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Oh snap, Razak got ZServed!
Yeah, not really, but who could pass that wordplay up?
OMG, Matthew Razak is really Johnny Depp.
Seriously though, JOURNALISM!!!
I was wondering where all those cblogs were coming from.
JOURNALISM YES!
Erm, did you expect him to write a whole new article on the films he's seen?
I don't think this is the case.
Razak isn't the publishing machine they are, he's more humanistic about it.
The two Examiners that have been posting so far are literally nazi-like machines, and have perfected the art of internet solicitation.
They don't respond to comments
They will post like machines and will not stop
They hotlink their twitters to other social networking sites that AUTO add your vote to their article
They don't feel any remorse
They have pre-built about mes
This is what they do for a living: write half assed articles, then promote them on EVERY medium POSSIBLE. It is spam at it's highest possible definition
Razak is nothing like them! Although I DO think it's funny that all Examiner articles get paid by the view, so any hotlinking garners some cash.
See.
And mind you, I kind of feel like a dick for saying this.
Its fine when Cowzilla cross-posts, because he's active community. He does more with the community than copy-post articles from another site.
Invited or not, it bugs me when you have article written and linked from another site copied into the community blogs. Because, by and large, I don't know these people, and they clearly have a legit outlet for their writing (that probably nets them a dollar or two, yeah).
I'm all for giving hits to long time community and editors (Anthony Burch cross posts also), but it just doesn't seem right when its people that aren't really "here".
In closing hyperbole, if 23 other bloggers decide to do the same thing at any given time, there goes the "community" in community blogs.
I'm not sure I get what the problem is?? It seems (if you look and notice things) that a LOT of the blogs done here are not original to Destructoid and are simply copies of blogs people have on personal websites or other sites they contribute to.
The work is all original... they are not plagiarizing the work of someone else and passing it off as their own - it's just that posting on Destructoid seems to be done as either a second thought or to generate interest in their "other" site.
At least the Examiner.com people are upfront and note that their blogs were originally posted elsewhere. With many other blogs, you have to click on the person's website links in their bio to find the original blog, often on a personal game related website.
The rules don't seem to state that this can't be done... or that content posted on Destructoid must be the original post (though many sites do seem to have that rule) and frankly it seems that an awful lot of the content would disappear if this was the case.
I have to admit that each blog I've posted on Destructoid has not been posted in any other public space... and my own preference is for community content not posted elsewhere... but it's really up to the site owner as to how the issue is handled. For myself, it seems that people "should" have to make a choice about where to post and not be using Destructoid to drive business to another site - but that's mostly because I'm too lazy to create my own gaming site or to contribute to multiple sites. :)
So again... I'm not sure what the problem is? Lots of people seem to do this and don't get the flack that the people from Examiner.com do - is it the fact that they are upfront about the piece being a reprint from work they've done elsewhere? If so, it seems they are being punished for being ethical enough to note that the work is elsewhere.
... and I just read the responses.. which were posted while I was writing my post - so the issue seems to be community involvement? In other words, it's ok to cross post as long as people are active, commenting and contributing in other ways?
@Elsa
And that's where I feel like a jerk for having a problem with them!
They are upfront, they're actually decent enough articles and, by the rules, there's not a thing "wrong" with it.
But it juuuuust doesn't sit well with me. It feels like a woefully unintended use for the c-blogs.
To be silly about this, its like a community buying a rec center for the kids in the neighborhood to play in, and a guy in a suit walks in the front door, puts a Foot Locker poster over a window and walks out without really saying anything to anybody.
@Tubatic: I don't think you need to feel like a jerk. I think (fuck it, I know) that the great thing about Destructoid is that it does feel like a community: it's not just a term that's used to make it sound like users actually matter to the site. They do.
Thus, anything that serves to detract from that in the way that you describe can make those who know what the true sense of community here means feel a bit, well, upset.
I imagine that any right-minded person out there might dabble in the blogging here, using it perhaps in a way that isn't ideal, but before long won't be able to resist actually stepping with both feet into the community. Eventually, I feel that those who don't will just fade into obscurity.
Eh, just ignore it and let Chrono bug them to stop?
I think the problem is that they post but don't response back to anyone's comments afterwards.
the c-blogs are meant for people who want to be part of the community, not for spammers you are looking for another place to get their name out.
the c-blogs are generally also suppose to be more about gaming too and all I see are movie reviews.
fuck all but 4 of the editors. they know who they are and those 4 rock and actually comment on cblogs. ant, ash, conrad, jordan, joseph, chad and now matthew and a few others are too good for the cblogs unless their name is in the title. fuck them, they ain't a part of this community.
@De Bloo
lol, Magnalon is the one who's been telling them off, I've barely said anything to them yet! But the fact still remains these people are using our c-blogs just to make a quick buck, it's spam no matter how you look at it.
@Elsa
The problem is these people are professionals, you need to do a bit of researching of social network explotation.
