Zealots or Shills???

[PadawanPrime]

After reading this post on guerilla marketing on Penny Arcade,



http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/show/21589



I was wondering whether there are any suspected "shills" here at Autopia and/or any other car care forums.



Quote from the Penny Arcade post: "I interviewed for a guerilla marketing business in San Francisco that targeted web forums.



I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could muster (they wanted 100 eventually), with a goal of 5 posts an hour. The posts had to be well thought out, and the idea was that I was to establish multiple identities with a history on the forums, so that when the timing was right a well written but subtly placed marketing post could be finessed in. And regular visitors would recognize the post as coming from a long time poster."



I know the post was directed at gaming forums, but I was wondering if it happens in car care forums to a lesser degree (fewer identities, forums, and posting requirements).



What does everyone think???



Peace.

[JayC]

As someone who runs a lot of forums, it`s not real hard to catch people trying to do stuff like this. I just caught a guy on one of our forums trying to pass himself off as Australian and peddle his own products when he in fact lives in Pennsylvania. He was using a proxy to hide his IP but with some minor vBulletin code modding, his proxy was passing his real IP in short order.



I think the degree it happens probably depends on his vigorous the forum is about it not happening. Unfortunately there are some ways to pretty much avoid detection alltogether but it would take extremes I personally wouldn`t be willing to go to.

[Bill D]

Uh oh, I can this thread possibly going the wrong direction fast judging by history. So, let me warn about that right off the bat. I will say is that you can count on the mod team to sniff out these "shills" and work diligently to keep this board as spam and shill free as possible.



Also, Padawan, in the spirit of keeping the forum as uncontroversial as possible, it would be a good idea to make a new signature, thanks.

[PadawanPrime]

I will say is that you can count on the mod team to sniff out these "shills" and work diligently to keep this board as spam and shill free as possible.

Good to know thanks for the 411.



Just read it on Penny Arcade that all. Lots of people read Penny Arcade, probably more than read Autopia. :)



But the signature stays. I`ve had it ever since I joined and it describes why I prefer Autopia to any other car care forum.



Updated: Well I see you have deleted my signature. :( So maybe what the mightytimmah said was wrong after all.

[Bill D]

Umm.. no it doesn`t. Plain and simple, its inappropriate to braodcast about another forum here. It`s not done there and it`s not going to continue here.

[wannafbody]

That is one reason that many people have been banned for multiple accounts-to make sure that people are posting for honest reasons. I`ve tested products as have many others on this forum-that doesn`t make someone a shill. If a product sucked I`d say so. Most of those who`s motives I`ve questioned in the past have either left the board, been banned or quit their detailing businesses.

[Bobby G]

The Autopia leadership has a responsibility to find and stop acts of fraud. We believe having multiple accounts is a fraudulent act, as the only reason to have multiple accounts is to commit fraud.



Senior members may remember "John Ross", who created quite a little act.



As JayC said, it is not difficult for us to identify frauds. Proxy servers, multiple IPs, multiple email accounts, even multiple computers can all be detected.

[JustinR32]

Wheeeee!



I suggest locking this... there`s really no more information or discussion necessary, it stands for what it is.





Tom (not a shill)

[Bill D]

Yep, good idea.