# Are NGO's using this board? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 5, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903 "2003-06-05T19:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/21 "2003-06-07T16:04:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by davidm \* > \*\*Someone may not put in that history with the original intent of shilling for a product, but I can imagine someone who already has such a history being offered enticements (e.g. financial or free products) in return for it. I suppose companies or organizations (or even governments) could even “buy” existing online identities and then use them as they see fit. \*\* Hmm. Anyone have use for one jsgoddess account, slightly used? Cheap! Julie ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/22 "2003-06-07T17:22:59Z")
You know, I’ve been thinking about joining a particular campaign this election cycle. It occurs to me that it would be disingenuous to continue spouting off here without telling all of you that. If I do, I will make certain to inform all of you, and I will also change my signature to reflect my status. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/23 "2003-06-07T20:42:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shalmanese \* > \*\*Internet societies seem to have had an automatic feedback system to cull out all but the most determined gorilla marketers. \*\* I should hope so! You know what happens once you let them in: they start swinging on your chandeliers, eating all your bananas, and flinging their poop everywhere! ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/24 "2003-06-07T21:07:00Z")
There’s been discussion of this sort of thing on /. a fair bit, and they even have a name for it - “astroturfing”, meaning artificial grassroots. There it’s usually MS being accused of it in the very frequent OS flamewars, but there was once a rather amusing episode with a guy touting the Segway that was just ridiculously transparent. I mean, the guy’s webpage looked like a professionally produced commercial, not a fan page (not even a fanpage produced by someone who’s a professional web designer, which I don’t believe the guy was anyways). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/25 "2003-06-07T21:22:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by toadspittle \* > \*\*If those posters didn’t identify themselves as working for Dean (or some Dean- or issue-supporting PAC), wouldn’t that violate election laws? \*\* If so, it would be an example of why people complain about campaign laws being unconstitutional. Leaper’ > [@](#): > > I should hope so! You know what happens once you let them in: they start swinging on your chandeliers, eating all your bananas, and flinging their poop everywhere! Are you perhaps thinking of chimpanzee marketers? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/26 "2003-06-07T21:52:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*You know, I’ve been thinking about joining a particular campaign this election cycle. It occurs to me that it would be disingenuous to continue spouting off here without telling all of you that. > > If I do, I will make certain to inform all of you, and I will also change my signature to reflect my status. \*\* Well, the sig alone might be a subtle clue. ---
**Author:** ![ceyjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@ceyjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ceyjen)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/27 "2003-06-07T22:19:10Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Ethilrist_ > (clap, clap) NGO! (clap, clap) NGO! (clap, clap) NGO! That is _ **exactly** _ what I thought! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/28 "2003-06-08T00:29:06Z")
But we’ve all got opinions and an agenda. People may get sick of me chiming in and saying you’ve got misconceptions about China. I’m not an NGO, nor am I a spokesman for “the butchers in Beijing.” But some people see me that way. What about the company you work for? Like a car wreck, when my company get’s named and I see it, I just have to look. I do try to keep related posts from me to strictly facts and fighting ignorance rather than trying to change opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/29 "2003-06-08T01:15:30Z")
I would have thought that these boards would be a bad place for what amounts to advertising. Almost everything posted gets dragged through the mill and subjected to extreme scrutiny. An organisation wold want to be damn sure it had all the cards before posting here wouldn’t it? Most NGOs don’t tend to have that sort of hand to play with. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/30 "2003-06-08T02:18:46Z")
Popular Front of Judea checking in. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/31 "2003-06-08T05:23:47Z")
Well, I for one am simply appalled by the responses here. \ What kind of impact could an NGO actually have here unless it _employed_ pretty EXPERT Dopers. I’m new, but already I’ve developed a little rhythm – Post Count gets a lot of weight in an argument – and I sometimes disregard low numbers outright. Compounding this, it seems an NGO operative would develop a pretty serious slant, coming out of the gate, on a certain topic or flow of topics. You folks know each other pretty well, by now. Crest a mille and you know if he’s a kooshie or a washcloth kind of guy. I submit NGOs have little impact, especially the American Orchid Society. So you see the paradox of this post. Actually, come to think of it, I’m gonna sandbag for a while. \ ---
