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

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

#91

Post by D_Alex » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 1:40 AM UTC

batiudrami wrote: post #88

Pxtl wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I love Samsung hardware, but the company seems critically unable to think big. They have no apparent direction or higher thinking, they just make solidly good devices and throw gobs of money at marketing. It's bizarre - in spite of their devices and a reputation for quality gear, they still act like a cheap Korean knock-off company instead of a market leader. It's no surprise that when they try to do evil, they…

Samsung are one of the biggest and most diversified companies in the world (did you know they are the world's biggest ship builder? Or that they offer life insurance?). I don't have difficulty imagining a lack of organisation and direction in management when they have so many arms doing so many different things.

>did you know they are the world's biggest ship builder?

Nope... they are not. That would be Hyundai, and the second largest is probably Daewoo. Samsung could be third. (I worked at Daewoo and Samsung shipyards).

Tangential funny: the shipbuilding division is called "Samsung Heavy Industries", usually abbreviated to SHI. Samsung means "Three Stars" in korean. The shipyard tug was called the "Tristar". Due to unfortunate typography, the name on the ship was "SHIT ristar". True story, I have photos.

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

#92

Post by debt » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 1:41 AM UTC

it's interesting to note that doing this is illegal; i had no idea. it's also important to note that it's possible to determine whether an entity is engaged in the practice: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428222/statistics-unmas...

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

#93

Post by fpgeek » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:04 AM UTC

I just can't get over how mind-bogglingly stupid this was.

Even having decided to use dirty tricks to strengthen their overall marketing effort... What possessed them to try to go after HTC in Taiwan of all places? As HTC's stronghold, Taiwan is simultaneously the country where:

1. This sort of campaign is least likely to be effective.

2. Samsung is most likely to be caught.

3. Local regulators are most likely to be sympathetic to HTC's complaints.

I mean I understand that people generally overestimate their chances of success and underestimate the chance of being caught, but this is ridiculous.

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

#94

Post by hkmurakami » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:08 AM UTC

ujjwal_wadhawan wrote: post #86

hkmurakami wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung's antics are hardly contained to smartphones & tablets either.

It reminded me of a project we did by analysing the reviews using basic NLP techniques. http://goo.gl/TqhfL

Oh I had meant that their IP theft isn't limited to mobile devices, but you have a very good point with their reviews in general.

(with their oncoming push into notebook computers, I expect similar fraudulent reviews in that area as well)

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

#95

Post by batiudrami » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:19 AM UTC

D_Alex wrote: post #91

batiudrami wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Samsung are one of the biggest and most diversified companies in the world (did you know they are the world's biggest ship builder? Or that they offer life insurance?). I don't have difficulty imagining a lack of organisation and direction in management when they have so many arms doing so many different things.

>did you know they are the world's biggest ship builder? Nope... they are not. That would be Hyundai, and the second largest is probably Daewoo. Samsung could be third. (I worked at Daewoo and Samsung shipyards). Tangential funny: the shipbuilding division is called "Samsung Heavy Industries", usually abbreviated to SHI. Samsung means "Three Stars" in korean. The shipyard tug was called the "Tristar". Due to unfortun…

Haha fair call. I actually misread and it's listed as the 2nd biggest shipbuilder. Still, people tend to be surprised as typically when I think 'Samsung', I imagine TVs, phones and laptops.

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

#96

Post by marcosdumay » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:20 AM UTC

fpgeek wrote: post #93

I just can't get over how mind-bogglingly stupid this was. Even having decided to use dirty tricks to strengthen their overall marketing effort... What possessed them to try to go after HTC in Taiwan of all places? As HTC's stronghold, Taiwan is simultaneously the country where: 1. This sort of campaign is least likely to be effective. 2. Samsung is most likely to be caught. 3. Local regulators are most likely to be…

Etiher there are some stupid people making local policy at Samsung Taiwan, or in the places with less chances of getting caught they got away with it.

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

#97

Post by DigitalSea » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:29 AM UTC

I don't doubt this isn't an activity that most companies engage in, some more than others. There are probably a lot smarter companies who have yet to be caught and might not ever be caught. Some act surprised, but in this day and age of anyone being able to taint or inflate the reputation or a product, brand, location or business you can't really expect anything less.

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

#98

Post by benihana » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:44 AM UTC

msy wrote: post #25

Imagine the furore if Apple was caught doing this.

But they weren't. Samsung was.

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

#99

Post by homosaur » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 2:55 AM UTC

guptaneil wrote: post #34

andrewljohnson wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is just xenophobia, unsubstantiated, and unfair to all the hard working employees.

What does xenophobia have to do with it? We don't know where homosaur is from. Even in the US, there are many beloved foreign corporations, such as Nintendo. I don't think anybody discounts Samsung for being Korean, or even cares. Likewise, I doubt many people support Apple just because its American. Regarding unsubstantiated, they have been openly accused and even found guilty in multiple courts across different cou…

I'm from Murica, and yeah, I do not care about it being Korean and I don't particularly have positive feelings for Apple. I would assume in general Americans have a neutral to positive view of Korea in general so I don't know why that would matter. I do use Mac computers and have been forced by my employer to use their crap phones but I have no great affinity for them or their company.

But yeah, Samsung ripped them off hard. It really isn't even about Apple. Sure the hipsters got upset when someone had a phone that looked like their iPhones but Samsung as a company has a long history of completely ripping off all their designs. Apple was just the hottest at the time so they are who got copied.

I can come up with dozens upon dozens more examples throughout history of Samsung blatantly copying designs but I won't because who cares? Do a search of "samsung copies x" and you will find thousands of pages showing examples.

The only time Samsung doesn't copy well is when they're implementing the "and paste" variety on their phones. As a consumer I don't care but as a designer I do vaguely resent their lack of design innovation. Or even treading water.

(someone will now please link to the blog that shows the dozens of Samsung ripoffs over the years as I cannot find it in my bookmarks)

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

#100

Post by smsm42 » Thu, Apr 18, 2013, 3:51 AM UTC

Steko wrote: post #76

at-fates-hands wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, it didn't seem like they were admitting anything. They basically said the marketing company they hired did and they regret it happened. More common for big businesses who pay big bucks to get some exposure and then some marketing company pitches them unreal stats to get a sale, then commences to bending the rules and committing outright fraud to keep the paychecks coming in.

That's not being fair, that's regurgitating corporate pablum. Similarly to how every scandal in congress is blamed on a low ranking staffers whenever possible, corporate scandals are blamed on subcontracters whenever possible. Don't think for a second a company as profitable as Samsung doesn't know what it's marketers are doing.

I can easily believe in companies as big as Samsung and as profitable as Samsung a lot of people don't know what their suppliers/sub-contractors are doing. Bigger organization is, more chance somebody sleeps at the wheel, somebody takes shortcut, somebody is lazy, somebody just doesn't care. And if the money is abundant, there's less control over how exactly every cent is spent, so it could very well be that somebody hired this sleazy company to get good numbers for his annual review and his superiors were distracted by something else and didn't know a thing. I'm not saying that's what happened, but the size of the company makes it more, not less, likely. Sometimes big corps and big bureaucracies are evil, but many times they are also stupid.