June 05, 2010

Astroturfing is bad, mmkay? Walter Apai of Techi.com and Web Design Depot admits to running paid reviews of his sites without labeling them as paid content and calls it ethical behavior. Do you want your opinion of a site to be bought? Or do you want to make up your own mind freely? (Disclosure: This links to my site, and I used to write for Techi.com but quit 'cause I smelled a phony. But I would have done the same due diligence on any other phony...)
posted by es el Queso 14 years ago
  • Yeah, I know, I'll be the first to admit it's kind of my own personal Daisy_Mae... but this kind of crap can't be allowed to spread unchecked.
  • es el Queso, buddy, friend, wonderful poster at the MoFi... I shall watch with interest to see how the compassionate leader responds.... I anticipate a sigh of disbelief, many moments with the finger posed over the delete button, a tear, quiet, sliding slowly down her cheek... and, then... Ah, what the heck... sounds like this Walter guy is a bit of an idiot..I feel worst about the fact that you evidently spent at least 3 days stewing in his crap... let it go, friend, go out in the sunshine, let Walter die a slow and musty death in the bowels and darkness of the internet pit he's dug with his lies and subversion. mmmmkay...gotta run, in the middle of composing a post about my barber, I got the shittiest haircut last week, and he's telling everyone what a great barber he is, and it's just a damn lie....
  • MonkeyFilter: it's kind of my own personal Daisy_Mae MonkeyFilter: this kind of crap can't be allowed to spread unchecked Hey, if the post is going to be deleted anyway.... *shrugs* Take a deep breath, Bob. It will grow out.
  • OK, queso, my two cents: just based on what I've seen on tech and design blogs that didn't pass my own 'smell test', I don't think what this Walter dude is doing is all that unusual. WRONG, just not unusual. (But, hey, I worked in commercial radio two decades after the Payola scandal, and that little unethical thing had never gone away) Anyway, when you spread the news that you had started writing for Techni, I checked it out and was seriously unimpressed with the non-queso content. You were too classy for the room; I'm just concerned you may not find another venue that's all that much better...
  • Already have, thanks Foopy, I start next month :) details to follow.
  • And thanks for noticing, Gram_Ma, I did it for you.
  • any mention of Daisy May should link to the thread!