The Return of the Village Idiot, or, The Knife Learns A Lesson

Remember the commenter who posted a negative comment here about Village Idiot? Who posted the comment many times, on many different sites? The one who I called out as an Antichrist shill, which got me called out as a bad blogger, to which I responded with (in so many words), "Bite me"?

Anyway. I wrote to the Village Idiot-basher, asking for comment. And voila!

Dana -

Please write about the experience on your blog.  The experience I had at the restaurant was horrendous.  What grudge can a diner have against a restaurant? With the exception of at the end of the experience having to actually pay?

Too many times in this town we are seeing substandard service with the expectation that diners are to except [sic] the service as standard.  What happened to the definition of TIP?  Has that been lost in the suffle [sic]?  When a customer complains about a service in the service industry - is not the customer right? Shouldn't steps be taken to solve a situation?  Say a diner asks for a well-done steak - should they be concerned that when it comes out bloody and raw that no-one took the time to even check?  Should they just except [sic] it?  Tip the server and staff none-the-less?  Does that not send the message that sub-standard service is the norm?

What are the means for rectifying the situation?  What are the roads to warn others of the experience as not to have them be treated in the same deplorable manner?  What other means of "wake up and notice" can be taken for the service industry to remember that "service"?  If there was a negative experience at a restaurant, are not posting sites for those comments?  Or are posting sites for positive comments alone?  Strange that my comments received concern.  If I had posted multiple positive comments on multiple sites would I be receiving this email?

Think about it.

and then, not five minutes later...

Dana -

I had not read your post, nor had I read what was written in response to my posts on EaterLA prior to even sending the email below.  I am saddened that in a society of free speech and open forum for discussion I am lambasted and bombarded with criticism for posting an honest experience.  I was called a slut, a bad-business person and you went so far as to post my IP address.  All for following a given freedom in this country.

I guess I have learned my lesson and should not speak up when there is something wrong.  Just shut up and read.

Thanks for slapping my hand. 

_______________________________________

Good grief.

First off: Sincere thanks to AutographsPlease for writing back. And my apologies if the multiple posts were nothing more than an expression of frustration with a crappy restaurant experience. While I've been to Village Idiot twice with good results, your mileage may vary. And readers should use The Knife as a way to shake their fists at the waste of good money on bad meals.

However. I'm hardly the Letita Baldridge of bloggers (hence the ip posting. Bad form, won't do it again), but people (rival owners/former paramours/sworn enemies/etc.) do try to smear restaurants with negative posts. Similarly, publicists try to game the system with multiple, overwhelmingly positive reviews on the same sites you posted on.

That's why Chowhound has become such an inhospitable place for many opinions (including yours, which were wiped out). And if your Village Idiot comments had been reversed (overwhelmingly positive, rather than negative) and posted repeatedly on multiple sites, you (AutographsPlease) would have received a similar response.

When I saw your review on my site, I thought the tone was vindictive but otherwise legit. But when I saw Eater LA's observation of the multiple posting, it didn't seem so legit. In fact, I felt like someone was trying to use my site toward their ends. And it's my site, dammit.

So, again, sorry about the ip. And I'm sorry that I didn't believe you. But if I had to do it again, I'd delete your comment after I saw Eater LA's post and leave it at that. Not because you think Village Idiot sucks, but because I'd have to weigh the facts and make a call. If you want your comments to live, pick your battles. Even if you really were that pissed off, five negative Chowhound posts in one day looks a lot like methinks thou doth protest too much.

Comments

[Nick]

A good reminder of how the ease and instantaneousness of the Internet can exacerbate people's righteous-indignation reflexes. As both a blogger and a commenter, I'm taking this to heart.

[Carly]

Apologies accepted, but ball in my court. Although you may see my postings to multiple sites as “bad form”, please explain to me the rational behind that? If I want my “message to live on, pick my battles” – please Yoda, explain. Which one do I choose? Which one will get the message out there? Which one will not attack me personally? Isn’t the basis of any message actually having people hear it? How am I to know which one will actually be posted? And by the way, for those with nothing better to do but follow this – the ChowHound responses were to 5 separate people, 5 separate postings, 5 separate requests for feedback on the restaurant. They ask for feedback…I gave it. Seem fair that because it was negative it was deleted? Protest too much? Methinks not enough. But again, lesson learned! I know where not to post. Game over. How about lunch? I know this spot on Melrose...

[Dana Harris]

Nick: Yep. You got that right. Me, too.

Carly: Again, my apologies. However, there *are* people, way too many of them, with nothing better to do than bash restaurants for their own nefarious ends. These people suck, if for no other reason that they turned Chowhound into a place that randomly kills any comment that moderators find suspicious. However, they don't kill off all negative comments -- at the moment, there's fairly vituperative thread dedicated to Sweet Lady Jane. But the reason those comments live on (and yours didn't) is there's a choir of voices chiming in with unique and specific details about their experiences. And when one person posts the same radicially bad (or radically good) review over and over on the same day -- even if it's in response to different people, or on different sites, it sets off alarm bells. No one wants to house a shill.

Truce? I'll even buy lunch.

- Dana

[boobs radley]

she lost me at "well-done steak."

[Big Bomb]

wow, a reasoned debate with each side trying to find understanding, one side even admitting they could have been wrong (shock! outrage!) -- I sentence both of you to listen to AM talk radio ...