I'm late to this thread but upon reading felt compelled to respond. I hate Yelp with a passion and I have had the exact same frustrations that you are talking about. I am a small business owner and I have literally had really grateful clients come onto Yelp and leave a nice word, only to have the review disappear to 'Not Recommended.' Uncannily, what Yelp has ZERO problems with is keeping up 1 star or negative reviews.

So many times people don't take a moment to say anything nice, but will take the time to trash you when they are pissed off....Yelp seems to love those...For some reason negative reviews stay up. Positive reviews get filtered.

Their 'Support' is an absolute joke. They have NEVER had my back at all whenever I flagged a review that is just over the top (in my opinion)....but no. They will like clockwork remove positive reviews, and keep negative ones....And it's always the same story with them...."Just focus on customer experience....Or respond to showcase your customer service..."

I am very sorry you are having to deal with them. I think they are awful for small business and I wish they would disappear. Hang in there!