Equus Bellator Apex
Junior Member
I haven't seen the Departed...
Redditor claims MS employees monitoring Reddit; making positive posts about the Xbox1
- Thread starter zakislam
- Start date
You pretty much have now.
Jake Tower
Banned
NullPointer
Member
So much for subtlety, sheesh.
nintendo is doing it. they cannot go the dirty route that i think most people don't like, the "pretending to be insider" route that sony/microsoft would probably take in regards to advertising. nintendo is a fairly small company in that they don't have many product branches. if sony/microsoft got caught they can easily have plausible deniability. they're so large that "we hired an outside firm and had no knowledge of this" is a legitimate excuse that would lead to quick dismissal among media outlets. nintendo is obviously experimenting with the viral approach though. an example of two videos which popped up lately that could be nintendo funded is this and this.
i posted that guys comment in this thread too:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/search.php?searchid=853097
the definition of insanity lol
we.are.the.armada
Member
Only one way to find out...
OMG yes! YES!
No, you're deliberately overblowing the banning of the shills - they were not just Xbox One supporters, they were shills. You need to acknowledge this. If you continue this insipid martyring act "Oh woe is me, am I doth a shill now lords? Allow me to tell you about the amazing power of the Azure Cloud" then YES, people will think you're a shill.
D
Deleted member 13876
Unconfirmed Member
Hmm, something just entered my mind. MS Points are going to be gone, but what if the selling of your games just gives you Windows/Xbox Store credit rather than cash that is spendable outside the ecosystem?
uncledonnie
Banned
So are we just assuming the following is a lie?
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/06/08/microsoft-flatly-denies-astroturfing-reddit-to-bolster-its-coming-xbox-one-console/
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/06/08/microsoft-flatly-denies-astroturfing-reddit-to-bolster-its-coming-xbox-one-console/
What's worse having no used games or no games
Nightstick11
Banned
This is exactly how Kevin or whatever his name was got caught in this very thread
If you were caught with your pants down, wouldn't you try to deny what everyone already knows?
I see the Xbone made the reputation management wiki page...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management#History
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management#History
uncledonnie
Banned
I would expect a 'no comment' rather than something so specific it could have potential legal implications, but that's just me.
they aren't exactly obligated to tell us if they were doing it, i'm not sure why anyone would trust whatever PR they put out.
What legal implications are there for a quote that's not even attributed to a specific person?
I don't think any of this is going to make a blind bit of difference tbh. The One is going to flop. Hard. They could have shills aplenty posting as much bollocks as they want, it really isn't going to make any difference. I really can't believe they've fucked things up so badly tbh.
WELL THAT SETTLES THAT
NullPointer
Member
uncledonnie
Banned
They're not obligated to announce they are doing it, but they're also certainly not obligated to state that they are *not* doing it in such specific terms as to invite massive retaliation if found out.
Anyway, just put it out there to see what people thought. I wouldn't be surprised by over-enthusiastic employees doing stuff like this at any company -- I've seen it at my own. I'm a little skeptical about coordinated astroturfing though especially after reading their response.
We should call it Bish's razor... Because he also uses said razor on your account if your posts really ARE astroturfing/reputation management.
Pristine_Condition
Member
I do kinda wonder about those Kaz gifs.. who the hell would spend so much time on that?
You do realize that GAF has people from all walks of like and all occupations, don't you? There are a lot of folks on GAF who are very talented in the arts, and some are very proficient with the software used in these arts. For these folks, making a photoshop or a .gif doesn't take much time at all.
When I feel motivated to make a photoshop or .gif, it usually takes me longer to find the right source material to use to assemble the thing than it does to actually make it.
"unduly"
Haha..love this!
NullPointer
Member
That word stuck out for me too. Like all the applause and hoots during the reveal.
But considering all we know about the bone right now, I wouldn't leave the reputation management purely to MS. MS isn't the only one that gains from this DRM.
They're not on the stand here. Companies lie all the time. It's why I can't watch TV late at night without being bombarded by ads that promise me six-pack abs if I sit on my ass and wear their little belt that sends light electric shocks into my gut.
Boss Doggie
all my loli wolf companions are so moe
So DDoS from MS people?
NeoGAF needs to construct additional pylons
Before work I was reading this topic.
On my way to work there was a radio ad for a firm that does "online reputation management".
Weird coincidence.
Also, I know that "online reputation management" is widespread but mostly done in secret, didnt think firms that handle this crap would actually advertise on the radio.
On my way to work there was a radio ad for a firm that does "online reputation management".
Weird coincidence.
Also, I know that "online reputation management" is widespread but mostly done in secret, didnt think firms that handle this crap would actually advertise on the radio.
Well, getting a little extreme here... next up probably a gif of that scene from Pulp Fiction, you know, like, after they "woke up the gimp".
I've been accused of being a Sony shill, working from Microsoft, and being a Nintendo fanboy all on reddit within the last two months. While I'm sure there are plants like this, it shouldn't really make a difference because either their saying something true or spouting bullshit that they'll get called out on. All this post does is put users in a guilty until proven innocent light.
And, believe it or not, the same thing happens here and everywhere else.
