TechofTomorrow has a massive fan following so this is what happened:

I wish it ended there!!! But Tech Pocket actually said the following:

All this happened within 3-4 hours. Someone even posted a VLOG to even express their anger about this.

Here’s a refresher: Rewriting content is plagiarism. Rewriting multiple content is also plagiarism. You may have the heart to rip other people’s hard work and mix it together, then use the word “inspiration”, but its not. Elric did actually contact his legal team. Well duh!!! Hardware Pocket had a “trademark” so that’s just not really cool. Fortunately he removed it, but the damage has been done.

This isn’t the only Indian tech blogger who has been doing this, but others have been doing in a clever manner. As pointed out in someone’s review thread, one of his writers (or so he claims) made some series of error, but after checking another post of his that blog, it was found that one of the graph was obviously ripped from toms’ hardware. not only that, the writer was smart enough to crop out toms’ hardware’s logo. many blogs have been doing this Writing reviews which are nothing more than features and specifications written in paragraph form and PR pictures, guides ripped from other website(s). Majority of the Indian tech blog is a sham!!! fake artists!!! They’re so good at re-writing ripped content, they might as well get a medal for it. Stop it!!! Don’t just start a tech blog but because you want to “lol” it out!

This is so wrong, and because of this, tech blogging in India is labelled as nothing more than rip-off artists.

grow up!!!!!! if you don’t know how to do tech blogging, please do people who are really doing honest tech blogging a favour: GET A JOB!!!!!

Edit: Well, looks like being crowd trolled and at least being taught a thing or 2 wasn’t enough for him as he has stolen benchmark graphs from Tweaktown. It reminds me when a particular forum (in India, infact those guys are not only Bangalore based, but Andy Ruffel at eteknix told me once that these guys ripped off their brand name few years ago to piggy back on their SEO… which btw the conversation happened face-to-face!! ) ripped my 890GPA UD3H and 880GMA review long time ago- before I started BBQ. I finally got it down, but I saw other contents being ripped off. I left it that that. But now I see those forum guys getting media samples and putting up reviews.

So it looks like this: Fill up a forum or a blog with re-written content and crop out website’s logo, change the image file name, maybe brightness, saturation, whatever, etc. and fill it up with content all day long and hope for the best you don’t “Get caught”. Go to a company and say that’ you’re a reviewer and all those awesome things enough to flatter a brand and they’ll hook you up. I am not saying its a bad thing…wait…it is a bad thing. That guy is being an asshole!

as a man of my word, i will not mention the brand name or the questioned reviewer- well…. not yet!!

We shall refer to him as “He who shall not be named”. some of us know who he is, we’ll keep it to ourselves. I as usual have hope that assuming that people reads this will stop what he’s doing. Then again, I cannot make horse out of donkeys!! (but I can point them out if I am being tempted/provoked/put in a position to!).

My opinion? It went like this: If you and your client firmly believe that you product is crap and want to have such people to promote your products then why ask me? You know your client better than I do! If you think that I am going to do like this? Dream on!! I rather be blacklisted than to sell my reader’s trusts. Unlike some who are beggars for media samples, there are some who do the right thing! . But if you feel that there is some product that you want to have product exposure in a namesake forum, give! Usko aish karne do!! Woh bhi kya yaad rakega ki WOH company se usko freebie mila hai! . But ha! If the guy’s name is mentioned in public by me or someone else (apparently, some members/non-reviewers hate him- and some hate him a lot that if they have the information that I do at hand, they would have published it in all the forums he posted)and if people say that the companies that gave these services for cannot be trusted, then a lot of people will have tough time believing in your product, even if its true.

Some forum review content from a certain type of people cannot be trusted now. I urge those people who are still honest to have more relevant and real world testing methodology.That is more than enough to show who is writing honest review and who is not. , whereas readers should check multiple sources- big, small- all of above!

If any of the of techenclave moderators and admins are reading this, last time i remember you guys shooed me because (according to Renegade) I caused SEO issues by posting reviews everywhere back then. What about your new mascot??? hmm??? . Besides, i wouldn’t be surprised that an honest reviewer may have second thoughts to post on a forum where its well known to PRs that they have a sample in that forum where they will get ‘favourable reviews’. This is where a reputation of a contributors holds far more value.

Someone here asked me to produce proof to techenclave mod so that they can take ‘appropriate actions’. I say why should I help them especially knowing the fact that this is the respect I got from contributing reviews on a regular basis. Afterall, I am bad for SEO, no? *sarcasm*

Please also excuse my grammatical and spelling errors as I am writing this out of anger and I am not thinking straight (but I am thinking straight enough to post it here). It should be also noted that I have not mentioned the PR agency’s name- nor the questioned company.

So this is what happened. I was once offered to review a premium memory kit  by an Indian based PR agency but the condition was that I stick to synthetic benchmarks only and not to compare it or talk about the price because “it aimed towards enthusiasts”. Ironically, they wanted me to do synthetic tests.

Do note that companies don’t say what to review with, unless the methodology is wrong!

So this is the mail that I’ve received. Those who can’t see it properly thanks to the layout, click here. To note, this mail came to me on 1st august, 2012.

I pushed it away by saying I do not have any resources to test it, but I gave a called to another PR in the same team who kept someone else to take of the client saying that this is wrong!

The following happened.

