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Samsung Taiwan paying students to submit fake reviews?

VulchR

VulchR

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 8, 2009
3,585
14,630
Scotland
Apparently in Taiwan Samsung is being investigated for paying students to submit anonymous bad reviews of HTC products. See BBC link here. Obviously we'll have to see whether the allegations have any basis in fact, but the possibility of guerrilla marketing is one of the reasons I supported the creation of this subforum. Seems to me that once it was created the number of newbie's making extreme, unsupported, pro-Samsung comments declined.
 
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jav6454 said:
Which is why, the Alternatives forum needs to go. Flame war en masse and troll threads everywhere.
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Most of what is posted here seems to be by people who have been members of MR long enough to be genuine. I find much of the discussion here partisan, but useful.

I am still considering getting an Android tablet, so I find the posts here helpful, but my offspring keep dipping into my pockets for various 'educational' experiences. £200 for a field trip to view rocks? Seriously? :(
 
I believe Microsoft was guilty of similar actions back in the day as well. Mostly against IBM and its OS/2 operating system.

I'd say Samsung seems to take any action it feels it needs to promote its brand over its competitor.
 
Many of the most vicious arguers (whether it be iPhone or android) are fairly new, though.

I think a line should be drawn when people start insulting each other
 
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VulchR said:
£200 for a field trip to view rocks? Seriously? :(
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:eek: !!!! £200 I'd want to more than just view rocks, I'd expect a trailer full of them for the back garden water feature...... :)



I don't know whether the article is true, but there are enough trolls on forums and on sites who are willing to post false reviews of products simply because they are from a different company without Samsung needing to pay anyone.

But could be true, who knows.....
 
So, we fought like heck to GET this sub forum, and now people want to take it away? Because there couldn't POSSIBLY be people that started with (and loved) the iPhone but chose to try other avenues and (GASP!) liked them?

Part of why I like this sub forum is because you can still interact with people that you've interacted with here before (when you were an iPhone user). This is a great forum, but the mentality (and lunacy) of some members who think Apple's $%#& doesn't stink and other platforms are the devils of the world can make it tedious at times.

People use what they like. Who is anyone else to tell them they're wrong?

Some people around here need to grow up and realize not everyone cares about their small-minded opinions.
 
maflynn said:
I believe Microsoft was guilty of similar actions back in the day as well. Mostly against IBM and its OS/2 operating system.

I'd say Samsung seems to take any action it feels it needs to promote its brand over its competitor.
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Oh my gosh I remember that when the guy from MS got exposed. It was the Canopus Forum on Compuserve (exposing my age). :)

I guess tricks of the trade haven' t changed much.

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KentuckyHouse said:
So, we fought like heck to GET this sub forum, and now people want to take it away? Because there couldn't POSSIBLY be people that started with (and loved) the iPhone but chose to try other avenues and (GASP!) liked them?

Part of why I like this sub forum is because you can still interact with people that you've interacted with here before (when you were an iPhone user). This is a great forum, but the mentality (and lunacy) of some members who think Apple's $%#& doesn't stink and other platforms are the devils of the world can make it tedious at times.

People use what they like. Who is anyone else to tell them they're wrong?

Some people around here need to grow up and realize not everyone cares about their small-minded opinions.
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Completely agree with your points. Would hate to see this sub forum go away.
 
looks like Samsung is doing something similar to what Apple did with Nokia. There goes Samsung copying Apple again. :cool:

As if HTC needs assistance from anyone to slam their products in reviews. Sounds more like whining from HTC.
 
KentuckyHouse said:
So, we fought like heck to GET this sub forum, and now people want to take it away? Because there couldn't POSSIBLY be people that started with (and loved) the iPhone but chose to try other avenues and (GASP!) liked them?

Part of why I like this sub forum is because you can still interact with people that you've interacted with here before (when you were an iPhone user). This is a great forum, but the mentality (and lunacy) of some members who think Apple's $%#& doesn't stink and other platforms are the devils of the world can make it tedious at times.

People use what they like. Who is anyone else to tell them they're wrong?

Some people around here need to grow up and realize not everyone cares about their small-minded opinions.
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Sadly its the same on most of the sub forums, what you'll find is that eventually the regulars will begin to self regulate a lot of the nonsense and will begin giving the trolls the old boot before it kicks off.

I just don't understand the mentality of people who pigeon hole themselves with brands / manufacturer and then 'hate' irrationally on anything different, yet call themselves technology lovers.

I love all tech, I don't care who it's by as long as it does what I want it to do, and I certainly realise and appreciate that just because product A is great, it doesn't make product B any less great, it just different and I prefer features of A over B.

Why people hate on things they either haven't used or experienced ? Why can't we just get some appreciation of things generally rather than focus on the negative all the time.

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Assault said:
As if HTC needs assistance from anyone to slam their products in reviews. Sounds more like whining from HTC.
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this is the kind of irrational hating post that grates. Some folks just have to get a jibe in - no matter what. It's sad.....
 
