
  “Horrible Things” Slink Back Into Zynga  - dwynings
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/07/horrible-things-slink-back-into-zynga/
======
NikkiA
"They told us they hadn’t realized this was still in their testing queue"

lol, sure, I believe them...

Where I used to work, we used to be instructed to crawl the net for obscure
videos that we could pirate and resell as our own. If anyone ever called us on
it, we were to fein ignorance and say we didn't realise they weren't original,
and 'remove them immediately'.

So yeah, I believe they really didn't realise they were in their testing
queue, sure...

~~~
warfangle
Did you work for ebaumsworld?

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alexandros
I wish Arrington had enough credibility so that I could stand behind him on
this without second thought. Having been burned by him in the last.fm case
(still no apology), my second thought while reading this was "arrington
starting drama again". The first was of course "this is excellent journalism".
I wish I didn't have to be conflicted in such a seemingly clear-cut case.

~~~
jbellis
("the last.fm case" probably refers to
[http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/technology/2009/may/Tech...](http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/technology/2009/may/TechCrunch-
Says-CBS-Gave-Last-fm-Data-to-RIAA--But-Proof-Is-Elusive.html), for any who
were as confused as I was.)

------
eli
It's at least worth considering they're doing an A/B test on the impact of
removing the ads.

~~~
SwellJoe
Because scams are OK, as long as they are _really_ more profitable than honest
ads.

~~~
patio11
I don't think that was the implication. "I didn't see it, someone else logged
in from my IP did -- you must have blacklisted my account!!" is not
necessarily accurate.

(This, incidentally, happened to me quite recently. Customer A went over to
her sister-in-law's house to play some bingo. She set her sister in law up
with a trial account, and her sister and law printed some cards in color.
Customer A was not pleased that she had _paid_ for the software and couldn't
print in color, but her sister (who hadn't) could.)

------
dabent
I stopped seeing the "scam" ads on Mafia Wars as soon as Zynga said they were
gone and still don't see them.

But these ads are _everywhere_ online. I still don't get the selective outrage
against FB apps. I'm not defending the ads, but I scratch my head about the
selection of this venue for advertising them in particular. I mentioned it
before and maybe I'll let it drop now, but people running rebills and very
questionable ads are on Google sponsored results right now. Want some diet
pills? <http://www.google.com/search?q=acai+berry>

~~~
zaidf
I think it all boils down to proportions and intentions. Of course, the two
can be related.

If a small % of your ads are scammy, it's unlikely that you will get that much
attention. Similarly, it's unlikely that you intentionally are allowing those
ads when they make up a relatively small revenue stream.

On the other hand, if they account for significant revenue _and_ you have the
CEO talking on camera about these ads, something is wrong and you should get
heat. The Google CEOs are usually talking about getting rid of these ads(not
so much because of moral reasons as because they are not that desperate for
revenue).

~~~
dabent
Those are really good points. I know enough about affiliate marketing to know
that acai ads get "slapped," but these top bidders seem to stick around no
matter what.

The FTC/various AGs have gone after some of the people running the acai ads,
but I think the bigger problem is the rebills in general. There will always be
a new ringtone, grant offer or diet pill to slap a rebill on.

Anyway, I guess I'm not ranting about it.

------
snewe
Note that before he could ever be charged, he checked a box next to text (that
even in the video) showed that there was a monthly fee. I think these "deals"
are dirty, but there is some user input involved.

~~~
fnid
The point isn't the deals, it's the obvious shadiness of the whole thing and
the awareness by the perpetrators that it is shady because they are showing
one thing to one group and another thing to another group.

~~~
paulgb
I wouldn't put it past Zynga to do something like this on purpose, but we
can't assume that was their intent. They could have been doing A/B tests and
put Arrington and his friend into different buckets. IIRC, Zynga are big on
A/B testing.

