Is Neowin under attack from a Viral Marketing firm?

By Japlabot
in Site & Forum Issues

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Grand Master

jakem1

Posted
Posted

I was the one who said "I bet you are wrong". And I didn't think it needed justification. The person I was responding to was predicting that the majority of the people who pre-order the Surface are going to return it.....

This post was brought to you buy Microsoft's marketing department and the letter D :rofl:

Community Regular

dr_crabman

Posted
Posted

Why aren't people just allowed to not like windows 8?

You ask this in a thread where people not hating on W8 are accused of being payed shills? After, as HawkMan correctly noted, over a year of constant bashing by old but also very new members. Threads and comments like these really aren't helping the 'why you like W8???'-crowd and I hope the 'backlash' as you call it will become even more severe as more people are getting used to the new OS.

Grand Master

spaceelf

Posted
Posted

I still post in the comments and mostly avoid the forums wrt Win8 because of this sort of thing. The pro win8 peeps and the haters go hostile a bit too often.

I get enough of that with politics, thanks.

Grand Master

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Posted
Posted

Brought to you by the letter "M", and the symbol "$"...put them together and what do you get? A 3 year old's post. But seriously. WHO THE HELL CARES? Use whatever makes you feel like a sir. Just don't cram it down peoples' throat. Just sayin'. I COULD use a toothpick to dig a tunnel...but I much more prefer using an excavator. I don't care if it was a catarpillar, a case.....they all accomplish the same thing, so at the end of the day, you get a cookie no matter what you decide works best for you. So eat your cookie, and stop trying to start non-existant flame wars, k? K. Enough.

  • f0rk_b0mb and The Evil Overlord
  • Like 2
Grand Master

Steven P. Administrators

Posted
  • Administrators
Posted

Interesting if true, but I can assure you Neowin has nothing to do with it. In the past (long, long time ago) we were hit by a Microsoft vs Mozilla voting frenzy when we asked on the main page IE or Firefox, that's when we disabled guest voting, we were able to see that many of the votes on one side came from the same IP block lol :p

  • The Evil Overlord, Glassed Silver and ffMathy
  • Like 3
Grand Master

simplezz

Posted
Posted

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

Of course Microsoft doesn't do it, that's what marketing firms are for ;)

Exhibit A. Then the company who hires them can use the disclaimer that they had nothing to do with it if they ever get found out.

Exhibit B.

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.

Oh they do that too ;) Microsoft isn't the only company to employ marketing firms though, so who knows how many are doing it. It seems to be quite widespread though. Again, using marketing companies as proxies and complete denyability.

  • Glassed Silver, Luc2k and Corvini
  • Like 3
Grand Master

vcfan

Posted
Posted

wow, some of you other OS supporters are starting to sound real defeated even before windows 8 is out. viral marketing firm flooding neowin with positive comments to ensure windows 8 is a success? hahaha that must be the funniest one yet. the chris pirillos dad video wasnt enough? the windows guys are having a laugh at your expense.

Veteran

Shane Nokes

Posted
Posted

Of course Microsoft doesn't do it, that's what marketing firms are for ;)

Exhibit A. Then the company who hires them can use the disclaimer that they had nothing to do with it if they ever get found out.

Exhibit B.

Oh they do that too ;) Microsoft isn't the only company to employ marketing firms though, so who knows how many are doing it. It seems to be quite widespread though. Again, using marketing companies as proxies and complete denyability.

1. The first 'exhibit' you've posted shows an e-mail asking someone to right an op-ed based on information available to the public that is based on facts. There's nothing wrong or unethical there at all.

2. The second thing you posted talked about IP addresses and such, but with no proof provided. They make a claim that someone out of India was a most prolific and happened to have 2 IP addresses, but doesn't say who the IP addresses belonged to. Heck I've had cause to swap my IP address for testing reasons and such...or posted from 2 different locations...like my phone & my PC which of course have different IP addresses. That proves nothing.

My point is that general people from MS aren't very shy about just talking to people. They also don't have much of an issue calling things out that are false.

Mentor

GreenMartian

Posted
Posted

Astroturfing/sockpuppeting is a HUGE business in this day and age. From sweatshops in [insert country with more population than money] (a'la MMORPG gold farmers) to moms and pops responding to those "want to be your own boss and work from home!?!" ads.

Everyone, even governments, are using them.

Is MS doing it (or, more likely, contracted some other company)? Who knows. All I'm saying is it's hard to believe ANY reviews of ANYTHING on the internet. You can never tell...

Rookie

theignorant1

Posted
Posted

I've heard a lot of stories that Microsoft PR works this way sometimes. Not sure if I believe it, just what I've heard. But I think it's logical to see a lot of Windows 8 related traffic right now, the news is obviously going to be full of it. Just wait a few more hours and we'll return to our regularly scheduled Apple bashing.

  • THolman and Glassed Silver
  • Like 2
Mentor

Colin McGregor

Posted
Posted

so if ppl like windows 8 or surface itz becoz they ar paid to do so

wow :D

how about reading the post and understanding it. It helps make your comments seem less informed.

Rising Star

jamieakers

Posted
Posted

I don't get this tin foil hat conspiracy. If you buy into Windows 8 based purely on online reviews without so much as trying it yourself in-store then quite frankly you deserve whatever you get. What happened to good ol' fashioned "Take it for a test drive" ?

Grand Master

theyarecomingforyou

Posted
Posted

Actually, I'm more concerned about the flood of Surface and Lumia articles on the front-page - it's getting ridiculous. They get way more coverage than better selling devices like the iPad and Galaxy S3. There is a clear pro-Microsoft agenda being pushed by Neowin and it's been like this for a while now. I appreciate that the website has always had a strong focus on Microsoft but I've been visiting Neowin regularly for over ten years and there has been a very noticeable shift in agenda. Neowin is little more than a Microsoft marketing site now.

  • HoochieMamma and Corvini
  • Like 2
Apprentice

Corvini

Posted
Posted

Actually, I'm more concerned about the flood of Surface and Lumia articles on the front-page - it's getting ridiculous. They get way more coverage than better selling devices like the iPad and Galaxy S3. There is a clear pro-Microsoft agenda being pushed by Neowin and it's been like this for a while now. I appreciate that the website has always had a strong focus on Microsoft but I've been visiting Neowin regularly for over ten years and there has been a very noticeable shift in agenda. Neowin is little more than a Microsoft marketing site now.

This ^

The front page is just chock full of a sea of Microsoft articles. If you're a newcomer, you'd be mistaken for thinking the whole site is only about Microsoft. I understand Windows 8's release date is fast approaching, but my god, if this is what the front page looks like pre-release, imagine what it'll be like when the OS is finally released.

At least in the forums, it's a mixture of discussion.

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