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Didn't take long for a Groupon sockpuppet to show up in the comments: Rachel Baker said... I think Groupon is a guaranteed and low effort marketing platform f

Didn't take long for a Groupon sockpuppet to show up in the comments: Rachel Baker said... I think Groupon is a guaranteed and low effort marketing platform for businesses. Every new customer has a cost of acquisition. The smarter and more efficient your marketing efforts the lower that cost. Groupon can be the best thing in the world... Rachel Baker User Stats On Blogger Since August 2011 Profile Views (approximate) 7

carbonica 15y ago
And: Unknown said... Agreed 100% with Rachel's comment above. Also, what makes you think Groupon would even accept you? Top tier deal sites (LivingSocial, Groupon) expect established or reputable businesses. You're too new and unproven to make the cut. You also sound naive in general. Unknown User Stats On Blogger Since August 2011 Profile Views (approximate) 4
TrevorBurnham 15y ago
That's really startling. Is this something Groupon employees are expressly paid to do? Is that one reason why their costs are so high?
awicklander 15y ago
Rachel is not a Groupon employee. I share of office with her in Chicago. She's a wordpress developer, founder of PluggedIn consulting (http://pluggedinconsulting.com http://pluggedinconsulting.com) and a great person.
- BasDirks 15y ago
  great persons can be sockpuppets, but I think said qualification is quite unreasonable.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    Is it really up for discussion when someone says "I actually share an office with this person and know they aren't a shill"? I don't think it is up for discussion anymore.
    - pavel_lishin 15y ago
      > someone It's a grouponspiracy all the way down, man.
  - angryasian 15y ago
    agree being that Groupon originated in Chicago, she could just be a supporter / sockpuppet.
- benatkin 15y ago
  Oops. I don't know how, but Blogger's commenting system results in a lot of people who are OK with identifying themselves completely on other sites having a profile with only their name. I wasn't sure it was her and I hadn't seen your comment so I asked if it was her on twitter. Then I saw your comment and I checked back and she'd already replied to me on twitter that it is her. Case closed. OT: I think Google will probably make a major change to Blogger in the next year or two which may fix their identity linking issue. It will be interesting to see where they go.
- rachelbaker 15y ago
  Thanks, Andrew! I would never work for Groupon or anyone else - so I would make a very bad puppet. ;) I didn't even mean to sound like I was endorsing Groupon. Groupon = marketing laziness (IMHO)
- timjahn 15y ago
  I know both Rachel and Andrew personally. Neither of them work for Groupon and they, as Andrew explained, share an office in Chicago (with an insanely beautiful view that I'm jealous of!). And frankly, they both rock. :)
tptacek 15y ago
The top modded comment on this story is an anonymous user directly accusing Groupon of sockpuppeting online discussions citing evidence that is refuted downthread by a non-anonymous HN user. Not OK. This is a form of incivility. Words matter. If you don't know someone is a paid shill for another company, use words that indicate that.
- Jacob4u2 15y ago
  I respect your trying to bring attention to incivility on HN, but in what way is the user anonymous? Their account seems old enough and has plenty karma to make me respect their opinion. Also, in my case, the GP expressed the same opinion that I had after seeing those comments on the OP.
- klenwell 15y ago
  True, I didn't know for a fact that Rachel Baker was a sockpuppet but she sure looked and sounded like one. If she had linked her consulting website profile to her freshly minted Blogger profile, I probably wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion. Was I uncivil? Some might argue polluting blog comments with marketing pabulum is uncivil. I just thought it was kind of interesting, indicative perhaps of where Groupon invests some of its resources.
  - tptacek 15y ago
    You just repeated the accusation, even though you know you're wrong.
rsynnott 15y ago
> I think Groupon is a guaranteed and low effort marketing platform for businesses. Well, one would hope they weren't an _actual_ Groupon rep. This is _not_ the sort of thing that a company trying to IPO should be saying.
rachelbaker 15y ago
Not a Groupon sockpuppet at all. I just didn't have a blogger account tied to my Google Apps account. I am not a frequent Blogger commenter.
- gee_totes 15y ago
  That's exactly the type of response a sockpuppet would post. :)