These people are NOT interested in what the community has to say, which is the very definition of the community blog mentality. These Examiner writers, if you notice, are not commenting back. They are, right now, working on their next scheme to solicit hits: please understand that mentality. They don't care what you have to say about their articles: they have never, ever commented back. All they want to do is have you click their articles, and support them unknowingly, like you're doing now, to earn them more easy money.
It's a scam, much like Cutco knive selling is. Door to door schemes in order to make money by any means necessary. "Get rich quick" if you will. You know those advertisements on the side of the road, on telephone poles? This is one of them.
Once again, Elsa, this IS exactly against the rules. This is considered spam because of the way they are going about it. If you still don't understand, feel free to inquire about it, because it's a pretty big problem. Now, if they actually responded like human beings to the allegations, that's one thing.
@de bloo
They won't stop, that's the point. They'll saturate the blogs as much as they can before moving onto the next medium. Calling attention to themselves and defending their spam is a good way to get banned. The girl seems like she's more of a novice at it, but as I mentioned in the dude's latest post, he's a PRO. He hotlinks out social sites in his twitter, and before you even realize it, you've added him to another social network.
Well then, are you guys gonna send Hamza an E-mail or should I?
That seems like the only thing to do that might get something done. As you guys said before they wont stop, and if its really bannable then Hamza will do something.
You can, and just link him to this discussion, and the other guy's article where I point out exactly what he's doing.
I think Hamza's been so busy lately with Russia and the Ubisoft event that he probably didn't notice this stuff, because it's pretty obvious what's going on here with these articles.
Now I'm starting to feel bad for not keeping track of my comments. That's probably something I'm terrible at, like, I ask a question and never go back to check to see if it's been answered or whatnot. I comment too much to keep track, and my browser clears my history whenever I close it.
For blog posts, I at least do since those are easily-accessed but if I don't get a reply after a few days, I just forget about it.
*blah blah blah*
I haven't seen many of these Examiner posts, but it's not like I actively go into every single cblog there is and look.
Is it Matlockery even though he admitted it and was funny about it?
@Magnalon... I sort of understand... but I don't quite get the difference between them cross posting and others doing it also. I guess I'm rather a "rulz" person and it seems that Destructoid should have a simple rule that cross posting is acceptable or it isn't, or they should define "spam". If someone posts on their site and cross posts to Destructoid, it doesn't seem to be "spam" but if someone posts on their site, Destructoid... and one or more additional sites - then it's spam?
I mean I totally understand the community aspect... you start letting cross posters in and wham... this site soon becomes nothing more than linkage to other sites and totally loses it's sense of originality and community - but I guess what I'm saying is that the people that do this maybe aren't to blame... possibly the site is to blame and needs to take a firmer stand on what is or isn't acceptable and have clearer and stronger wording that cross posts from any professional site where profit is incurred is not permitted (but cross posts from non-profit hobby sites) are allowed... or frankly I don't know why they don't force exclusivity... any posts in the c-blog section of Dtoid have to be original to Dtoid and if replicated elsewhere must contain the caveat "as originally posted on Destructoid".
Eh... it just seems that the community is blaming the wrong people to me. I like the site, but the answers lie within the site, not with blaming people who come here and take advantage of the lack of clear rules. If the site is a "community" site with "community blogs" and Hamza is the only moderator, maybe they need to look to long term members like yourself for additional help in moderation - giving a small group the ability to "hide" questionable content until Hamza can review it for release or deletion - though again it would have to be noted that the site is "community moderated and that any and all content could be deleted if it doesn't meet community standards. To understand community standards you have to participate... and find them out on your own" :)
... not trying to be argumentative (or to become the next victim burned at a stake somewhere)... just trying to offer an alternative view.
@Elsa -- I have my own site, but it has just started, and gets minimal traffic at this time. As a result, I have cross-posted some articles, because I feel really strongly about them, and want to get this communities' feedback to make my writing stronger, and yes, encourage a few people to look over there as well.
Plus, ya'll are a fun bunch to interact with, and I do love reading other people's writing and commenting, etc. . .
I would hate to be in a position where I had to choose between those two things, because I simply do not have time to contribute subtantively to writing two separate blogs.
I'd rather just have the community here tell me if I'm serving too much copy/pasta or if my blog content is coming across as whorish or commercialized. (btw, my site has no ads, so that may be a different matter, i don't profit from additional hits?)
@walkyourpath... but if your site currently gets little traffic, would it really be such a big problem to have a small notation at the end of your blogs "originally posted on Destructoid" In some ways that might even give your personal site some form of "legitimization" implying that you also 'write for a well known site".
Alternatively, the caveat of "non-profit hobby site" might also work if written into the rules... though if your site ever became a for-profit site I guess a decision of where to post might then arise...
I don't know what the answer is... but it does seem that Destructoid itself needs to better determine what it wants to be...
