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Inadvertent content creation

Dizzy heights of fame for your humblish correspondent this week, as I and my esteemed boozer merit an article in none other than the Ormskirk Advertiser (to which I cannot link because, in the year of our Lord 2022, it mystifyingly doesn't have a website other than some convoluted accounts only thing which, frankly, I can't be arsed dealing with. So we'll do this the old fashioned way) 

In a nutshell, I stuck a food bank collection point in the pub. That's pretty much the size of it. Must have been a slow news week (admittedly, every week in Ormskirk is a slow news week).

What I found noteworthy about it (besides it being literally the only time I've ever been described as "kind-hearted") was how much of the article I've actually written. It's pulled together from a couple of quotes and various Facebook updates. Nowt wrong with that (though I was wondering whether I should invoice them, seeing as how I've effectively written half of it), I always imagine local newspapers as being a couple of harassed people rushing around desperately trying to fill space, so whatever they need to do to get through the day is fine by me, and if it means we get a few more donations then so much the better.

I was reminded of the Great Yorkie Controversy of '21, my other recent brush with the fourth estate, where the initial article was composed entirely of TripAdvisor reviews ( and my responses to them), this article, originally on a local website, was then amplified (word for word) by the Liverpool Echo, after which things got a bit silly; it was picked up by the Mirror, the Beeb in its original form, and then after someone from the Independent actually bothered ringing me, a later version (in the Indie, the Yorkshire Post and Lord knows where else) vonsisted almost entirely of quotes from yours truly.

It was an interesting insight into how, in this online world of ceaseless content creation, we are the creators more often than we realise, copy pasted into a sort of eternal online afterlife. Perhaps, on reflection, the Ormskirk Advertiser not having a website is a bit of a relief.


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