Did Nvidia Hire Online Actors to Promote Their Products?

[drunkenmaster]

Hehehe

I wish, I'd be well, coming up on a millionaire by now

In truth I do get paid, ish, by AMD, because I have AMD stock which is currently going the right way

However, in that sense I've also been paid by Nvidia in recent times.

Pottsey, thank you btw, he's a very infrequent poster these days but was CRAZY for Physx for ages, despite the utter lack of any great games using it and the few games that do really not showing any extra realism or accuracy.

As people have suggested false advertising isn't supposed to be legal, but most people on forums just make broadsweeping claims, like SV22, who in the other thread " 6xxx cards have just as crap scaling as 5xxx cards", its rubbish, but like I said he's clearly a troll as he doesn't even attempt sane debate, says something irksome on purpose then attacks anyone that questions him then dissappears.

I can believe Nvidia and AMD could do it, I'm not convinced they do, I can believe fanboys and people with too much time would purposefully make up the fact that they were working for one or the other to try and make them look bad, because people are morons.

Like the guys who every now and then post pretending they are part of the illuminati, people like to manipulate and feel powerful.

On the other side there is DEFINATELY people on a massive number of forums who go around making bold claims of insider knowledge who know absolutely nothing.

I forgot the guys name on Semi Accurate but he tries to make it plainly clear for Nvidia, but says such stupid things when trying to leak rumours and confirm or deny info he's clearly just some fanboy who wants to be respected.

Honestly Nvidia/AMD paying people to get involved is madness.

I mean you have guys like Fud who spread all the rubbish you need for free because they make a little off ad's.

His latest confirmed specs arriving on the site a few hours after forum posters got an image of the backplate and utterly guessed the die size and Fud was confirming them as specs straight after.

Its all fun and games though, can you imagine the dullness if, companies released card info, themselves, in one location, no one made predictions, no one guessed performance, no leaks happened, then one site definitively and unbiasedly got performance benchmarking perfectly and there was no debate/........ it would be so boring

 

[bru]

very true it would be boring and pointless, forums like these wouldn't exist.

also on the whole people being paid to post issue, back when that original article was written, nearly 5 years ago it might have been common practice, but now with as drunkenmaster so rightly says (eek i keep finding myself agreeing with you lately...i must go to the doctor ) more and more sites like fud, semiaccurate etc reporting just about every good bad and indifferent rumor that may or may not be correct, paying people to praise up your products would most likely just get lost in the swath of rumors.

 

[Rezident]

It does sound like something Nvidia would do alright.

 

[Rroff]

I don't agree with it... but seriously both nVidia and ATI and many many other companies have been doing this for years and have been caught out now and again.

 

[D.P.]

Yes in a highly deceptive manner.
False advertising is also marketing.

The ends do not justify the means.

Its not deception and it is not false advertising.


If people are paid to go on a forum and help people otu with Nvidia graphics cards and show benchmarks by 3rd party websites then that is all perfectly normal business. When ever I go to the pub there is always some free-drink promo and discount etc, at university there are loads of people paid to go around handing out free-samples etc, etc.

It is marketing. You ever seen a TV advert in your life?

 

[wolvers]

I wonder if ATI and NV fight over raven by offering him more money each time. That would explain a lot.

 

[iviv]

I don't agree with it... but seriously both nVidia and ATI and many many other companies have been doing this for years and have been caught out now and again.

This. Pretty much all major companies will be doing things like this. Some things are more subtle, like forum infiltration as mentioned, others are intentially more obvious. I know there's people on this forum who work for Corsair who post here helping out members with issues, I think there was someone from BFG as well? Not to mention all the guys at OcUK naturally

And then there's also things like viral marketing. Anyone remember 'All I want for Christmas is a PSP'?
In short, I would say that while they could be more above board, there's not going to be a way to weed them out, so we can't really do much. Or we could start banning fanboys, but then the Graphics forum would suddenly get a lot more empty

 

[D.P.]

You think if its under the name of marketing then it can never be illegal.
The point is i disagree with such tactics legal or not.

And your examples are not what i would find deceptive when it more obvious.

There are marketing tactics that i find acceptable & there are some that i do not.

So, how are you going to upgrade in the future, buy an Intel integrated gfx chip? Seems you don't want to be buying AMD or Nvidia cards.

 

[Rroff]

^^ I'd be unsuprised to find out Intel had done this from time to time as well

 

[Stanners]

So, how are you going to upgrade in the future, buy an Intel integrated gfx chip? Seems you don't want to be buying AMD or Nvidia cards.

