And you all thought I was a psychotic bad-tempered paranoid.

DeVore

http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/2006/02/01

Read that. Read the 4th paragraph to the end. Read it and realise that everything you hold dear online means nothing to these f*cking parasites.

If you think it wont happen here, you are already wrong. We have discovered major Irish companies engaging in their own hamfisted attempts at this (IOFFL.... Esat and the April Fools day incident? They arent alone by any stretch of the imagination).

They destroyed Usenet. They have wrecked email. Complacency will allow them to insinuate themselves into our communities unless there is a strong negative, monetary-damaging response from the very communities they are seeking to weasel their way into.


7 years ago people thought I was a f*ckin' nut case because of my near pathelogical dislike of people just like that. Usually I like being right, this time I'm very very sorry.
In this case I really DO hate to say I told you so.

DeV.

ps: before someone points it out, yes this doesnt mean I'm not a psychotic bad-tempered paranoid.

Asok

We all know what we have to do but we can't say it until they are on the trains to the camps.

DeVore

I prefer the more politically correct "third of the population on a spaceship going there ahead of us..." but I hear you Asok, I hear you.

DeV.

Hobbes

Think we need to start composing a plan on how to combat it.

I see that NcSoft have used this service so already posted on thier forums.
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=4687008&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#4687008

Hagar

"Let vigilence be our watchword" - Someone or other

Sparky

I say we go to their houses and burn them out, take their pcs and smash them in front of them.

While we are on the subject
i was looking for a place to find info on a new book, ive tried google but to no avail, i cant find anything.
........yada yada
Later on..oh i found somewhere my really old computer illiterate granny told me to look, she said try www.boards.ie

Cunts

Beruthiel

any person I don't know posting a link could now be a shill?
kill them all Machine
kill them all

solas

www.boards.ie is so very educational.

stevenmu

So how much did Penny Arcade pay for the link ?



Just kidding, I wonder what the legalities would be of publishing lists of companies that use these tactics. As far as I'm concerned any company needs to resort to this kind of advertising is inherently untrustworthy and not to be dealt with.

Hobbes

The Company actually prints out a list of companies they deal with. Still looking for an official comment from NcSoft and I have a pro-virus marketter spamming the thread.

BuffyBot

They have wrecked email. Complacency will allow them to insinuate themselves into our communities unless there is a strong negative, monetary-damaging response from the very communities they are seeking to weasel their way into.

Indeed..very disturbing, but unsurprising. They'll try to wheedle their way into anything they can in order to "engage the community". Yes another addition to my list of "things I hate people trying to do to online communities".

seamus

I have noticed a new breed of spammer appearing of late. The usual "Look at me"'s are there, but there are other subtle ones, who ring alarm bells in my head, but look and feel like a Joe Soap.

Hagar

Just bells? So the voices have gone away then?

seamus

Ah the bells are OK. It's guys ringing the bells that drive me nuts

Hobbes

Reading through google from the CEO's name ("Scott Meldrum").

It is quite incredible to the level of spam they will generate, and I thought the biki viagra spam was bad.

This site has more information on it and how they work.
http://www.womma.org/wombat/agenda.htm

DeVore

I prefer two lyrics from Rage against the Machine.

"Know your enemy" and "Anger is a gift".

I shouldnt have look at that Womma.org site, I really shouldnt have.

DeV.

Hobbes

yea I looked at a fair few of the presentations, quite an eye opener on what they do.

Its like one of those Horror movies where the protagonist sees an evil Alien crash land, tries to get help only to find they took the planet over several years ago and hes the last one left.

damien

No longer living in that bubble then are we?

December Son

Meh. doesnt surprise me, doesnt bother me.
These are the very same companies that exploit thier workers like EA, with 7 day weeks, no holidays and poor pay, you think they wont come onto your precious forums or chat rooms and try to make a bit of extra cash? Think again. If i see someone posting 'wow well i hear the new tiger woods game is great, heres a link!' im not gonna click on it even tho i hate golf games just cause its there. Is this any worse than having a billboard stuck in your face every day on the street? You dont want to see it, you probably dont care about the product, but there it is, invading your precious air. I dont agree with it at all, im just saying it doesnt surprise me in the slightest, and theres not much people can do about it, so why get your panties in a bunch.

On a side note, if anyone ever recommended NBA LIVE 2006!! to me, id beat them about the face and neck with a garden hose

stevenmu

The difference with a billboard ad is that you know it is an ad, it doesn't pretend to be your friend and then start recommending products in an offhand sort of way.

