3 ms·

Why does that rankle you? People are biased and you have to work with that. This is no different than one person companies using the royal "we" in the website c

Why does that rankle you? People are biased and you have to work with that. This is no different than one person companies using the royal "we" in the website copy.

bshimmin 10y ago
I think there's a difference between a solo freelancer saying "we" and said freelancer presenting a picture of some random people in a random office as "his team".
- ksk 10y ago
  How have you established that they're random people?
  - imron 10y ago
    Reverse image search: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160492445/stock-photo-portrait-of-a-smiling-mature-female-student-at-desk-against-bookshelves-in-the-library.html?src=fAN1L3wX9vKY63BAa-9O6g-1-14 http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160492445/stock-photo-portra... Plus the text says "I'm Beau Rose Jessup the CEO and Founder of Special Name", which is clearly not the case if you look at the BBC article.
  - bshimmin 10y ago
    In this specific case? Well, it's a stock photo: https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-female-mature-student-holding-her-tablet-posing-stairs-smiling-camera-image35781709 https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-female-...
    - ksk 10y ago
      Ah, I see, yeah that is pretty dishonest.
imron 10y ago
I think it's far beyond a royal "we", and in fact I would even argue that a royal "we" is acceptable usage for a company to use - even it's only a single person company. It's in a whole other league to say this is me and this is my team, and this is my history, when it's not. I'm not sure if you read Chinese, and maybe that's why it's harder to tell the difference between "we" and this. It's not just the picture, the blurb provided is misleading at best and false at worse. Yes, people are biased, but this is a situation in which there was no need to be misleading in the first place. She could just have easily written some respectable copy without needing to resort to deception, and so it rankles me she chose to be misleading when there was no need to be.
- kirubakaran 10y ago
  I see. You're right, I don't know Chinese and I didn't realize she was claiming that the people in that photo were her team.
  - imron 10y ago
    She never explicitly says this 'this is a photo of me and my team', however a Chinese reader with no other context would make that as the natural assumption. It says stuff like 'under the supervision and guidance of our CEO and Founder Beau Rose Jessup, our team of experts will analyze the characteristics you're looking for in a name and blah blah blah'. Then there's a single shot of the same woman with text that begins "I am Beau Rose Jessup the founder and CEO of Simple Name" and then goes on to detail her 12 year history of visiting China. It's very heavily implied that these are the people behind the site.

Why does that rankle you? People are biased and you have to work with that. This is no different than one person companies using the royal "we" in the website copy.

bshimmin 10y ago

I think there's a difference between a solo freelancer saying "we" and said freelancer presenting a picture of some random people in a random office as "his team".

ksk 10y ago
How have you established that they're random people?
- imron 10y ago
  Reverse image search: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160492445/stock-photo-portrait-of-a-smiling-mature-female-student-at-desk-against-bookshelves-in-the-library.html?src=fAN1L3wX9vKY63BAa-9O6g-1-14 http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-160492445/stock-photo-portra... Plus the text says "I'm Beau Rose Jessup the CEO and Founder of Special Name", which is clearly not the case if you look at the BBC article.
- bshimmin 10y ago
  In this specific case? Well, it's a stock photo: https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-female-mature-student-holding-her-tablet-posing-stairs-smiling-camera-image35781709 https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-female-...
  - ksk 10y ago
    Ah, I see, yeah that is pretty dishonest.

imron 10y ago

I think it's far beyond a royal "we", and in fact I would even argue that a royal "we" is acceptable usage for a company to use - even it's only a single person company. It's in a whole other league to say this is me and this is my team, and this is my history, when it's not. I'm not sure if you read Chinese, and maybe that's why it's harder to tell the difference between "we" and this. It's not just the picture, the blurb provided is misleading at best and false at worse. Yes, people are biased, but this is a situation in which there was no need to be misleading in the first place. She could just have easily written some respectable copy without needing to resort to deception, and so it rankles me she chose to be misleading when there was no need to be.

kirubakaran 10y ago
I see. You're right, I don't know Chinese and I didn't realize she was claiming that the people in that photo were her team.
- imron 10y ago
  She never explicitly says this 'this is a photo of me and my team', however a Chinese reader with no other context would make that as the natural assumption. It says stuff like 'under the supervision and guidance of our CEO and Founder Beau Rose Jessup, our team of experts will analyze the characteristics you're looking for in a name and blah blah blah'. Then there's a single shot of the same woman with text that begins "I am Beau Rose Jessup the founder and CEO of Simple Name" and then goes on to detail her 12 year history of visiting China. It's very heavily implied that these are the people behind the site.