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Polygon posts ad/re-worded press release as 'News' & deletes user comments [Removed]

W

Wildesy

Member
I don't really care about this sort of stuff, I ignore it completely whenever it appears on any site anyway. But filing it under 'news' always aggravates me, just call it what it is and be done with it. The fact that one lucky person can win a prize doesn't doesn't instantly legitimise it, it's still just PR fluff.

The fact they aren't getting paid for it makes me question why they bother to run it at all? Does it really generate that much traffic? Surely it's better to just maintain your integrity as a news site and wipe your hands clean of this stuff than it is to put this kind of crap up?

I'm guessing it's the readers fault as much as anybodies. The sad reality is this article, even if it didn't get blown in a controversy, would probably generate more hits than that in-depth and time consuming article the guy from Polygon linked before (Phil TV).
 
C

Coldsnap

Member
chrisgrant said:
Mostly because it wasn't the appropriate resolution for the site and looked blurry.

Look, do I think it was the best, most useful post we've ever run? No, I don't. Do I see any malice in running it? Nope!

This smells like a witch hunt to me — all we're doing is keeping the comments thread clear and on-topic. Since that was going to require a lot of maintenance, we just turned comments off.

We've spent a lot of money creating great gaming content that I think goes beyond what many of our peers have. I hope you look to that when you decide to dismiss the entire site based on one contest post. Here's a story from today!
Click to expand...

I thought the Phil TV story was interesting.
 
B

Bumhead

Banned
watership said:
What's the difference between this and every site out there posting the announcement of mountain dew game fuel coming back? Loads of sites did that.
Click to expand...

Very few other websites made such a song and dance about their pretentions or purpose of existence.
 
B

Branduil

Member
Goldenroad said:
Sure, but "regurgitating a press release" is not the same as "advertising" is all I'm saying. It's not advertising if you're not getting paid for it.
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Viewing payment solely in terms of direct cash transfers is exactly the kind of myopia rampant in gaming "journalism" that's led to the controversy of the past week.
 
M

MYeager

Member
chrisgrant said:
Guys, there's no controversy here. We decided to run a post, via EGM, that Pizza Hut was offering a prize to UK customers. Readers like to know when they can win free stuff, so we ran a post. There is no advertorial here since we weren't paid to put the piece up. Perhaps you didn't think the piece was newsworthy – well, that's fine. I encourage you to let us know at feedback@polygon.com and we'll use that feedback to influence our editorial direction.

What we won't allow is to have a bunch of people invade the comments and accuse us of wrongdoing. It's off-topic, and it's not helpful. If you want to believe there's a controversy behind everything, that's fine. We have a public ethics statement and we stick by it. If that's not enough for you to believe, then I'm sorry.

In short, we welcome your feedback, but in an appropriate venue. The comments thread of an article isn't that venue.
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I personally don't have a problem with reporting on a promotional deal. I do however think that the comment section is an appropriate place to leave feedback, positive or negative, and deleting comments is not a great communication precedent to set for a new website.
 
K

Kade

Member
PIZZA HUT, 343 INDUSTRIES AND POLYGON TEAM UP TO BRING YOU THE STUFFED CRUST MAP PACK FOR HALO 4. HALO 4 -- START A FIGHT!
 
D

Dennis

Banned
Censorship is what Polygon is doing.

The comments that were deleted were not rude, profane or otherwise offensive.

They were, however, critical.

Not allowed. Positivity only.


Christopher Grant said:
Please read our Community Guidelines here – we reserve every right to delete comments that aren't helpful or on-topic. If you want to criticize us, you're welcome to send us an email to feedback@polygon.com. If you want to make a new account – which all the detractors here have done – and come here to rile up negativity, we're going to stop you.

We're closing this thread for now and will reconsider opening it later.
Click to expand...
 
M

MrDaravon

Member
ReturnOfTheRAT said:
Patrick K. did it the right way. A different perspective was applied to the press and it wasn't recycled PR garbage.
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This. Compare this to what Polygon's doing if you somehow don't see the problem.

