Astroturfing, was wondering how much of this may be going on on MN.

[foxytocin]

Seeing that it is a big and popular site, some of this must be going on. Not necessarily in the more elaborate form as you may find in the wiki entry and other definitions on the web but more in the sense of people pretending they are something they are not.

Eg, I remember not so long ago a link to a young man's blog which states that he works for a PR company representing a child care product that is in a v competitive and lucrative market and that the company reps like himself posted positive comments on the product when the opportunity strikes.

Another one I can think of off the top of my head is the Medela Mom Mavens scam where mothers are hired to big up Medela on parenting message boards whenever the opportunity lends itself. Politics imo is ripe for this sort of seeding of ideas. I have seen threads about infant feeding and weaning which have made me wonder if the poster is paid by a formula company too.

I see some threads on here and I wonder sometimes if the OP has an 'agenda'. But then again that may be the cynical and paranoid side of me showing.

Thoughts, anyone?

No it is another product and not steam mops either.

I dont want to name it because firms get very litigious but it was very noticeable and there were three in a row a few days apart.

we are talking about the obvious astroturfing incidences but that leads me to wonder about less obvious ones which could go on successfully for a long time with the posters gaining credibility if they are more sophisticated than the Chuggington ones, for example.

As BeenBeta says, sometimes I wonder if someone with another interest is pretending to be on the 'other side' of the discussion and then says deliberately inflammatory stuff in order to put people off supporting those who are true to the general idea. (don't know if I have explained that properly) Almost like a long term psychological arrangement.

grimma - yes, that was it!

it made no sense at all.

reading those threads felt like being on acid! [boggle]

I once toyed with the idea of creating a Mornington Crescent boxed set. Do you think MN would let me advertise it on here?

@CaptainNancy

You just have to keep reporting posts as you see them.

I would like to know how many posts get reported daily for advertising (rather than personal attacks, trolling etc)

Actually, you folks are pretty darn good at reporting this kind of thing - you certainly keep us busy!

But we're aware there are an increasing number of people who think a crafty post or two on Talk will get them some free advertising on MN. And we're also aware how annoying it us for the rest of us.

So, do please keep reporting them

Ok Helen here's one for you then!

I'm sorry I missed the Haliborange kills otters thread.

Still have fond memories of a cheese strings one. We had fun with her before reporting and deleting

I was accused of working for a germ-killing firm Dmests the other day when I posted about FlushTracker which was developed by "Lean Mean Fighting Machine" (you know, they did the Dr Pepper FaceBook campaign that went badly wrong last summer)...

This site tracks a flush from any loo (and was for a November 2010 campaign), admittedly for Dmests but in the context I was writing, not one where they would get much praise or glory, as it was more about LMFM moving right into the sewers :)

I used TinyURL for the link so it cannot be tracked back to this thread on MN.

If you wish you can check the destination using preview.tinyurl.com/FlushTracker

@snice

Ok Helen here's one for you then!

Thanks you