There were few products that came to me and as many know that if its good, i say its good and if its bad- i say it is bad. The one product that I reviewed from them is where it was too expensive and I marked it down because of price. Second was good, but the product’s firmware had TRIM issue but I waited for the new firmware and did the re-test, clarifying that this SSD should be used with the newer firmware and then came a product where because of the software provider’s restricted implementations the product was not worthy to be made. Sending email to the country head was useless because throughout the time I used to send feedbacks, he never used to reply back or acknowledge, except the time when someone from Taiwan replied back due to a certain firmware issue with an older SSD drive. I emailed to someone I know in Taiwan and he forwarded the mail to the country head where he says that he doesn’t read any mails from me at all. The agency did not forward any mails to them nor the country head of the brand cares. Lets call this company as company “A”

There was also issues that I raised in the past that was unanswered, that included the wild claims about their memory kit with the ability to overclock from 1333MHz to 1600MHz and then “India specific” memory kit. To which both the queries were left unanswered.

I was blacklisted- sort of. They cut off the communication altogether and didn’t reply back to any of the information. I decided that its not worth being in communication with this guy and decided not to associate with any brands with this PR agency. I stood up for what is right and I am proud of it! I unsubscribed to their mailing lists.

And then a similar company (but they don’t make flash based products) started communicating with me and it was going pretty well- and then they hoped to another PR agency. Surprise surprise!!! its the same PR agency that created this issue. I told them that I will not associate with the PR agency because of the crap that was being done. The conversation happened on the phone and lets just say an impression was made I am bashing brands and one of their product was taken as an example. When I speaking about the specifics and compared to some of the units that I’ve evaluated the reply came back “lets not talk about the technical part”. I am sorry, but its a technical product so one has to speak about it?

Lets call this company as company “B”.

The problem was that there were many cons. But here’s the thing- I don’t mention likes and dislikes. I mention pros and cons- and due to the site’s framework design the cons come on top and pros come below (why am I saying this? You will know about it when you read). Nothing new, nothing biggie.

The cons I mention is because people can know clearly what to expect and what not to expect. Ratings are given on overall aspect, including value for money, warranty period- excluding service feedback history because different people living in different countries, cities, locations have different/opposite experience so its not possible to quantify it. If the cons does not affect you as a buyer, obviously you’ll consider it. That’s how the buyer thinks- irrespective of what one might claim. On top of it I write a detailed review as much as possible.

Unfortunately it was not looked that way from the company’s side. Conversation went towards power supply where another review which was done in another forum was brought in. I simply said that the review is misleading and I am not ready to do that. I used the word “it sucks” and I told the respected person of the company that if you want, I can post the link in my facebook page and I will not say anything, but you’ll get to see people’s opinion about it which will make your realize that such way of doing reviews will affect damage your brand’s reputation.

Lets be realistic, there’s only 1 testing methodology for a power supply that websites such as HardOCP, anandtech, Hardware Secrets ( I am a huge fan of Gabriel and he was one of the person I seriously wanted to meet in Computex 2012 when I won Tweaktown’s computex competition, among a shit load of people!!!).

It didn’t reach to a conclusion- atleast in my opinion. But I said that if you want to send, you can send it. The PR agency however told the person in the company that I blocked them. I’ve said no and added that I have only unsubscribed it- and I told the person from that PR agency who also given me a call, where I’ve bluntly said that I do not want to associate with your agency because of the issue you’ve made and she said “okay bye!” (I told not to take it personally, considering people use that as an excuse to divert from the actual discussion- and I genuinely don’t have anything personal with her).

I was then being told that the PR agency’s owner and one of the agents will be here to talk to me. I was being my one of a good friend from company “A” and contact that the company which blacklisted me was going to have a conference here- of which- as expected- not invited.

But still I’ve decided to meet up- with one of the contributors by my side.

We were talking about Brand “A” on most of the time and I’ve asked the question 3 times “Are the cons disputed”. During the time, these were being told:

“Can you talk about the positive part first and then about the negative part” (lulwut????)

“The person incharge of the operations only sees the pros and cons and ratings- that’s it. Because people don’t read the content and see only that” (lulwutwtuf this is not a movie review site)

Silence, with the sentence “we don’t have any problems with you” (riiiight).

This is the part where I was being told that I am dangerously influential with a very serious face. An impression was made on me that these guys may have said something to Company B (well i had suspicion before too but at this point it was obvious). If being loved by most of the people for helping them (ignoring TE, chip, Digit and tech 2, I was in forums such as now defunct kawabonka, Indian Pro league and another forum) and by hated, trolled, meme’d by a group of people where in this line of work, if you have pissed them off in some form or the other, its an indication that you’re on the right path!!!

I wasn’t dangerously influential. Well.. I can be but I don’t see things that way.

I do have a more direct way of putting things across, but that’s what people read my reviews in the first place. I don’t have a degree in bullshitery and bling bling or misguide people to get more pageviews. If that was the case, I would have given one of the cases of the companies a 4 out of 5 rather than 2 out of 5…oh wait… a magazine did give an award to that same case after a month, a case where the HDD slider can snap off and the tray was made of tin foil. Some people have said that giving a rating for such cases itself shows that I am being biased (lol!!).

So why am I writing this? I am writing this because right now, in some Indian tech forum where one of the forum contributors posted that review of the product from company “A”- and its obvious that he agreed to avoid real world benchmarks.

Do I have something against the person? No!! If I really had that intention then I wouldn’t have hesitated to put his name online. Do I something with these companies? No- but I do have a problem when someone does this to promote their brand and have a problem if I am deemed as a brand basher! Model basher? depends on how people look at it- but no cons have been disputed- with the exception of 2-3 of them which was not a really big deal- but by these companies mind you.

