Please Don’t Feed The Trolls
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On a message forum I’m watching right now there’s a big discussion getting started because someone approached a blogger and asked them to write a post advertising a jewelry site. Compensation for this ad was supposed to be a chance at winning a $1500 pair of earrings.
I can understand the blogger’s puzzlement as to how this jewelry dealer got her email address. I can even understand her frustration when her “Thanks, but no thanks” reply bounced. Hell, I can even understand her going to the company’s website and posting her answer on their “contact us form”.
What I don’t understand, however, is the other person who got this same offer and decided to respond by putting up a post with the requested link and then talking all through the post about what poor quality their pictures were. Then, AFTER publicly bashing them, this blogger sends her own email back to these people. When her email also bounces, what does she do? She goes back on her blog and bashes this company some more!
Now, you want the really confusing part? Okay…
The chief complaint is that they are asked to write this post for no compensation other than the CHANCE at a prize. From what I’m reading in this message thread, this seems to be a major complaint, right?
Each and every one of the people complaining has already done a post in which they had to go to the trouble of making their own video for a post about a bed. The only compensation they earned for their trouble on that post was the CHANCE at winning a bed.
Pardon me?
Maybe it is the reputation of one company versus the relative obscurity of another that makes the difference.
I can go with that.
Here’s something to think about, though: If most of the people on that forum have labeled the guy a spammer, then, rather than building up more emotional luggage to haul around for the rest of your lives, why not follow a maxim from the usenet newsgroups: “Don’t feed the trolls”.
Spammers are best ignored. It’s generally not worth the time and effort manually tracking down their email address or website just to fire off an email that’s probably going to get ignored anyway.
And, in my opinion, writing a post or two trashing the company is not exactly the smartest move one could make. What do you think are the chances of getting legitimate business offers from people who see that? My guess is, not too terribly great.
Anyway, that’s just my $0.02US
Technorati Tags: paid+blogging, forums, spammers
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