its probably someone at turbine. you can actually contract companies to do this for you. ddo in its constant cost-saving state, would be better off adding that responsibility to a forum janitors job description than contracting it to an outside third party entity
heres an example of what i describe from some shitty old site
http://boingboing.net/2006/02/06/did-nvidia-hire-an-a.html Quote:I interviewed for a guerilla marketing business in San Francisco that targeted web forums.
I was told that if I accepted the job, I was to have at LEAST 50 identities on as many forums as I could muster (they wanted 100 eventually), with a goal of 5 posts an hour. The posts had to be well thought out, and the idea was that I was to establish multiple identities with a history on the forums, so that when the timing was right a well written but subtly placed marketing post could be finessed in. And regular visitors would recognize the post as coming from a long time poster.
and another more extreme example from
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/feb/23/need-to-protect... Quote:Every month more evidence piles up, suggesting that online comment threads and forums are being hijacked by people who aren't what they seem.
The anonymity of the web gives companies and governments golden opportunities to run astroturf operations: fake grassroots campaigns that create the impression that large numbers of people are demanding or opposing particular policies. This deception is most likely to occur where the interests of companies or governments come into conflict with the interests of the public. For example, there's a long history of tobacco companies creating astroturf groups to fight attempts to regulate them.
crediting things to 'trolls' completely dismisses any analysis. theyre the perfect scapegoat because 'its just what they do' and theres no point in thinking about it beyond that. but it is more often than not, an incorrect conclusion. there is always some motivation, a connection, a reason. Consider that gay spam poster. He didnt just come across the site randomly. he came with an agenda that was modified by stimuli that resulted in the retard we have today. He is an angry internet kid reacting to something in the best method he concluded possible. Turbine is no different. any shit tier media company would immediately go into damage control mode to protect whatever public image they had. and i doubt they are willing to actually pay someone else to do it. its someone associated with them.
basically im just saying that people who dont immediately recognize those inaccurate posts as damage control are fucking gay and retarded for not being aware of a marketing strategy that was named in 1984