Source:Valleywag

We love a challenge. Supposedly Digg, Kevin Rose’s news-discussion site, is having a party in San Francisco tonight. But we haven’t pinned down the location. What is this, some top-secret rave? If you find out where it is, or just want to send in a report from the scene afterwards, drop us a line.

Source:Valleywag

Yelp, the local-reviews site, is as infamous in San Francisco as it is nonfamous anywhere else in the country. Its parties, always hedonistic rampages of drunken conversations, burlesque troops, and makeout sessions in the photobooth, helped establish its local reputation and cement the loyalty of hardcore users. (Even the founders get in on the action!) Last night, Yelp held its holiday party at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Upon entering, I was greeted by a mass of San Francisco Yelptards, each louder than the next, all laughing, cajoling, flirting, and hugging each other. Self-congratulations were clearly in order.

The insular crowd, however, all but ensured I’d meet up with Ghosts of Valleywag Past. No, not a spectral Nick Douglas or a scary Nick Denton — but other people I’ve read about, or written about. That vaguely familiar girl chatting with Jeremy Stoppelman? Oh! It’s his ex-girlfriend Liza, reportedly the center of love triangle involving Valley good-time-guy Sean Parker. There’s Steve Chen, the YouTube founder, with spiky hair and glasses, holding hands with his girlfriend while bidding Stoppelman adieu. Over there, by the bar, is Ooma CEO Andrew Frame, wearing a form-fitting leather jacket and sporting bangs. Bangs? Really? And Keith Rabois, the ex-PayPaler now at Slide, with the controversial Stanford history.

Then I met Snocap founder Jordan Mendelson, whose appearance with a bevy of beauties at last year’s Yelp party lead us to crown him the Valley’s newest bad boy. Boy did we peg him wrong. My first thought, after taking in his supreme untallness, was that he seemed like such a nice guy. And so unassuming. The expression of smug self-satisfaction in last year’s pictures was missing. As was, apparently, his job.

I asked about Snocap, the troubled music startup he founded with Shawn Fanning, whom he worked with at Napster. Mendelson confirmed our rumor that he had left for another project. So, was he going to indulge his Valleywag-created persona and party hearty all night? Sadly, no. Mendelson begged off early during the afterparty at Mr. Smith’s, in order to prepare for a venture meeting today. The bad boys are growing up — or at least learning when they need to put on appearances.

One curious thing about the Wall Street Journal story reporting that Facebook was looking to raise as much as $260 million — but not the $500 million celebritard blogger Fake Steve Jobs suggested. The Journal’s Vauhini Vara cites “a person” or “people familiar with the matter” six times. What does that indecipherable journalism-speak actually mean?

Attributing a statement to “a person familiar with the matter” is perhaps the loosest sourcing an uptight outlet like the Journal will tolerate. It means, in short, someone who knows what he’s talking about, but can’t even let his employer, position, or even connection to the subject of the story be known.

And why is that the case here? Because, we hear newly minted paper billionaire Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has threatened to fire anyone caught leaking to reporters like Vara. Gee, Mark. I don’t know if that’s really wise. Don’t you think it might get a bit lonely without all your pals?

Source:Valleywag

Thanks to commenter yarbles, we were alerted to evidence of two more members of the PayPal Mafia posing, like YouTube founder Jawed Karim, in mafioso costumes. Pictured, above, Yelp cofounders Russell Simmons and Jeremy Stoppelman. (Stoppelman’s the one with the fake mustache. At least, we hope it’s fake.) Any more evidence out there? Join the gang.

As user-generated content and review sites become more popular and take on mainstream appeal (see Google paying for business directory info), will we start to see businesses who opt-out from being reviewed? Yes, says one coffee shop in Oakland, California.

Greg speaks about an experience he had the Cafe Rooz where a sign said that Yelp’ers are not welcome. After speaking with cafe management, he noted, "What I was told, in a nutshell, is that the café staff has encountered a stream of would-be critics “with attitude,” predisposed to take issue with or be critical of the business. Whether or not this is a correct perception, there are many more outlets (Yelp being only one) for customers and consumers to voice opinions about businesses on the Internet. And there’s little most of these businesses can do about it, for better or for worse."

The listing is still on Yelp and is relatively positive overall. While I can understand their fear about bad reviews affecting their business, wouldn’t it be better to work on correcting the issues that are mentioned? The business says they prefer any issue be brought to management’s attention before posting online. I do believe that this is the best course of action.

And one thing this draws attention to is how each of us differ in what is good service vs. bad service. What is acceptable in one region of the country, might not in another.  I would love to see a review site that tells me something about the user providing the review — age, income, gender, lifestyle - so I can put a frame of reference to a review I read. This is especially important when looking at hotel reviews.

And lastly, how will video change the way reviews are handled. Will be interesting to watch, especially as the big players get into the game.