Posted by Yikes !, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 18, 2010 at 3:35 pm

These were genuine hygine concerns at Fresh Choice in MV. PAOnline .. could you point me to a policy that this particular post violated? I wanted to alert the other parents .. that's about it. Isn't the Town Square about sharing information amongst the community?

Posted by Tyler Hanley, online editor of Palo Alto Online, on Sep 18, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Tyler Hanley is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

Our policy is to delete complaints or criticisms that a person has about a personal experience with a business if it cannot be independently confirmed. Without such a policy, any competitor of that business could use Town Square as a way of discrediting and harming that business.

Posted by Outside Observer, a resident of another community, on Sep 18, 2010 at 6:52 pm

Most censorship here is politically based.

This one isn't. It's based on a business concern.

They don't want to alienate any potential advertisers.

Posted by Yikes !, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on Sep 18, 2010 at 8:19 pm

Mr. Hanley,

What is your policy for verification of such complaints? How could you have verified this with me? You don't require people to login .. imo, make people login and provide them with a "handle" to post messages .. this way, people will not be identified as themsleves .. which allows a little more leaveway and more open communication. You can then verify such claims independently with people who post .. I'd be more than happy to give you more details and you are welcome to talk with the manager at Fresh Choice .. her name is "Daisy"

Stop censoring open communication for heavens sake ! This is a genuine concern that I had and I wanted other parents to be vigilant. I run no competing business .. I am a parent of little kids, who wants the kids to be safe when they eat outside ..

Posted by Hmmm, a resident of another community, on Sep 19, 2010 at 11:49 am

Yikes: I'd like to know your experience. Post it on yelp.com.

Posted by Bad choice by PA Weekly, a resident of Stanford, on Sep 19, 2010 at 12:37 pm

Well, Tyler, why don't you or one of your editors go to Fresh Choice and see what is going on. I read the post by Yikes! before it was deleted. This was clearly an attempt to protect an advertiser. PA Weekly relies on ad revenue to keep their paper going--you do not think that anyone would actually pay for a copy of the PA Weekly? They have previously removed criticism about posts by the owner of Keplers--another example of them putting money before journalistic ethics.

Posted by Resident, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood, on Sep 19, 2010 at 1:10 pm

I actually think it was a good thing to take down this criticism. We have no idea if this was a fair criticism, an exaggeration, or a competitor trying to score points. I also read the criticism and we do not know so many things. Perhaps this was one employee on their first shift and since fired. There was no mention of whether this had been discussed with the management or not.

In fact, there are many ways to deal with bad service at a restaurant or other service establishment. This forum is not one of them.

Posted by anonymous, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Sep 19, 2010 at 4:13 pm

ummm, the headline remains, with uncomplimentary info one can glean from just that

Posted by Perspective, a resident of the Meadow Park neighborhood, on Sep 20, 2010 at 7:38 am

I have to agree with Tyler. One anonymous person can destroy the reputation of a business or person with the click of a few keys.

Not saying the person posting this was wrong, but am agreeing that there needs to be more than one anonymous person's post.

Posted by stephen levy, a resident of the University South neighborhood, on Sep 20, 2010 at 7:43 am
stephen levy is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

I agree with the poster who said that leaving the headline up undercuts the idea of not passing along unverified information.