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New York, 5:15 PM
Thu Nov 26
21 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #zynga more →

    Facebook Named in Federal Class-Action Suit over Scammy Zynga Ads

    Initial Complaint in Swift vs. Zynga

    Investors Punish Online Scam Trafficker with $15 Million

    Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class

    Class Action Suit in the Works for Victims of Social Gaming Scams

    The Secret Shame of Social Networking: How Silicon Valley Got Hooked on Scammers

    RockYou diving deeper into social games

    Kleiner Perkins plunges into Web 2.0 far too late with Zynga's $29 million round

    The Valley's Facebook frenzy fades

    Hyped widgetmaker explains the widgetmaker hype
  • Your version of Internet Explorer is not supported. Please upgrade to the most recent version in order to view comments.
    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of Shadowlayer Shadowlayer
    01:11 AM

    In reply to Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class
    Seems pincus here has sent a whole bunch of "friends" to spam the place...
     Reply
    Shadowlayer was starred Shadowlayer was unstarred
    Image of Magister Magister
    11/19/09

    In reply to Facebook Named in Federal Class-Action Suit over Scammy Zynga Ads
    In the brick and mortar world, it's often been the state attorney generals or the FTC who first step up about misleading recurring charges scams (see Trilegiant or Joe Francis), but what may have slowed the appropriate actions in this case have been the online community's idea, Facebook should do the policing.

    I mean, whenever someone calls to sell me a recurring charges scam, I don't cry to the phone company.
     Reply
    Edited by Magister at 11/19/09 3:01 PM Magister was starred Magister was unstarred
    Image of PontiusPirate PontiusPirate
    11/19/09

    In reply to Facebook Named in Federal Class-Action Suit over Scammy Zynga Ads
    I hear Farmville's customer service team has been offshored to Nigeria, where the locals are very adept at running these types of operations.
     Reply
    PontiusPirate was starred PontiusPirate was unstarred
    Image of katekate is squared katekate is squared
    11/19/09

    In reply to Facebook Named in Federal Class-Action Suit over Scammy Zynga Ads
    Cue 10,000 "they were stupid for falling for it!" comments.
     Reply
    katekate is squared was starred katekate is squared was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/19/09

    In reply to Facebook Named in Federal Class-Action Suit over Scammy Zynga Ads
    Here's the thing: even if it takes a certain amount of naivete/stupidity to fall for these scams? It's still the scammers who should be ashamed of themselves, not the people being scammed. The scammer committed an immoral act; the scammed at worst were stupid. It's not even the kind of stupidity that involves greed on the mark's part, like 419 scams; it's just a mistaken belief that people aren't quite as larcenous as the more skeptical of us know them to be.

    The fact that every time something on this topic is posted so many people leap to beat up on the people who were duped and not the people who took advantage of them makes me sad about the general state of people's values. Meanwhile, no one remarks on the stupidity of thieves who leave a blazing electronic trail straight back to the hideout. That, my friends, is seriously dumbass.
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
    Image of Z und Vielpunkt's chick Z und Vielpunkt's chick
    11/19/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: I'd heart you again, if I could. It pisses me off that that's the reaction. Nobody deserves to be the victim of a scam, just like nobody deserves to be the victim of a crime.
     Reply
    Z und Vielpunkt's chick was starred Z und Vielpunkt's chick was unstarred
    Image of Perhaps Not Perhaps Not
    11/19/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: I hugely agree, and that fucking attitude is not limited to e-trolls, either. You get grown men and women who are supposedly solid citizens saying "Well, you know, caveat emptor and all that." Fuck that noise. Caveat vendor. If you're going to con people, you deserve to be fined and publicly humiliated. The fact that you're conning the credulous or the dim makes it worse, not better - you're taking advantage of people who can't defend themselves for your own fiduciary benefit, which is evil by definition.
     Reply
    Perhaps Not was starred Perhaps Not was unstarred
    Image of PontiusPirate PontiusPirate
    11/17/09

    In reply to Investors Punish Online Scam Trafficker with $15 Million
    The bubble's always biggest before it bursts. #markpincus
     Reply
    PontiusPirate was starred PontiusPirate was unstarred
    Image of PontiusPirate PontiusPirate
    11/14/09

    In reply to Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class
    What is most concerning is that this company is headed towards IPO and Pincus has admitted to doing "every horrible thing to get revenue." His tactics (scam revenue) are geared towards getting him the highest possible payday, and these tidbits above only confirm that he doesn't place much value on ethics.

    What's just as concerning are what the people around him (his leadership team) are doing to further enable this. His CFO, Mark Vranesh, came from Supportsoft with him. Vranesh's successor and former Finance team at Supportsoft helped them lose a 10.7 million USD class action due to the fact they over-inflated revenues - did this practice start while Vranesh and Pincus were still there?

    I'd be highly suspicious of Zynga's revenue statements in the lead up to their IPO. #markpincus
     Reply
    PontiusPirate was starred PontiusPirate was unstarred
    Image of PontiusPirate PontiusPirate
    11/14/09

    In reply to Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class
    Never trust a guy who has an aspiring male model on the payroll whose sole job is to troll blogs and post cut & paste comments about how awesome he (Pincus) is. Surely I can't be serious? Oh, yes, say hello to "Blake Loftus" #markpincus
     Reply
    PontiusPirate was starred PontiusPirate was unstarred
    Image of Brad Brown Brad Brown
    11/14/09

    @PontiusPirate: If that guy is an aspiring model, I'm Brad Pitt! #markpincus
     Reply
    Brad Brown was starred Brad Brown was unstarred
    Image of insidefb insidefb
    11/13/09

    In reply to Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class
    I consider Mark a friend but he has lied to me on more than one occasion.
     Reply
    Edited by insidefb at 11/13/09 11:39 PM insidefb was starred insidefb was unstarred
    Image of Benny Benny
    11/13/09

    In reply to Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class
    Never heard of this guy, but this article has my agenda radar going berserk.

