Members being contacted by T Mart, G-Best and others, please read

[Grant Lamontagne]

It seems this organization has been contacting quite a few of you to offer you free items in exchange for writing reviews here and links to their site.  What they are trying to do is spam the forum, but they know if they do it they will be caught and deleted, so instead they are trying to get members to do their dirty work.

However, I am all for members getting free stuff, so, if they contact you, feel free to get as much as you can, and by all means post links to their site as per the agreement.

We will be adding the name of this company to the censor so that any links to this company are broken as soon as you post them.  You will of course all pretend to be unaware of this.  yes, this is a dirty underhanded thing to do, but no more underhanded than their attempt to use members to spam this site. 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask, either in this thread or in a PM.  If you don't feel that you want to participate in this company's spam program, you are welcome to ignore their emails too.

Def

[JAfromMn]

 

[Romanoat]

And if they read this post they'll know they're on the censor list... Lol

[toolguy]

Who is T Mart ?

Can I get free stuff without doing their dirty work?

 

[dks]

I feel offended, as they have not contacted me and I have bought quite a few things from them!!       

MTO must be getting popular as they are the 3rd site that showed interest in attracting members in the past couple of months..GB, then Dinodirect posted a link/hint and now SPAMCORP. Wallbuys showed some interest a few years ago too. 

I am surprised none are willing to give some cash to MTO for advertising..

[Higgins617]

This is too funny

[Grant Lamontagne]

I feel offended, as they have not contacted me and I have bought quite a few things from them!!       

MTO must be getting popular as they are the 3rd site that showed interest in attracting members in the past couple of months..GB, then Dinodirect posted a link/hint and now SPAMCORP. Wallbuys showed some interest a few years ago too. 

I am surprised none are willing to give some cash to MTO for advertising..

Why pay hundreds a year for advertising when they can ship out a few ten cent flashlights and get instant credibility from established members?

And if they read this post they'll know they're on the censor list... Lol

I doubt very much they will read this post.  And if they do then they will learn that MTO members aren't here to do their dirty work.

Who is T Mart ?

Can I get free stuff without doing their dirty work?

 

In fact, that was the point of adding them to the censor- go ahead and try to do their dirty work, knowing full well that it isn't going to happen.  They are trying to take advantage of us, feel free to take advantage right back.

BTW, the censor now refers to them as SPAMCORP and redirects to this thread so everyone will know why.

Def

[Kampfer]

As long as the reviews are truthful and honest, I will look forward to read them.

[zoidberg]

Thanks for the heads up.

While free stuff can be nice I don't like being bought. If the product is bad I would want to say so.

Where are they getting the email addresses from?

[zoidberg]

More importantly, how do I get the swissarmy knight badge?   

[Grant Lamontagne]

More importantly, how do I get the swissarmy knight badge?   

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,55952.0.html

Thanks for the heads up.

While free stuff can be nice I don't like being bought. If the product is bad I would want to say so.

Where are they getting the email addresses from?

I believe they have a member account here and are picking out members' emails based on some criteria.  As soon as we weed out that user account we'll remove them.

Def

[Chako]

I can say I haven't been contacted by anyone for anything of like manner. This announcement comes as a sort of surprise to me actually. 

[Lynn LeFey]

AH... MAN.

I keep waiting for the glorious moment when i can sell out, and it never comes. 

[gardenvalley]

Consider this: when you get something "free" you`re no longer the customer. You`re the product.

[Grant Lamontagne]

This is why we put the minimum post count on PM's a few weeks ago.

http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,55468.0.html

Def

[Grant Lamontagne]

Consider this: when you get something "free" you`re no longer the customer. You`re the product.

At the risk of upsetting people, as members, you are indeed the product here.  However, I respect my product greatly and have no desire to sell any of you cheaply or on anyone's terms but our own.  That's why there isn't a lot of advertising here and why we actively monitor spammers and spam posts.

Def

[Sparky415]

If Shelby Cobra want me to do a review.... 

 

[Chako]

I bet. Sign me up for that one!

Yeah, no chance to sell out...but plenty of photos stolen. 

[derekmac]

Here's the email they sent me.


Hello, derekmac,

It's Brien from SPAMCORP.com, a Chinese online shop. We are like DX, SPAMCORP, dinodirect. I am here to invite you to work with me to promote our products.  I can send you tools or flashlights for you to review without any fee. Or you help me to post our promotion deals and we pay money for you. If you have interests in my invitation, reply me! I will be happy to see your reply.

You can check out site here: SPAMCORP.com

PS. Also send you the message on your facebook page.

Regards
Brien


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Grant Lamontagne]

I have removed two accounts so far, but there could be more. 

