u/FatKris02

Show me your biggest fails so I can keep my kidney. I spent all my card money for the year. I scored an on card auto of Cooper Flagg back in April and went nuts buying more thinking I was on a run

Anyway, let’s see those fails

Good morning!

I have an appointment with my primary doctor today to get a referral for a rheumatologist.

Are there any specific questions I should ask?

How many exorcism movies or movies where a “ghost” is beating on someone could be explained with psoriatic arthritis mixed with a couple of other issues?

Recently when I wake up, the first 30 mins is me shaking off a cold like symptom is the best way to put it. I straighten out my finger that has decided to start curling in and get ready to start my day

I’m a plumber, after about 1 - 2 hours, the fatigue kicks in, not tired just no energy if that makes sense and I rest for a little bit. Meanwhile I get little pains in my joints

Yesterday, in the middle of the day, I felt like someone had hit me on the left side of my face with a baseball bat. It went away after about an hour

This has given me a new outlook on claims of “possession” and things like that

Hey everyone,

I’m in my late 40’s, I work for myself as a plumber and my hands have started becoming an issue. Very mild right now

I’m not even sure why I came on here or how to even begin to say how I am feeling about all of this

My mom passed away about 15 years ago. She had it but know one at the time in our family was aware of psoriatic arthritis or what it does

I come from a long line of alcoholics. My mom would call and tell us all the pain she was going through and we would just tell her to go to the doctors and then we would hang up on her. She would tell us that the doctors would tell her she’s lying. They gave her so many pain killers, oxy, Vicodin, methadone, and a few others

She took a bunch of them one night and never woke up. When I asked the doctor why he had her on so many painkillers, he hung up on me and some how was able to have my mothers body cremated within a couple of hours from the time he hung up on me

Presently I am having moments where my eyes will burn to the point I have to close them. It’s lasted up to 15 mins roughly. My left leg at times feels like someone is pumping it up to the point it’s ready to explode. I’ll have to use a cane to walk for a couple of days

Now, within the past week, I’ve woken up to one of my fingers on my left hand curled in

If I don’t have my hands or vision I don’t know what I am left with

I will become a burden to anyone that offers to help. I am scared and I’m also accepting if worse is worse

I have an appointment with a rheumatologist in a couple of weeks. A family member of mine was put on a medication that they typically give patients but it was horrible for her and she almost died

They took her off the medication and she got better

One day I’m thinking the worst and the next I feel great.

I think I am just venting and I am hopeful that there’s others out there that understand what I am going through

The honest answer is that it is a very mixed bag. While some businesses view it as a strategic marketing write-off, a growing number of owners find hosting Yelp Elite events financially draining and incredibly frustrating.
Here is what the dynamic actually looks like from the business side:

The Financial Reality (The Catch)

Yelp itself rarely foots the actual bill for these parties. They typically have a notoriously low budget to offer the host. For example, one business owner noted that Yelp offered to pay them a budget of just $4 per person for an Elite gathering, despite their average customer ticket being $40. The small business is expected to eat that massive financial loss in exchange for "exposure".

Why Some Businesses Still Do It

Flooding the Algorithm: Elite reviews carry heavy weight on the platform. Hosting an event guarantees a sudden burst of high-quality photos and lengthy reviews that stick to the top of the business's page and bypass Yelp's strict spam filters.

The "Launch" Strategy: If a business is brand new or rolling out a unique product, getting 30 to 50 active reviewers in the door at once can generate immediate local buzz.

Why Businesses Hate It

The Entitlement Factor: Many owners report dealing with attendees who act like demanding "influencers." Instead of genuinely supporting the business, some Elites treat the venue as a free content farm to boost their own personal social media clout.

Zero Guarantees: A business can spend hundreds or thousands of dollars giving away free product, and an Elite member can still leave a mediocre 3-star review if they felt the free service wasn't perfectly up to their standards.
The Google Factor: More and more business owners are realizing that Google Reviews drive massive traffic—and Google doesn't require owners to host expensive, unpaid catering gigs just to maintain a solid local rating.

