Come in for a slice, leave with a bear hug -- along with a heated political debate playing out in the comments of Yelp.
The Wild West nature of the internet kicked up for a Republican business owner who showed support for President Obama -- in the form of a bear hug.
Scott Van Nuzer, owner of Big Apple Pizza in Fort Pierce, Fla., sped away from the golf course when he heard the president was at his pizza shop. Van Nuzer, who crossed party lines in 2008 to vote for Obama, wanted to show his support with a Secret Service-approved bear hug.
Shortly thereafter, the pizza shop's Yelp ratings took a beating, with comments coming from thousands of miles away.
And shortly after the dip, the ratings started to improve, with counter-posters taking on the negative reviewers. At press time, the number of five-star ratings vastly outweigh the negative ratings, with Yelp possibly having the foul-mouthed and vitriolic ones removed as content violations to its terms of service.
It's red-state vs blue-state in a very important swing state in a very 21st-century way.It's also a free speech issue, in a way, as just because comments may be untoward, but not profane, it's a wonder if they are removed. Basically, what's hate speech and what's a contrary opinion?
It's also reminiscent of the Joe the Plumber phenomenon from 2008, if Van Nuzzer gets much more attention.
Tech
An early negative post from Colorado:
To all of you libtards criticizing the conservatives for posting negative reviews for essentially the same reason you're posting positive reviews is kind of silly isn't it? You're equally guilty of doing the exact same thing!
And a recent rebutal from California:
I just drove 40 straight hours, 2563 miles to try their pizza on my lunch break. Holy Gadzookas Batman, it was worth the drive. This is without a doubt the best pizza in all of Florida. Now to drive back to California. Boooo...