Def

[JAfromMn]

I did plan to use the smurf out of them   

[Aloha]

Lame.  I don't want to be in the pocket of anyone personally. 

Consider this: when you get something "free" you`re no longer the customer. You`re the product.

^^THIS is spot on.

If members want to get free stuff thats their business but I'm not so sure this is the best way for a company to go about advertising. 

HEY SPAMSMURF, YEAH YOU  , just pay for advertising and when or if a member buys a product then he/she will let the rest of us know how good/bad it is. 

 

[Kampfer]

Here's the email they sent me.


Hello, derekmac,

It's Brien from SPAMCORP.com, a Chinese online shop. We are like DX, SPAMCORP, dinodirect. I am here to invite you to work with me to promote our products.  I can send you tools or flashlights for you to review without any fee. Or you help me to post our promotion deals and we pay money for you. If you have interests in my invitation, reply me! I will be happy to see your reply.

You can check out site here: SPAMCORP.com

PS. Also send you the message on your facebook page.

Regards
Brien


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I got a email like that few days ago, after reading the first line I hit the "spam" button before finish reading the rest.

[Sparky415]

I did plan to use the smurf out of them   

 

[Cupboard]

Hi, Cupboard,

It's Brien from SPAMCORP.com, a Chinese online shop. I am here to invite you to do reviews for me. I can send you tools or flashlights for you to review without any fee. If you have interests in my invitation, reply me!

Brien

Hi,

Thanks for the invitation. This sounds a bit too good to be true - what's the catch and what do you need from me?
Depending on the deal, I would of course be interested

 

Tom

(At this mod I forwarded it to a Mod because things didn't seem quite right)

Hi, Tom,

Good to hear your reply! Here is how we work it out. We send you our products (in a certain budget) for free and after you get it you write a review here(on forum.multitool.org). We don't need you to praise our product, only to write a objective review just as it is brought by you. On the review, there should be a link to the product of our site so that people who are interested in it can click it. In this case, this link may bring us traffic or even orders. That's the way we work it out.  Is that acceptable for you?  We sometimes invite peopel like you who are familiar with Chinese online shops to be our reviewer, so don't be afraid that I am a scam. Here is our site: SPAMCORP.com. What product you are interested in and would like to review?

 
Brien

HI, Tom,

Not hear from you, you aren't interested in my invitation?

Brien

I was planning on going ahead with it, I would have written an entirely above board review but I just didn't have the time so I let it slide, then the stuff about minimum post counts came up and then this thread.

[El Rago]

funny that. then again, advertisers are getting "smarter" by the day.

Grant, thanks for the green light, but in the event I get contacted, I will pass it up. Integrety is one of those things that once spilled, it cannot be picked up again.

on the other hand, if I do a skecth in the same vein of that bit in Wayne´s World, it would go by un-noticed, right?

[Megan]

That's something we care about a lot as well.
We love the support from manufacturers who donate products for events or draws.
But they know that we absolutely will not write reviews in their favour simply because they did that in kindness.
MTO is probably one of the few sites out there that can say that.

[derekmac]

This is the latest one I received from them:

Hi, Derek,

I am happy to see your reply!

If tools are not suitable for you, to review flashlights is also ok. Do you ever review flashlights before?

Yes, what I need is also honest reviews. I will not require you what you should say in the review. You do it by your own. I have only requirement. After you make the review, you add a product link in the review.  Of course, provided that you like the light and feel it is good. Is that ok?

Check out the flashlights selections here: http://www.[url=http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,55947.0.html]SPAMCORP.com/LED-Flashlights/[/url]
I can recommend you one if you don't know which one to choose.

ps. Which county are you from?

Regards
Brien

I might go ahead with this as I am looking for a new light, and free is good to me.  There's still no mention about doing the review here either, so I could post it elsewhere if needed.

I don't like the thought of them trying to advertise here for free, or asking members to promote them here.  As long as they don't say that they want my review to be done here, then I really have no problem getting a free light, and doing a review on it.

[Megan]

Yup.
Just review it legitimately and post your link.

SPAMCORP SPAMCORP SPAMCORP SPAMCORP

Yup, you're safe

[Grant Lamontagne]

Absolutely- I encourage everyone to get what they can and write a review, and post it here.  We always like reviews.... and pictures.... and beer.... and nachos... and... wait, what was I saying again?

Oh yeah, by all means get the free stuff, write the review, and post it here, link and all.  It's not your fault the links won't work.  We all know who they are- if someone legitimately wants to purchase the item after reading your review, they are free to do so.

In short I'm not telling anyone to break any rules, I am not asking someone to turn down free stuff, and I am not asking anyone to do anything dishonorable.  I just want to keep these folks from doing anything dishonorable to us.

Def