Pro-tip: if you have a credibility problem so severe that you need to put up notices saying that your site does not bias reviews, you probably should stop sorting and filtering reviews based on criteria so opaque that it is indistinguishable from bias.
I don't, you can still retain some bit of anonymity on Yelp. Google would probably try to force you to use your real name. I don't know what Google's problem with real names are, but it needs to stop.
The last time I left a legitimate bad review for a restaurant on Google, I was harassed through both Google and Facebook. I blocked the owner, his wife, and others, but it made me extremely uncomfortable.
If I know that you, as mawburn, are backing a review with your personal reputation, I'm going to believe it a lot more.
(For myself, as an avid Yelp user, I don't care. It's mostly easy to pick up good vs bad reviews IME.)
I also don't have a lot of sympathy for "small business owners" wanting to fight bad reviews.
I don't need or want your pointless TripAdvisor style feedback. It's antagonistic, and likely to discourage good reviews. The playing field is level. That's all that really matters. So you get a few completely bogus, unfair reviews? So what. You're in the same boat as anyone else.
Give me anonymized data. And while some few businesses will suffer, the amount of reviews encouraged will serve a greater good.
At least that's my theory.
If I read a review from Joe Bob, I don't know Joe Bob and I don't really care who he is. The fact that I can see his real name makes absolutely no difference to me as a user. All I care about is what he said. To me, his real name is no more different than if he was Joe B. or J. Bob or redneck69.
To filter for legitimate reviews, real identity can be important. That turned out to be what set facebook apart. People transacted online as themselves, and they incorporated real life experiences into their profiles. Reviews that were verified to be by a person, with a verifiable identity, track record, and reputation can raise the signal to noise. If you simply need a valid email address, anyone can make as many reviews as they want with no stakes, which in turn, devalues everyones ratings in general.
There's very little reason others can't do the same... extending location reviews to more than a "like" would go a long way towards helping too.
It does prevent honest feedback. What's the value in using your real name? As a user I get zero benefit/upside from it, and huge potential downside.
[1] http://www.jwz.org/blog/2009/02/yelp-shakedown/
[2] http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/11/business/fi-lazarus1...