Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Forum Independence

Companies often setup a forum that is supposed to look like it is an independent group of users of the product that have got together to swap ideas and tips.

They are also used to provide Customer Service for a product where the website for the product itself does not. There are many reasons for this. The first reason is that it is a cheap option as a company can get its users to solve the other customers problems. The second, and this is particularly the case when a product may help you break a law in your jurisdiction, a forum provides some sort of detachment from the company where forum members can post solutions that the company would be prosecuted for if they were to tell you to do something in an official capacity.

I can think of many instances of this taking place and I don't need to name them here. The reason you are probably reading this is that you have come across one.

I am not saying that you should not participate in such a forum or not to believe anything that is posted on them. Only that you should be aware that they may not be as impartial as they would like to appear.

A characteristic of this type of forum is that a large proportion of the posts are those that are either overly enthusiastic about the merits of the service or site "this the best torrent tracker site" or those that are asking about log-in problems. Take a look at the date of some of the posts, many are years old.

Examples of forums that I deem to be less than independent.

  • IPTorrents.com
  • 1ClickDVD Copy - LGSoftwareInnovations forum
  • Most forums dedicated to copying digital media Including the one above)
  • Most forums dedicated to downloading from P2P
    • Isohunt- BTGuard
    • TorrentFreak - BTGuard and TorrentPrivacy
  • Number1onGoogle's Chris Jones - A spokesperson for Lamnia (formerly SBA Media) tvontheinternet.co.uk.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes i've come across Number1onGoogle's Chris Jones. I traced 2 hoax calls, attempting to shut down PureVPN's websites, to him. One was to PayPal, to shut down their payment system, the other was to McAfee to rate the site as dangerous. He operates out of France