Why I am writing this is for everyone:
Companies: This is how I am going to do things. I will not lie. I will be honest and if the product is good and if the newer product worked on the cons of the previous product- I will mention it, provided i’ve reviewed the older product. But I am not going to do this. I am not a liar. Not that I have a code of ethics or something, its because I am too darn lazy to lie. Remember Sheldon Cooper who makes detailed stuff up to tell a simple lie??? Yeah- that guy! If you ask me that you either do this or we’ll not send you samples, don’t send me samples!!! I am not saying this out of arrogance, but you need to understand that in line of work, lies can be found out and tracked down easily. That’s the reason why many online publication in India which used to do pc hardware reviews failed dramatically.

And please, read the entire review properly.

Readers: Dude, the cake is a lie!!! You’ve been warned. Apply brains and check multiple resources. Don’t be blinded by the amount of rend-ant bullshitery sprinkled all around the content.

Forum Reviews who do things so that they can get stuff to promote bullshitery: You should have seen this coming. “I am dangerously influential!!!!!”. Not my words, but the words that came from the PR who is sending you stuff. Besides, what are you getting out of this? freebies. Stop fooling the people.

Forum reviewers who are still honest: Be honest, or else I am sorry, but to protect the community where I and many have worked hard to keep it honest, you’re next. But if you feel that you feel that your work is at risk because of such people, don’t. People respect you for being honest and making efforts to be truthful. If you don’t do reviews of those products, whether you say it in public or not, obviously people will know that there’s something wrong in the picture. Public is not that stupid. Try to grow and implement testing methodology that makes sense to the people, not just for your peers- and cover your ass. Don’t keep blind faith on the forums so much. Today they’re friendly with you, tomorrow- no!!! Not everyone is the same, yes, but if you have observed the cases around the Indian forum scene, you know what I am saying.

Forum owners/admins: For your brand’s sake open your eyes. Else, I don’t care!

PR agencies: Most of the PR agents and agencies are pretty cool guys and they understand where I am come from and all that jazz. But those who don’t: Reviewers are not advertisers. Reviewers are not a tool for PR and marketing. If its good, they will say it. Why would they not! They’ll be happy, consumers will be happy and you will happy. If its bad, take the feedback and work on it- or dispute it. In any case, that how reviewers work (the real ones anyways) and respectfully, Deal with it!!! Some of them used words like “If you do this, how will you get ad revenues”, well- Hardware BBQ is an honest source and that’s why people will come back and read because of that honesty. Why do you think certain media doing this have failed miserably or changed their content type?

I have warned before that there will be an influx of contributors who will misguide the Indian community by writing crap so that they can get more media samples and use that as a sales pitch to attract other brands. Here it is now. Decision is in your hands- how do companies, people, reviewers, contributors, forum owners want to deal with it. Note that I did not mention anyone’s name out of respect. I also did not mention the name of the brand and people because this is something that anyone can do it irrespective of who he or she is- or which forum he posts or which company she or he represents.

Edit: I’ve disabled the comment section and deleted 2 comments. As I’ve said, I got nothing against the brand. Reviewers should be truth tellers and should stick to it. Reviewers who do otherwise, should be put in place irrespective of the backlash one would see.

(Edit): There is a serious after effects. In a new scenario “A” company did some setting with an unethical reviewer for promotion and he puts bullshit content. People put likes and say good comments. Why would they not? They trust you for new knowledge and unless someone equally knowledgeable who got nothing to do with reviews doesn’t challenge it, people will be fooled. Company “B” gets a ping from its superiors: “if these guys do like this, why not us?”. Eventually it builds up- and everyone writes crap.

So think before you do something. As far as I am seeeing things, honesty has no value and fear that reviewers and the tech forums will be used to promote so much marketing content even the reader will not know who is telling the truth.

Thank you for your time!

I observed it day before yesterday to see if he was doing anything new. Well, it wasn’t new but judging by the image above, that is not cool. Ofcourse I asked Toolius and knowing him (and YOU people knowing him) obviously know that SVG Tech is pulling a hippo’s tail (FYI, Toolius is anything but a hippo- its a figure of speech- figure out which figure of speech I am using by yourselves) so I showed him this. He didn’t show he was angry- maybe more like shocked. Rightly so: He posted a response suited for people who have said that.

For those who don’t know, toolius did post the water cooling kit reviews that SVG Tech had- and SVG Tech did use some of those graphs to pitch his coolers on the forums IINM. I am sort of surprised no1 saw this message hanging around since… november.

What Toolius said was “Please let me know where i can send the coolers back. I had told you in our conversations a few months back that i was really busy and that it would not be possible to do the reviews for your air coolers. Just to clarify i did do your water cooling.”

Seriously? Calling Toolius as a thief? I was under the impression that you actually made these are 100% Indian made watercooling kits, and not certain OEM components from Asetek till the point they decided not to sell their stuff to you for whatever reasons- it doesn’t matter and where did the rest of the parts came from??? China?? Or am I wrong??? And did anyone ask this question on the forums?

So- here’s the thing to those people who are sending stuff. Contributors have their life and they don’t do this for a living. When they say don’t send stuff. It means don’t send stuff. Respect it. If you really really REALLY want to send stuff to someone? We have promoters who call themselves as reviewers and willing to post around like a drunken talking parrot being boned by a bison (Don’t imagine it- you’ve been warned). We have few of those youtube people as well who say colourful stuff even about a plain piece of rock (not that they have done it- atleast to my knowledge- but they can…right?).

This is to some of those company people- while I am in the topic-unrelated to SVG Tech- when you’re giving somone something as a gift. Its a gift, not something to review it and post it on forums. Just letting you know. If I said something wrong, imagine that I haven’t said it at all….AT ALL.

