Agreed. I hope its a GIANT BOMB.
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Polygon posts ad/re-worded press release as 'News' & deletes user comments [Removed]
- Thread starter Gowans
- Start date
Agreed. I hope its a GIANT BOMB.
That's the 'Dances With Skyrim' - chieftain right?
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Giant Bomb's video content and posts over on RPS are really the only consistently worthwhile video game related content outside of GAF. Obviously individual sites will occasionally have good articles by very specific writers who have some kind of integrity, but shit like this is the norm at way too many sites for me to actual bother frequenting them.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
I believe so...
Also the creator of quality reviews such as this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=satcSLoCpZQ (linked earlier in the thread).
What a juvenile shit this guy is.
Ken Masters
Banned
wait, this is the same guy who danced with the review copy?!
mind blown and respect out the window
Foliorum Viridum
Banned
Glad to see the site is living up to what I assumed it would be. What an utter joke.
PepsimanVsJoe
Member
I hate rewriting press-releases. It has to be done though.
Hold me closer, Skyrim Dancer.
Haha had I not known better I would've thought that the drawing in the twitter-screen grab was supposed to depict the guy in the video above. The obvious irony of it all is that they're actually the same person.
not_so_special
Banned
are u trying to criticize giant bomb on neogaf? good luck dude
NullPointer
Member
Why?
Seriously. Why not just print them verbatim and mark them as press releases?
Do you have a copy of the original press release?
not_so_special
Banned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUIJwZZDuCI&list=UUuXs2ElCUGdrjDWvW8Lf39g&index=2&feature=plcp
oh my xD
this is one of the big problems of gaming press today,the whole "vip" prima donna mentality of some of them,when its easy to see these people are mediocre and devoid of any talent
I feel bad for anyone in the gaming media now because it seems like there's a bloodthirsty cadre of gamers out there hell-bent on calling shenanigans on them. Doesn't a good portion of video game news (especially relating to stuff like pre-order bonuses and special offer deals) comes from press releases anyway?
They have better features than most sites.
Polygon has no one to blame but themselves. They stated that they were going to "change everything" and that they were the great white hope of game journalism. The truth of the matter is that they are the same as any other gaming blog just with x2 the pretension. They like to have it both ways: we are different! Games matter! THIS IS MY REAL LIFE! and then when they face criticism, HEY MAN! IT IS JUST VIDEO GAMES.
You cannot have it both ways.
You cannot have it both ways.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
If your take-away from this is that reporting on a press release is unacceptable, then you have a severe reading comprehension problem or you're just not paying attention.
I would have no problem with web sites marking press releases in their own category ("press releases" or "promotions"). Same goes for sales alerts. Anyhow, perhaps someone out there wants pizza and Halo 4, and might find the news to be a convenient coincidence. But that news shouldn't get top billing on the front page. Maybe a side bar?
Perhaps only press releases that can be significantly commented on should be posted. In a
"Press release"
--Commentary
kind of way.
Deleting comments was shitty, sure, but I think you can concede that the whole Press Reset fiasco has (perhaps rightfully) given a lot of people a strong anti-Polygon slant.
NullPointer
Member
And if a site wants to put their own spin on the news there is nothing stopping them for adding a separate commentary area beneath the release.
MikeE21286
Member
Lol wow.
Yeah. He's the reason I don't read Polygon, but I decided to give it another chance then this. Lol.
I'll stick with Giant Bomb and Joystiq.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
The self-important documentary funded by Microsoft certainly set Polygon up for some high expectations. They have only themselves to blame, though. They claimed to be doing something new. Something revolutionary. Something fresh.
It's not just the deleting of the comments. Do you really think a press release about getting some fucking multiplayer skins in a partnership with random fast-food joint is news-worthy and comparable to other press releases issued when new games get announced, reach a certain number of sales, "go gold," etc? It's not. The fact that anyone at Polygon thought it was news-worthy shows just how little vetting goes into what gets posted.
Even if it were news-worthy, how is taking a press release, making some slight adjustments to the wording, and posting it as an original article an acceptable practice? The fact that they went to that effort shows that they wanted to present the article as something created and published by Polygon. Why not just post the press release verbatim and preface it with a "Hey guys, Microsoft is sending out this press release for anyone who cares." statement? It still wouldn't be news-worthy for any respectable site, but at least it wouldn't like like they were trying to pass it off as some kind of original content.
Then they deservedly got flack for this bullshit. They deleted comments they didn't like. Yes, censorship of reasonable opinions. That tells you a lot about the people who work there, doesn't it? Then they get defensive and tell people to screw off. Finally, they admit that they fucked up, but instead of crediting their readers for pointing this out they come out with some bullshit about the article not living up to their high standards. If they had any standards, none of this would have happened.
