Having discussed previously Shelfari's bombarding of users and none users with spam, it seems there trying to climb out of a hole. Tim Spalding quotes Book Patrols article, in which they accuse Shelfari of Astroturfing, saying:-
Shelfari has engaged in some pretty dubious behavior including astroturfing (posting on blogs pretending to be users, not employees) and partaking in widespread spamming campaigns.
Shelfari CEO, Josh Hug, has defended himself from the claim of astro-turfing, by saying:-
As for the astroturfing, that was an unintended work of an unexperienced but well-meaning intern who failed to make himself known as he commented on blogs. That was not our intent and we were unaware that was going on. It has stopped.
If it was a rogue intern, why was he needing to do it? With $1million investment did they really require such a transparent way of doing this. I maybe a librarything fan boy, but shelfari have really been very stupid, and allowing an intern to do this (without keeping an eye on them) is dafter still.
1 comment:
I agree that it was quite daft for us to not closely inspect the messages being sent by our intern. I don't blame him though -- I take full responsibility for his actions.
The intern is no longer working for Shelfari and we are going to hire a more experienced community manager.
This is one of those lessons learned that I won't forget. I apologize for the mistakes we have made.
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