Remember this popular post about the debunking of Noka chocolates?

February 10, 2007 9:43 PM

Remember this popular post about the debunking of Noka chocolates? The New York Times has a follow up to the DallasFood.org article. It mentions boingboing, chowhound, and slashdot, but not metafilter.
posted by Violet Hour to MetaFilter-Related at 9:43 PM (31 comments total)

Maybe because we didn't do any debunking, we just discussed the post? Several days after boingboing did?

Now we're posting about places where Metafilter doesn't get mentioned?
posted by Jimbob at 9:51 PM on February 10, 2007

You know somewhere else MetaFilter didn't get mentioned? That's right.
posted by cgc373 at 9:53 PM on February 10, 2007

Hm you're right, Burhanistan. I guess The New York Times just doesn't care about Metafilter.
posted by Jimbob at 10:13 PM on February 10, 2007

Heh. Just to clarify: I posted a link to the article becuase lots of people here liked the Noka chocolates post. I didn't mean to imply that the NYT should have mentioned metafilter; I only warned that they didn't so that people wouldn't be searching for a metafilter mention in the piece.

I do think it's interesting that the debunking still has legs.
posted by Violet Hour at 10:16 PM on February 10, 2007

I don't mind or care about not getting mentioned -- it's a big world of blogs out there that helped promote the story. What I do find surprising is that the NYT didn't identify the dallasfood.org writer. Maybe they tracked him down and he wanted to stay anonymous, but I was surprised there's no name in the article.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 10:40 PM on February 10, 2007

Those ungratefully motherfuckers!!!!! We also enjoyed the story, our voices deserve to be heard!

(insert some joke about Judy Miller learning that Noka sought significant quantities of couverture from africa!)
posted by delmoi at 10:46 PM on February 10, 2007

I have never been so insulted in all my since this afternoon when I was quite insulted.

I am often insulted.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:49 PM on February 10, 2007

*insults Astro Zombie*
posted by cortex at 10:54 PM on February 10, 2007

NEEEEEERD RAAAAAAAGE!

*pulls out a giant automatic pistol, shoots blanks at Astro Zombie. Blood squibs explode. General pandemonium and chaos erupts as people run screaming for the auditorium doors*
posted by loquacious at 11:02 PM on February 10, 2007

Also, how could they not identify potlatch by name? What a sanitized and inoffensive article when compared to the source material. This is why WaPo is quickly replacing NYT as the paper of record. This and ever letting Judith Miller shill for the Pentagon in the first place. But mostly the mealy-mouthed chocolate writing.
posted by allen.spaulding at 11:20 PM on February 10, 2007

Maybe they tracked him down and he wanted to stay anonymous, but I was surprised there's no name in the article.

I read somewhere that the writer is anonymous and wants to stay that way, for some reason I can't remember. But it's not too surprising they didn't find out who he is.
posted by bob sarabia at 12:10 AM on February 11, 2007

So is this a callout of the NY Times?
posted by Eideteker at 1:10 AM on February 11, 2007

I don't know about the rest of you, but I will not tolerate a snub. I have a browser opened to the NYTimes online edition, and I am giving it the frowning of a lifetime.
posted by maryh at 5:09 AM on February 11, 2007 [4 favorites]

I wonder about some of you.
posted by BeerFilter at 5:40 AM on February 11, 2007

I'll tolerate a snub, for some chocolate.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:13 AM on February 11, 2007

Me too! As long as it is genuine Noka chocolate! That stuff is delicious, and completely worth the money!
posted by Kwine at 6:40 AM on February 11, 2007

Hey, there's some good shredder advice at the end of that article. A little reward for people who read it all.
posted by thirteenkiller at 6:41 AM on February 11, 2007

Am I the only one who's secretly glad when metafilter avoids mention on these big news sites? I like the fact that it's not like boingboing or slashdot here!
posted by AV at 7:04 AM on February 11, 2007

I was poking around Noka's web site today and found the $1,023.00 SKY collection:

Ten brushed stainless-steel keepsake gift boxes designed as a tribute to Howard Roark, the iconic figure in legendary author, Ayn Rand's, classic novel The Fountainhead.

lolrandians!
posted by grouse at 7:37 AM on February 11, 2007

Thanks for the link Violet Hour.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:38 AM on February 11, 2007

AV - nope, me too.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 8:13 AM on February 11, 2007

The shredder advice was my favorite part of the article. I didn't get it at all.
posted by that girl at 8:14 AM on February 11, 2007

The forums at dallasfood.org have stayed interesting, with a Noka puff piece from the local business press and some MSM type who fancies himself the local king of blogging or something who's continued to not get what's so great about that series.

That "total gifting experience" thing is a hoot, isn't it? They don't even deny that the only thing they're selling is an inflated sense of self-importance.
posted by mediareport at 8:34 AM on February 11, 2007

I loved that article, and the ensuing discussion. And the Howard Roark chocolate is pretty damn lol too.
posted by synaesthetichaze at 9:36 AM on February 11, 2007

The dallasfood guy is registered on Chowhound under a man's first name, though if he wants to stay anonymous, perhaps it's not his actual first name.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:16 AM on February 11, 2007

I like the fact that it's not like boingboing or slashdot here!

So I shouldn't change my nick to Xentrojamsanin and release all my comment under a Destructive Commons license? Nertz.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:59 PM on February 11, 2007

Thanks for the link.

Odd that people assumed you were freaked out about the NYT failure to mention Metafilter - that's not not how I took it. I thought you were just sharing a relevant piece of information about the article.
posted by serazin at 3:10 PM on February 11, 2007

Thanks for the link, somehow I missed the debunking the first time around, and that is really a piece of work.

In the forums on the dallas food blog, someone has posted a press release about the opening of NOKA's new store in some ritzy part of Dallas. The release is all about the gifting experience blah blah blah, but the interesting thing is that the owner is careful to say "We are all about purity in chocolate... Our couverture is made to our strict specifications". So, they're clearly into a bit more of CYA now that everyone is laughing at them.

Also, OMG to the Ayn Rand inspired gift set. That could not be more tone-perfect. Wow.
posted by LobsterMitten at 5:33 PM on February 11, 2007

I love this story. I live about five minutes away from the Noka store, and everytime I pass it I think about how much cheek they have to sell chocolate for a thousand percent markup out of a storefront in a Plano strip mall.
posted by MadamM at 6:44 PM on February 11, 2007

I put my chocolate in my paper shredder, just like the NY Times told me to.
Now what?
Please advise.
posted by Dizzy at 7:06 PM on February 11, 2007

Thanks for the followup. I really enjoyed the original link.
posted by pinky at 6:35 AM on February 12, 2007