**Author:** ![chula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a4c791/32.png) [@chula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chula)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/32 "2003-06-08T12:08:37Z")
I suppose “NGO” encompasses such a broad range of groups that it is possible that some exist that are capable of such things. But most NGOs are extremely underfunded and understaffed. You would be surprised to find out that some NGOs you’ve heard of consist of just a handful of people. Posting on a message board is such an ineffective way to get a message out that I can’t imagine them wasting their scarce resources on it. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/33 "2003-06-08T12:12:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wolfian \* > \*\*Popular Front of Judea checking in. > > Carry on. \*\* Splitters! ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/34 "2003-06-08T17:39:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tars Tarkas \* > \*\*i am a member of the NGO People Against NGOs, PAN, and also People Against People Against NGOs Because of the Hypocracy, PAPANBOTH. \*\* \ Pan! Pan! \ ---
**Author:** ![Dragonstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@Dragonstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonstar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/35 "2003-06-08T17:53:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sofa King \* > \*\*You know, I’ve been thinking about joining a particular campaign this election cycle. It occurs to me that it would be disingenuous to continue spouting off here without telling all of you that. > > If I do, I will make certain to inform all of you, and I will also change my signature to reflect my status. \*\* “Plaything of the damned, brought to you by \.” ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/36 "2003-06-08T18:03:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zwaldd \* > \*\*Well if an NGO is looking for a group to mindlessly swallow propaganda without empirical evidence, they’ve come to the wrong message board. \*\* Plus, any organizations or companies that try such posting tactics (I’ve been on narrowly focused boards where advertisers have shown up) are incapable of sounding like a human being. The sheer human overhead of having real brains looking over all the chat rooms means they’ll use automatic posting programs instead. I can see it now: > [@](#): > > It’s funny you should mention Goerge W. Bush and Weapons of Mass Destruction . I was just looking up some information about Goerge W. Bush and Weapons of Mass Destruction on the internet using my Dell 8200 PC with dual Pentium IV processors. > > Have you ever used the Dell 8200 PC with dual Pentium IV processors? I find that the speed and reliability fit in with my lifestyle both at work and at home, and the bundled software from the Microsoft Corporation family of personal productivity software lets me word process, manage my personal finances, or use my account at [dellnet@msn.net](mailto:dellnet@msn.net) to search the internet for data on Goerge W. Bush and Weapons of Mass Destruction or millions of other pieces of information on the World Wide Web. How fast would YOU report this post to a moderator? ---
**Author:** ![ElbaliavanU](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@ElbaliavanU](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElbaliavanU)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/37 "2003-06-08T18:45:32Z")
Hey Emacknight, I didnt even know what an NGO was until now. I’m still not completely sure what it means. I’m just a person posting the truth on the message boards to clear out any confusion people might have. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/38 "2003-06-08T19:15:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Ceremonies \* > \*\*Splitters! \*\* Isn’t the actual quote “splinters”? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/39 "2003-06-08T19:40:56Z")
**China Guy** , that’s because we know about the Chinese system of political repression. We know that you _have_ to say such things. We know that if you don’t, you’ll end up in a gulag or as an organ donor. As such we can automatically consider them suspect and are more likely to ascertain what you’re truly trying to say. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903/40 "2003-06-08T19:50:17Z")
I doubt if there’s anybody being paid to post commercial messages to this board or many (if any) others, but that does not exclude the notion of unpaid volunteers doing so as part of an NGO or political campaign. I can see the Presidential campaigns of a number of candidates having little subgroups of volunteers whose job it would be to join various discussion boards and post messages favorable to the candidate/cause/whatever regularly, as well as monitor sentiment on the board. It doesn’t strike me that it woud be hard to set something like this up, esp. in an election year for a closely contested national election. Given that the cost would be zilch since you’re using volunteers, it might be worth a minimal amount of a staffer’s time to oversee/implement/organize something like that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-ngos-using-this-board/179903.md?page=3)