Dont be silly, it only applies to Nvidia as they are bad and evil where as poor ATI is just trying to save the working man a couple of quid.

 

[D.P.]

^^ I'd be unsuprised to find out Intel had done this from time to time as well

For CPus for sure, graphics cards, I think they have a hard time convincing people

 

[iviv]

For CPus for sure, graphics cards, I think they have a hard time convincing people

...buy an Intel integrated gfx chip? Seems you don't want to be buying AMD or Nvidia cards.

Sounds like you've already started trying to, though! I see through your disguise!

 

[Final8y]

Its not deception and it is not false advertising.


If people are paid to go on a forum and help people otu with Nvidia graphics cards and show benchmarks by 3rd party websites then that is all perfectly normal business. When ever I go to the pub there is always some free-drink promo and discount etc, at university there are loads of people paid to go around handing out free-samples etc, etc.

It is marketing. You ever seen a TV advert in your life?

And as i have said already i don't care what's its called or if its legal.
I disagree with that way of marketing.

Your examples are obvious pay for marketing & promos, TV adds, free ect drinks, which is all out in the open .. but that's not what's going on here.

 

[Final8y]

1)So, how are you going to upgrade in the future, buy an Intel integrated gfx chip? Seems you don't want to be buying AMD or Nvidia cards.

!)2)Dont be silly, it only applies to Nvidia as they are bad and evil where as poor ATI is just trying to save the working man a couple of quid.

1) I didn't say anything about buying anything or not buying anything because of this so don't put words into my mouth as if i suggested anything of the sort in the first place.

2) I didn't mention any sides in my post because it goes for any & all so again don't put words into my mouth.

 

[An Exception]

What I find really scary is that a certain % of these undercover shills will have no doubt been appointed to mod status by now on some GPU forums, and that would then mean these shills are in respectful positions with the power to wave the ban hammer at folks they don't 'like'...

 

[An Exception]

People say this behaviour in legal, but what if these shrills post false negative experiences about competitors in their effort to make Nvidia look good, is that not some kind of slander?

 

[Big.Wayne]

in a highly deceptive manner

Its not deception and it is not false advertising.

When ever I go to the pub there is always some free-drink promo and discount etc, at university there are loads of people paid to go around handing out free-samples etc, etc.

Hey D.P,

I think the point Final8y is trying to make is that if everything is out in the open and the person is clearly a paid employee who makes it abundantly clear who they are and what their agenda is then that's fine . . . however in your example of the promo-staff down the pub offering discounts, vouchers etc they will normally be wearing some branded clothing and set up a stand with some marketing paraphernalia . . . they do not normally dress in plain clothes and worm their way in with you while attempting to coerce you into buying their product under the guise of being a regular punter . . .

The deception that is being objected too here is once the paid employee doesn't clearly identify themselves, uses subterfuge to mask themselves and still continue to pursue their promotional goals . . . this is not "ethical" conduct and it's universally wrong . . .

Any paid representative of nVidia® or AMD® are more than welcome here on OcUK forums with the one proviso they are straight-up about who they are and what their agenda is and do not pretend to be a regular punter extolling the virtues of hardware XYZ . . . because as Final8y is saying that would be "highly deceptive"

 

[D.P.]

Welcome to 21st century marketing capitalizing on the Internet and rampant viral strategies.

So what are you going to do about it? Not buy a AMD or Nvidia graphics card?
This is common practice for many manufactures in many industries.

Many companies are guilty of more more morally apprehensible behavior. You use Microsoft windows right? Ever Driven in a Ford car (who supported the Nazi regime, just like General motors , and IBM). Ever eat a Nestle product?

I can sleep soundly at night knowing AMD and Nvidia pay people to hang around on forums.

 

[jigger]

At least three people on this forum have admitted as much, I thought it was widely known.

On another forum its become a running joke about how many people are pimping Nvidia on OcUK. Its why so many have decided to leave, but we could do with them people back TBH as we seem to have lost the required noob bashing skills to send them packing

 

[D.P.]

People say this behaviour in legal, but what if these shrills post false negative experiences about competitors in their effort to make Nvidia look good, is that not some kind of slander?

If it is provably false. A lot of the people hired by ATI etc have already a personal bias and experience, and will be under instructions not to fabirate lies. Easy enough to find some who has had a run of bad experiences with one company etc.

and mostly they will point out benchmarks or other sources to back up their claims.