Is Neowin under attack from a Viral Marketing firm?

By Japlabot
in Site & Forum Issues

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Grand Master

Japlabot

Posted
Posted

I have noticed that there have been a lot of comments on the Neowin news articles vehemently supporting Windows 8, while in the Forums there seems to be some optimism about the platform, but not to the same degree as the News comments and the arguments seem to be fairly balanced for/against arguments rather than just blind support (eg: "I bet you are wrong."... but no justification for it).

Upon further inspection, I've noticed that most of these users that are doing this, have 1 post or very low post counts, but none of their posts come up in search because they have all been made in News articles, none of their posts were made on the Forums, so it obscures their background (as Neowin's search engine doesn't cover news comments).

I have a strong suspicion that the reason for this pattern is because Neowin is being attacked by a Viral Marketing firm with a pro-Windows 8 agenda.

Could the Neowin admins please investigate this and see if there are any patterns regarding their IP address, browser, comment history etc. to see if this is the case?

Veteran

Shane Nokes

Posted
Posted

I have noticed that there have been a lot of comments on the Neowin news articles vehemently supporting Windows 8, while in the Forums there seems to be some optimism about the platform, but not to the same degree as the News comments and the arguments seem to be fairly balanced for/against arguments rather than just blind support (eg: "I bet you are wrong."... but no justification for it).

Upon further inspection, I've noticed that most of these users that are doing this, have 1 post or very low post counts, but none of their posts come up in search because they have all been made in News articles, none of their posts were made on the Forums, so it obscures their background (as Neowin's search engine doesn't cover news comments).

I have a strong suspicion that the reason for this pattern is because Neowin is being attacked by a Viral Marketing firm with a pro-Windows 8 agenda.

Could the Neowin admins please investigate this and see if there are any patterns regarding their IP address, browser, comment history etc. to see if this is the case?

Logic would suggest that it is because the news page is the homepage, and comments are more likely to be made there than in the forums.

  • ZakO, Matthew_Thepc and ffMathy
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Mentor

zeke009

Posted
Posted

I post more in the articles than the forums I'd say. I have an intimidating 0.36 post per day average, if anyone wants to throw some viral money my way just let me know.

  • Shane Ekanayake, skilithead and ffMathy
  • Like 3
Grand Master

zhangm Supervisor

Posted
  • Supervisor
Posted

Gee, now that you mention it, this all makes sense.

I had this notion that the high-profile and imminent releases of several huge Microsoft products including Surface, Office 2013 (RT), Windows 8, and WP8 has drawn considerable interest and perhaps prompted new users to visit NeoWIN and register. But that seems a bit far-fetched now that I think about it.

  • skilithead, greenwizard88, ffMathy and 1 other
  • Like 4
Grand Master

Elliot B.

Posted
Posted

Its coming out this week. so yeah there will be a ton of news. Wait a week for apple news to fill the feed.

He didn't say news, he said comments...

  • Glassed Silver
  • Like 1
Grand Master

simplezz

Posted
Posted

Shills / Astroturfers are nothing new. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if many are paid posters. As you say, the ratio of front page opinion is disproportionately in favour of Windows 8 compared to the forums.

Just recently on Reddit, posts criticising the Surface's resolution were downrated.

  • Elliot B. and MFH
  • Like 2
Grand Master

bjoswald

Posted
Posted

Nah, just another tinfoil hat conspiracy theory. People probably signed up, had a look around, posted once or twice and bailed. Doubt it's anything you'd need to hire a PI for. :rolleyes:

  • gawicks, ffMathy and ahhell
  • Like 3
Grand Master

Krome

Posted
Posted

My own personal conspiracy theory do support this post. I do believe a lot of Microsoft employee is being told to falsify a lot of things to gain market share. And I think they use Neowin as their leverage to their market. Heck, Microsoft might be planning to buy Neowin web site for future investment. :ninja:

Grand Master

HawkMan

Posted
Posted

So what about the people with 1-10 posts who's only posts are recent posts, all in the Win8 and Surface news articles comment sections, all talking about how bad it is in some way.

I guess those are just regular people who just want to express their opinion huh ? :rolleyes:

Grand Master

Xilo

Posted
Posted

There isn't equal moderation between Front Page News and the rest of the forums.

Mods tend to unjustly delete anything negative and issue unfair warnings to posts in Front Page News.

This is why you mostly only see supporting comments. Undue censorship. Good job Neowin!

Grand Master

jakem1

Posted
Posted

Shills / Astroturfers are nothing new. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if many are paid posters. As you say, the ratio of front page opinion is disproportionately in favour of Windows 8 compared to the forums.

I don't know. It seems to me that both the forums and the news articles are filled with trolling from the usual haters such as you, the OP, still1, etc. I know you've got an anti-MS agenda to push but you shouldn't assume that nobody is excited about Windows 8.

Veteran

~Johnny

Posted
Posted

If you honestly think this, PM a moderator or administrator with the names of people you think this about. But I can tell you looking at the logs that I can't see anything suspicious.

Maybe some people just don't care for the forums? That's not that surprising, there are many sites I go on where I only participate with the home news page, and largely ignore their forums. Or maybe you just want to find something, either way :p

Veteran

Shane Nokes

Posted
Posted

I can tell you right now from personal experience that MS does not go around going that kind of crap.

Rebuttals are open and vocal, not hidden by fake accounts and shills. If someone at MS wants to state you are full of crap they will do so openly.

Veteran

Joe User

Posted
Posted

I think that this should be investigated properly while using a Microsoft Surface with its hip and cool features, and absolutely not on devices by Apple or Google.

Seriously, it's Neowin, at least half the main page articles involve Microsoft.

Grand Master

Glassed Silver

Posted
Posted

FPN comments are way less strictly moderated, so the trollbaiting, flamebaiting, hatery etc from both sides is more intense there.

This applies to all controversial news articles by the way, not mocking W8, its fans or anything particular here...

Glassed Silver:mac

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