When restaurants talk back: Is Myers + Chang pushing poor people out of the South End?

If not for the presence of MC Slim JB's critiques on its pages, I wouldn't have given Yelp the time of day. As with Citysearch before it, Yelp has become a den of "bloggers" who set up a list of arbitrary rules for their restaurant review reindeer games, only to go ahead and break those rules when their sensitivities have been offended. They'll cry about how you're not supposed to review after a first visit or on restaurant week, but will one-star a restaurant on either occasion because "that's their one chance to make a first impression."

They'll judge a burrito joint on the same criteria as No. 9 Park without scaling for genre or expectation. You'd think a populist site would want to do both, as readers are visiting it for rankings of particular types of food as well as overall. If you want to be told Craigie on Main is one of the best restaurants in the area, go to Zagat's, Michelin or any other dining guide. If you want to know which place makes the best California-style cheeseburger, Yelp should be your best bet.

Finally, there's the cult aspect. When I review a place, I shouldn't receive an e-mail from some random woman from Cambridge telling me how great it is to "get my first ones out there." This isn't orientation day, hooker! Yelp isn't my job and I'm not here to "produce content" for you and your horde of zealots. I get the feeling these are the same people who take it upon themselves to tell whole crowds of people to move at public events or who chat up your bartender in an attempt to make your local "their place" while trying both his patience and that of an entire bar accustomed to getting their drinks quickly and their barroom banter in quick doses.

While the Alstrom Brothers can be fairly obnoxious in their own right when it comes to all matters beer or their events, the fact is their group at least encourages healthy debate within its ranks and a great deal of comaraderie among its volunteers. I review on Yelp and have worked events for BeerAdvocate, and I can say that the experience and adherents of the former were far more pleasant than that of the latter.

Way to go, Candace and M+C. Don't let the dickbags grind you down.