    His comments about that class hardly show him to be cynical about ethics. He's lamenting what he considers to be the disingenuousness of the whole exercise, given that everyone in the room with him was apparently a sociopath. Whatever he may have done, his point of view, based on my reading of the above remarks, is pro ethics.

    The use of the twitter post is also strange. If the guy's as bad as you imply you should be able to do better than a couple of tweets from someone who saw him speak once. #markpincus
     Reply
    Benny was starred Benny was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/13/09

    @Benny: Have you read the Tech Crunch stories? The post assumes you have, and recognize that these things are merely further indications of the lack of ethics he's pretty much crowed about publicly. #markpincus
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
    Image of bowel_and_the_obstructors bowel_and_the_obstructors
    11/14/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: Should Tech Crunch be taken seriously? It always seemed to be a circle jerk of fanboyism to me. #markpincus
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond promoted this comment bowel_and_the_obstructors was starred bowel_and_the_obstructors was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/14/09

    @bowel_and_the_obstructors: Have you read the articles?
     Reply
    Edited by MissNormaDesmond at 11/14/09 2:03 AM MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
    Image of DevilsAvocadoRedux DevilsAvocadoRedux
    11/14/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: What about the lack of ethnics? #markpincus
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond promoted this comment DevilsAvocadoRedux was starred DevilsAvocadoRedux was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/14/09

    @DevilsAvocadoRedux: This, too, is a serious failure. #markpincus
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
    Image of forwardmotion forwardmotion
    11/13/09

    In reply to Scam-Brokering CEO Dissed His 'Bullshit' Ethics Class
    In his defense: most graduate seminars in whatever subject that last 1-4 weeks are generally bullshit. #markpincus
     Reply
    forwardmotion was starred forwardmotion was unstarred
    Image of Shadowlayer Shadowlayer
    11/13/09

    In reply to Class Action Suit in the Works for Victims of Social Gaming Scams
    Another sight of the bullshit that is "social gaming"

    You won't believe how much people gets hooked to this shit. And it's even weirder because these are all casual gamers that would pass on the chance of playing games like Sonic or Halo, which look complex but are really simple gameplay-wise. Yet they go and play games like mafia wars which involves lots of strategy (believe it or not) and can take you a long fucking time to get anywhere.

    Anyway, I hope these assholes (the people behind the games) get what they deserve: they arent gamers, or game devs, just merely scammers: mafia wars is a rough copy of dope wars, a real game made in......wait for it.......1992! #zynga
     Reply
    Shadowlayer was starred Shadowlayer was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/12/09

    In reply to Class Action Suit in the Works for Victims of Social Gaming Scams
    This is one reason why I sort of don't blame some of the people who were duped: isn't it perfectly obvious that sooner or later this kind of crap is going to bite you in the ass? Forget how dumb you have to be to give your cell # to an IQ test -- how stupid do you have to be to rob people in plain sight in easily traceable ways and think you can get away with it indefinitely? Or to openly associate yourself with such people? I can see people thinking, "Well, this is probably legit, because how easy would it be to nab these people if it weren't?"
     Reply
    Edited by MissNormaDesmond at 11/12/09 4:52 PM MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
    Image of bens bens
    11/12/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: Dumb enough to pay $10 to get the results from a 4 question IQ test. #zynga
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond promoted this comment bens was starred bens was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/12/09

    @bens: Are you saying that the robbers are ultimately as dumb as or dumber than the robbees? Because I'd tend to agree with you. If they'd pulled this as a quick scam and gotten out before they got too much stink on them, I'd have to give them credit for being slick, if sleazy. By sticking with it for this long, I think they've outsmarted themselves pretty badly. #zynga
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
    Image of bens bens
    11/12/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: In this instance, yes. If you're going to be a robber, having an advertising contract with Facebook isn't a good idea. Become an art thief. It saves you from having to pay developers to code crappy games. #zynga
     Reply
    bens was starred bens was unstarred
    Image of bens bens
    11/12/09

    @MissNormaDesmond: oh yeah, robbees is totally fun to say. #zynga
     Reply
    bens was starred bens was unstarred
    Image of raincoaster raincoaster
    11/02/09

    In reply to The Secret Shame of Social Networking: How Silicon Valley Got Hooked on Scammers
    Well, this is how all technologically advanced things monetize; they wait for the morans to clue in (thanks Oprah and Aplusk!) and then the scammers target them. #facebook
     Reply
    raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred
    Image of MissNormaDesmond MissNormaDesmond
    11/02/09

    In reply to The Secret Shame of Social Networking: How Silicon Valley Got Hooked on Scammers
    It's interesting to me that most of the people commenting here seem to feel that it's more shameful to be naive than to be someone who exploits others' naivete, in that I see multiple comments aimed at "gullible idiots" and none aimed at "sleazy bastards". I don't play any of the FB games because they're a timesink, and I'm old and suspicious anyway, but I don't expect teenagers, for example, to have my hard-won paranoia, and I think the shame should be for the people who take advantage of them. It's the dishonest people who are doing harm, not the trusting ones. #facebook
     Reply
    MissNormaDesmond was starred MissNormaDesmond was unstarred
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