Redditor claims MS employees monitoring Reddit; making positive posts about the Xbox1

I was talking trash about the XBone yesterday and last night a man broke into my house and tried to kill me. As I fought him off I noticed an Xbox logo tattooed on the left side of his neck.

Be careful what you post gentleman, this bzns is srs.
 
Whoops, looks like the guy I was referring to earlier in this thread has been banned. I checked his post history and for the less than 1000 of them he had, 99% were overwhelmingly positive posts in threads about Microsoft developed games or hardware (Halo 4, Forza, Xbone).
 
I find this whole situation disgusting from these corporations. They try to manipulate us in every way they can and they dont care how they have to do it.
 
Fancy Corndog said:
Eh, I disagree. This is not the same as celebrity endorsements. Celebrities endorse things at the risk of their own image and/or credibility. This kind of thing is actively impersonating a consumer. It's not like Kim Kardashian tweeting about how much she loves the new iPhone 5, it's like a guy wearing a mask that looks like your father tucking you in at night and telling you never to buy an Android phone when you're five years old.
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Agree - and love the analogy. Marketing & Advertising are supposed to be transparent - I'm supposed to know I'm being marketed to hence "paid advert" sections in magazines, etc.

This is simply exploiting a lack of regulation to use disingenuous and misleading methods to try and advertise, market and influence. For me the worst aspect is simple : the practice, once suspicion is aroused, hugely harms the site in question.

Just an hour ago I see a junior post something and think "hmm". I don't want nor need that shit. I'm perfectly happy navigating the honest crazy folks on the internet and I don't want to feel I'm actually surrounded by dishonest sane folks working for some Evil Corporation TM.

This kind of shit should seriously be regulated and controlled. It's just the modern version of paying some poor sod off the street to say some shit for you on a street corner or the like but that doesn't excuse it nor make it right and just as way back when this kind of stuff should always be frowned upon and bring negative impressions when found out.
 
GrizzNKev said:
Whoops, looks like the guy I was referring to earlier in this thread has been banned. I checked his post history and for the less than 1000 of them he had, 99% were overwhelmingly positive posts in threads about Microsoft developed games or hardware (Halo 4, Forza, Xbone).
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On GAF?
 
iNvid02 said:
bcObN.jpg
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I lost it when I saw that picture. I remember we were playing Kotor II, and then there was this random amphibian who said ''iguana!'' and we all started laughing, it was hilarious, ah memory triggers.
 
While reading this on Reddit I came across that NSA behemoth building article. Oh my. That made my day. Nice to know our government loves us. :(
 
kurbaan said:
Microsoft has a pretty strict policy against Astro Turfing for employees.
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Yea, probably, but most companies don't consider subcontractors, consultants, mercenaries or hit men to be employees.

If those people are on gaf, they are not earning their pay.
 
Does this really work though? I mean these people weren't convincing anyone here by any stretch.

Maybe we're too hive minded? Cannot be assimilated by the MS collective?
 
hey, listen? who are you? ARE YOU FROM MICROSOFT? they are among us... guys, i am not from microsoft. You all believe me, right? RIGHT?!!
 
Deadly Cyclone said:
Don't all companies do this? I mean they have paid social media people. What better way than to post on Twitter/FB/Reddit/etc. and try to make your product look good.

Not saying it isn't kind of sketchy, but I think more than just MS do this.
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Yes. All companies >50 people have 'community managers' whose job it is to create a positive webpresence with multiple fake accounts. And most smaller companies do it too, only as an aside. At some point we must reach a singularity where ever poster is shilling to other shillers.
 
I couldn't make out exactly what he was posting, but I presumed he was doing RM (reputation management) and asked my boss about it later. According to my boss, MS have just brought in a huge sweep of SMM managers to handle reputation management for the Xbox One. If you're unfamiliar with reputation management (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management), it is basically what it sounds like.

Social media managers doing RM focus on providing positive posts, likes and shares to promote the brand on social media sites and forums - usually posing as the 'happy customer' archetype through a multitude of accounts. In the last year or so, Reddit has become more and more important to an overall RM strategy.

It also often involves 'debunking' people who make negative or critical comments about the brand online. I've done this myself for numerous clients before (even on Reddit once, sorry!). It is fairly standard procedure, although usually not so much for huge companies like Microsoft. I don't know why such a huge company needs to devote energy to this, because their brand is already extraordinarly well-known. But in any case, they seem to be putting a BIG focus on it for the Xbox One. Not only in-house; they're also dishing out the big bucks for some pretty high-profile marketing firms to do the work for them. Reddit will absolutely be a part of that strategy, and the couple of guys I saw were probably just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm a fairly die-hard gamer and Redditor who frequents this sub a lot. After seeing all the massive debates about the Xbox lately, I thought you guys would probably find that little morsel to be interesting. There's a good chance that many of the positive posts/comments we're seeing about the Xbox One have been posted by employees from one of those marketing firms. It's fairly standard to diss your competitors too, so I'm guessing some of the negative posts about it might even be from Sony. That's just a hypothesis, though it wouldn't be the first time a seeming-crapstorm among "Redditors" was actually just a proxy war between marketing employees.
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This is despicable behaviour.
 
Microsoft's Cockiness has put them in this mess. They were on top I have a feeling they are going to trail behind for a long period of time.
 
benny_a said:
I think you're confused.

I have lots of disagreement with SneakyStephan but you must be thinking of a different dude. What he cares about on GAF are games and technology (preferably PC technology.)

Maybe you meant "SenjutsuSage"?
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Oh, yeah, whoops I think you're right!
 
Why is this surprising? After the reveal in May MS has been on the offensive/defensive with the system almost every headline. This is going to get worse I imagine before it gets better at this rate. Only E3 will tell though...
 
And so many of them are just so terrible at their jobs. All those juniors from Redmond whose entire post history is made up of MS defense posts...

This practice is absolutely disgusting. People who have genuine opinions are being shat on with dismissive replies and PR spin. Any Gaffers that genuinely support the Xbone should be upset about this too, since now their own opinions and motives are being put into question because of the shitty behavior that these paid shills have been displaying recently.
 
Don't want to be marked a shill for Microsoft? Just don't say anything positive about Xbone.

*Neiteio turns around and receives $$$-branded bags from Sony and Nintendo*
 
I don't doubt that Microsoft engages in these practices but I don't know why I'm supposed to take some random redditors' word for it.
 
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