On the bright side, now that I posted this- most likely some parrots will be in touch with you. See what I did here? In a way- I hooked you up! I am bad at keeping secrets but we’ll keep it between us. You, me and the people who read it and the people who came to know about this from the people who read it.

In the meanwhile, when someone says he’s busy- it means no. And no name-calling. Unless its hilariously funny. But I don’t like people who say something on a phone and say something else to people in private and in public.

BTW, You should listen and get a job as suggested if you plan to do this garbage.

I am getting a good vibe that forum in some fashion will be commercialized for sometime.

I am not saying its a bad thing- it has benefits and usually its mutual, but there are certain limits to it. Just like how advertisement revenue shouldn’t influence reviews, reps shouldn’t go around and spam in threads where people asking for advices.

Whatever you do, they should never butt in the middle of discussion. If you feel that there’s something wrong with what one person is saying- send him a personal message and ask him. If his reasoning justifies it, let him be- take the feedback and improve YOUR product. If not, discuss it with moderators and admins that he is falsely highlighting your brand in the wrong way. I am sure admins and/or mods will judge the situation accordingly.I am sure company reps will also understand this- afterall they’re also consumers at the end of the day.

But…

I’ve observed these guys: here, here and here.

And these spammers seem to have received these tags as “L.G. experts” so its obvious digit’s management has something to do with this. Raabo, we never really had a direct talk- but what’s up with this??

Why are they posting in threads where people are asking advices in general? If a separate marketing rep section was made and if their posting privileges is restricted to that section itself, I wouldn’t have minded. But this?????

Are they going to butt in everytime someone posts- and/or if someone points out the cons so that these people will bring their marketing B.S. spam? such as this:

We as contributors are sacrificing our leisure time to help our peers on the forums with the best of the knowledge that we have irrespective of the forum we are in and I am sure many regulars will agree that they will not like to see reps posting around and recommending their stuff, turning everything into a spammy forum, alienating people?? If this is going to be a trend and Digit management allowing it, then I am afraid that contributors should save their time and energy, move to a forum which won’t resort to such tactics. Forums should always be respected as forums- something run by peers for peers of peers. Don’t like the way it should be done? Brace yourself because this is how a forum begins to corrode by loosing their old regulars.

Forums- even if run by a media entity- should not be commercialized in such manner- or else why run it? What guarantee is that the person who has highlighted the cons of a particular L.G. product won’t be harassed by series of PM spam because he doesn’t believe your hocus pocus? What guarantee is that you won’t be banned because you’re talking against the product where your forum is getting the money from (well- duh!!!). You know it goes- why would anyone bite the hand that feeds them??

What makes me think its commercialised? Do you honestly believe that these guys got license to spam around without giving something to Digit? Are you so thick???

Tech2 forum’s admin (yeah… it has some lifeforms around) and moderators are not very happy about these L.G. 3D spammers- and to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are the same set of samples in digit forums- except in digit they get a title bling and therefore license to sperm around like a ROFLCOPTER. Then again, if tech2 had the same level of activity as digit I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same. Money talks!! That’s why- help people- irrespective of the forum brand name. The hell with it.

Its obvious that Digit is getting something out of this and its good for them- or else these reps would have been banned a long time ago without a second thought. But you have to realize one thing- and it can apply to anyone with such colourful sticker.

But.. the hell with Digit and their thingy. Their management and activities is irrelevant with the forums unless it affects the way forum is run.

This is about people’s reactions since I feel that it will affect the way forum is will be run. How many of you will like this? How many of you moderators like this?? If the people in digit forums do not like this, its about time you people have a heart to heart conversation with Raabo. Today- there’s 1… atleast to my knowledge. Tomorrow- multiple. The least that can be done is have a rep section and restrict their activities only in that section? Is that a lot to ask??? I doubt this is going to happen. But I have a ray of hope. If it doesn’t- there are many forums out there- including international ones- where your contribution and your time will be respected by fellow peers.

Why not mention bloggers? Well- it doesn’t really have an established meaning as “reporter” or “journalist” or “promoter”. Bloggers can be anyone out of this, but calling one as a promoter is being specific.

Is it wrong? No. Isn’t it obvious that companies will promote their products? That question should be asked to a writer if he’s comfortable. I personally don’t see it wrong if you are someone will extremely limited influence, connections, money for such activity and resources, but I wouldn’t participate.

Well, you’re going there and your arrangements are mostly taken care of by Samsung. It costs a lot of money for an individual to go alone. You go there and get exclusive hands-on- something where you have to be influential and have sources/connections. Not everyone has them mind you. Most do not have it, some do. Do note: knowing people and having strong connections are 2 different stuff. Remember, as a country we as a tech writer- a credible and well respected from companies and readerbase- have a long way to go, so if people are planning a long term career by owning their own tech review/news site, its a very good exposure. Ethics and your code of honour and obligation towards your readers, however is a different story. It also goes without saying that you get to meet people along the way- and that may lead you towards building connections- for that you need to be a people’s person and learn the art of charm and all that jazz. Its more of a tradeoff. Its not that bad- unless you’re like one of those guys to take an opportunity to bash other brands senselessly- this is plain wrong- and by the looks of it I seriously doubt Samsung would ask them to do that on paper. That’s how you start at first to generate those “hands-on” content.  How much would you have to spend for Visa+ return tickets+ hotel stay for any expo, let alone IFA?

