Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web • Hacker News Board

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#11

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:10 PM UTC

orangethirty wrote: post #6

hosay123 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You decide.. https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=infoman The domain was registered one day after the HN account was registered, first post wasn't made for 14 days (aka. when the username no longer appears in green). In his defence, if he is a shill, he's not very good at it. Edit: hnsearch picked up a hellbanned post (it should appear on the front page, but it doesn't) at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=55…

Google has a little spammer loose on HN. Neat.

that makes this submission extra funny:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5440466

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#12

Post by homosaur » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:11 PM UTC

lutusp wrote: post #7

The title is a bit misleading -- the story is not that Samsung used devious marketing methods, the story is that they were caught. Any number of companies hire shills to post phony endorsements, the trick is not to get caught. In fairness to companies like Samsung, if everyone is doing it, to stand on principle is to risk being trounced by those who don't.

We are talking about Samsung here, this is the company that has pretty much ripped off every successful design in its history. I'm fairly certain they've never stood on principle for anything but a hearty office chuckle.

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#13

Post by cgh » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:12 PM UTC

umsm wrote: post #2

It's sad that samsung would do this... Is it commonplace for companies to do this?

Yeah, I worked for an iOS game company that asked its employees to give its games positive reviews in the App Store and everywhere else they could think of. I don't think many of us bothered - I certainly didn't.

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#14

Post by orangethirty » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:12 PM UTC

Kylekramer wrote: post #10

orangethirty wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has a little spammer loose on HN. Neat.

Seems much more likely to be the people behind glass-apps.org than Google.

I'm not criticizing them, its neat to find something like this here. I can find it on almost any other site out there, but HN is not the place to game. Still, who knows if glass-apps.org is getting a nice check from Google. Not a bad thing, either. I know of companies whose sole reason of existence is to do this for bigger companies. Its just neat. That's all.

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#15

Post by taopao » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:12 PM UTC

hosay123 wrote: post #4

umsm wrote: post #2

It's sad that samsung would do this... Is it commonplace for companies to do this?

You decide.. https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=infoman The domain was registered one day after the HN account was registered, first post wasn't made for 14 days (aka. when the username no longer appears in green). In his defence, if he is a shill, he's not very good at it. Edit: hnsearch picked up a hellbanned post (it should appear on the front page, but it doesn't) at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=55…

Looks like a bot that programmatically shovels trendy topical matter from RSS into HN. The submission and article headlines are identical, down to the curly quotes - smells of automation to me.

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#16

Post by tosseraccount » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:14 PM UTC

No one is shocked to hear that astro turfing is going on on the internet.

A few too many "English Major style" reviews and it's pretty obvious.

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#17

Post by guelo » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:15 PM UTC

Geee wrote: post #5

umsm wrote: post #2

It's sad that samsung would do this... Is it commonplace for companies to do this?

It's exactly what you would expect from a company like Samsung.

A multi-billion dollar multinational conglomerate?

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#18

Post by orangethirty » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:15 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #11

orangethirty wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has a little spammer loose on HN. Neat.

that makes this submission extra funny: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5440466

Meta-spamming. (:

Blog post in 3...2...1...

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#19

Post by mixedbit » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:18 PM UTC

umsm wrote: post #2

It's sad that samsung would do this... Is it commonplace for companies to do this?

And is it illegal? I'm pretty sure paying for fake negative reviews of competition is illegal, because there is a clear victim. But how about positive reviews of companies' products?

Re: Samsung admits to posting fake user reviews on the web

#20

Post by jacquesm » Wed, Apr 17, 2013, 9:18 PM UTC

Kylekramer wrote: post #10

orangethirty wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google has a little spammer loose on HN. Neat.

Seems much more likely to be the people behind glass-apps.org than Google.

Confirmed:

http://information-man.com/impressum/

"Verantwortliche Ansprechperson: Iwan Uswak"

information-man -> infoman

whois glass-apps.org:

Domain Name:GLASS-APPS.ORG

Registrant ID:AT1001919805572 Registrant Name:Iwan Uswak