The takeaway: To a business owner, a Yelp Elite event is rarely just a fun "party." It is a high-stress, out-of-pocket expense where they are essentially paying a heavy toll to play nice with Yelp's algorithm.

He’s the exiled Spartan who betrays King Leonidas and his 300 men, selling them out to the massive Persian empire. When you look closely at his story, it perfectly describes the exact dynamic between Yelp, its "Elite" reviewers, and local small businesses.

Here is why Yelp Elites are the modern-day Ephialtes:

1. Wanting the Glory Without the Grind

Ephialtes desperately wanted the glory, respect, and title of a Spartan warrior, but he couldn’t do the heavy lifting required to hold the shield wall. Yelp Elites are built on the same mindset. They want the status, the authority, and the VIP treatment of being a "local expert" or "food critic," but they don't want to take on the actual blood, sweat, tears, and massive financial risk of building and running a business. They want the clout without the risk.

2. The Cheap Bribe for Loyalty

When Ephialtes is told he can't fight on the front lines, his ego is crushed. That’s when the God-King Xerxes (representing the massive, greedy Yelp corporation) swoops in. Xerxes doesn't ask Ephialtes to build anything of value. Instead, he bribes his ego. He offers him a shiny helmet, a uniform, and temporary luxuries.

Yelp does the exact same thing. They bribe regular people with a shiny digital "Elite" badge, exclusive invites, and free food.

3. Selling Out Your Own People
What does the empire ask for in return for that shiny hat? Just one little favor: show us the secret path so we can slaughter the Spartans.

To keep their Elite status and keep the freebies rolling in, these reviewers have to constantly feed the Yelp machine. They supply the free labor and the reviews that give Yelp the leverage it needs to extort local mom-and-pop shops for advertising dollars. The Elite member gets a free appetizer and a digital badge; the local small business gets squeezed, stressed, and potentially destroyed by algorithm manipulation.

4. The Harsh Reality

At the end of the day, Ephialtes sold out his own people just to feel important to a massive empire that didn't actually care about him. Yelp Elites are doing the exact same thing to their own local communities. They are acting as unpaid foot soldiers for a billion-dollar tech company, helping them drain the lifeblood out of local commerce, all so they can feel special for a few hours at a sponsored event (which, by the way, the small business was pressured into paying for).
Stop feeding the machine that is destroying local commerce.

1. When you spend hours writing reviews and uploading photos, do you realize Yelp is directly profiting off your free labor while compensating you with nothing but a digital badge?

2. Have you ever considered that the "free" food, services, and exclusive events you enjoy are not actually free, but are paid for out-of-pocket by small business owners who are pressured to host them?

3. Do you recognize that by participating in a system that demands freebies in exchange for visibility, you are actively draining the resources of the very local businesses you claim to support?

4. When you leave a harsh, unyielding review for a minor mistake, do you think about how that directly damages the livelihood of a family-run operation?

5. If Yelp's business model relies on squeezing local shops for advertising dollars, doesn't your unpaid content just serve as the bait to trap them?

6. Did you know that as an Elite member, you legally indemnify the platform, meaning you carry the legal risk for your reviews while the corporation reaps the financial rewards?

7. If a small business cannot afford to sponsor a lavish Elite gathering, do you feel it is fair that they get buried in the search algorithms while deep-pocketed competitors rise?

8. If your true goal is to help your local community, wouldn't giving direct, constructive feedback to a manager help a business improve much more than posting a biting one-star review online?

9. Do you ever feel like the platform is weaponizing your desire for status and community just to build their own corporate inventory of user-generated content?

10. Ultimately, if the local businesses that host and feed you go under because of predatory platform dynamics, where does that leave the Elite squad?

Round 3 of AMA plumber edition. I’ve been seeing some pretty rough comments on here when people are asking for plumbing advice

I have a couple of hours available now. Please feel free to ask away and I will do my best to help