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Comment by miyoji | Hacker News Reader

> Nobody is saying, "man I would love to go to this coffee shop but I can't find their website".

Me, I'm saying that, and I've skipped going to coffee shops and restaurants because they don't have a website, just a fucking Facebook page. I don't use Meta products and can't see their page if I'm not logged into an account I don't have, so I do what the business owner intended: I go fuck myself and get coffee somewhere else.

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But... why do you want to look up a coffee shop online before going there? Honestly have never heard anyone say this in my life before

It amazes me how close minded people have gotten. Do you really have that hard of a time believing there is a use case for a human looking up information on a coffee shop, on the internet? Oh, and god forbid the shop owner actually wants to provide it!

To see the hours, get a sense of the menu. There are many matcha shops by me for instance and my wife likes to check the specials before choosing which one to go to.

Doesn't most of this show up on google anyway?

Where do you think Google and co. source that data from? Having an actual, searchable, up to date menu is, just for a11y and accuracy far more valuable than someone’s poorly lit, low res upload of an photo taken from the menu circa 2019, just to name one advantage. Have found data from restaurants without their own webpages on Maps utterly inaccurate, even suggesting some that have been shut down for months to where there is clear value. Then there is restaurants closing for holidays, illness, etc. and the ability to make reservations without calling. Whether these need their own over an Astro template is another topic, but having a webpage at all is incredibly valuable.

If you are a business, you can set up google's business feature and provide the data and high-quality images. That is basic digital presence hygeine. If a shop is refusing to do that, they will definitely not care about a website

Sure, but you then only are on Google Maps, Search and other services by them. Have your own website and be indexed by everyone from Kagi, over Bing to DDG.

It sounds like you know everything about the internet and people's preferences, why ask?

You seem to ask rhetorical questions that are not related to the topic and are just personal attacks, why?

Just a few days ago I looked up a small coffee shop on Google maps which claimed it was closed, but their own website had different opening hours showing it was open. It's a seasonal business and Google had old data. Businesses should own their own communication and not be dependent on big tech companies.

Many times information there isn’t up to date

But... why do you want to look up a coffee shop on google?

Why does anyone look up anything before going there? Maybe no one should have a website, everyone should go check everything out themselves in person like the telegraph hasn't been invented.

No, we should look up everything before we go anywhere. Everyone should have their own website and constantly update and maintain it everyday even though most of your customers never visit and just use google which can be set up without having to spend and maintain on a website which many chose to do.

And why is it so wrong to go to a place to drink coffee without researching it in the first place?

When I travel I have limited time, and if e.g. the coffee shop doesn't have the hallmarks of good coffee, I will save my time and find one that does

So you compare by visiting every website of each coffee shop? And that saves you time?

Why are you trying to put words in my mouth about visiting every coffee shops website etc? You look at possible places and choose the one(s) that appeal.

Since all coffee stores are not the same, I look at the website of the coffee shop I am considering visiting, and either I choose it or I don't.

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