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The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#241

Post by smacktoward »

illuminate wrote: post #173
smacktoward wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me. I'd be more shocked if the opposite were true -- if the site publisher wanted to remove a comment, and Disqus, for whatever reason, wouldn't let them. Disqus isn't supposed to be making editorial decisions on their customers' sites; if someone wants to be an idiot and moderate out non-cheerleading comments, it's not Disqus' place to override that decision.

""Collusion" seems like overstating the case a little to me." Aren't they editing the comments for their customer?

Why would they be? Sites using Disqus can moderate their own comments, and Disqus claims to do no moderation beyond that -- see http://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466223-who-d....

I suppose you could come up with a theory where The Atlantic talked/bribed Disqus into doing the moderation for them, but it seems much more straightforward to assume that it's the admins at The Atlantic who were filtering comments.

Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#242

Post by cskau »

MartinCron wrote: post #147
brown9-2 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is just a brilliant move by someone at The Atlantic who wanted to demonstrate how bad of an idea sponsored content can be?

I wouldn't burn down my house to demonstrate how dangerous it is to store kerosene in the garage.

But would you burn down your office?

Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#245

Post by retrogradeorbit »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #23
swang wrote: post #18

So they're essentially letting Scientology use The Atlantic's "brand" to trick people into reading this? (Yes, I know it says Sponsored Post) This, on top of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4108929 and http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/06/13/reddit-... makes me pretty weary of trusting anything I read on TheAtlantic ever again

Yep, will never read anything from the atlantic again, just added it to my host file.

Not the first time they've published complete horseshit: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/the-ha...

Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#246

Post by retrogradeorbit »

dinkumthinkum wrote: post #72
ryguytilidie wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, will never read anything from the atlantic again, just added it to my host file.

Isn't that a bit much?

It would be if this were some kind of isolated case of bad journalism. But in my opinion of the Atlantic (formed well before this debacle) I'd say:

"Isn't that a bit late?"

Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#247

Post by voltagex_ »

malandrew wrote: post #205
voltagex_ wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, they just destroyed my trust in them. Granted, I'm just one person, but I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way.

You most definitely are not. I'm disgusted as well by this. The concept of advertorials is reprehensible.

I'm not against advertorials but a "religious" ad in a supposed secular magazine? Yuck.

Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#249

Post by lmm »

rdl wrote: post #171
contingencies wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read a whole issue like that on Libya on a trans-Atlantic (no pun intended) flight for a Christmas party in London. Couldn't decide where to go for the break, so figured I'd hit Libya, but it was too opaque trying to sort out how to acquire a visa, so I went to Tunisia instead. Then the revolution and the whole Arab Spring kicked off, hah!

I almost went to North Africa and the Middle East in September, 2001, just because it would have been a fun and obscure trip (probably would have skipped Libya, but Tunisia/etc. for classical reasons).

A friend of mine went six weeks after it all kicked off, said he really enjoyed it and never felt in danger.

Re: The Atlantic posts sponsored Scientology story, moderates comments

#250

Post by hipsters_unite »

westicle wrote: post #108
sentiental wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fear what will happen when the market for pure misinformation is fully realized. When it can be delivered as seamlessly as the real thing, the opportunity for profit is massive. The Atlantic is an example of media engineering for profit that fails to trick us -- but it is much closer than sponsored content has been in the past and certainly more effective at getting me to consume it than a regular ad. Call me a con…

For a (hopefully) fictional example of how this could already be happening without our knowledge, check out the film "The Joneses". Pretty entertaining film too.

I don't know. Although we are talking tail end of the 90s, there's passing reference in No Logo/The Shock Doctrine (forget which, but think the former) by Naomi Klein to lifestyle marketers that would follow a couple of people in their target demo around without their knowledge.
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