I am not into mobile/gadget tech, but I am familiar with faces of handful Indian tech bloggers and met some here and there. Some of these guys need little bit attitude adjustment (especially to that douchebag who said PC gaming is extinct and PC gamers will pretty much end when Windows 8 comes out- respectfully, you’re wrong and its good you’re not in the same genre of writing as those writing about games and PC) and there are some who know what they’re saying. I never met CJ at all. I never knew about that site either. Again, no disrespect intended.

But he’s into this for a while now as far as what I’ve been told. Few years, maybe? Did he read the T&C for Samsung mobilers? If it was specific that we would be deemed as “promoter” on paper should he accept it, why did he go for it knowing what was expected from him on paper? As far as I’ve read till now, there was some verbal agreement with the India PR. Why not in the paper to be on the safe side? Did CJ ask for a clarification on paper? If he did, he wouldn’t have been under the mobilers program, would he? Maybe some NDA or some agreement, deeming him as a reporter rather than promoter. That’s a big question that’s unanswered and it seems to be conveniently overshadowed due to circumstances. If CJ is really that experienced, he should have been specific on that part.

But in another corner, the whole situation where CJ was intimidated that he would be stranded in Berlin should have been avoided. The choice of words where pretty much most sources have told in their posts is downright disturbing. Then again, I am more interested in the conversation that provoked that kind of reply. Maybe CJ must have said something wrong- maybe he didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I still say its wrong and poor choice of words, but would you be surprised if CJ used poor choice of words as well?

I know, due to multiple humping from all angles and series of miscommunication, best way to avoid the situation and end it was for Samsung to apologize and clarify. But here’s the thing, as Livemint pointed it out:

That’s why Joshua Topolsky, editor of technology network The Verge, tweeted, “Bloggers: when you take a junket, you become an employee of the company you took the trip from. Please don’t confuse what it means.”

Read the sentence above. Its true. If you’re accepting stuff like this with this condition, that’s how it is. If those choice of words were not used by Samsung’s PR, most of the people’s point of view would have been different and we would be looking this case as nothing more than misunderstanding T&C. Long story made short, make sure the terms and conditions on paper is clear. But if its verbal agreement, that’s between you guys, but I don’t think even if you trust that individual he wouldn’t mind have those alterations to deem you as a “reporter” if he and the company is cool with it.

In any case, Samsung needs a Karma cat. There was a group of virtually unknown and unheard Indian tech bloggers came together and started bashing Samsung/Indiblogger contest that happened few months ago. When I used to be around Indiblogger at first (and I was making up my mind if I should stick to PC Desktop only or should I plunge my hands in mobile tech- eventually decided to PC Hardware only), I didn’t participate. I participated in something else before that which personally I didn’t like and decided not to participate in contests, makes no sense. Back to this- It was clearly obvious its more of a contest where you promote one by writing something unique (although most were basically writing specification in a paragraph form) and you get the goodies should they choose one of them- like galaxy tab. Most of those guys didn’t like it. A lot of them didn’t. What they don’t realize was that it wasn’t only for tech bloggers and tech bloggers and tech bloggers. It was for the entire blogging population in general. Some written songs and poetry and stuff that people like us probably wouldn’t really read unless you’re into it. But conspiracy stories were made and Samsung bashing striked again. They were throwing some fancy words. One of them was journalistic ethics- and second was democracy. I didn’t care who written it but the entire stuff was a lol. The point is- bloggers don’t read properly. Sad part is, you are a writer should be a good reader as well. You can take a lot of time to understand- and that’s all good. BUT- you need to understand. Samsung didn’t say that you need to write their specification in paragraph format or re-write their press release for galaxy tab. People need to stop doing this. You’re sabotaging. Yes, you are. That mob trashing from bunch of senseless idiots will make someone who takes care of APAC scene will ignore India as a whole. You should rather be diplomatic, charming, round them up and still be clear and not beating around the bushes. Like I said- be a people’s person.

We- as people- need to read properly and be humble and be patient. We- bloggers, PRs, journalists- doesn’t matter. Also, a level of mutual understanding and honesty has to be maintained no matter who you are. Also, some people need to tone down their attitude. Its not just PRs alone- also journos/bloggers need to do that. I don’t understand all that PR Vs. Journo/blogger crap. The way I see things, douche bags are everywhere and we have them in both sides. You can be representing a bigass chipset company- or a small tier 3 level- you have to listen. Bloggers also has to do the same.

And also, please enhance your skill-set. One of the Indian tech writer basically said that an SSD with synchronous flash and asynchronous flash and toggle flash NAND based SSDs are basically the same (no he didn’t directly say that, but judging by the benchmarks he did which was the same compared to synchronous, asynchronous and toggle flash nand- and he didn’t mention that- the difference was more on the type of Flash NAND). I lol’d it out, because not only he didn’t do his research properly and he should have done more tests with different fills, but that drive with that firmware has TRIM issues so bad that you can see the values fall down even when you do benchmarks one after the other.

In another corner, There was this PR who wasn’t really able to understand what I was saying about the a particular product via phone (or maybe refused to acknowledge), and rather than forwarding it to someone from technical side to answer the question, she asked me not to publish. Na-ah! Lady. That ain’t going to happen. I evaluated something and it has an issue. Its obvious I will highlight it. I am still being respectful to you as long as you do the same, but if I am right you need to take it as a feedback. We have to have that communication. We will say our finding and wait for your clarification- and heck maybe if you send a replacement I’ll test it to confirm (which didn’t happen). You’re taking care of tech- not the brand of a vest/boxer shorts that some 50 year old actor with obvious signs of mid life crises. Communication. Read properly. Listen. Patience. Humbleness. Honesty. Not all can follow it to the letter since some get orders from their respected high command, but clarity in expectations is the least expected?