Snowden's Secret
Banned
This is the same site that took $750,000 from Microsoft in marketing dollars, right?
There are people here who are blowing this so far out of proportion (to the detriment of legitimate issues such as EG/MVC/Wainwright/Florence) that they will seriously believe you.
Kazuma Kiryu
Member
*reads mcelroy tweets*
yeah, i hope this site goes down in flames. how more smug can you be? pathetic
yeah, i hope this site goes down in flames. how more smug can you be? pathetic
Huevos de Oro
Member
Wow Doritos Limited Edition! They're probably made with foie gras instead of regular-ass cheese.
And that Mt. Dew is made with the urine of seraphs.
And that Mt. Dew is made with the urine of seraphs.
Cerebral Assassin
Member
Lucky we have people like yourself who think that breaching their own ethical standards is not thread worthy isn't it?
Colonel Nasty
Member
Poor Phil Koller... stuck with these douches. I miss 1up so much.
I so want this. Hey Microsoft/Frito-Lay, please send me a private message with contact information so that I can partake of your delicious Halo® branded Doritos® and Mountain Dew®
I'm ready to chug the charge. Or charge the chug. Crunch the intense futuristic flavor of Doritos® brand Covenant® tested snackfood.
Nah, they're happy to selectively choose to dislike one group of people doing the same thing as another group of people.
Agreed. People like to see what they like to see. I've read great features on every site from Kotaku to Joystiq and very recently Polygon. I'm not going to get bent out of shape over something that 99% of the population already understands is not "news" or "journalism." I don't see a huge difference between doing it this way, copy and pasting the entire thing and posting it under a subcategory of news called "press releases" like Gamasutra, and taking the same content and rearranging in your own voice like Klepek (hint - that isn't jounalism either).
Cerebral Assassin
Member
Show me how that article breaches any ethical statement that GB have put out(I assume that is who you are referring to), if you can then they will have donr the same as Polygon, if mot you are comparing apples to oranges?
ESPN got into a similar issue because of the whole "worldwide leader in sports" tag. I suppose Polygon has singled themselves out as being a website trying something new. I still don't see how a single press release debacle somehow nullfies everything they have done in their short lifespan and questions everything they will do in the future. Many people have said the same thing about GB and being friends with Harmonix and Double Fine.
Cerebral Assassin
Member
What is the point of an ethics statement if you are not going to stick to it? To compound that, when people pointed this out they deleted comments & claimed that they did nothing wrong, sounds pretty shitty to me.
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Nothing that Giant Bomb has done has led me to believe they are in cahoots with publishers.
They are probably the most transparent video game dudes on the Internet when it comes to their video content at least. Quick Looks are also just about the best thing to happen to video game media in recent years.
I think deleting comments that questioned the post was the wrong way to address criticism but the way you are talking is like the integrity and credibility of their entire site is under question because is a silly press release. Grown people can distinguish between bullshit and something worth talking about.
This whole thing with Eurogamer started based on relationships between PR/devs and press though. That's the only reason Giant Bomb is getting brought up. Nothing would lead me to believe anything wrong is going on at Giant Bomb and they've been as transparent as they possibly can be with quick looks and reviews. I'm just saying a dumb press release about Pizza Hut has just as much chance as ending up AS NEWS on Giant Bomb. I don't see anything wrong with it posted as news. The original thread existed long before they started deleting comments and there were tons of people here crying foul. There isn't anything unethical about copy and pasting a press release. In the games industry it's like posting an AP article.
Aside from the official Pizza Hut site, I can't find a press release anywhere online. Polygon sites EGM Now as the source, so I'm guessing they originally found it on EGM.
Cerebral Assassin
Member
It has fuck all to do with it being a press release, the original image used for the story was the actual advert that Pizza Hut will use(& they managed to fuck that up too, they cut out the terms & conditions, which is why I believe they changed the image), that is a clear breach of their policy. Add that to the fact that the editorial staff were naive enough to let a UK journalist post that without checking that it was suitable to post, doesn't paint them with much credit.
Do you have any evidence for that claim?
D
Deleted member 17706
Unconfirmed Member
Not just a silly press release, but the way in which it was posted and how they handled criticism is what really puts their site under question. How could it not be more clear?
SteveWinwood
Member
If I got that as a "journalist" I would make a video of me eating it and then ripping the bag up and throwing it away.
It is clear that you are upset with the way they handled the criticism which is why I just said that. I still don't get the transition from lazy news post that probably didn't cross any senior editors desk to the entire site and staff being questioned. Have you read their features? What about their site content do you dislike at this point?