Further Reading One apartment complex’s rule: You write a bad review, we fine you $10k "Social Media Addendum" was published yesterday by Ars Technica.

Until yesterday, the Windermere Cay Apartments near Orlando, Florida, had only two Yelp reviews, one of which had been shunted by Yelp's filter into the "not recommended" area.

Now the complex has more than 140 reviews, with 77 recommended reviews and 67 reviews that aren't recommended. (The numbers keep changing, of course.) On Yelp, filtered reviews aren't visible unless users specifically click to see them. Nearly all, if not all, of the reviews are from non-residents complaining about, or simply mocking, the building's Social Media Addendum.

The addendum threatens tenants with fines of $10,000 if they write negative reviews. It also assigns copyright of tenants' writings and photos about the building. After being contacted by Ars, the building manager said the contract had been "voided for all residents."

Yesterday's article doesn't link to Windermere Cay's Yelp page, or even mention Yelp, aside from quoting the building contract.

"This apartment complex is like the old Soviet Union," wrote Mark S. of Baltimore. "This place fines you $10K for bad Yelp Reviews. Good luck with that Windermere Cay."

"I am writing this on behalf of all current residents that are not allowed to share how they actually feel about this establishment," wrote Peter L. of Chicago in his one-star review. "A successful company that provides excellent service doesn't try to stifle word of mouth buzz, unless of course they know it will be horrible."

"Can't post negative reviews," wrote Ern P. of Miami. "Ha! I don't live here and can do whatever I want. Nice try on blocking people from expressing their views."

Some of the reviews got "creative," such as one from an account named Adolf H., who has a profile picture of Hitler and says the building has "my kind of management." That review was filtered into the "not recommended" area by Yelp.

Other reviews include obviously false statements, like the user on ApartmentRatings.com who wrote: "Help. I've been trapped in the dungeon here for 10 years because I wrote a bad review. It's not so bad though. They feed me and sometimes I can see light through the cracks in the wall."

In an interesting twist, the one unfiltered Yelp review which existed before yesterday—a positive one from 2013—has been deleted by Yelp, which said it violated its content guidelines or terms of service.

The barrage of negative attention in a short period provides some insights into Yelp's filtering process. Generally, the reviews that stuck to Yelp's front page were written by people with existing and active Yelp accounts, while the filtered and un-recommended reviews had less activity, many of them having been created since the article published.

ApartmentRatings.com was also hit with negative reviews, with 13 of 16 reviews of the complex, all negative, being posted in the last two days.

Windermere Cay management didn't respond to phone and e-mail requests for additional comment for this story.