Meet the anonymous trolls of AdNews
For the seven people who are intensely interested in the activities of Australia’s marketing trade press, this one is just for you.
You may have noticed that there’s been something of a furore over anonymous comments this week.
As I wrote on Monday, we became aware in July that the Communications Council was talking about the issue. On August 18, the chairman and CEO of the organisation both dropped by our office to discuss the topic. I agreed I’d be happy to sit down with the other editors to explore whether there was any common ground.
On August 30, AdNews headed for the moral high ground and unilaterally launched its “I ain’t afraid of no trolls” campaign.
You’ll always be our favourite Mumbo
;—)
I’d rather you left “Pamela” out, Dr. The rest of your argument is enough, even if you have your suspicions you don’t have as good as proof as the other comments.
On the rest of it though – yeah, they’re douches.
Hmmph! AdNews broke this a month ago.
Old news…
amateur night
…oops.
Let me introduce exhibit A your honour….
Good to see Mumbo calling these people out! Well done.
PS I’m not from Mumbrella. Feel free to publish my IP address.
There’s nothing more interesting for a reader than journalists having a go at other journalists. Except for grass. Grass is more interesting.
Does anyone actually read AdNews?
Tim, may I suggest a contest where the best comment from a competing website wins a prize every month – like ad of the month.
There could also be a prize for the highest number of fake comments.
They could be called ‘the Annies’ short for anonymous.
Firstly there’s a difference between being simply anonymous and being an anonymous troll. Trolling is the act of intentionally baiting by being controversial, offensive, inflammatory or off topic.
Secondly I think it’s a bit rough associating a companys initiative with being able to control all of the people that are in the building. I guess if they were smart they’d implement a proxy server and simply block the mumbrella site.
Lastly every post you ever write about adnews is a troll, in fact your business model seems to be based on trolling. Bait a competitior, get their name in your search results watch the hits come in.
(p.s not associated with adnews in any way, hey you can even check my ip!)
I think the trick, really, would be to have readers comment anonymously if you liked, but to flag them as such, as opposed to logged in accounts. Many sites do this and hide non-logged in users or comments with very low ratings.
At least getting a sense of consistency from contributors would help, even if it’s a pseudonym.
1. Rating comments up and down by users. (Also enables more anonymous feedback, without an “I agree with Pamela”
2. Rating articles (removes the “nice post” comments)
3. Really, people getting caught by the IP trick still? Just goes to show, common sense isn’t.
4. Allow people who want to login with a consistent username to do so.
You sure showed those gronks over at Schelbyville Tim!
It will be a matter of time before all community management source IP addresses will be accountable. Even the typical branded community site has paid moderators to feed in structured and strategic commentary. I realise it is a viable way to control a community for good purpose most of the time, but the ethics of it do concern me.
I think this is one thing Mumbrella is doing well is to check the IP sources of comments and have stopped issues in the past that I have noted.
I have to say that there are times when I have been suspicious that some of the inflammatory comments that are posted on Mumbrella’s own site has the source IP of their own – hmm…. can’t prove it of course. Can you say categorically, Tim, that your team do not post comments under other people’s names EVER on your own site?
Hi Anne,
I’d be nervous of saying that categorically. I’d be surprised though.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
I just don’t see what all the fuss is about.
What a bunch of losers for doing such a low act!
I’m upset about besmirching the great name of Tottenham Hotpsur (COYS) …we’ve got enough of our own subterfuge accusations on important issues – don’t need to get involved in this little shenanigan…….Leave us out of it Mr Ad News or whoever the troll actually is!
Wow, this makes me feel like cancelling my AdNews subscription. Disappointed that a rival would stoop so low. Good on Mumbrella for outing them. And for the record, there is nothing wrong with being a Pom or having a Pommy accent.
Who Dares Wins.
WTF is AdNews?
One journo over there has Tottenham Hotspur as their fav website…
@Anonymous – I agree…
@A Does that make you an anonymous Pom..?
