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April 4, 2005
Starbucks Delocator, Delocated
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A Stay Free Daily post & comments tell the sad story of Starbucks lawyers pushing an anti-Starbucks website, The Delocator, out of Google's neighborhood. From the post:
[When you] visit the site, enter your zip code, and the site does a search. On the right side of the page displays all the Starbucks stores on the area. On the left are local cafes that visitors to the site have entered manually.
...and the comments:
Carrie McClaren: "This is a great idea, but they should have put 'Starbucks' in the website name...I assume they chose not to do that to avoid legal threats from Starbucks, but what's the point of doing a site like this if the intended audience doesn't see it?"
One of the site creators: "[R]egarding the Starbucks tags/branding, per our exhibition agreement we were unable use the word Starbucks anywhere. Their legal department would not ok the exhibition. The project's original title was 'Starbucks Delocator.'"
Later:
Downhill Battle's Nicholas Reville, via email: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think if enough people link to it with the phrase: 'Starbucks Delocator' or just 'Starbucks,' it might be able to show up in Google for Starbucks even if it doesn't have the words 'Starbucks' on the page itself. So... why not put out a call for people to post links to the delocator that are called 'Starbucks'? or 'Starbucks Delocator'?
Later #2: Go Carrie; Go Cory!
Comments (3)
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1. Karen on April 5, 2005 1:49 PM writes...
Googling for "Starbucks delocator" (with quotes) gets nada. Googling without the quotes finds sites with the phrase in it.
Now, perhaps my google-fu is weak, but that seems a bit odd to me.
Permalink to Comment2. fiat lux on April 6, 2005 2:27 PM writes...
Disclaimer: I work part-time as a barista as Starbucks.
Why all the anger against Starbucks? Seriously. They treat their employees far, far better than the average retail employer. If you work just 20 hours a week, you get the full range of company benefits -- including a good health insurance policy, stock options, 401K, domestic partner benefits, and a host of others. Compare that to Wal-Mart or even just the average retail employer and you'd know just how rare that is.
Permalink to Comment3. Grady on April 18, 2005 3:06 PM writes...
It's classic elitism. Anything that becomes very popular will have its detractors, whether it be music, coffeeshops, fast-food places, or what have you. It's the way things should be, too. One the one hand, everyone could like everything that becomes popular, and we'd have groupthink. On the other hand, we could have vigorous anti-elitism, or in the case of creative works, anti-intellectualism, and we'd be expected to feel ashamed for producing anything that was too successful, in terms of opening franchises or selling copies. I think we're treading the narrow middle ground here, fiat, so not to worry.
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