight potshots over at Valleywag.
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Remind me never to piss off a bookstore owner. Wow.
I'm not shopping there, or I'd be packing some heat for safety!
I can't even read yelp occasionally without getting grumpy at the bougie, entitled douchebags who write most of the reviews, if it actually effected my business I'd go nuts. Well maybe not this nuts.
Yeah, I was gonna say, to be semi-fair to this wackjob, I rarely walk away from reading Yelp without wanting to cave in a few noses.
I have an idea for you guys: don't read Yelp.
If you do, accept it for what it is.
+1
I take all yelp reviews with a truckload of salt. in fact, the most prolific reviewers tend to be the crazy ones.
mostly i just use yelp to figure out what a business's hours are. other than that, i try to form my own opinions.
Thanks for the idea, but trust me, I do take it with a grain of salt.
The problem is, a lot of people don't, and the effects of this calvacade of loud, self-aggrandizing, often-clueless assholes on businesses are real, for better or for worse.
It's a bit disappointing since it's a great concept.
I am getting the feeling that you have to be a little bit crazy to run a used bookstore.
...and a little bit pathetic to use yelp as your soapbox? just sayin'
bah, reply posted to the wrong comment. fuggit
That's the way Gothamist works.
The entire site was hobbled together by "pre-owned" laboratory monkeys who had nothing to work with but a Compaq laptop, a case of Dr. Pepper, and a three-year old edition of "PHP For Dummies."
Actually, we all use Tandy 1000s, thank you very much.
hmm, I don't see anything wrong with any of those things.
I read the Yelp thread about this yesterday and I had a hard time believing it. If this all turns out to be true, it's pretty goddamn fucked up.
I've been to that store a few times. It is disorganized and expensive, and the stock doesn't seem to turn over very fast.
You're next, Sherman! Watch your front door, dude.
I actually prize a little disorganization in a bookstore. If people want numbingly organized and niched-to-death categories, I'm sure Borders has a anesthetized and lysoled experience waiting for them at the mall.
Maybe getting the addresses of negative reviewers is one of the additional benefits of paying Yelp for "protection".
Gotta say, after reading the thread, I feel for the shop owner. She's clearly suffering from some serious psychological problems. Now she's in the clink for a couple days. And this little incident is certainly going to be the death knell of her shop, which probably was her whole life. Doesn't excuse what she did, but . . . jeez. Shows how a stupid little spat can ruin a life.
Standard San Francisco mentality ....A bookstore owner against free speech? Groundbreaking.
The problem is, people treat yelp like a review site when in actuality it is merely a yellow pages with a robust commenting system and a vindictive, easily offended user base.
Best description of Yelp ever!
Go bookstore owner.
Pulled a Will.I.Am on a Perez Hilton internet shit talker.
I'm just curious as to how she found her way to his home.
This is exact same inscription my dad put in the copy of Whitman's Leaves of Grass he gave me when I graduated college.
YELP in HELL!
We pray YELP goes bankrupt and sinks to the bottom of hell, and takes its MAFIA YELPERS with them. We pray that GOD shows no mercy for all the EMOTIONAL damage and EXTORTION they have inflicted upon small business owners and the children they support. YELP is a den of snakes and deserve to BURN for the lies and slander they spread on the web.
PRAY PSALMS 140 FOR THEIR DESTRUCTION!
Say five times: "Archangel Michael destroy YELP now!"
Note: the bookstore owner denies that she attacked the Yelper, she says she went to his house to apologize to him for sending inappropriate private messages and he attacked her. Since the bookstore owner said she found his name on the internet, I thought I would see if I could replicate this and, guess what? I did. I found his address via googling his Yelp name (Sean C), his neighborhood (Ingleside) and finding his full name on another site, where he also likes to review things. Then, I used my trusty secret weapon (public and free) and found his address, and put it into google maps and found a street level view of his residence. Pretty scary what you can find out.