I forgot to mention the one that I’m really taking seriously: CrissCross News (formerly known as Japan Today).
When this site started, it was pretty decent. It got most of its stories from the news wires, but also had well-written local commentary and a regular “man in the street” section. It also allowed message-board-style reader comments with each of the articles. There were a few trolls, but generally not so bad.
At some point, however, they noticed that inflammatory stories got more page views, which translated to higher ad revenues. They started wording headlines to be as provocative as possible, dropped the attributions from their “quote of the day,” which were also chosen to draw the most flames (previously, the speaker and context were included on the front page, now you had to click to the next page to learn that the speaker was actually an unknown looney or was talking about something completely innocuous). Mitigating circumstances were edited from stories in order to provoke more outrage and more comments (I usually read several news sites each day, and on a regular basis I’d see things like “Teacher strikes high school senior in the course of breaking up fight” at one paper, and “Schoolboy attacked by teacher” at CrissCross).
The editors also noted that flamewars=more pageviews, so moderating became all but nonexistant, and the reader comments section degenerated into a complete troll pit. When writer Iris Chang (“The Rape of Nanking”) committed suicide, the first five comments were cheering over her death. I realised then what audience CrissCross wanted, and that I didn’t want to be part of it.
I took a look a couple of weeks ago and saw that they’d started running syndicated collumnists. Ted Rall and Ann Coulter :rolleyes:. Two foaming loonies. Way to strike a balance while guaranteeing a complete absence of rational thought.
RIAA for treating their customers like criminals (and yes, I check RIAA Radar for every CD I buy).
Gelateria Naia for closing down the Bearcade. Bastards. I really liked their gelato too. They are doing a ‘pint for a pint’ blood drive Thursday, though, so I may well take them up on that. I have no problem with taking their gelato and making them lose money for something I’d do anyways.
Panasonic/Matshita, for their particularly bastardly insistence on treating DVD-buyers like criminals.
There was a previous thread on this; there should be a lot of echoes.
Oh, sorry, I should have explained (especially about Maurice’s, which is local). Chick-Fil-A is very buddy-buddy with Focus on the Family and I understand they give a great deal of money to abstinence-only sex ed programs, etc. I’d give you a cite, but our internet is very slow today at work.
You’re boycotting them because you “heard” they did “extensive” animal testing, and chos to believe it? That seems like a pretty dumb reason, personally. You know, the Chicago Reader burns puppies, you should boycott it.
Animal testing is a necessity. If you’re going to bocott any company that tests on amimals, make sure to never go to another hospital or take another drug ever again.
• Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, for all of the reasons listed above, and more. This generation patronizes Wal-Mart at the next generation’s peril.
• Chik-Fil-A, for reasons listed by previous posters.
• Pretty much any large business that is closed on Sundays ostensibly so that employees can be with families and worship (and I’m still talkin’ to you, Chik-Fil-A, and you, Hobby Lobby). What if my religion doesn’t dictate that I worship on a Sunday? If it’s a small store owned by a family, then that’s cool–but a corporate-wide policy that extends to kajillions of stores that could employ persons of all religious and cultural backgrounds? :rolleyes:
• Any business that aligns itself with pro-life causes–they have every right to be in business, but they’ll not get my money.
• Quizno’s, for its commercials (“the raised by wolves” one in particular) a couple of years ago that disturb me to this day.
Never move to New Jersey. It is the law there, and not the retailers’ choice. On NJ’s plus side, however, is the fact that gas is cheaper than NY and they pump it for you. Great when it is raining or bitterly cold. Another on the minus, however, you have no choice to pump your own when it is busy or the attendant is just moving like molasses. That’s illegal.
After hearing yesterday on “Marketplace” that Yahoo had not only censored searches in China (as did Google), but actually turned a couple of people in to the Chinese government, I’d like to boycott them. But there isn’t much point if no one else is doing it.
RIAA Radar is a website that lets you search for that new band/CD you’ve been considering and seeing if their label is affiliated with the RIAA or not (and, in some cases, which editions are RIAA-affiliated and which are safe). If you’re stuck with a RIAA band it will suggest ones that have similar sounds but are safe.
I realize that animal testing is a necessity. That is why I do not “bocott” every company that tests on animals. There are plenty of companies, however, that I can purchase deodorant, detergent, and make-up from that do NOT seem to have the need to test on tens of thousands of animals every year. Fancy that.
Also, when I said that I “heard” that P&G did extensive animal testing, that did not mean I heard something implausible from one jackass on the internet, such as your Chicago Reader example.
Finally, why aren’t you calling out the other dumb reasons on this thread, such as, Quiznos’ commercials, a fugly mall, and a Powerade screen saver “prize”? There are plenty of “pretty dumb reasons” here. :rolleyes:
Wow, words right out of my mouth. CVS took over a perfectly good Eckards around the corner and BUTCHERED our convenient, trustworthy, likeable, friendly place. Screwed up my prescrips nine times, on the tenth I told them to FO, moved our pickups to the grocery store and called their complaint line and raised holy hell. Buncha rude, incompetant nutsacs.
Exxon I’m still boycotting because of the Valdez incident. Probably will for as long as they continue to hold out compensation to the fishermen and others with court appeals, wranglings, etc.
I am now officially boycotting Borders after the way they treated me yesterday when I tried to buy a Valentine’s Day present for my hubby (new Stephen King novel). I’ve made purchases there probably at least 30 times using the same debit card I presented yesterday, but despite that fact and the fact that I share the same name with the cardholder (it’s in the Boy’s name), they refused to accept it. I left my purchases and told them I’d be happy to spend my money somewheres else, went to Barnes and Noble and had no problem whatsoever.