Code of honour. Its not in written format, but it applies without saying. Some of us were kids and even ranting against useless Indian tech sources. Sadly, 10 years+ have passed- and the foundation isn’t really that strong as it should have been- mostly likely due to the reason people here don’t get paid as much as international counterparts too (In India, its somewhere between $300- $500 for starts?) As Mithaljee of Indian Broadband Forums pointed out in Google+ (if you’re reading this- 2 gud DA!!!! :p ), those who write about technology even in mainstream media need to know the difference between a hack and information leak. Stop embarrassing the little guys like us.

But ofcourse if someone is doing the opposite, You have 2 choices: Ignore them. If they still affect you in any way, treat them with the same respect. That will shut them up.

Its our job- and that’s the only way we can function. Indian tech scene is so small and mostly insignificant by international standards. That’s all the more reason we need to use this as a stepping stone- build a strong foundation, build contacts and use it ultimately to build a network between you as a tech writer with company personnel and readers- mostly readers because that’s the point in doing all this. You as a tech writer need to have that skillset to make things work for you, but also follow ethics for your own good health. If you have a problem with someone and if affects you badly, do mention their name/publication/brand- or atleast something where you don’t say it directly, but most can figure out who can talk about. But if you do that, make sure its not your fault.

In any case, the general credibility of Indian tech writers still lacks foundation that we can honestly call ourselves respected and trusted by a lot of people. Number of people reading content is not equal to number of people deeming your source/post/article as credible. But we kill it before people make an effort. Promotion isn’t bad. Getting exclusive hands on this way isn’t bad as long as you conveniently calling hands-on experience as review. Being in a job where you’re neutral entity and you’re endorsing it isn’t cool and it will destroy your credibility, so your honour as a tech writer plays an important role. If you do not have that honour and don’t know how to handle things, you’re in the wrong line of work. Maintaining neutral stand and honesty is more on the writer because you are facing the crowd directly and that’s what counts the most. If companies say you will get access to exclusive and you have to generate “reviews”, they will say it and from their part is not wrong. The wrong and Right applies more on you as a tech writer/contributor.

To conclude, CJ should have read the samsung mobilers T&C properly and asked for a re-corrected T&C assuming the PR agreed to it. The PR’s poor choice of words making anyone convinced that CJ would be stranded in Berlin is wrong. Both shouldn’t have done that for their own sake, but CJ as a tech writer should be the one to take care between the because he is addressing his readers directly. If you weren’t comfortable, you shouldn’t have taken it. But you did take it- as you were tempted for a great exposure with most of your expenses taken care by a company. But it blinded you and you made an oversight. A big oversight.

Hopefully one will learn something out of it. Be careful, stay informed and be clear. If you’re not confident, don’t go for it. Many well known sources fund their own trips, so you should work hard to do that. If they offer you a trip and on paper all they ask is talk about their products- be clear and ask them upfront if its not clear enough for you. If its within your own code of honour as a writer, your call.

But look on the bright side! SEO!!! You and your site is now officially famous worldwide!!!!!

#1 One is having is putting this particular make-shift A-Team where they will get access to the company’s workplace+  resources and get opportunities to go to press releases for free (and one of those cheesy bragging rights where they call you one of the India’s elite techies). In exchange? Content! What else?

#2 Second is that they put the best reviews done by members in the forum (reviews…user reviews…reviews…user reviews…depends i guess whom they pick up) and they’ll put it on the main site.

some people ask me this so here it goes:
#1. I know most people want “India’s first…”, “India’s best…”, “India’s elite….” bragging rights. Including “techies”. I am not saying its a bad thing, but a lot of people overdo it big time. They’ll most probably go for the first one because they will be “recognized” as one by “a techie website/magazine”. Its not that bad for some people…. unless they’re used as a billboard or for publicity- not many would like that. I was being told by a good friend that i should go for it. this way i get to see how they do things. I probably would if I could but I don’t want to because.. well its pointless. besides, i remember when i was in one of the offices back when i was 18 and when they were testing something, they didn’t really like when I said those benchmarks are actually synthetic benchmarks- I guess that’s why they didn’t hire me- and that’s good or else I would probably written stuff like them.

#2. ehhh…. “best reviews”. okay- here’s the thing. I know someone is getting a free gift out of it and stuff in exchange for participating it. I wouldn’t really like it to be a review- like how one of the guys from “that” site said it during a meeting in an office at what I call Mordor . Other than that, I prefer it over #1. Maybe a writeup no less than 200- 400 word like “what is your best gadget you’ve written” or “favourite game you’ve played”? Its not that bad other than that. Well, its better than being used as a billboard. I know a lot of people will try to push their half-right points just because they have more rep counts on the forums- so if we have such idiots around, having morons bragging with this sticker is catastrophic- as catastrophic as someone with a B Tech degree in electric engineering (or something like that) and working for a hardware company doesn’t know that a power supply converts AC-into-DC.

I never really knew going to press meets is an opportunity. Going to another country and being with the guys to cover an expo or getting an exclusive look at something? That’s awesome. A lot of people ask me if I know any tech bloggers (more specifically- who are into PC Hardware) like me. Problem is there aren’t any that I know of in Mumbai- except those who do the usual press release thing and generating silly rumour mills- and who aren’t in Mumbai. I wouldn’t mind recommending them otherwise- except the sexually frustrated moron types or those whom I get a vibe will become more arrogant  than me. The same friend says that I need to stop helping people and forums, try to use the fact that there aren’t many pc hardware review sites out there.. other than who does PCMark vantage test, put it in a graph and don’t call it pcmark vantage.