And, believe it or not, the same thing happens here and everywhere else.
truestatic
Member
On average, astroturfing is probably a great idea. They just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, for once. The lesson they'll learn from this is to probably just be more discrete about it in the future around people not involved with it, especially people from outside of the company.
MajorNelson has a reddit account and has beaten the same drum repeatedly. Personally, I just hate which hunts. The user linked the OP has been downvoted for basically everything they've said. How exactly does that help the Xbox cause? I'm a PlayStation fan first and foremost but I think we're really going overboard with this. At least if this reddit comment was posted on NeoGAF there would be some accountability. On reddit there is literally none.
Haunted
Member
"Hey Microsoft, are you doing this ethically questionable thing whose only purpose is to be done in secret and would reflect really badly on your company if it were to be confirmed?"
"Nope, totally not doing that."
GUESS THERE'S NO STORY HERE
Wolves Evolve
Member
Imagine being one of these shills on NeoGAF right now.
"Uh, which threads are you doing, Jerry?"
"Well, I'm heading over to the Kill Don Mattrick and Drink His Fucking Blood OT, the Xbox One Generates Vampire Pedophiles thread, and J Allard Is The Deceiver Foretold In The Age of Prophecy Thread"
"Okay, I'll handle the rest."
I mean you can see them pop up and try to defend X1 across the internet, and you can tell the scripts they work off. I've seen the same comments crop up on Youtube, GAF, Reddit, and newssites like HuffPo.
Before anybody accuses me of being paranoid, I'm just talking about how common phrases are - which of course can happen when people read convincing arguments as well as actual manipulation of threads.
- "These changes don't affect me, and I think the family account news is huge" - the term "huge" next to the family account seems to be very common. As does the entire phrase "these changes don't affect me".
- "This is precisely how Steam works and I don't remember anybody complaining then." - this phrase, often verbatim, is what's known as gaslighting. Because of course, we fought Steam tooth and nail and it changes for the better. Steam is now less restrictive with digital games than Xbox One with physical ones by sheer fact that you can go offline. Of course nobody expects to trade in digital games (outside the EU) so the argument that you can't trade in Steam games is disingenuous and is meant to throw people off the argument.
- "How often does your internet really go out?" - this is a common one on Reddit at the moment, as if you can pitch the online nature of the forum against the topic. Like, hey, you're online now, what's the problem!
"Uh, which threads are you doing, Jerry?"
"Well, I'm heading over to the Kill Don Mattrick and Drink His Fucking Blood OT, the Xbox One Generates Vampire Pedophiles thread, and J Allard Is The Deceiver Foretold In The Age of Prophecy Thread"
"Okay, I'll handle the rest."
I mean you can see them pop up and try to defend X1 across the internet, and you can tell the scripts they work off. I've seen the same comments crop up on Youtube, GAF, Reddit, and newssites like HuffPo.
Before anybody accuses me of being paranoid, I'm just talking about how common phrases are - which of course can happen when people read convincing arguments as well as actual manipulation of threads.
- "These changes don't affect me, and I think the family account news is huge" - the term "huge" next to the family account seems to be very common. As does the entire phrase "these changes don't affect me".
- "This is precisely how Steam works and I don't remember anybody complaining then." - this phrase, often verbatim, is what's known as gaslighting. Because of course, we fought Steam tooth and nail and it changes for the better. Steam is now less restrictive with digital games than Xbox One with physical ones by sheer fact that you can go offline. Of course nobody expects to trade in digital games (outside the EU) so the argument that you can't trade in Steam games is disingenuous and is meant to throw people off the argument.
- "How often does your internet really go out?" - this is a common one on Reddit at the moment, as if you can pitch the online nature of the forum against the topic. Like, hey, you're online now, what's the problem!
No kidding. I don't there's ANY company that would openly admit to something that would even further damage them whether they have to lie or not considering the act itself that they're accused of is full of lying too...
When there's no 100% concrete proof of MS or any company caught with their pants down, then of course they aren't going to come out and confirm it and hurt themselves even more.
WeylandxYutani
Member
Unsurprising but surely you'd need a tonne of different people at MS to make any sort of significant impact on Reddit in such a way?
In terms of "upvotes" and "downvotes", yes. It's a system that works on a massive scale, to really make a difference, you would need thousands of votes and there are mechanism against that. But purely in terms of mindshare and comments on various message boards, blogs, internet sites, I'm sure that having employees dedicated to generating positive bias can be easily done.
Bulbagarden
Member
Which would be the argument Microsoft would put as to how what they're doing isn't going to "unduly influence" Reddit.
But in reality...no, you wouldn't need a lot of people necessarily. You just need to make sure that everyone else is reading what your people are saying, and that ideally they see it before they see anything else.
XANDER CAGE
Member
At the end of the day, I'm really not sure which I'm inclined to believe less: Microsoft's corporate line (no astroturfing? I find that very hard to believe), or redditors looking to capitalize on reddit's echo-chamber mentality.
it's a race to the bottom!
it's a race to the bottom!
i think a hired army of about 50 employees working full-time, coordinated could have a huge impact on social media. people bandwagon really easy.