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Buying from online vendors - 2007/03/22 09:37Is there anyone out there that buys their beans exclusively online? I am curious.
And I am not looking for names of online vendors - just information on consumer practices.
I hit someones nerve a couple of days ago when I did some research on people who spam or seed guestbooks and forums, promoting one online vendor or another... What I found surprised and amused me.
Now I know some of you think I get a little obsessed by spammers and forum taggers (and I do...) but you have to remember: Time taken to clean defacements off this forum take time away from me responding to e-mail and writing articles. It is that simple.
Anyhow - what I did find was (after search Google with a couple of keywords based on the spam I was encountering) was that there were over 3000 websites marked with this perculiar spam -- promoting one particular online coffee vendor.
In addition, the english or writing style of all the form entries was the same - the writer was obviously not from North America, English was not their first language AND they learned how to write English from a textbook over 75 years old!
Examples: ----- is a fantastic coffee with magical smooth taste. You don't need sugar or milk to enjoy it. And it is really madly popular now...
-------- is for special occasions too. When I make it my family has festive mood. Have you tried it? And I never use milk. ----- has too pure taste to be spoiled by milk or sugar. My husband likes to add it, me - never. I think that "elite" coffee doesn't need it.
----- went down a bomb at the party we had last week. I can’t forget this godlike taste. -------, zested with a peculiar bouquet, is really can be compared with nectar
I vote for ------. So rich taste... Amazing. I agree that Starbucks is bitter and it is the grave disadvantage. ------- is smooth. You feel only taste of coffee.
Other references go on to tell how XXXXX coffee calms stirred nerves... or is a wild and healthful drink.
This is ad copy right out of the 40's.
When I approached the vendor about this, I was threatened with legal action -- so I removed the references to the company. Fair enough. For all I know, the spammer is working for a competing company to discredit this company. For all I know, their coffee is truely wonderful, a godlike drink, that calms flustered coffee nerves.
I do not know. What do you think?Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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Zazenmaster
User Zen Master
Posts: 47
Karma: 10
Re:Buying from online vendors - 2007/03/22 12:44I buy my beans pretty much exclusively online in green form, but that's not really the issue.
Colin, if you get torqued and have a heart-attack, we'll loose our best source of coffee info! You've got to chill out about the spam.
If a post is just a plug for a product, your faithful readers will recognize it and either ignore it or think to themselves "This must be a lame product if the seller has to resort to this kind of advertising!".
Even if your readers are swept up in a moment of righteous indignation and post a reply of "Cow cookies!" (or words to that effect), then if the poster is genuinely some misguided soul he will be corrected, and if the poster is a shill he will be thwarted.
Let karma deal with delivering justice, and concentrate on the fun stuff: coffee and technology.
My two bits worth...
Robb
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Frederick
Admin Admin
Posts: 92
Karma: 31
Re:Buying from online vendors - 2007/03/23 03:19Well Colinimus....Internet is a slice of our society. You get the GOOD (that must refer to us....)the BAD (our friendly competitors...) and the UGLY(them....) My two centimes.....Frederick Nakos is the Global authority on the Atomic Espresso Coffee maker.
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colin
Admin Admin
Posts: 782
Karma: 21
Re:Buying from online vendors - 2007/03/23 08:42I have been observing online commerce since the very beginning of online commerce and I have seen it all.
Yes - I do take it all to seriously. Yes - I do need to lighten up.
When I approached the "vendor" 3 days ago about this phenomenon that I was experiencing on my website, his(her) reply was:
"You can take your puny little website and shove it up your ass..."
Not quite the reaction I was expecting when I was "reporting" an odd phenomenon. On the bright side, there were days when I would check into the website and there were thousands of tags for drugs, mortgages and cell-phones - it would take 1/2 hour to clean it all up.
One does not spend 10+ years building a handsome website and following only to have it shat upon by hucksters.
But, as Frederick sez: You take the good with the bad and it is unhealthy to get too hung-up on the bad parts.
Thanks for your thoughts though - it has been helpful to vent.Colin is the Senior editor and creator of the CoffeeCrew.Com Website
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javatone
User Coffee Lover
Posts: 2
Karma: 1
Re:Buying from online vendors - 2007/03/23 17:50Our family has purchased coffee from a Gulf-Island based micro roaster for the past 25 years or so. Long before the internet became part of our daily life. We still get 2 pounds of their coffee every 2 months---a delight to receive a fresh-roasted bundle from the postie!! The postie enjoys the aroma also! For our in-between coffee needs, we go to our favorite local roaster here in Victoria....TS
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Forum 
You've got to chill out about the spam.