Comments on: I’m Not Buying It - Marketing Gone Wrong

By: Justin Long

Justin Long — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:53:38 +0000

I had the same thing happen with me. Two fontdrift.com addresses, but they came from IPs that were virtually the same. The first one I let through, but the second one that came through - practically the same message - I decided to submit both the comments as spam. Ridiculous. It makes it look like it was a real person, but so obviously not… two people, same domain, two similar IP addresses, virtually the same comment? What’s the probability? Its obviously a ploy, and the thing is, it demeans the credibility of my own site if I were to let the comments through! It would have made a lot more sense if they had submitted only one comment per website. But spammers never seem to make sense.

By: Dean Whitbread

Dean Whitbread — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:26:59 +0000

Fascinating - thanks for the exposé.

By: Sam Hilliard

Sam Hilliard — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:46:26 +0000

Recently a similar comment surfaced in the moderation queue on my site, touting the title mentioned above, and posted by someone with a @fontdrift.com email address.

It bothered me right from the start; heavy on the marketing speak–to the point of insincerity–and nearly irrelevant to the parent post.

Astro-turfing is a lot more widespread than is being discussed. I personally know an executive assistant who spends a good part of her day commenting on various author blogs “related” to the subject matter of her superior’s book.

The book in question is also a Viking title, but I’m almost positive that’s a coincidence. In both cases it’s probably done without the knowledge or sanction of the publisher.

Whether the culprit is a PR firm or an overzealous author–or their overworked assistant, no matter. If someone has something valid to say, they’ll provide a real address, rather than hiding behind a fake one.

By: Stefan Holt

Stefan Holt — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:12:36 +0000

Well said Michael. This has been going on for awhile and my guess is that it will continue for a long time. Until companies understand what you and other digital marketers having be saying about being “authentic.” It seems that no matter the medium, some businesses will do just about anything to increase sales, including posting fake comments. It’s good to know that you will be calling them out. On the flip side, it’s proof that companies are recognizing the power of this digital space, so much so, that they’re willing to tarnish their own image to try and manipulate it. Hmmm, amazing if you thing about it. Just think about the significant gains they would see if only they would take the time, energy, and money to do it the right way. Not to mention street-cred. Thanks for the blog-alert.

Stefan Holt
http://www.acktivemedia.com

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:24:43 +0000

Here are links to posts from various bloggers criticizing the faulty science presented by Jill Bolte Taylor:

http://westallen.typepad.com/idealawg/2008/04/some-critical-t.html

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:40:00 +0000

Now that you know this, why not submit those comments back to Akismet as spam? They are too subtle to have caught the first time as you lay out, but now you know so why not add that information back to the larger sphere?

I’ve gotten to where I’m very wary about any comment that comes in on an older post, particularly when it is fairly generic. I hate to do a timed comment close because sometimes you get great legitimate ones after a year or three but the risk vs. reward equation slowly shifts away from that.

By: Keirsun

Keirsun — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:32:21 +0000

I agree with the PR firm assumption. Though it begs the question: do the majority of PR firms even know where the line is drawn between spam comments and legitimate comments? In this case, it would appear that they do simply because of the efforts made to veil their identities. But if they had truly presented themselves as representatives of a PR firm paid to promote the book would anyone take their comments seriously, if allow them to appear at all? Maybe the PR firm should have made more of an effort to put the book in the hands of readers/bloggers who will share their unbiased opinions.

By: Firas

Firas — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:56:57 +0000

I’d assume it’s pretty clearly a PR firm hired by the publisher.