{"id":20751,"date":"2017-06-03T10:37:12","date_gmt":"2017-06-03T14:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=20751"},"modified":"2017-06-04T08:56:04","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T12:56:04","slug":"level-5-local-guide-dies-of-caffeine-poisoning-while-reviewing-thousands-of-starbucks-last-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2017\/06\/03\/level-5-local-guide-dies-of-caffeine-poisoning-while-reviewing-thousands-of-starbucks-last-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Level 5 Local Guide Dies of Caffeine Poisoning While Reviewing Thousands of Starbucks Last Week"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_20743\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20743\" style=\"width: 298px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20743 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/spew-md3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"298\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/spew-md3.png 298w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/spew-md3-216x200.png 216w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 298px) 100vw, 298px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20743\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Spewer Dude<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ok. I admit I don&#8217;t know if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/contrib\/101472590145489501092\/reviews\/@35.7471277,-85.1288785,6z\/data=!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e1\">Mark Henderson, Google Local Guide Level 5<\/a> really did die from caffeine<sup>1<\/sup> but I do know that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/contrib\/101472590145489501092\/reviews\/@35.7471277,-85.1288785,6z\/data=!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e1\">reviewed<\/a> thousands of Starbucks across the Midwest, the Eastern Seaboard and the South last week.<\/p>\n<p>And I know that he is a Level 5 Local Guide and that if he didn&#8217;t die, he should, at least virtually. To recognize his extraordinary efforts, he will be posthumously\u00a0awarded entrance into the <a href=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?s=GOOGLE+SPAM+HALL+OF+SHAME\">Google Spam Hall of Shame<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Clearly Mark is a spewer<sup>2<\/sup>.<sup>\u00a0<\/sup>He and several other high volume spewers (aka review spammer persona) were brought to my attention by a reader who recognized my affinity for these sorts of things<sup>3<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20756\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20756\" style=\"width: 520px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-20756\" src=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM-520x317.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM-520x317.png 520w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM-300x183.png 300w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM-768x469.png 768w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM-1024x625.png 1024w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.15.02-AM.png 1209w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20756\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Click to view in all of its glorious detail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Several very interesting things about this particular spewer.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Two weeks prior he made a cross country jaunt to review Chick-fil-As from California to the New York Island<sup>4<\/sup>.<\/li>\n<li>He has written over 3000 reviews, almost exclusively about Starbucks &amp;\u00a0Chick-fil-A.<\/li>\n<li>He is not alone in his predilection for chain chicken and too much caffeine. He has at least two partners in crime, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/contrib\/106121958287897472753\/reviews\/@33.3826677,-109.6173897,7z\/data=!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e1\">Jack Mitchel<\/a> and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/contrib\/112325206237987834820\/reviews\/@31.5605587,-101.0474529,5z\/data=!4m3!8m2!3m1!1e1\">Joe Mittler<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Between them they have written over 6000 reviews of Starbucks, Chick-fil-A and other chains, including Olive Garden, Quiznos, Pizza Hut,\u00a0Jersey Mike&#8217;s Subs and others.<\/li>\n<li>And the kicker, virtually every review \u00a0written was\u00a0previously posted at TripAdvisor circa 2012.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.55-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20757\" src=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.55-AM-520x200.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.55-AM-520x200.png 520w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.55-AM-300x115.png 300w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.55-AM.png 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.36-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-20758\" src=\"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.36-AM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"322\" height=\"190\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.36-AM.png 322w, https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-10.16.36-AM-300x177.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 322px) 100vw, 322px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For me this is interesting on several fronts.<\/p>\n<p>If it isn&#8217;t obvious TripAdvisor has as many issues as Google vis a vis fake reviews (duh<sup>5<\/sup>).<\/p>\n<p>It certainly leaves one thinking that major chains could be\u00a0involved in buying reviews along with the rest of American businesses. My spewer tracking software didn&#8217;t throw\u00a0up huge flags but it is a possibility.<\/p>\n<p>The other possibility is that these are test bots, posting in an effort to ascertain the limits of Google&#8217;s review filter.<\/p>\n<p>What do you think?<\/p>\n<p><sup>1 &#8211; Who knew that you could in fact induce a fatal heart arythmia from too much caffeine? Apparently some poor teenager did just that in April after he <a href=\"http:\/\/people.com\/human-interest\/teen-dies-excessive-caffeine\/\">consumed<\/a> a Latte, Mountain Dew and an energy drink within 2 hours.\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><sup>2- Review spammer is a mouth full so my wife suggested &#8220;spewer&#8221; as an alternative <\/sup><\/p>\n<p><sup>3 &#8211; He wanted to remain anonymous but I am more than willing to throw a link out to anyone that provides a lead on a story that I publish.<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><sup>4- Most of you are familiar with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wxiMrvDbq3s\">This Land is Your Land<\/a>. But as children growing up, we never heard that Woody Guthrie was a\u00a0fierce\u00a0anti-fascist socialist and we often only heard the first few verses of this song. This one that was frequently left out seems relevant today:<\/sup><\/p>\n<p><em><sup>There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me<\/sup><\/em><br \/>\n<em><sup>A sign was painted said: Private Property<\/sup><\/em><br \/>\n<em><sup>But on the back side it didn&#8217;t say nothing<\/sup><\/em><br \/>\n<em><sup>This land was made for you and me<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n<p><sup>5- When my children were little they said &#8220;duh&#8221; (with dripping sarcasm unbecoming of an 8 year old) so frequently and annoyingly that we &#8220;banned&#8221; the use of the word in our house by executive fiat. Amazingly my children were of such an age that they actually believed that a word could be banned. That didn&#8217;t last long but at least we didn&#8217;t have to listen to &#8220;duh&#8221; every 30 seconds.\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ok. I admit I don&#8217;t know if Mark Henderson, Google Local Guide Level 5 really did die from caffeine1 but I do know that he reviewed thousands of Starbucks across the Midwest, the Eastern Seaboard and the South last week. And I know that he is a Level 5 Local Guide and that if he &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-google-plus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20751"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20772,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20751\/revisions\/20772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}