First off, it’s commendable that you take the time to read and respond to comments on sites like this. It shows that you’re willing to listen to users, which is great. I’ve sent in comments to your San Francisco site several times, and have never had the courtesy of any response.

I like the new beta site much better than the current site, and I actually like the ability to drill down to the neighborhood level. I do agree that Yelp is a huge threat to you, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that your beta site looks very “Yelp-like”. However, all you’re really doing is creating a “me too” product. Why not try and actually leap frog the competition? You are the market leader, but it’s clear that Yelp continues to gain market share. Unless Citysearch really shakes things up, it’s only a matter of time before they surpass you. I think the biggest problem for Citysearch is your image. Most people I know think of CS as being very old and stodgy. CS is “the man”, and “the man” just isn’t cool.

With all due respect, it doesn’t really matter if you have dozens of editors, or just one working out of West Hollywood. Nobody takes your editorial comments seriously, and in fact, it’s insulting to your users that you even call your employees “editors”. From what I can tell, all they do is follow some sort of company style guide, and spit out 75-word advertorials. It’s a little pathetic. Hiring 20-something recent college grads and giving them fancy “city editor” titles doesn’t actually make them editors. Want to shake things up? How about having the guts to actually separate “church and state”, and create a real editorial group? Hire real editors (not simply HTML hacks), and write real reviews. Not every restaurant and bar, of course, but a random sampling. You could also write music/entertainment reviews, and the occasional op-ed would be really cool (think salon.com). Give users a reason to come back. If you can do this, and also create the type of community buzz that Yelp has, you’ll be very successful. If you can’t do this, then just cut to the chase and eliminate your “editorial” group altogether, as all they’re really doing right now is wasting valuable real estate.

Robert, can you clarify syndication?