Submission + - Tackling The Astroturfing Problem
Dalton Georgia writes: After a reporter at Forbes.com wrote a negative review of Iolo System Mechanic 7, someone pretending to be a random user posted numerous comments on the blog post. They said they had just tried the software, loved it, and accused the reporter of being paid off by Iolo's competitors. But a little digging revealed that the comments actually came from an IP address at Iolo headquarters. This practice of faking grassroots support has its own term, astroturfing, and is increasingly common in the tech business. Can we ever trust user reviews again?