BTW, if any of the reviewers from the publications are reading this- a year ago I got a external hard drive after you guys ‘tested’ it, in one there were PCMark vantage and 3DMark vantage with crack files on it- which is strange because I thought you guys being mainstream and all have a license and since one of you guys said that you get motherboards and graphic cards to keep and in some cases you do get 3DM license for about a year in some cards but…- and second it had a bunch of disturbing collection of porn. But that’s fine. I deleted it. But thanks to YOU I won’t look at sticks and ropes the same way I used to before after accidentally opening the porn video renamed to something else… your secret is safe with me.

I am saying ‘tested’ now because when I get an SSD after being reviewed by one of you guys with the power on count hours being 37 hours and total host write was nothing more than 8GB, which probably means most likely you were running the SSD as a secondary drive and you just done nothing more than PCMark vantage and maybe transferring few files for a lol because when I do benchmark alone by running the drive as a primary drive- I hit 500GB as total host write- and then with stress testing hits atleast 8TB of total host writes-just saying- because when I found that there is a degrade in performance and when I said that to the people from the company- usually one of the guys from Taiwan, they referred to you guys (if you’re wondering how I know you tested the same drive? Same serial number on the product) and I had to say that all they did was do 1-2 transfer speed and that’s it so its not right to compare their makeshift review with mine. And also, there’s this another guy who did nothing more than CDI and AS SSD and gave it 8 out 10, but as soon as I ran anvil benchmark, I found a write error and it can be clearly seen as soon as you install windows on it. But since I made this stand out with one of the PRs they send the stuff to me before sending it first. Apparently, someone from that same company in India didn’t like when I used the word “makeshift”.

But here’s a thing- and here’s the fact. I know a lot of PR guys and girls because they’re the first point of contact almost all the time and the best part in most of them is that when they know what they should say, they say it- and they don’t really mind if we talk about something and I get carried away. If they don’t know what to say, they will say I’ll get back to you and they do get back to you- which is nice. I am happy that atleast in B2C Computer hardware related PR has such people in India- and we need more. Correction- I need more. You guys should snatch those PR contracts that handle chipsets and processors. That will REALLY make my day. I’ll even join your PR agency’s facebook page… unless you decide to put shahrukh khan’s face on a stock graphic card and call it signature edition- that’s not cool. some stores didn’t stock cards of those models from other brands (Asus and MSI- there.. i said it) so that the signature edition can sell. because apparently certain agencies who mostly handle flashy product PRs with movie stars and all have a transparent barrier that they want stories and stuff in magazines, even if its factual incorrect they dont care as long as “it looks nice”. That…is not cool. Atleast with tech.

Even if you ask them a question about a stuff from their client and they reply back, there have been a time when the reply wasn’t accurate. I know because when I asked the global PR via facebook chat to re-clarify, they said first that its factually wrong and misleading- and wanted the copy of the email… which I did send it to him.

That particular agency and PR guy(s) and girls know whom I am referring to.

I remember when I said to someone who used to be an editor of a site which used to do reviews for PC Hardware for a long time that I’ll be sticking to PC Hardware reviews mostly and he gave me a blank look- as if there’s no scope. But that’s wrong. The only reason its not as serious as how it should be is because- no1 wants to do it and those who are doing it need to do it properly AND if they can’t they should step aside… but then again…

BTW, Balanarayan NT is back. He’s in Bangalore… doing his thing. He should get gamebashing back. That’ll be nice.

Badass huh??? You betcha!

(OOOOH so you were expecting a big post with my usual typos here?? well- meh!!! But if you want to pass a message/question/rant, do so here. Provided it makes sense to let the suits know or pass a feedback, just post it here). Enjoy being petrolled!!

But why are they closing it down? I thought DTDC was having fun in letting their employees steal from packaging and then liking people’s complaints. Why dude, why?? Why provide the lulz and leave???

Oh well- Your hardwork will not be left in vain. So…. here’s to you!! Thanks for the lulz and thanks for stealing people’s stuff so that you can like them and hence one fine day whooops!!!!! You wonder why your sales graphs is taking a sharp curve downwards!!!

BTW, if anyone wants to get their stuff been stolen, better off leaving it in a place where it can be stolen because THIS service is free!!! 0 out of 5. Not recommended

Now I know that you know that IGC is now a flop. To a lot of people, its nothing more than CWG scam in the Indian gaming scene. To me, this is the best troll attempt over gamers ever!!!!

But before we do that, lets check out Prime ABGB’s deal of the day:

Yup!!! I can see people rushing in for this, the crowd count who wants to buy this card is more than an infamous incident of flipkart selling 16gigs 1600MHz for Rs. 1,650/-.

I am not going to narrate about the issue because to be honest: I don’t from where it starts from and where it ends, although I am sure someone who is more involved in it will have a writeup in it. What I am putting is slightly different.

Enjoy the video and the comments in the youtube page!!!

maxaXe!!! Also his real name is Mukesh Maurya and also now unofficially known as “let me be honest” speech maker. One of the D00DH behind the super dooper flop and internationally embarassing WTF event called….Indian gaming carnival. I used to seem him around techtree’s forum at the time when Dan Sippy was caught plagiarising the Creative EP-630 review (Oh yeah btw!!! He and I worked together in the same office and same time- and when I asked him he calmly said no- but no…it IS him!!!! Naughty boy!!!!!!) roughly about a decade ago (or was it late 90s?). Some say he worked with/in/for/by SMC International. If its true or not, I don’t know. But a lot of people have said it and know about and there are those who even heard about it!! That’s a little bit irrelevant. What’s relevant?

