Current mood:	mmm...bento
Entry tags:	food

All over plastic lunch boxes
Every time I think I've seen it all, I see something new and stranger.

Over on bentolunch ss_biggie makes a post about how one of their members, thejenn1, has been selling bento lunch boxes from her website bentoyum. The fact that she is both a small business owner and writing articles about her viral marketing makes her...something. I don't know what. This sends the community into an uproar of scandal as people are not happy that she didn't tell them she was in business to make money.

thejenn1 posts in her defense and it snowballs from there. Sockpuppeting accusations, social experiments, just JELUS, and general outrage over if her being a business even makes a difference.

Sit back, pull up some sushi. Kinda small, but tasty, lulz.

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	hallidae 2007-06-23 12:29 am UTC (link)
	::headscratch:: I've checked comm info, posting guidelines, and the FAQ, and I'm still not seeing "THOU SHALT NOT SELL BENTO BOXES" anywhere. Why is it such a big deal again? (Reply to this)(Thread)

	hallidae 2007-06-23 12:32 am UTC (link)
	::rereads:: Oh, wait, nevermind. It's not the selling at all, it's the "If I'm gonna be a lab rat, I wanna know, dammit!" response. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ayezur 2007-06-23 12:50 am UTC (link)
	But she says right there that the experiment was word of mouth vs Google and I am so very very confused. Do you understand their POV? Can you explain it to me? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hallidae 2007-06-23 12:57 am UTC (link)
	The fact that she says it was an experiment at all sends them into a frothing rage because OMG if they were gonna be used for an experiment, they should have known so they could consent or say they didn't wanna be involved! Or some shit like that. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

thebratqueen
2007-06-23 03:45 am UTC (link)

As far as I can tell from reading it, it's whether or not Jenn was legitimately acting like a friend/member of the community or if she was just a Marketing H0R putting up a front of being "just like you guys!" in order to move product.

That being said, it's not like the words "for sale" were ever hidden in her posts or on the Bento Yum site. Granted I am a bento n00b so maybe my perspective would be different if I'd been on the comm when Jenn first showed up. But to me it seemed that she was very upfront about what she was doing, so the latest post is a little bit "Shocked, SHOCKED to discover gambling going on at this establishment!" to me.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

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