I'd like feedback on my Hub: Why We Say: Don’t Drink The Cool-Aid

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   FitnezzJimposted 7 years ago

   Hi Hubbers,
   
   I got a note from the Quality Assessment Process that went as follows:
   
   "We wanted to let you know that Why We Say: Don’t Drink The Cool-Aid has the opportunity to become Featured! Featured Hubs are showcased on Topic Pages and Related Hubs listings. They are also made available to search engines. We want your Hub to succeed and strongly recommend making a few improvements.
   
   The perks of a Featured Hub don't end at increased visibility online. Featured Hubs are likely to be more successful over the long run when it comes to traffic, earnings, and augmenting your personal online brand.
   
   A moderator made the following suggestion for your Hub:
   Please change "cool-aid" to "Kool-aid".
   
   I thought long and hard about it, then I realized, I was being offered cool-aid.  This sort of offering of a sugary reward in exchange for conformance to an inappropriate standard was exactly the sort of thing I was seeking to warn people about when I wrote the article.  Then, I laughed.  It seems some of our editors have a rather subtle sense of humor.
   
   In the end, I added the following Authors note to the article.
   
   The author has taken care in this article to distinguish between Kool-Aid as a product, and the use of the phrase 'drink the cool-aid' to denote people who may have unwittingly subjected themselves to subliminal subterfuge.  While it might be tempting to change the title of this article to 'Don't Drink The Kool-Aid' in order to conform to a misguided notion of higher standards, to do so would mean the author would have to 'Drink the Cool-Aid', and worse, be misguided into offering an unwarranted recommendation regarding the goodness of Kool-Aid (the product).  If the makers of Kool-Aid chose to take offense because of the new title, it would be the author and not the holder of the higher standard they would seek to hold accountable.  The title stands as is.
   
   
   So, what do others think?

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      WordCrafter09posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I don't see a difference between the saying, "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" and the actual product - considering where that saying comes from originally.  I can see how the makers of the product may not like to see their brand name used in that saying (so maybe, if people have started using "cool aid" in writing, rather than using the brand name, I've missed that),
      
      I'm with the editors on this one (unless there could be some legal issue if the makers of the actual product could sue any time someone associates their product with the negative roots of that saying).
      
      What I don't recall/know about that story is whether news people just called what the people drank "Kool Aid" (and maybe it was some other similar  drink that people, like maybe news-people, just called, "Kool Aid").
      
      In other words, if it was actually the brand, "Kool Aid", that was used; my question would be whether using the brand name would only be OK if it was used in, say, a news-type story about the event.  Or, if it was actually the brand that was used for that event could that (even all these years later) be grounds for the company to sue (or maybe at least request that the spelling be changed in something written that is not a news-type story directly tied to that event).
      
      To be candid, my first reaction to what you said about the origins of the saying (and your spelling) was that it seems you don't entirely understand where that saying got its start.  (I haven't read  your Hub, so I'm just referring to your post here.).  Maybe your Hub goes more into the background of the incident than I'm imagining.  Whether it does or doesn't, I can't imagine anyone thinking that using the brand name (assuming there's no potential legal issue with doing so) could possibly be seen as an endorsement of the product.

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         FitnezzJimposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         True actually - a point made in the article is related to learning the phrase roughly a decade before Jonestown happened.  It remains unclear how the phrase started.  The phrase did seem to gain in popularity after Jonestown. The article was about what so many think of when they speak the phrase today (back in 2010).
         
         
         
         
         
         Well?   Somehow my response got maneuvered into being possibly perceived as an endorsement of Kool-Aid.  Let me be clear, no endorsement is intended, nor is a warning intended about the product.  Some people read out loud, so the concern is homophonic.  In this case, an attempt to maintain the integrity of the intended interpretation is conveyed through the variations in spelling.
         
         
         Many years ago, here on HubPages, writer Ghost32 once responded to one of my comments to his routinely outstanding articles with the observation that I should read his articles fully before commenting on them.  That makes a lot of sense.

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            greenmindposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Nope. The phrase began with Jonestown. Otherwise the metaphor makes no sense.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I think you're w-a-a-a-ay overthinking it.   The moderator thinks you made a mistake.  The expression derives from the product, just like we call a pen a Biro or a moving staircase an Escalator.  You can choose to change the spelling if you like, but when I Google I find that most people still spell it with a K. 
      
      It has nothing to do with making Kool-Aid happy. In fact I think Kool-Aid would be delighted if you didn't use their brand name, as they'd like everyone to forget the nasty associations their product has!

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         FitnezzJimposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         That is the point.  It was intentional.

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            psycheskinnerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            So, it was intentional.  But HubPages chooses the style guide so if you want to be featured you need to follow it.

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               FitnezzJimposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Hmm, you have a good point there.
               I certainly would not want a Hub that has been featured since inception to remain featured if it violates a new application of the standard.
               
               It will remain unfeatured.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I know. Did you read the rest of my comment?  Your reason is not logical

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               FitnezzJimposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Nevertheless, my reason is my reason.

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   calculus-geometryposted 7 years ago

   Change it to "Flavor Aid" since that's what Jim Jones actually used, lol.

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