Remember this incident? I talked about the same guy and same guy posted on the comment section below. Same style of speech. This is one of the guys who hosted the event. Others are completely unknown types….except in the recently made awesome memes- credit to the creator!!!

Back then he did the so-called AMD meet- a meet that even AMD’s PR/marketing team didn’t know till the point that I asked- he posted on multiple forums that it was multi city AMD meet. Even a facebook page was opened with AMD’s name- which AMD India didn’t even know about. Then they found that the so-called power user meet was hosted by SMC. If you read the comments, he basically gave epic speeches and pure B.S.

Back then, some blokes (the usual suspects, others had no choice but to follow their lead to be protected from mob trolling from the same guys) supported him. They removed all my reputation points in my profile ID on their forums (lol) and kept a negative red. Cool story, bro!! They trolled over Rakesh Sharma in that competition that they clearly were not able to handle. For the guy.

Now its the opposite. They not only removed maxaxe from staff list but also ranting against him.While what they said and found out about WTF eventz was pretty much spot on- they’ll only do this if it damages their reputation or if its not useful for them.Why it happened? because there’s a lulz around stating that they have teamed up with “other event management” guys to defame them (arey what is wrong with wtf uncles…they defamed themselves before even starting the event and haven’t left anything to the experts to defame on).

In a way its good, my point is proven. It could have been worse if you think about it (although I doubt it, they have a level of understanding with the other event guys…not in a bad or stupid way….the usual mutual association thingy).

Dude, you never learnt anything from that “AMD Multi-city Power User Meet” incident, haven’t you??

If you ask me, this is some fancy way to promote a land for event management…and this guy called honey singh. When I asked some Delhi people from there who is honey singh- they said “You don’t know Honey Singh??? Which world are you from?”. I was not the only 1, 3 more people got the same reaction. DAFUQ!!!!????? Apparently he’s MOAR known has yoyohonkey singh…whoops…honey singh. and he has 125k likes!!!! WOW!!!! I am impressed!!! I want to know his SEO expert now.

And the rest of you forum uncles: Lets be honest you started the forums because you liked the way techenclave grew (by the members and contributor’s hardwork- I hope renegade uncle is reading this so if he’s being proud he’s being proud at contributor’s expense, so keep your pants on…same to you too eddy man!!). It work….to a certain point. and Erodov still runs. Good, that’s pretty good…although you leeched members from other forums and spread FUD (then again TE blokes did similar when TE was new- not a big deal, simply point it out….but they didn’t spread FUD…not to my knowledge). Smarten up!! Make sure you guys know what kind of people you have in your team- or else they’ll drag down with you. You can flash that Delhi belly attitude if you want to, BUT I hope you see where I am taking this!! Please get the facts right before letting your blood boil.

Oh techenclave uncles, there are few people like this in your thing as well.

To PRs: Don’t fall for reputation, don’t fall for hype. Okay, only people who did sponsorship was BenQ and….Red bull (okay then again red bull is everwhere so we’ll ignore it for a minute). I know a lot of you people are looking ways to promote pc hardware and its not easy. I know. But before being tempted to go ahead and sponsor a gaming event. Check the facts, check who the people are and how many events they have done under the same event management company’s name- rest you can figure it out. Because I am seeing some people telling me “Oh if Asus did a power user meet and put a press release ahead, why not us?” ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME??? Who the hell reads channel partner media? Do you know what’s done in power user meet and what people do in it? If you’re doing it for PR stunt, get some idiots from the college, do some posing and post pictures. They are very few but very intelligent people who know what they’re doing and for all that’s worth- I really hope the contract with their client stays with them. You know whom I am referring to so….

To gamers: U jelly, bros???? Akal ke dushman!! Kuch tho dekh!!!! An event management company that you never even heard of run by group of guys you never even heard of bragging about crores of rupees and shit and lot of money as prize money. The company was literally born yesterday (feb 2012)- and you spend money on flights+ stay+ food+ travelling (apparently some had to shell out as high as 1.5k for 5 manned team because the event was kept somewhere in the middle of nowhere). Even some of your parents came to accompany you- like that kid’s parents who came all the way from bangalore via flight. During this time: People have their final exams and board exams- and maybe project submissions. Still you went for this? Some people even said they have exams next week. Wah!!!! Now you will be discouraged, your parents will say that all this is made to ruin your lives and all that speech and then you will be discouraged to game- the end. You guys are educated and shit and you have travelled around to play in tournaments- how can you not see this through???

And 1 question: Why did Ben of Clan ATE decide to become brand ambassador for IGC? What proof did he see that he got convinced that this is a legit tournament??? You need to speak out dude, for everyone’s good and for your own honour. Shit happens, but you need to speak out and make sure this is left behind as soon as possible to get a closure. That’s my opinion, but its your call.

BTW….since I got e-uncles’ attention over here, concentrate on this now!!

I just saw this message yesturday early morning only because of the fact that I got constant sms about IGC event. This guy is blacklisted in TE for a while now. I told this guy who is just recently in my FB thing and he was going to deal with this dude today in erodov forum- yes, your forums. So check with Kishon razor….that is if you care about your members. Don’t forget, we had people who got a forged a bill with a new date and store (from a genuine store) to sell their much older h/w at lesser loss. Some buyers don’t even realize it rather they are happy that they got a cheap deal. So…you’re been warned. Think more about the welfare of your members rather than being media blokes and claiming that you’ve taken the pics- rather it was from Moscow 5′s mini gallery in their home page.

Awesome!! I get source updates on my phone!!! Don’t thank me, thanks to the guy who messaged me. Its people like them to keep the community healthy.