Scobleizer - Latest Comments in A real-world troll story

Re: A real-world troll story

Vlad — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:15:40 -0000

Shame to have found your post so late, it's just that latest events in Georgia and their coverage in (mostly) Russian blogs somewhat threw paid-trolls-issue right in my face. Just my 2 cents on the issue - while I can certainly realize the value in paid trolling for products, I see little leverage in paid trolling for government. So if you have any new material on the issue I'd be happy if you revisited.

Thanks.
P.S. In case you're interested, the post is here: http://www.istudioweb.com/p...

Re: A real-world troll story

Aruni — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 21:56:48 -0000

@Eric - yes, you are right everything is relative...I suppose the same thing could be said of spammers. One person's spam is another person's treasure. My guess is that most spammers could be considered by the consensus as spammers and the same goes for trolls. I'm sure there will eventually be troll gaurd like there is spam gaurd...

What is that law about for every positive reaction there is an equal and opposite negative reaction??? I'll have to bone up on my physics/chemistry before saying that's 100% accurate.

Re: A real-world troll story

Mark_Anderson — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:20:52 -0000

Robert, you are entitled to your opinion and it's quite sad that someone should call you a moron for expressing it. After all this is merely a conversation about cellphones, it's not serious business.

That said, labeling Nokia owners as trolls because of the ill advised comments of a few is a bit harsh. A difference of opinion does not indicate that someone is trolling. There are some very valid points made in terms of what the iPhone doesn't do in the previous topic.

Ultimately our preferences are individual. If it were any other way then life would be intolerably boring.

Re: A real-world troll story

Eric Rice — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 03:21:58 -0000

@Aruni one thing about blocking trolls is the consensus of what or who is a troll by a majority. There are people I enjoy reading that other friends consider trolls and vice versa. Who is right?

Hey Robert, one thing this Nokia vs. Apple debate has sparked, is that I have had no clue about the Nokia before, and now I'm seriously considering one. I have no experience on either device and I've witnessed more conversation, flaming, fanboys, and propaganda spewing from both iPhone and N95 people. So I'm coming at this from scratch.

Kinda tough being an informed consumer in spite of how religious the information is.

Re: A real-world troll story

T Man — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:00:02 -0000

Technically, in the Internet parlance of the word, trolling is confined to a web site, such as a forum, or increasingly, blog comments. So in this case we are talking about, it is a moot discussion anyway, since this is really not trolling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

But, I digress...

When I think of trolling, particularly technology zealotry, I think of someone posting something to get a rise out of the forum which is clearly a certain way that is different than the troll. (I'm a Mac and I'm a PC)

So let's look at the two situations and you tell me where they are not similar:

Nokia guy goes to an iPhone line and stirs up trouble. His main intent is to to prove that the company he likes, and by extension, he, is better than you since your waiting for an Apple product, and Nokia's products are superior.

Or, *the* Apple guy goes up to an MS guy and stirs up trouble. It is obvious Steve's main intent was to prove that his company, and by extension, he, was better that you since you worked for MS, and Apple's products are superior.

Now I agree that this in your face confrontations are uncalled for, especially over what is just a phone. Although extreme, it is the same as wearing a Red Sox cap to a Yankees game, arguing on the Internet, or in an extreme form, bombing an abortion clinic. Different means, same type of behavior.

Re: A real-world troll story

Robert Scoble — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:03:41 -0000

T Man: um, and HOW is that trolling again? I introduced myself to him and listened to him and didn't even say anything back when greeted rudely. That's 180 degrees from the behavior we're talking about here. If you don't even know what a troll is, maybe you're one and not able to identify that behavior in yourself.

Re: A real-world troll story

T Man — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:46:24 -0000

One thing I would like to mention that is perhaps one of the most significant trolling experiences that I have heard of. I don't know all of the particulars of the story, but a young scrappy individual was working for this big company called Microsoft. MS is well hated by the Apple camp, just in case you did not know that. Said person from MS meets Steve Jobs of Apple on the street somewhere. Steve was probably buying a turtleneck that day, or something like that. The young man introduces himself, and in a very troll-like fashion, Jobs says something to the effect of "I finally get the chance to meet the people that are always copying us" or something like that. Said person was a little taken aback, and even later recalled the story, indicating that he had thought about a ton of replies that he could have said, but did not.

Robert, have you heard of this story?

Re: A real-world troll story

Ricky Cadden — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:02:30 -0000

Charbax -

As a PHONE, they might not be worth $600-700, but you're not taking into account everything else:

MP3 Player - ~$200
digital camera - ~$250-300
GPS unit ~$350-400

And that's not even counting the internet browsing and all that. So I could either buy all these things separate, and look like Batman walking around with a utility belt, or I can have ONE device to slip quietly in my pocket.

Re: A real-world troll story

Robert Scoble — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:23:12 -0000

Charbax, oh, please, can you imagine the people Patrick met yesterday on our photowalk carrying around an N800? I can't. Get a clue about the cell phone market, please!

And lots of us have expensive devices that aren't the iPhone. Treos, Razrs, Blackberries, SmartPhones, all cost more than $400 when first released. That's not too much different than the iPhone's price.

Re: A real-world troll story

Robert Scoble — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:20:49 -0000

Some Guy: yeah, right. I guess you missed all my praise of Google back when I worked there, or when I told Steve Ballmer that his leadership on a gay-rights issue was wrong, or when I was quoted in Time Magazine for telling Bill Gates that he should split up the company.

If you're going to troll at least write a decent flame. My 13-year-old can flame better than that and he'll sign his name to it, too!

Re: A real-world troll story

Some Guy — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 00:14:18 -0000

Oh, please! You're a professional troll yourself. After all the hogwash you spewed to try to prop up the evil empire, you have the gall to complain about anyone else trolling? Give me a break.

Re: A real-world troll story

Charbax — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:53:45 -0000

You're missing the point.

Neigther the iPhone nor the N95 are any really good value for the crazy expensive prices that they cost.

Nokia is 750$ (+ subscription?)
iPhone is 600$ (+ 1440$ - 2400$ 24-month subscription contract)

Given the fact that neigther are going to last any more than a few months, those are both not to recommend anyone else than someone who has no problems paying a lot of money for a product that is not going to last.

In my opinion the killer feature that will be usefull in the longer term, provide the good reason to invest more than into a 10$ pre-paid phone, that's when the Archos 605 WiFi or the N800 will be comming with VOIP on WiFi, HSDPA and later WiMax.

If your device comes with 2G data service, then you might as well get a 10$ pre-paid clamshell phone with virginmobile or something like that which will give you the same use.

Though when there will be 800x480 4" screen products with PC-like Opera browser experience, with full Flash and Javascript support, and providing free unlimited worldwide VOIP and IM using all of WiFi, HSDPA and WiMax, then those are gonna be the revolutionnary product.

Thus far iPhone and N95 are not revolutionary, they are simply temporary flashy bricks for rich kids and misguided early adopters.

Re: A real-world troll story

Aruni — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 20:19:50 -0000

That is so odd/rude. If any of my children (when they are older--they are now only 4 and 2) had done that, I would have taken away some pretty important privelge. I hope we are raising them to know not to do things like that.

Is it really impossible to form a barrier against trolls online? Sounds like a potential business opportunity.

With all of this hype, I'm wondering if the iPhone will really deliver over time.

Re: A real-world troll story

Michael A. Banks — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:41:25 -0000

Pity, you can't just have them blown into an alternate universe. What a way to demonstrate "empowerment." Reminds me of an ex-fiance's sister.
--Mike

Re: A real-world troll story

Chris — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:25:58 -0000

If somebody gives you a gift, then you resell it. That's not ethically wrong. Otherwise it's a loan on condition. I've sold gifts I didn't want before, and I don't see a problem with that. Happens every day.

Re: A real-world troll story

Song Kim — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:24:29 -0000

Thanks for the comparison. Interesting and helpful.
Feel sorry that you had to deal with trolls.

Re: A real-world troll story

Bill Dalsen — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:25:49 -0000

Sorry to hear about the trolls, Robert. Truly foolish, impudent people.

Re: A real-world troll story

Yohannes Wijaya — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:25:10 -0000

Robert, I have one unopened if you want one next week. I bought an extra just in case.

Re: A real-world troll story

Richard Callaby — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:05:41 -0000

I would not call you a moron for thinking one product is better than another. That is just personal opinion. It is kind of cool to hear the stories you tell of the people who you meet in line waiting for this phone. I guess that was the attraction of it all. Not the object itself but rather the "community" that forms around it.

Interesting and I think I will tell one of my former professors about this as he wrote a book called the "Sacred Santa" that explores how consumerism is becoming a religion in of itself. Not saying what you did was a "religous" experience but to some it could be seen as such.

This is a subject that cannot be covered in a comment on a blog so I am not tryign to cover all the bases here. Basically, I wanted to let you know that I DO UNDERSTAND Robert.

Re: A real-world troll story

Ny Nj — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:55:58 -0000

:LOL God help those kids if they had attempted something like that here in the New York City.

Walking past many of those waiting in line on our way to work - you know you'd better not mess around

Re: A real-world troll story

Ricky Cadden — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:54:53 -0000

Podesta

-Since we're clearing up lies...

1. Howardforums is not a Symbian/Nokia site. It's a mobile phone forum, complete with an Apple forum.

2. I most certainly do not "make a living" on my site. I can assure you that the ad revenue wouldn't even pay my cellphone bill.

3. I don't encourage trolling anywhere.

4. I certainly don't iPhone-bash. I do, however, point out where marketing is in over their head (as an ad sales rep, it's easy to see things like that) and will point out where a specific device fails or suffers. If you're such an "avid" reader of my site, you'll also see that when the N95 was launched, I was very quick to say the reasons that I didn't think it would be a good purchase.

After I was given one, I did an objective review and found that it was still lacking in the areas where it lacks, and said so.

There's a big difference in all-out bashing and in simply pointing out weaknesses. Robert hasn't bashed the N95 (that I've heard/read) but simply pointed out areas in which he thinks that the iPhone is better.

I won't sit here and argue iPhone vs. N95 on Robert's blog. I just want to clear up lies that are being said about me.

Re: A real-world troll story

Robert Scoble — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:43:55 -0000

TMan: I just am calling out the Nokia guys cause they are the ones in my face today. Tomorrow it might be someone else.

Re: A real-world troll story

Robert Scoble — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:43:11 -0000

Amal: the rendering is probably technically similar but the iPhone's interaction is so superior it isn't funny. It makes you think the rendering is better. Either way, it isn't even close. The iPhone dramatically wins on the Web.

Re: A real-world troll story

Guest — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:30:35 -0000

Now that would have been a great Podshow video. A couple of punks getting duct taped to a tree. Must have been hard to keep from going after them. With the media, crowd and nobody wanting to get out of line, the punks had a nearly ideal audience to hassle. As punishment, I hope they are forced to run Vista.

Re: A real-world troll story

Chris — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:15:54 -0000

"Translation: I don’t have the $700 to spend and the local store is sold out anyway.
I also was given the Nokia for free by PureMobile, so if I decide to get rid of it I’ll give it to one of my readers"

If you were smart you would

A. sign up for a different ebay account
B. sell the N95
C. use the money to purchase the iPhone.
D. tell puremobile you gave it to a reader in the unlikely occurance that they ask.