Consumerist Minus Phil
I'm subscribed to the RSS feed of The Consumerist. For the most part it's an easy way to stay on top of "consumer" related issues that may affect me or someone I know, and may be overlooked or just glossed over by the other media outlets that feed me information.
I (and a seemingly large group of commenters on Consumerist) am pretty sick of one of their authors though, Phil Villarreal. If you look at the dumbest posts on consumerist.com, it's almost guaranteed that they've been authored by Phil. You see, Phil seems to aim for sensational headlines that try to turn a non-story into something that should shock and appall the reader.
These are a few stories that I expect to see from Phil if he is allowed to continue his nonsense:
"Shopper buys $5 worth of goods. Pays with a $10 bill. Only gets $5 back!"
"Coffee shop customer burned. Coffee shop never told him not to pour coffee directly into eye."
"Customer smashes product with sledgehammer. Returns all pieces to store. Store refuses refund."
If Consumerist won't remove Phil's nonsense, then the only alternative is to take matters into my own hands. So, I've created this RSS feed "Consumerist Minus Phil" (http://feeds.feedburner.com/ConsumeristMinusPhil) which will remove any articles authored by "Phil Villarreal".
Feel free to use it if you'd like.
Tags: consumerist, consumerist minus phil, phil, Phil Villarreal, remove phil
sparx said,
Currently I'm experiencing some delays in the RSS feed updating.
It seems to be a combination of delays by Yahoo Pipes (used to filter the original RSS), Feedburner, and Google Reader. If it gets more subscribers, Feedburner and Google Reader should start checking for updates more often. If I'm the only one using it, then I don't really mind. 🙂
January 20, 2011 @ 8:44 am
unlikelymoose said,
You should take your "Consumerist Minus Phil" feed to the streets. Spread the word.
January 24, 2011 @ 10:40 pm
sparx said,
I'm not allowed to play in the street!
It'll catch on with the people that are looking for it. This is currently on the first page of results for "consumerist phil" and "consumerist without phil".
January 24, 2011 @ 10:45 pm
sparx said,
I was asked to make the feed include the Consumerist "Morning Deals" post, which is written by Phil and thus was filtered out.
It has been done.
The Consumerist Minus Phil feed now includes the daily Morning Deals.
January 26, 2011 @ 8:23 am
sparx said,
I just found that someone else created a yahoo pipe named "Consumerist Minus Phil"! A whole month before I did!
Oh man.
I sort of feel like I wasted my time now, but it also further verifies that people REALLY don't want to see Phil's stupid.
January 26, 2011 @ 8:31 am