Is it only me, ot there are new ways of hidden advertising on the forum?

[TheBeardedBaby]

I've seen that before, but didn't paid attention, until today.

This for me, looks like a hidden advertising of games. Maybe it's just a way to develop alt accounts or something else maybe but it's shady.

Two accounts with two posts, posting one after another in short period of time in popular/active sections is suspicions (at least for me).

So after a quick check the two accounts went off with 25sec difference.. c'mon. what a coincidence, right?




The thread was posted in 06:56:53
The account Cuda911 goes off at 07:05:01
The second post was at 07:05:02
The account Rikimaruu goes off at 07:05:26

Am I crazy (just a rhetorical question, I am ), or those accounts are connected?

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[NeuroticFish]

There's nothing new under the sun

It's called guerrilla marketing, there are people employed to make accounts on all possible forums and post about the topic the employer is interested in, advertising its products. Obviously, one of the tactics is to ask questions in the way they'll also answer with the actual advertising.

I've seen it on Bitcointalk too, multiple times. Sometimes they do have the brains to not answer in the same hour though.


TL;DR: they're obviously connected.

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PS, off topic: 1. What is normal? 2. Aren't we all a bit crazy? (both rhetorical)

[mindrust]

Wat? That has been going on since the day this forum became a thing. I think you only noticed that now. Newbie accounts posting spam isn't anything new at all. The posts you quoted however is a little bit more intelligent than vomiting mindless spam because it looks like they creating a legit discussion. But in the end, yes they are shilling their bags.

[mk4]

I've seen a few of those kinds of post chains for a while now. But in this example — with Axie and Illuvium being the one that's mentioned, I don't think it's hidden marketing in this case. Feel free to call them shit projects, but Axie and Illuvium are some of the far less "shady" projects that I doubt will be advertised this way. I'd have a different opinion if it was a super micro-cap project on BSC.

I'm guessing that in this case, it's more of just an account farm than hidden advertising.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

We call it account farming 😂

You found only two accounts, there are people who found hundreds of accounts connected. I think it's easy to find them. Go to marketplace like Fiverr and look for bitcointalk account bumping service. Order one and pretend that you are a project dev. They will start making posts on your announcement threads. Now you know who is doing it LOL

I'm guessing that in this case, it's more of just an account farm than hidden advertising.

If this was advertising then they would do it in an announcement thread instead of in the H&B board.

[NeuroticFish]

We call it account farming 😂

I'll call it account farming only if they'll come back in 2 weeks for another few posts.
With only 2 posts and also no POA yet... it's too early to call it like that.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

With only 2 posts and also no POA yet... it's too early to call it like that.

We all know it where they will go. Come on over 7 years of experience in the community and you want me to guess that you do not know where will this guy end? 😂
Use Follow users on Bitcointalk.org (posts and/or topics) from LoyceV, mark these two accounts and let's see after two months where they stand.

[NeuroticFish]

Come on over 7 years of experience in the community and you want me to guess that you do not know where will this guy end? 😂

In many cases when there's no (not yet?) solid evidence I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt. Let's say that this is one such case

[Little Mouse]

With only 2 posts and also no POA yet... it's too early to call it like that.

We all know it where they will go. Come on over 7 years of experience in the community and you want me to guess that you do not know where will this guy end? 😂
Use Follow users on Bitcointalk.org (posts and/or topics) from LoyceV, mark these two accounts and let's see after two months where they stand.

I think it's not account farming. Account farmer would barely advertise anything. Here in this case, it seems they are created for the sole purpose of shilling aka guerilla marketing as pointed above. You can't say them account farming.

[Quickseller]

There's nothing new under the sun

I agree. This is not anything new. This type of thing has been employed longer than the forum has been around, and is not limited to internet forums -- companies will sometimes employ these types of tactics in presentations and commercials.

We call it account farming 😂

I don't think this is account farming. While I think the two accounts are likely operated by the same entity, I don't think the goal is to rank up the two accounts.

[mk4]

I think it's not account farming. Account farmer would barely advertise anything. Here in this case, it seems they are created for the sole purpose of shilling aka guerilla marketing as pointed above. You can't say them account farming.

Highly unlikely to be "guerilla marketing". The marketcaps of both mentioned projects are $4.5b(AXS) and $444m(ILV). Projects with those amounts of money invested in them aren't the type to be advertised this badly as the effect would be less than a drop in the bucket. Not to mention that both are reputable projects(outside of the Bitcoin-only community, obviously).

[bittraffic]

It may be too early to say they are part of a guerilla marketing. Agree that Axie will not try advertising this way.
We may need a bit of time til we see links inserted to the post. There are lots of ways to do it so maybe if they invest more time to get around in the forum, and have rights to add signature links.

They've not mention yet which company they are promoting but most likely if they really up to spam, its a blockchain game related.

[Lafu]

They've not mention yet which company they are promoting but most likely if they really up to spam, its a blockchain game related.

Maybe its possible that they have done it already with there post as the mentioned " Play2earn " .
And it can be related to this website https://playtoearn.net/blockchaingames .
It is just a guess from my side but looks plausible for me .

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I don't think this is account farming. While I think the two accounts are likely operated by the same entity, I don't think the goal is to rank up the two accounts.

Now I see where it's going, just read the contents carefully. I am going to agree with Lafu. They are trying to get Play2earn in the search engine. Anything in bitcointalk rank up fast in the search engine because of the domain rank.

[Upgrade00]

Now I see where it's going, just read the contents carefully. I am going to agree with Lafu. They are trying to get Play2earn in the search engine. Anything in bitcointalk rank up fast in the search engine because of the domain rank.

I don't have expert experience on SEO marketing, but I believe the would have to do a whole lot of work inorder to get ranked up in search engines this way;
• Make more of such posts around the forum, and,
• Get lots of traffic to those posts and get more engagement.

Simoly starting a thread and replying to it, is not enough to get higher ranks in search engines.

[uchegod-21]

It is possible that it can be a coincidence, especially if both of them are Philippians. If both of them are from the same country they can have the same time zone. It is possible they can go off within the same time.
If the game is a trend in their country, it can also be a reason for that.
But if you are just looking at the conversation, it is looking like a planned something in order to advertise their game.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

I don't have expert experience on SEO marketing, but I believe the would have to do a whole lot of work inorder to get ranked up in search engines this way;
• Make more of such posts around the forum, and,
• Get lots of traffic to those posts and get more engagement.

For SEO they do all kind of weird things and putting the keyword all around is just a part of it I guess. May be there is a domain name called Play2earn (I could not find .com version though) and they are trying the word to be ranked up.

[TheBeardedBaby]

Thanks for the input guys, I've seen false conversations many times but not in serious sections. Most of the time they do this where they won't be spotted and farm posts and activity.
Anyway, I'll keep an eye. Locking this thread.