HN Theater @HNTheaterMonth

Unrelated to Deliveroo, but "How to Become TripAdvisor’s #1 Fake Restaurant" (2018) was very telling as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8

From the video description:

> The Shed at Dulwich was the number one rated restaurant in London, with foodies, celebrities and bloggers trying to get a table. The main obstacle for them, however, was that it didn't exist. Over the course of 8 months VICE's Oobah Butler used an assault of fake reviews to get his 'restaurant' to the hallowed top spot on TripAdvisor.

With a few people and some decent preparation you could probably fake most of this without too much effort.

In fact, I wonder what the smallest amount of people and effort you'd need to get past this: if you can get away without having face-to-face you might be able to pull and do it with 1 person, a bunch of emails and some AI generated faces (inspiration courtesy of https://youtu.be/bqPARIKHbN8 )

> The fact that Doordash scrapes prices, and apparently doesn't verify... how does this happen?

It kind of happens by default if your goal is "growth at any cost".

The video you mention is likely this one, and it's actually even more extreme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8

The fake restaurant in their garden shed, which never took customers or delivered any food, climbed up to #1 best restaurant in London (!) in TripAdvisor's rankings, purely on the strength of fake reviews and fake photos (artfully arranged closeups of bleach tablets etc). For kicks and video gold, they did open for their last night, serving 1-pound microwave meals from the supermarket.

⬐ pepy

I gave a lecture in marketing at an university using that story.

To this day it is one of my favorites.

⬐ amoitnga

is it actually real though? I imagine it'd be really difficult to pull it off. what if somebody who reviews restaurants would go there on, say, Monday? or at lease, even if they don't get in, just try to check out the place from 'waiting area' or at least outside.

Youtube videos have reputation for being fake, I wonder if this is actually true.

⬐ mrnobody_67

I saw that video a year ago... pretty epic.

⬐ 333c

While that is a good video (and demonstrates manipulation of TripAdvisor), I'm pretty sure the commenter means this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k47u9tduwb8

This video features (a) delivery and (b) reimbursement, both mentioned in the original comment but not present in your video.

>IIRC there's also video reportage about it to be found...

The VICE piece is here:

How to Become TripAdvisor’s #1 Fake Restaurant

The Shed at Dulwich was the number one rated restaurant in London, with foodies, celebrities and bloggers trying to get a table. The main obstacle for them, however, was that it didn't exist. Over the course of 8 months VICE's Oobah Butler used an assault of fake reviews to get his 'restaurant' to the hallowed top spot on TripAdvisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8

This guy also has one where he made a #1 restaurant that didn't exist - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8

He also faked his way to creating a #1 ranked restaurant on Trip Advisor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8

⬐ burritofanatic

This particular video is brilliant. I laughed when he said, "Last night, they were in Paris. Tonight, they're at the Shed."

⬐ buboard

absolutely brilliant. and sad, at least the part where people are being led blindfolded

⬐ denzil_correa

TripAdvisor's response to it was

> Most fraudsters are trying to manipulate rankings of real restaurants. It doesn't reflect the real world as the restaurant itself was fake

The video was very cool though.

⬐ lozenge

Considering how much money is on the line, it's laughable to think they can prevent fake reviews of real restaurants.

⬐ None

None

The tenor in this discussion so far seems to be a bit on the condescending side. Frankly, I'll pick it up for this guy. What an incredible job – and a great reminder that marketing your service is often times more important than the service itself.

Maybe it's the prankster in me, but I don't feel like this is the end of the world – and it's not an indicator that the world is coming to an end. Fundamentally, people follow the rules and trust structure. That's probably why society can exist.

For the many people who don't have their glasses on, this was a brief glimpse at reality.

I'd recommend watching the Vice video I found in another comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8

Vice episode on how they managed to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPARIKHbN8