Query on use of forum by a business to promote itself

[Anonymous]

Jeff,

I wonder what you think of this thread:

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/210681.page

I was the OP and found the swarm of advocates for a particular camp really suspicious and off-putting. After I responded on the post, the director of the camp has chimed in and indicated that he solicited good reviews from parents. Does that seem accurate? Or was there sock puppeting? And either way, does this qualify as appropriate use of DCUM?

Fwiw I'm glad the camp representative acknowledged his role, but the fact that the camp went to these lengths to skew the feedback in their favor makes me uneasy. It's kind of creepy, which is the last thing I want in a camp! As I posted previously, I'd be disinclined to consider the camp precisely for that reason. And maybe that reaction will deter other businesses from trying to do similar things, although had the camp not gone overboard I might not have even realized the posts weren't a genuine reflection of the broader opinion on DCUM... This is one of those areas where genuine advice from other parents is so important for me- these camps represent a big investment of money and trust to put my child somewhere for a week or more, and there tend to be fewer avenues for researching the quality etc., than say a daycare or a school.

Anyway, just curious for your view on this whole thing. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/15/210681.page

Sorry, I used the wrong formatting to embed the link. Also thought I should note that I might have originally posted the query on the different camps from my office computer; since the whole sock puppeting question comes up, I just wanted to be transparent as possible. (I'm not sure if you can tell that from the IP addresses or whatever.) Thanks!

[jsteele]

That thread was brought to my attention prior to the camp director's post. Therefore, I had already looked into it by that time. There is no evidence that the thread was sock puppeted in the sense that one poster posted several replies. But, I was convinced that the responses had been orchestrated. After giving it some thought, I decided that as long as they were real parents posting actual experiences, there was nothing wrong with it. But, I was still concerned that the posters might not be parents, but camp staff or others with a vested interest in the camp. As a result of the Director's post and his acknowledged role, I'm willing to put my suspicions aside. It is a bit surprising that someone would organize such a response, but I don't see anything wrong with it.

That thread also reinforces something that I constantly see on DCUM. Our readers are a perceptive bunch. Sock puppets have to be at the top of their game to pull one over around here.