It actually is, yes of course they are going to try it. I'm Director of Marketing at a large company so I know all about it, that doesn't mean that the mods shouldn't investigate and eradicate so that we can have honest conversations instead of those tainted by marketers.
(responding to this since you mentioned it earlier)
I guess my question is simple: is there an obligation to tell the truth on the internet?
I don't think there is. I mean, I appreciate that on some communities (like NeoGAF) there isn't much tolerance for lying (Amir0x-gate 1.0, Amir0x-gate 2.0, etc.) and that's a good thing, I think, but... in general, especially in the uncharted ocean of shit that is Reddit... People believe things. People hold opinions. You're never going to know all the ulterior motives at play (maybe the xbone ran over his grandmother! I don't know and I don't care) so I don't see why money is any different from any of those other ones.
I mean—if they're spreading blatant untruths like "oh there's no 24 hour check in" then sure, ban, whatever... but that's just a factual untruth. anything else... subjectivity... I don't know. I don't care. I don't really care about 90%+ of forum opinions anyways and I suspect most people don't either.
Are you really? I think we'll have to agree to disagree because your argument makes no sense to me. You bring up an example of something bad on the internet, then ask why something equally bad is worse because they are being paid for it. Logically, it is as bad, and worse, because it is being paid for, ere go intellectually dishonest.
In addition, how do you not see why it is harmful to honest discussion, when there are people in the audience being paid to support one side?
let me clarify—I don't like paid shills. I don't like blind fanboyism either. but, I think there's understand what's wrong with either. like... what makes it any different? is there an expectation of honest discussion on the internet? I don't think so. Certainly not on Reddit.