Is Neowin under attack from a Viral Marketing firm?

By Japlabot
in Site & Forum Issues

 Share

Recommended Posts

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.

  • ffMathy, ZakO and Matthew_Thepc
  • Like 3
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, ffMathy and skilithead
  • 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.

  • Matthew_Thepc, greenwizard88, skilithead 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:

  • ahhell, gawicks and ffMathy
  • 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

  • The Evil Overlord
  • Like 1
This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Microsoft Edge gets tons of security features, including AI model that can see your screen

      By tsupersonic · Posted

      did they not learn anything from the Recall fiasco?
    • Internet Download Manager (IDM) 6.43 Build 2

      By Copernic · Posted

      Internet Download Manager (IDM) 6.43 Build 2 by Razvan Serea Internet Download Manager (IDM) is a tool to increase download speeds by up to 8 times due to its smart dynamic file segmentation technology. Unlike other download managers and accelerators, Internet Download Manager segments downloaded files dynamically during download process, and it reuses available connections without additional connect and login stages to achieve the best possible acceleration performance. Comprehensive error recovery and resume capability will restart broken or interrupted downloads due to lost connections, network problems, computer shutdowns, or unexpected power outages. All popular browsers are supported IDM integrates seamlessly into Google Chrome, FireFox, Microsoft Edge, Opera, Safari, Internet Explorer, Maxthon and all other popular browsers to automatically handle your downloads. You can also drag and drop files, or use Internet Download Manager from command line. The program supports proxy servers, ftp and http protocols, firewalls, redirects, cookies, authorization, MP3 audio and video content processing. IDM includes web site spider and grabber IDM downloads all required files that are specified with filters from web sites, for example all pictures from a web site, or subsets of web sites, or complete web sites for offline browsing. It's possible to schedule multiple grabber projects to run them once at a specified time, stop them at a specified time, or run periodically to synchronize changes. Easy downloading with one click When you click on a download link in a browser, IDM will take over the download and accelerate it. You don't need to do anything special, just browse the Internet as you usually do. IDM will catch your downloads and accelerate them. IDM supports HTTP, FTP, HTTPS and MMS protocols. Changes in Internet Download Manager 6.43 Build 2: Resolved the problem that caused a "403 Forbidden" error when downloading some files Fixed a problem causing IDM download panel not to appear on some websites Fixed a bug that caused a crash when converting some TS files to MP4 Download: Internet Download Manager 6.43 Build 2 | 11.9 MB (Shareware) Links: Internet Download Manager Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Windows 11 is getting redesigned taskbar settings in new build

      By Captain_Eric · Posted

      It's in Experimental (26H2). Settings->Windows Update->Windows Insider Program. Then a) select Experimental, b) below that, select "Advanced Options" (where you will see the three options for "Experimental" builds -> select 26H2 (name change from 25H2 is rolling; so might be 25H2)
    • Why it's almost impossible to produce a smartphone in the United States

      By Shadow8 · Posted

      I am not a US citizen nor a Trump fan. Respect to both left and right. But I will, for the sake of fun, predict something for my own. There will come a day when the US and China will collide like titans ( over Taiwan or anything else ). Then, on that day, some people in this comment section will realize how good an idea it was to become independent in areas like that. ( Or atleast try )
    • Microsoft Edge gets tons of security features, including AI model that can see your screen

      By Usama Jawad96 · Posted

      Microsoft Edge gets tons of security features, including AI model that can see your screen by Usama Jawad Microsoft Edge may not be the most popular browser out there, but it does receive quite frequent updates that sometimes bring surprising new features and axe others that are not as popular. Now, Microsoft has detailed some of the new security enhancements that it has introduced in Edge for Business, typically used by commercial customers. Microsoft has emphasized that security features are baked into Edge for Business and offer native integration with security and governance tools like Defender and Purview. Browser sessions are governed by default on managed devices but can also be governed through dedicated work profiles on unmanaged devices. An important aspect in this area is controlling the use of shadow AI. We have talked about this before, but it essentially restricts employees from using unsanctioned AI apps through data loss prevention (DLP) policies, with Edge redirecting them to trusted AI services like Microsoft 365 Copilot. This feature, available as a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) license, ensures that confidential data never exits AI boundaries set by your organization in Purview. Additionally, Microsoft also has strong DLP policies for contractors. Contractors leveraging a Entra ID-joined work profile provisioned by their contracting company on a device managed by their actual employer can be restricted from downloading files locally. In such scenarios, the file is saved on the contracting firm's OneDrive rather than being downloaded locally. Another useful Edge security feature disallows copying and pasting from unmanaged locations and apps. Similarly, DLP policies can be configured at a granular level to restrict screenshots or downloading of files from certain locations. In the same vein, IT admins can block the installation of extensions, hosted apps, themes and scripts, and control if users can install extensions from external locations. They can also enable the installation of specific extensions and allow users to request access to certain extensions, so that they can be managed on a case-by-case basis. Finally, Edge for Business now has an on-device AI model that uses computer vision to see what's on your screen and block potentially malicious content immediately. This does not rely on site reputation, as it simply monitors what is being displayed on your screen, which means that it is effective against malicious content that takes over your screen and employs scareware tactics. Since this is an on-device AI model, it does use your system's resources, so it's enabled by default only on devices with at least 2GB of RAM and four CPU cores. You can find more details in the Microsoft Mechanics video here.

  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      Zeynel earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • One Month Later
      JKR earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Dedicated
      Asgardi earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • Conversation Starter
      jessse3334 earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Reacting Well
      JuvenileDelinquent earned a badge
      Reacting Well

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      495
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      247
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      154
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      86
    5. 5
      macoman
      65
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!