News Article: Bullying and Backstabbing: The Ottawa Senators are Pro-Sports' Biggest Mess

[Ray Kinsella]

Why?

Disinformation campaigns are a big deal right now. We can't afford to let it just become an acceptable thing.

Yes, I agree fully with that. It shouldn’t exist.

I suppose my first impression when I read it was something to the effect of: he started it... no, he started... no...

 

[Spartachat]

Does anyone think bots could be put on HFBoard???

 

[BonkTastic]

It's actually a way more interesting story than Ubergate itself.

If I've learned one thing about thia organization, it's to never underestimate their ability to make a bad situation even worse out of sheer incompetence and/or cheapness.

 

[mat_sens]

Disinformation? Really?

Did you read the article? The bots were spewing false information about the local news to discredit the use of the Uber video

 

[Ray Kinsella]

It's specifically a piece of news that is relevant to this specific market.

Why is it silly? I'm not arguing for the sake of argument here either, I'm legitimately curious to know why you feel that it's silly for a newspaper to report news.

If anything, this is probably a national sports story, if true. It's relelvant to anyone who lives in Ottawa (so it has local merit), and relevant to anyone who follows hockey (so has national relevance if it gets to that point).

ALSO:
I want to really focus on this one point you make here:


So let me get this straight... You think the media reporting on news to be equally silly as the person or people responsible for an organized, malicious bot attack against someone to falsely discredit them?

Really? Really? So reporting on a bad thing that happened is just as bad as the bad thing itself? I think you really, really needed to pick your words better there, chief.

Ok

 

[BonkTastic]

Ok

Cool beans.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Yes, I agree fully with that. It shouldn’t exist.

I suppose my first impression when I read it was something to the effect of: he started it... no, he started... no...

DELETE

 

[foggyvisor]

Ok

you're supposed to endlessly argue your side making the same refuted points over and over again tho

 

[BatherSeason]

Does anyone think bots could be put on HFBoard???

I wouldnt say "bots" but there were quite a few pro-Melnyk/org accounts created all around the same time and all seem to be delivering the exact same message on every single topic. Cheap labour.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

you're supposed to endlessly argue your side making the same refuted points over and over again tho

That means you understood my reply.

 

[BonkTastic]

I wouldnt say "bots" but there were quite a few pro-Melnyk/org accounts created all around the same time and all seem to be delivering the exact same message on every single topic. Cheap labour.

Honestly, getting caught with their hands in the twitter-bot-cookie-jar really opens up a world of possibilities that I would have dismissed before.

Knowing they'll stoop to this, it really removes the last doubt I had that they'd do it on a site like this one.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Did you read the article? The bots were spewing false information about the local news to discredit the use of the Uber video

Lolz... sure did.

“Of the 20 accounts, at least 15 referenced Melnyk, all positively, saying different variations of how he rescued the team, how he’s stood up for his players’, and how fans should support Melnyk and the Senators.”

"Anatoliy Gruzd, Canada Research Chair in Social Media Data Stewardship and director of Ryerson University’s Social Media Lab, said the apparent campaign is a good example of how social media can be used.
“It just shows you that not a lot of effort is required to do that. It also reminds us that on Twitter, and on social media, the people who engage with those accounts need to pay more attention to where the information is coming from.”

 

[Ice-Tray]

I haven’t been following this closely enough. Has it been proven that this amateur stuff was created by the organization?

 

[Ray Kinsella]

I wouldnt say "bots" but there were quite a few pro-Melnyk/org accounts created all around the same time and all seem to be delivering the exact same message on every single topic. Cheap labour.

Many new ones, or at least not regular ones, also turned up when EK was traded. And we haven’t really seen them resurface since.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

I haven’t been following this closely enough. Has it been proven that this amateur stuff was created by the organization?

Which one is more likely...

 

[BonkTastic]

Many new ones, or at least not regular ones, also turned up when EK was traded. And we haven’t really seen them resurface since.

A) You're comparing a team trading away their franchise player and future HHOFer in his prime for pennies on the dollar to "that one time a team got pissy about a news organization reporting in the news"?

B) Where's your proof? The Citizen provided theirs. Like a responsible news organization should.

 

[slamigo]

Which one is more likely...

No idea. It was 15-20 accounts. My kid could have done that for yucks and laughed his ass off at the news stories it would create. Folks opting to lay blame squarely at the PR department of the Sens have to also hold out some measure of doubt. We simply don't know who did it. Maybe it's some troll? Maybe it's EM in his basement? We don't know. Claiming to know weakens your argument.

If anything, it does demonstrate a continued pattern but the evidence is entirely circumstantial. Enough that I'm suspicious but not enough where I believe it to be fact.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

A) You're comparing a team trading away their franchise player and future HHOFer in his prime for pennies on the dollar to "that one time a team got pissy about a news organization reporting in the news"?

B) Where's your proof? The Citizen provided theirs. Like a responsible news organization should.