carbonica 15y ago

And: Unknown said... Agreed 100% with Rachel's comment above. Also, what makes you think Groupon would even accept you? Top tier deal sites (LivingSocial, Groupon) expect established or reputable businesses. You're too new and unproven to make the cut. You also sound naive in general. Unknown User Stats On Blogger Since August 2011 Profile Views (approximate) 4

TrevorBurnham 15y ago

That's really startling. Is this something Groupon employees are expressly paid to do? Is that one reason why their costs are so high?

awicklander 15y ago

Rachel is not a Groupon employee. I share of office with her in Chicago. She's a wordpress developer, founder of PluggedIn consulting (http://pluggedinconsulting.com http://pluggedinconsulting.com) and a great person.

BasDirks 15y ago
great persons can be sockpuppets, but I think said qualification is quite unreasonable.
- tptacek 15y ago
  Is it really up for discussion when someone says "I actually share an office with this person and know they aren't a shill"? I don't think it is up for discussion anymore.
  - pavel_lishin 15y ago
    > someone It's a grouponspiracy all the way down, man.
- angryasian 15y ago
  agree being that Groupon originated in Chicago, she could just be a supporter / sockpuppet.
benatkin 15y ago
Oops. I don't know how, but Blogger's commenting system results in a lot of people who are OK with identifying themselves completely on other sites having a profile with only their name. I wasn't sure it was her and I hadn't seen your comment so I asked if it was her on twitter. Then I saw your comment and I checked back and she'd already replied to me on twitter that it is her. Case closed. OT: I think Google will probably make a major change to Blogger in the next year or two which may fix their identity linking issue. It will be interesting to see where they go.
rachelbaker 15y ago
Thanks, Andrew! I would never work for Groupon or anyone else - so I would make a very bad puppet. ;) I didn't even mean to sound like I was endorsing Groupon. Groupon = marketing laziness (IMHO)
timjahn 15y ago
I know both Rachel and Andrew personally. Neither of them work for Groupon and they, as Andrew explained, share an office in Chicago (with an insanely beautiful view that I'm jealous of!). And frankly, they both rock. :)

tptacek 15y ago

The top modded comment on this story is an anonymous user directly accusing Groupon of sockpuppeting online discussions citing evidence that is refuted downthread by a non-anonymous HN user. Not OK. This is a form of incivility. Words matter. If you don't know someone is a paid shill for another company, use words that indicate that.

Jacob4u2 15y ago
I respect your trying to bring attention to incivility on HN, but in what way is the user anonymous? Their account seems old enough and has plenty karma to make me respect their opinion. Also, in my case, the GP expressed the same opinion that I had after seeing those comments on the OP.
klenwell 15y ago
True, I didn't know for a fact that Rachel Baker was a sockpuppet but she sure looked and sounded like one. If she had linked her consulting website profile to her freshly minted Blogger profile, I probably wouldn't have jumped to that conclusion. Was I uncivil? Some might argue polluting blog comments with marketing pabulum is uncivil. I just thought it was kind of interesting, indicative perhaps of where Groupon invests some of its resources.
- tptacek 15y ago
  You just repeated the accusation, even though you know you're wrong.

rsynnott 15y ago

> I think Groupon is a guaranteed and low effort marketing platform for businesses. Well, one would hope they weren't an _actual_ Groupon rep. This is _not_ the sort of thing that a company trying to IPO should be saying.

rachelbaker 15y ago

Not a Groupon sockpuppet at all. I just didn't have a blogger account tied to my Google Apps account. I am not a frequent Blogger commenter.

gee_totes 15y ago
That's exactly the type of response a sockpuppet would post. :)