@Elsa
You have to understand the concept of people trying to fit in, and caring. If someone copy pastaed and even added one sentence asking what the community thought of their writing, I would be 100% fine with that. The girl who posted her article didn't even bother to take out the words "the pictures on the left", which just show their intentions.
I agree that there should be moderators that take action in extreme circumstances. I don't think people should be banned, or even moderated for breaking rules as a normal user. But these people are not normal users: 1 comment reply would have been great, but I already explained above why they're not doing that. Basically, we are being used for money, so no matter how you look at it, it sucks.
I clarify, I have NO problem with people copy pasta-ing stuff from their blogs as long as they have 1-2 original pieces they've ever created. These people came here to advertise, plain and simple.
Again, this is not about community members, who care, engaging in copy pastaing. That's not the issue. This is about advertisers who exploit anything possible for money, and could care less about the community in it.
@Elsa
Haha enough rambling: let me put it into perspective.
A common Dtoid copy-paster:
A 16 year old, that excels in English, creates a blogspot called "rpggamer.blogspot.com". He notices that no matter how hard he tries, he gets 0 comments, and then notices that Destructoid.com and 1UP.com feature blogs. So, he copies and pastes a few articles on Dtoid, and people hassle him. He response to the comments saying "I had no idea how this worked", and then writes in a few of his own words outside of the copy, then comes up with his own article perhaps in a weeks time, then finds his new home on dtoid, looking forward to years of prosperity and an instant audience of 10,000+ people daily. These people are simply human, and just made a slight error: they want to be part of the community.
The Examiners:
These are people aged 20+ who know how the world works. They tried to "make it" as a writer, but just couldn't cut it at a real publication. They don't want to "lower" themselves to working at McDonalds like any other human being would to make a living, because they're "a writer" (they haven't realized anyone can write, but not everyone ca be a writer yet). So, they find out about this easy to apply for site called "The Examiner". Now, on the Examiner, you don't need experience in the field: you can either just fake it, or say "my blog is my experience", and you're hired. Examiner encourages you to advertise in any way possible, to "get hits for your articles, which earn you money". However, the result is The Examiner itself gains popularity for various advertisements and such. It's also known as a pyramid scheme.
The difference between normal people and Examiners is that they are exploiting the system with no remorse (not Razak, he actually cares about the community, and has been very active for a long, long time). Their mission is to copy paste onto ANY medium possible (1UP is also fair game. Hell, any collective blog database, they are after).
Destructoid is pretty lax, so I would assume their policy would be lax in terms of users posting from their blogspots. It's not a big deal, and it increases the total post count, which increases revenue for the site: why WOULD you stop it? But like I said, the Examiner issue is a whole 'nother animal. To end the argument, copy pasta-ing blogs is not a horrible offense if you're legitimately just trying to get yourself out there. It's only human.
Destructoid community blogs=serious fucking business.
@Elsa -- I can see where you're coming from. . . and the musing article I had promoted here does have a link and nod to Destructoid in it on my site.
If I were seriously trying to turn a buck off of it, I probably would need to make a choice at that point.
@Kyo
This isn't about the community blogs: this is about spam/scamming. It derailed into a community discussion for some reason, even though it has nothing to do with this issue.
Elsa: These blogs are posted because clicking on the Examiner link will get them a few cents. The poster is copy pasting an article and then not returning to the site until they've got something else they want to post.
I don't think that's the kind of 'contribution' any community needs. It isn't the cross-posting, it's the fact that these particular guys are the same as the spammers that give us such insightful posts as "Buy PENISGROW9000 online now for just $39.99".
I'm the Dallas Video Game Examiner and I don't think I've ever cross posted here ever.. If anything I cross posted there to get some more articles in.
Shit, money is money and when you're still searching for a job two months after losing one and bills are coming up, every little bit means something. The difference is, I don't spam any place but my Myspace & Twitter with my stupid articles...
If people just posted links and no text at all then I could see people bitching and crying like a bunch of babies but if they are actually writing something in their blogs then stfu, it's not that big of a deal.
@Riot
If you posted your blogs here, no one would care, because you are fucking awesome. Not only that, but we know you're a real human being that would respond to us, and put the "community" in community blogs.
The difference between you and them is you're not taking advantage, and sucking every single facet of the internet dry to whore yourself out for hits. Not only that, but I checked out your articles, and they're not stupid. The articles posted here are barely a paragraph, and have 0 thoughts/content. Read the latest Bioshock blog that was just posted: it would be booed off the stage even if he was a legitimate community member.
I get what you're saying: times are tough, so you do anything you can to stay afloat. But would you exploit people? Would you auto link your twitter to spam up a social networking site with a 1 paragraph "news" post every time someone clicks on it, without knowing it? The people that are posting here haven't even bothered to change the formatting as well to suit the blogs, or responded even ONCE to the community: even with a hello. If the GameFAQs forum would ban this sort of activity, you know it's horrible.