Angie's List keeps members returning

In its securities filing earlier it went public, Angie's List, in what could have been a direct message to anyone thinking about investing in Yelp, put it this way: "The anonymity of the Internet renders it inherently susceptible to outright manipulation by unscrupulous service providers and unhappy clients, so consumers have limited means for discerning which information they should trust."

That's pretty heavy breathing for a Securities and Exchange Commission document, however Roger Lee, a general partner at the venture capital firm Battery Ventures, doesn't think it was over the top given the fakery for sale out there in the world. "There are booming businesses overseas that charge you anywhere from $3 to $5 to write a glowingly positive review," he said.

Angie's List now makes the majority of its revenue from advertising plus its cut of Groupon-like deals that it introduced last year. Service providers who advertise must as well offer some sort of a discount to members.

The clear winner

The clear winner and ratings champion, the A-rated Tommy's Taxi, wasn't available because Tommy was at the drugstore with a customer who needed to pick up a prescription. The phone number for the local cab company on Angie's List site was busy. Was it incorrect? There wasn't actually time to investigate.

Note: The Bee debuts a new Sunday Business column by Ron Lieber, the "Your Money" columnist and editor of the Bucks blog for The New York Times.