This probably would have been a non-issue if Polygon hadn't had the whole debacle with the documentary, saying basically they were going to be different and the best, etc. Then a week in we get this. Because of how they have specifically handled and presented themselves any time there is the slightest opening they are going to get jumped on to all hell. Their saving grace (if nothing else) should be in how they are handling the response.

They are handling it very poorly.
 
G

grimshawish

Banned
A lot of people don't think theres no benefit from saying 'hey you can get this' - its the copy and pasting thats the problem. You took an image from another site, you took content from another site (or a press release but you deny that, not that I actually believe you, but then why should I?).

Have your reporters report on things properly. Don't read out the T&C's at the end (thats the press release talking); say what the deal is and link to it. Move on, maybe add commentary.

Oh and the idea that comments on an article about the article are 'off topic' is a pathetic point. You were editing and censoring. Polygon is not for open discussion, again this fits in with the 'this is just a press report' issue.
 
G

Goldenroad

Member
Branduil said:
Viewing payment solely in terms of direct cash transfers is exactly the kind of myopia rampant in gaming "journalism" that's led to the controversy of the past week.
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Better get out my tinfoil hat then. A Video Game site posting a press release about a video game. They must be in somebodys pocket.
 
B

Barbacoatl

Banned
see5harp said:
Every video game site on the planet probably ran that press release. CONSPIRACY
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Sure, but not every video games site on the planet claimed to be the next Tad Szulc's of games jingoism. I don't expect you to know who Tad Szulc is, just as I don't expect polygon to be nothing more than a pr outlet.
 
G

ghst

thanks for the laugh
goddammit gowans.

at least make the MS connection clear in the thread title and clean up your possessive pro-nouns.
 
C

Cat Party

Member
Curufinwe said:
The denial and lack of understanding in your post is what's stunning.
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Denial about what, exactly? Taking press releases and reporting on them is something all news sites do, regardless of the industry they report on. They weren't paid to run the article, so it's not "advertorial."

Deleting negative comments directed at the site, that have nothing to do with the substance of the article, makes sense to me. If you posted a thread about how shitty GAF was on the gaming side, do you think it would not be locked?
 
I

inky

Member
Dennis said:
Censorship is what Polygon is doing.

The comments that were deleted were not rude, profane or otherwise offensive.

They were, however, critical.

Not allowed. Positivity only.
Click to expand...

Maybe if you end every comment with:

I love Pizza Hut™, Mountain Dew™ and Halo™ 4™ they'd be more appreciative of your "criticism".
 
E

Empty

Member
i love you ghst

also i figured they took down the original picture as having an advertising poster image at the top was just too blatantly shady but nope it's just the resolution. jeez.
 
S

see5harp

Member
Trip Warhawkins said:
Sure, but not every video games site on the planet claimed to be the next Tad Szulc's of games jingoism. I don't expect you to know who Tad Szulc is, just as I don't expect polygon to be nothing more than a pr outlet.
Click to expand...

There have been plenty of great features already up on Polygon. I haven't watched the documentary because it doesn't interest me. If you want to just look at a news feed, then fine.
 
A

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
iTLNyhsXakYj5.png
 
oneils

oneils

Member
Dennis said:
...Does posting this as news not violate your own ethics guidelines?
Click to expand...


Can't answer the other questions, but this one is pretty straightforward. They are not getting paid for this. They are simply passing along details of a contest. From what I can tell they are not getting compensated for it.

Seems to be standard procedure for pretty much every gaming site out there. I guess the recent doings at Eurogamer has everyone being super hyper-vigilant. I doubt we would have seen this reaction a month ago.
 
R

Risette

A Good Citizen
Goldenroad said:
Took even shorter for the conspiracy theorists to show up. I was just calling 'em out.
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No, you're just trying to end discussion by ridiculing those opposed to what you say because you have no real argument against anything the "conspiracy theorists" are saying.
 
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