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Oct 18, 2006 06:44 PM
Discussion

Suspicious posts???

Ever notice that sometimes when a new restaurant opens up in the local area that touts some unique feature, e.g., soju wine bar, there will magically appear on the boards asking for something like the following:

"Anyone recommend a good place with a soju wine bar?"

Coincidence ...?

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  1. Click the userid and see what else they've posted about.

    If they don't look legit, report as spam. Sometimes it's hilariously obvious.

    1. If you're suspicious of any post, please send us a report using 'report this post' or email us at moderators@chowhound.com. Let us know what the problem is and we'll investigate.

      2 Replies
      1. re: The Chowhound Team

        Please follow the mods advice and contact them rather than replying yourself. I've been falsely accused of being a shill. Not cool...

        1. re: The Chowhound Team

          note: we COUNT on you guys looking out for us. The site's too big for the moderators to catch every problem. We all have a stake in keeping the site honest, and the best way to use our network effect to self-police is to use that "report this post" feature (even if you're not sure, go ahead and report and let the moderators do the legwork and check it out).

        2. The most amusing one I've seen was where the same person, who never posted anything else, revived 3 separate year old threads in the space of a few minutes to "recommend" some, of course fabulous, new restaurant that would suit them to a T. :)

          4 Replies
          1. re: MikeG

            I see that about once a week.

            My favorite was when some spam like that inspired a board regular to go to the place, have a mediocre or worse meal, and write a detailed report.

            1. re: Robert Lauriston

              maybe Im paranoid, but Im starting to feel that the site is getting so buzzy in my community (downtown Brooklyn) that we are drawing lots of seedings and covert posts from restauranteurs. Feel as if we toned down or even left off with the pre-opening discussions (after all, most places are not going to be chow-worthy) it might be a good thing.

              1. re: jen kalb

                Jen, that's a good idea. We've never been real comfortable with pre-opening discussion for that very reason. But please, let's not discuss security stuff publicly (where the guerilla marketers are reading along). Please email the Chowhound Team at webmaster@chowhound.com if you have suggestions. And, again, hit the "report this post" button if you spot anything suspicious. Let's keep this little corner of cyberspace a refuge for the exchange of sincere genuine info!

                ciao

                1. re: Jim Leff

                  I fairly regularly email in shill alerts; the posts get taken down pretty quickly. You wanna see shills, troll the comments at Menupages for a while. Hysterical.

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            1. The original comment has been removed
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