I wonder if it was the same person at Yaffa, or various people..? Either or, Tim you have played a pretty decent hand of poker there!!
Hasn’t Modric been impressive this season? Him & Bale in midfield make it all a bit luvely chubbly
Careful you don’t drop the ball here Tim. This kinda reminds me of the Old Scotland vs England debate. Scots spend a lot of time and energy saying how much better Scotland is than England…whereas the English don’t really care because they are bigger and more influential as a country. The joke here is on the Scots because just by being so pre-occupied by the rivalry, they are positioning the English as the focus of their effort and aspirations. So yes I understand what you are doing with this article but in the end its tells us that Adnews is on your mind, that they have made it into your headspace and taking up your time. You are letting them set the agenda by spending time on their nonsense. You have made great strides by embracing the web and being fleet of foot. You will win the day if you focus on what made you relevant and interesting. Don’t let them slow you down. Instead be inspired by the likes of Pete Cashmore (Ironically Scottish in the context of this post) from Mashable and just make Mumbrella awesome and Adnews will simply wither on the vine. Rock on mate and leave them in your dust.
It seems to be fairly typical behaviour by opponents of anonymity.
When they say anonymity is bad and should be prevented in favour of everyone being required to provide their real details (for ‘accountability’) they generally mean that anonymity as practiced by other people is bad.
They are very happy to continue using anonymity themselves – newspapers and magazines through articles with no byline, advertisers through unattributed comments and actors portraying real people, governments, companies and lobby groups in using false identifies to influence online discussions (yes they already do).
There’s a word for people who selectively wish to prevent others from taking actions that they justify are OK for them to take themselves.
Well said @inconceivable
Don’t waste your head space on the competition Tim.
Good on you Tim for exposing the AdNews frauds. Keep it up
@Tim – thanks for the answer. Fair answer.
@Anne Miles. When you say that some of the negative comments on Mumbrella seem to come from Mumbrella’s IP address, on what are you basing that?
I am not patronising, but you do realise that once a comment is posted on a website it becomes hosted on that website, right?
As posters, we can’t see other posters’ IP addresses, unless someone from Mumbrella displays them.
Adnews have been publishing anonymous comments on Mumbrella. Or should I write; comments have been published from the IP address of Yaffa who publish Adnews… (That should get through the edited for legal reasons bit..)
Tim has waited and waited and waited and now he has exposed these comments from Yaffa, who publish Adnews..
I wouldn’t say Tim has ‘Adnews on his mind’ (make a good blues song that one.) I would say that Adnews seem to be paying too much attention to Mumbrella and should perhaps focus on their business and not Tim’s.
Adnews = Scotland, Tim = England (if using the comment above as an example…)
Anyhow, engagement is key and I am always entertained on Mumbrella.
Haha, great piece! Can’t wait for the reaction over at yaffa!
Tim, did you catch the campaign brief eDM today?
Things are getting a bit nasty between the trade press!!!
@inconceivable and @ No Sweat – this is EXACTLY the kind of stupid, mindless shit that Tim is arguing AGAINST. Your argument is trite and paranoid. You set up some silly historical (and frankly, hysterical AND racist) context for your argument – against a whole nation – and then proceed to align it to an argument in advertising? Are you for real? THINK before you post FFS. Jesus, is this – genuinely – the best you could come up with? A Scotland V England argument? Sad. SO sad. And yes, this is my real name and company used in this post. Unlike yours…And no, I don’t work for AdNews. But you guys just keep heaping eternal shame on our industry: Bitter. Lame. And sour. But go you two…must feel so proud, eh?
It
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Do
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All
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Most discussed list…
… here…
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…come!
be Croation, but ‘trolls’ are not just on the field…
We wish you a merry Christmas
We wish you a merry, merry Christmas
WE WISH you a merry Christmas and a happy new year 🙂
Nice work Santa / Father Christmas…
Heh, well done.
Thanks for the lucid explanation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rZbvi6Tj6E&feature=channel_video_title