MacRumorUser said:
Sadly its the same on most of the sub forums, what you'll find is that eventually the regulars will begin to self regulate a lot of the nonsense and will begin giving the trolls the old boot before it kicks off.
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How do the regulars 'self regulate' and give trolls the boot? They don't have mod powers.

What happens, in fact, is the trolls are so persistent (some are even paid to be here) that people who are more casual and agreeable give up. When it gets really bad, at least MR makes a ghetto to segregate these posters and their echo chamber.
 
Carouser said:
How do the regulars 'self regulate' and give trolls the boot? They don't have mod powers.

What happens, in fact, is the trolls are so persistent (some are even paid to be here) that people who are more casual and agreeable give up. When it gets really bad, at least MR makes a ghetto to segregate these posters and their echo chamber.
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What happens in the console section for example is that the regulars don't respond the the trolls as they expect. They simply shut down the discussion so that it can't got any further, regardless of the regular users allegiance so to speak, they put it aside and say - stop! We know this discussion is just going to be an argument and we are not going to go there. Also troll posts are reported quickly and dealt with.

Bu fostering this approach it also gives people (the regular readers) a chance to develop a more open mindedness to others opinions too.

It doesn't always work, but its better than free for all fights. You should have been in the console forums 4 years ago or more. They were far far worse than this section, but now there isn't too much hassle at all.

The alternatives section isn't at that level yet, but hopefully in time.


And no.. I do not believe that there are people paid to be here trolling.
 
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Samsung caught paying for negative reviews

Samsung Taiwan had originally claimed that it was unaware of the FTC’s actions, but later wrote on its Facebook page that it regretted “any inconvenience and confusion from the Internet event,” adding that “Samsung Taiwan has halted all Internet marketing such as posting articles on websites.”

So... *oopsies, we're sorry we got caught*???! Still, only a fine of up to $835,000 - that's less than a million! Impressive that the largest Android vendor feels the need to lie. Wonder if they also did this to Apple.

http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/samsung-taiwan-htc-smartphones-reviews-113328
 
jav6454 said:
Which is why, the Alternatives forum needs to go. Flame war en masse and troll threads everywhere.
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This section was made because every other thread in the iPhone section was about Android. Started by an iPhone user more often then not.

Plus this is MACrumors who cares what phone a Mac owner uses. Might be an iPhone might not.

Thirdly, if someone doesn't like the content here they don't have to look at it. It's not like someone has to scroll through here to get to the iPhone section.
 
Carouser said:
How do the regulars 'self regulate' and give trolls the boot? They don't have mod powers.

What happens, in fact, is the trolls are so persistent (some are even paid to be here) that people who are more casual and agreeable give up. When it gets really bad, at least MR makes a ghetto to segregate these posters and their echo chamber.
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Sweet, where can I go to get paid to be here?
 
LOL I won't be surprised if Samsung is actually proven guilty of this. Samsung will do anything to crush HTC.
 
I believe Apple is guilty of this too. I don't have proof but what company wouldn't do something like this? It's a pretty good idea to boost sales :p
 
iPhoneXL said:
LOL I won't be surprised if Samsung is actually proven guilty of this. Samsung will do anything to crush HTC.
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This is very much small potatoes. Here is something posted previously. It may be a common practice in Asian business (vide Lockheed scandal. Yes, an American company bribing senior government, business, mobbed-up individuals but bribery often arises out of extortion) but it tellls you something:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/30/3709688/samsung-25-years-lee-kun-hee

How much did this cost them? I doubt very little. When you have a slush fund like this:

Lee Kun-hee resigned from Samsung in 2008 after being indicted and found guilty of embezzlement and tax evasion in Samsung's infamous slush funds scandal. Kim Yong-chul alleged that the company had a 200 billion won (roughly $200 million) budget for bribing prosecutors and politicians into turning a blind eye to its legal misconduct
 
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Vegastouch said:
I dont agree. There are few here and there but for the most part, this alternative section is pretty informative.
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I have to say I agree 100% and this forum is a breath of fresh air. There are a couple trolls but on the most part it's fanatic free unlike some other sites.
 
Vegastouch said:
I dont agree. There are few here and there but for the most part, this alternative section is pretty informative.
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This is one of the better forums. I would attribute it partly to the lack of down voting on posts. I've seen other forums or comment threads where some people seem to purposely post in order to generate as many down votes as possible.
 
Stuntman06 said:
This is one of the better forums. I would attribute it partly to the lack of down voting on posts. I've seen other forums or comment threads where some people seem to purposely post in order to generate as many down votes as possible.
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Yeah but you don't need a down vote button to see who is purposely trying to be a jackel. Actually the down button would be better to have. You can just vote a down for them instead of someone maybe going off and getti g into a more heated conversation. Id rather they bring it back.
 
Yeah, this is a pretty old trick. Not surprised at all. Samsung is just doing what everyone else does.
 
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