Audrae Erickson: The Patron Saint of High Fructose Corn Syrup

The concept of news or web feeds, RSS syndication, whatever you want to call it, is incredibly cool, isn't it?  Web syndication technology has made it possible for someone to keep up to date with the enormous body of ever-changing news media now available 24/7.  Not only are just about all local, national, international forms of news media readily available, but also via the blogosphere, the rants and raves of individuals from all sorts of backgrounds.  Without RSS, how would we keep up to date on our favorite topics?

Well, there is one slight complication:  if you're not careful, you will get feeds for your topic that are not really relevant.    For example you're really interested in bulldogs and you set up an RSS feed and now you get all news stories about every team with bulldogs as mascots rather than only feeds about the actual dog breed.  If you wanted to post comments on each feed about how much you like bulldogs, it might be wise to, oh i don't know, read the article before you post your comment?  And if you plan to post widely and want to remain a credible authority (as opposed to a poorly informed but well-paid DC lobbyist for bulldogs) it might be wise not to have boiler plate comments you post on every single feed.

Here are a few examples (excerpted) of what not to do if you have a topic you feel passionately about (or are well-paid to represent):

Number 1:
Post a boiler plate comment on a feed that is not really relevant to your comment

The Sugar Shack in Sugar Pine
Story and photos by Thomas Atkins
This entry was posted on Monday, November 24th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

Responses to “Alicia’s Sugar Shack”

 1.    Audrae Erickson says: High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it’s actually a simple sweetener, made from corn, that is nutritionally the same as sugar. [....]

Number 2:
Post the same thing nearly every time you submit a comment:

The Diet & Weight Loss Blog
New From Starbucks
POSTED BY: DANA LILIENTHAL | JULY 10, 2009 | 6:10 AM

Posted by: Audrae Erickson | Jul 10, 2009 4:50:28 PM

High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it’s simply a kind of corn sugar that is nutritionally the same as table sugar. [....]

Number 3:
Post a boiler plate comment on a feed arguing against the feed when the feed is not really taking the position you're arguing against
The Daily Texan
The right to junk food

By Colin Harris
Daily Texan Guest Columnist
Published: Thursday, April 9, 2009
Updated: Thursday, April 9, 2009

Audrae Erickson
Fri Apr 10 2009 13:50

High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same. [....]

But maybe i should cut her some slack….  Audrae Erickson Hughes is a hard working American making a living defending a great American product….

 

 

 

Um yeah.... The first screenshot really reads 778 results for the quote: "High fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same."; the second shows that the statement "High fructose corn syrup may have a complicated-sounding name, but it’s simply a kind of corn sugar that is nutritionally the same as table sugar." has appeared in 1,120 entries.