Colin Samuels twitted about this New York Times story that Consumer Reports has bought the Consumerist.  Colin’s thought was “very cool.”  I wasn’t so sure, which earned me a “why so skeptical” twit.  Here’s why.

The blogosphere, despite all the marketers who would prefer to homogenize it and make it warm, fuzzy and profitable, remains the wild west.  It can get rough in here.  It can be crude.  We give punches, and take punches.  Many can’t take the heat and leave when they find out that it’s not so easy to get your brains bashed in on a regular basis.

But what will happen if the blawgosphere goes legit?  Will corporate owners really be willing, able, to throw a good punch?  What about the nasty language and nastier attacks.  Corporate wonks don’t want that stuff dirtying up their brand. 

The Consumerist is a great blog.  I happen to be a strong supporter of people taking a stand against getting screwed in the purchase of goods and services, and holding sellers accountable.  Ben Popkin, the guy charged with herding feral cats over at the Consumerist, has done a great job of keeping the place rough and effective, while keeping the loonies in line.  Can Consumer Reports allow this to go on?

The blog offers consumer tips, like how to return products and how to confound a telemarketer, and covers shopper complaints, like excessive retail markups.

It will become part of a new division of Consumers Union, and the current editors will remain. No plans are under way to change the coverage or to begin charging for the site. “We don’t want to acquire the Consumerist and then squelch it in some way,” said Kevin McKean, vice president and editorial director of Consumers Union.

Well yeah, the Consumerist does that, but what it does best if rip the heart out of businesses that screw the consumer, that treat the consumer like fungible dirt and take money and deliver crap in exchange.  I love it.  Without blogs like the Consumerist, places where ordinary people can fight back, rage against the machine, we are individually lone voices competing with the massive marketing campaigns designed to make us believe that these corporate sellers actually love us and respect our concerns. 

Consumer Reports, on the other hand, presents a positive view on goods and services.  It’s very helpful, and a long time favorite of Mrs. Simple Justice, who carefully and obsessively reviews the ratings before buying anything.  But what it does not do is rip the lungs out of thief’s, liars and cheats.

It’s good to know that the blogosphere is being taken seriously, and treated with a legitimacy that is usually reserved for butt kissers.  But if it takes the edge off the wild west, then we will have traded respectability for purpose.  If so, that would be a lousy trade.

That’s why I’m skeptical.  I’ve seen the nasty outsiders get co-opted into the mainstream before.  It’s never pretty.