Companies also buy the space on billboards off advertising companies who in turn buy it off the land owner, they're not trying to make easy money by taking advantage of the hard work done by others at no profit to themselves.

edit: A lot of boards users buy products based on the recommendations of other users. If a product is good quality or good value it will gain a reputation among the people here and be recommended to those asking. If a product needs to rely on this type of stealth marketing, then it must be because it is poor quality or value, but the impression is created that it isn't. Even canny shoppers who decide to check up on a product's reputation before buying could be conned by the reputation invented for it by a marketing company.

Sarky

People actually do this? Wow, I know nothing about cynicism.

So what, precisely, can we do to stop it?

Crucifix

The idea of having to be constantly suspicious of your comrades is not a nice one.

DeVore

Sarky wrote:

People actually do this? Wow, I know nothing about cynicism.

So what, precisely, can we do to stop it?

We can man the barricades.

Firstly we dont get a lot of this because I've made damned sure that the downside to getting caught is as bad as I can make it. Esat lost a Director I believe over their incident.

When someone like this is found we ban the company from ever being referred to again, denying them any future possibility of the "oxygen of publicity" to use Ms Thatchers words.

We make it very public, very angry and as malicious as feasible. Make sure everyone knows they used these underhand tactics where possible. Kill the customers of these sorts of scum companies and they will die as a result. Unfortunately we're still a small boat on a big pond. All the same, we can make it extremely risky for a company to use these types of tactics (why do you think they hire an intermediary, they don't want to be connected directly to such tactics themselves). The best thing we can do IS to connect them, publically with what they have had done on their behalf.

Hit them where it hurts, if they are trying to promote a product, we boycott it. We out them, publically. We humiliate them and/or in the worst cases instigate online activists tactics. Mail bomb the CEO, put a No-X image in your sig highlighting the events, make someone somewhere squirm and make sure everyone knows it.

I once used Usenet until Canter and Siegel (look them up) initiated the first spam. At the time complacancy reigned as we looked with awe upon what was being built and presumed nothing could stop it. That was 15 years ago and Usenet by and large is a wasteground of viagra spam with pockets of users but so few in number that it became cost-uneffective to spam them. Their own growth was what attracted these parasites just as the growth of online communities is attracting them now.

Back then spam was spam, you could tell it a mile off.
Now the tools we have (like my personal favourite, Reason[tm] )make it easy to spot and scrub spammers. Bots are foiled by pattern recognition images, scripts make cleaning it all up less then 12 clicks.
But just as we have improved our arsenal of weapons so Darwinnian theory has kicked in and they have evolved more and more cunning ways to counter us. Its a classic arms race.

If you think I'm being melodramatic about this, couching it in the language of war you are wrong. We're already at war. They are clearly organised, unrepentant, determined and aware that we are resistent and unwilling targets. Read their site and realise they are prepared to fight for your "eyeballs".

DeV.

DeVore

Crucifix wrote:

The idea of having to be constantly suspicious of your comrades is not a nice one.

Thats what annoys me, thats what they do to us, thats what it ends up with and the real damage of their fast buck systems.

DeV.

Stark

Wow, it's that age old paranoid fantasy - "They walk among us" come to life

I call shillhunt!

RuggieBear

Suddenly Tar_Alderion's massive post count looks suspicious

Let the witch hunt begin

rsynnott

This one was quite clever; didn't get noticed for a few months: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054860781&highlight=perfumeireland

Keep an eye on people posting about perfumeireland.com

Nevyn

DeVore wrote:

ps: before someone points it out, yes this doesnt mean I'm not a psychotic bad-tempered paranoid.

It's the fact your our psychotic bad-tempered paranoid that makes all the difference.

There are several job sites and when you enter into the search working from home and broadband lo and behold there are details of working with a couple of promotional companies for doing this very thing.

Certain forums will be more likely targets it will be up to the mods to educate themsleves on the matter and keep an eye, but the rapid growth of boards.ie over the last year it will be harder and harder to tell what is a genuine sharing and what is product placement and pushing.

rsynnott

RopeDrink wrote:

How about creating a sticky thread here so that people can copy links into it that could be potential shilling (Is that what it's called?) and have them investigated... FeedBack would be best, or at least an open system forum, so that these people (if they notice our intent to slap this **** around the U-bend on sight) will perhaps think twice about bothering?

The Sigpo of Shilling?

Good idea And potential shrilling? Quiet back there!

Cake Fiend

Can I have my avatar changed to a Pepsi symbol?

No particular reason...

KdjaCL

This is the internet....anyone think PA is just taking the piss and just got every single forum out there sceptical of every other user and post?

This is the 5th time i have seen this today, so PA is working its own viral wondershow all with links to PA. These guys are funny and very clever and known to do **** like this before ala jack Thompson saga.




kdjac