Erik Holder, former US Attorney General, is now saying that Edward Snowden performed a public service and should return home and take his reward like a man.
I just love breakthroughs and had a delicious one this morning: I’ve been censored by Yelp.
Here’s the full text of the message i got:
Hi Matte,
We wanted to let you know that we’ve removed your review of Gay Butler Interior Design. Your review was brought to our attention by the Yelp community, and we found that it fell outside our Content Guidelines as it did not appear to describe a firsthand customer experience.
We want to hear about your personal experiences with local businesses. The best reviews provide context, detail and perhaps even a helpful tip or two. To learn more, check out our Content Guidelines at http://www.yelp.com/guidelines.
Thanks for understanding, and we’ll see you on Yelp!
Removed Content:
I’ve just bought a new place out from Palm Springs and, based on what i’ve read about Gay, I look forward to hiring her to replace my four acres of dirt with a lush lawn.Regards,
The Yelp Support Team
San Francisco, California
And now for the back story since you may be wondering why a favorable review such as that one would be censored, particularly since i gave her five stars.
Well, see, Gay was briefly in the news recently. A reporter for the Washington Post encountered her while she was out riding her show horse and conducted an interview for an article he was writing on the California drought, an article focused on the resistance of the wealthy to mandatory reductions in water use. The article quoted Gay as saying, “What are we supposed to do, just have dirt around our house on four acres?”
That quote got so much sweeter the longer it resonated with me that i felt i ought to spring to the aid of her and her lawn, and the best thing i could think of was to write a five star Yelp review saying i want to hire her.
Yes, i do admit there was a bit of exaggeration in my review, as i haven’t yet actually bought my house with four acres of dirt around it, but i promise you that as soon as i do, i’ll be contacting Gay to help convert that dirt to a watergarden….or at least lush lawns.
The bottom line, though, is that it took Yelp nearly a month to get around to jerking my review, and i like to think that in the meantime i brought some readers some laughs before somebody with four acres of lawn got huffy and turned me in. Next time i’ll have to be a little more subtle.
Meanwhile, spotted in Jo Ann’s garden:
