The Boston Foodie considers the Yelp backlash, as exemplified by a sign in the window of Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square.

Earlier:
Yelp now removing Boston reviews?

Over at Charlesgate Realty, Michael DiMella complains that Yelp has pulled several reviews of his business. And even though the ones that got yanked were the less-than-perfect ones (he now only has reviews giving him perfect 5s), he's upset:

... I think this is a complete disrespect to me, my business, and my employees, not to mention my customers who WASTED their time writing their thoughtful reviews. We're promoting Yelp to our customers because Yelp provides us a tool to allow customers to comment freely (without our control) and gives us an opportunity to earn new business from the reviews (which I anticipate being mostly positive - hopefully!). And if we happen to get a bad review - even better - it will give us an opportunity to correct things!

But because of this, I have really had my faith in Yelp shaken. I am not sure if I should discontinue linking to Yelp, and mentioning Yelp to customers or not. What's the point? I don't want to waste my time or my customers' time. ...

Can you trust a web site full of user-written reviews if the site's advertising sales people offer to manipulate which reviews are displayed first?