My proof of what?

Are you on a mission this morning?

 

[Ice-Tray]

Which one is more likely...

To me it’s not likely to have been from the team given how obvious this has all been. I mean even a first year com student would have more subtlety, and have spent a few more minutes coming up with varying pictures and realistic names.

I think people may be trying hard to see what they want to see, this doesn’t look to me like something someone spent money on.

 

[BatherSeason]

A) You're comparing a team trading away their franchise player and future HHOFer in his prime for pennies on the dollar to "that one time a team got pissy about a news organization reporting in the news"?

B) Where's your proof? The Citizen provided theirs. Like a responsible news organization should.

There is no proof. Just a strange coincidence. No?

 

[Sensung]

To me it’s not likely to have been from the team given how obvious this has all been. I mean even a first year com student would have more subtlety, and have spent a few more minutes coming up with varying pictures and realistic names.

I think people may be trying hard to see what they want to see, this doesn’t look to me like something someone spent money on.

So too amateurish, poorly executed and ill advised is your argument...



You were saying?

 

[BonkTastic]

My proof of what?

Are you on a mission this morning?

Of these "Karlsson trade" twitter accounts that appeared then disappeared, that you ominously are bringing up as being relevant to the discussion.

Look, I'm not on a mission, and I don't realistically expect you to provide this proof, as it was meant a bit tongue-in-cheek. My point was that your post was essentially saying "they did this once, so it means it's fine when someone else did it later".

If people were creating a troll-bot campaign around the Karlsson trade in an attack on the team, that's just as bad, and it's a serious accusation. The response shouldn't be "well they did it for Karlsson, so why complain now when they do it to Melnyk", the answer should be "this is just as serious, and deserves attention".

You said, and I quote: "Many new ones, or at least not regular ones, also turned up when EK was traded. And we haven’t really seen them resurface since". Within the context of the conversation we are having, the only real way I can interpret this is that either you are saying:

a) since everyone gave that (which is completely unproven and no one has suggested a link) a pass,everyone should give this (which seems to be pretty blatant, with a significant degree of evidence), or

b) this is not a news story, since new accounts are made all the time, as evidenced by the Karlsson trade, and that any evidence is fallible because you'll never prove it short of providing the bill to the bot farm itself.

I dunno man. Which one is it? Why would you bring up the Karlsson trade if it weren't a blatant attempt to swerve the conversation somewhere else as a "whataboutism"?

We're not talking about the Karlsson trade. If you want to talk about that, then go do or fund the research yourself. This is about Melnyk, and the current story. Don't start introducing lame "whataboutisms" in an attempt to deflect .

 

[Spartachat]

There is no proof. Just a strange coincidence. No?

Are there really pro-Melnyk groupies out there? He is kinda cute in a demented way.

 

[Engineer]

There is no proof. Just a strange coincidence. No?

Coincidence: "a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection."

Not sure coincidence is the right word.. There definitely appears to be a causal connection.

 

[Ray Kinsella]

Of these "Karlsson trade" twitter accounts that appeared then disappeared, that you ominously are bringing up as being relevant to the discussion.

Look, I'm not on a mission, and I don't realistically expect you to provide this proof, as it was meant a bit tongue-in-cheek. My point was that your post was essentially saying "they did this once, so it means it's fine when someone else did it later".

If people were creating a troll-bot campaign around the Karlsson trade in an attack on the team, that's just as bad, and it's a serious accusation. The response shouldn't be "well they did it for Karlsson, so why complain now when they do it to Melnyk", the answer should be "this is just as serious, and deserves attention".

You said, and I quote: "Many new ones, or at least not regular ones, also turned up when EK was traded. And we haven’t really seen them resurface since". Within the context of the conversation we are having, the only real way I can interpret this is that either you are saying:

a) since everyone gave that (which is completely unproven and no one has suggested a link) a pass,everyone should give this (which seems to be pretty blatant, with a significant degree of evidence), or

b) this is not a news story, since new accounts are made all the time, as evidenced by the Karlsson trade, and that any evidence is fallible because you'll never prove it short of providing the bill to the bot farm itself.

I dunno man. Which one is it? Why would you bring up the Karlsson trade if it weren't a blatant attempt to swerve the conversation somewhere else as a "whataboutism"?

We're not talking about the Karlsson trade. If you want to talk about that, then go do or fund the research yourself. This is about Melnyk, and the current story. Don't start introducing lame "whataboutisms" in an attempt to deflect .

Holly cow... where the heck did you get all of that from what I wrote?

Someone asked the question: I wonder if bots would appear on HF boards... or something to that effect. Someone else replied: not sure about bots but there seemed to have been fake accounts that surfaced when this or that happened. And that reminded me when a similar situation happened after the Karlsson trade. That’s pretty much that. There’s nothing more attached to what I expressed.

You just built an entire story and accusations on something I completely didn’t say, meant or even thought about.

You need to cool your jets a bit.