Consumerist: Joel Johnson

Don't Buy Blog-Hyped Gadgets

Ben Popken — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:15:23 EST

Former Consumerist Editor Joel Johnson takes to task so-called "bleeding edge" consumer electronic mavens, and the bloggers that feed them tripe. In a recent screed, he advises waiting for the early adopters to make the pricey mistakes for you, "before taking a modest plunge."

Stop buying this crap. Just stop it. You don't need it. Wait a year until the reviews come out and the other suckers too addicted to having the very latest and greatest buy it, put up a review, and have moved on to something else. Stop buying broken products and then shrugging your shoulders when it doesn't do what it is supposed to. Stop buying products that serve any other master than you. Use older stuff that works. Make it yourself. Only buy new stuff from companies that have proven themselves good servants of their customers in the past. Complaining online about this stuff helps, but really, just stop buying it.

Are most gadget blogs just closet flogs? — BEN POPKEN

Joel Johnson Returns...to Spank Us All for Supporting Crap [Gizmodo]

Alton Brown Saves Us Money With Proper Knife Care

Ben Popken — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 15:30:00 EDT

A good knife is like a good friend. When your friend gets dull, do you throw him in the trash and buy a new one? Nay sir, nay.

The Food Network's Alton Brown explains proper knife knife care, and how to get the most bang out of your cutlery chums. The video also features some *very* dynamic camera blocking.

The clips comes to us courtesy of Dethroner, which is, btw, former Consumerist editor Joel Johnson's latest blog project.

Joel Johnson, Left. Morgan Spurlock, Right.

consumerist.com — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 05:46:08 EST

Incredible photographic evidence that the original Consumerist, Joel Johnson, is none other than Morgan Spurlock's evil doppelganger! Where evil means "less stupid, less racist, less retard-bashing." But with equally butch facial hair.

The Consumerist's Poor Customer Service

consumerist.com — Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:33:12 EST

So as much as it pains me—Joel—to say this, I've got to tell you what I did, because it's painfully ironic.

Remember our Starbucks Contest? Remember Gregg Schultz, the winner of the contest, to who we were to send a $500 gift card?

Yeah... I totally forgot to do that. I sent it in with my girlfriend so she could ship it via UPS instead of US Mail (so we could insure it cheaply), and then neglected to ever give her Gregg's address.

So my apologies, Gregg. It went out today.

We were already making you go back to the very place you swore you hated, Gregg. Consider this the sour cherry on top of your bittersweet mocha.