The Xbone

[t3h m00kz]

actually fuck me I'm dumb and didn't think that through.

[=sw=warlord]

[Zeph]

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comme...histleblowing/

Email interview

I asked why her Reddit account was only a day old at the time of her post, and why we should trust the testimony of an account with no other posts. Her reply:

My account is obviously a 'throwaway' that I created for the express purpose of posting that story. I have my own regular Reddit account, yes, but I have posted enough information about myself on that account that I would be absolutely identifiable if I used it for that story. What's more, I admitted in my post to having done some Reddit reputation management myself in the past. If things took an unexpected turn, I did not want to face backlash from the Reddit community myself.

I asked her how she (initially) expected to get away with leaking sensitive company information:

I deliberately obfuscated some of the facts in my story so that it would be impossible for anyone at Microsoft to identify me. I hinted I was at a certain set of buildings when I was actually touring a different part of the campus, for example. I noticed a few angry Microsoft employees posted in the comment section, saying I was going to easily be caught based on the information I posted. However, I made sure to alter enough minor details to ensure that wouldn't be possible. What's more, there were a huge number of contractors touring the campus on that day and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be possible to distinguish me from any other.

I asked her why she broke her NDA (although as we can see, she believes she did not):

A few others accused me of being unprofessional or breaking an NDA. This is actually not the case. Although I have signed an NDA with Microsoft, it revolves around my company's own project that has nothing to do with the Xbox. What's more, there is nothing in my NDA (or indeed, any standard NDA) that would prohibit me from saying what I did. What I said amounted to "Microsoft is engaging in reputation management", which in the marketing industry is like saying "The sky is blue". This is very standard practice, and among marketers (certainly with Microsoft) the information is considered too trivial to even be worthy of putting in an NDA. The only reason I am maintaining secrecy is because of the surprisingly strong reaction Microsoft have taken to it.

I'm not sure I agree with her interpretation of what constitutes 'breaking' an NDA, but onward.

I asked her what she thought of her post's subsequent explosion on Reddit:

I am surprised my post exploded so much, because what I described is very much standard practice in social media marketing. Microsoft, Sony, basically any company does this. I went through all that training myself in my first social media job. The reason I posted it was because not many people on Reddit actually seem to be aware of how often their platform is used for this. I saw some random user specifically accusing Microsoft of astroturfing, and he/she was told to 'put on their tinfoil hat'. This surprised me, and I thought "Don't most people know this kind of thing is done?". That is basically what spurred me to make the post. I made the post right before going out. I was really surprised to come home, hours later, to find thousands of comments and a deletion!

I asked her what Microsoft think about her actions:

From what I've heard, Microsoft are going absolutely CRAZY about this. It really surprises me, because honestly they are normally quite open about their marketing and reputation management practices. We all know they do it, it's no big secret. Most companies do it. Why Microsoft suddenly want it to be a secret now is something that puzzles me.

I asked her whether she was from Sony or otherwise involved with them. Her reply:

Quite a lot of people accused me (either jokingly or seriously) of being from Sony. Whilst that would make for a fantastic story I must admit I am, unfortunately, a regular marketing grunt in Redmond (an unemployed one now, too). There were certainly some hilarious posts, though! One user discovered that 'misty silver' was actually the name of the color of an old Sony Eriksson phone, which blew my mind. I chose the name 'misty silver' out of thin air, and yet still managed to choose something that sounds connected to Sony!

I asked her whether she intended to get a PS4 or Xbox One:

I did not make my post out of Sony fanboyism (or fangirlism!) either. To be honest I am a PC gamer, and I own neither a PS3, Xbox 360, or a Wii/Wii U. I made the post simply because I thought the /r/gaming subreddit would find it interesting. I am not trying to advocate Sony's (or indeed, Nintendo's) console as an alternative to the Xbox One. I am unlikely to buy any of those consoles myself, and will probably just stick to playing on the PC.

Finally, I asked how she got fired. This is a quite long and actually really interesting story, and she has allowed me to post it in full:

In short, I've been fired. It all started yesterday, as me and some other SMMs were called in for a Sunday afternoon shift. This is fairly common, as various online marketing campaigns we are managing often need snap work. As soon as I got there, I knew something was wrong because my boss seemed really nervous and wouldn't look at anybody. Once everyone had signed in, he came and dropped the bombshell: our company had been identified in a 'whistleblower scandal'. At first, I didn't think it had anything to do with me. I figured I didn't do anything grand enough to qualify being called a 'whistleblower'. But I soon found out it actually was related to the Reddit post.

My boss introduced us to two managers from the Xbox division, who had apparently come to talk to us about it. They wanted to speak to several of the employees privately, one at a time. We joked a little about this as they spoke to the first of my co-workers, because these guys were like caricatures. If it weren't for their Midwestern accents, the way they talked and behaved could've gotten them a role as Gestapo in a WWII film - they didn't even take their sunglasses off inside! This just seemed all very silly, and we joked about them a bit while we waited. Once it was my turn to be interviewed, though, I found them to be very serious. They asked me a lot of pointed questions, and their manner was fairly rude. They talked about 'online leaks related to the Xbox' and, although they didn't mention precisely what the 'leak' was, they did mention Reddit so I'm pretty sure they were trying to find who made my post. They didn't think the 'whistleblower' was me, however, because they were convinced it was a man.

After all of the interviews were over, we finally got to work on our clients for a bit while the Microsoft guys spoke with my boss. After a while, they left and my boss spoke to some of the other employees in his office. I don't know what they said, but afterward he came around to speak to us individually. He told me that one of my co-workers, David, had been implicated and would be fired. I felt a twist in my stomach, but knew I couldn't let this happen. So I asked to speak to my boss privately - and owned up. I showed him the Reddit account and explained the whole situation.

We talked about it for a while. Although my boss sympathized and said I technically had not broken our NDA nor lost our contract, I would still need to be fired because "That's the way it has to be". I packed up, left and am now no longer working at that firm.

I had several friends in the business call me in the evening, and had some really interesting chats about the whole ordeal. Basically Microsoft is more sensitive about their RM activities than usual because they are just about to start an unprecedentedly large campaign, on Monday, across a wide variety of media platforms. Apparently I made my post with the worst possible timing. They've invested a huge amount of resources into this, and, understandably, the last thing they'd want is negative press right before they begin.

Although I have performed RM (reputation management) in the past myself, I do not agree with the techniques Microsoft are employing. At my previous job I would sometimes do RM for clients that was relatively benign; like posting some positive reviews for small businesses like plumbers and other traders. It's a good way to stimulate online discussion and help to launch a social media presence for someone like that. Microsoft's usual RM strategy, however, is to absolutely flood the Internet with so much positive material that it influences the market on a mass scale. It works really well, too. The Internet may be abuzz with anti-Xbox posts right now, but it will be a matter of weeks before that has changed completely. They will post so many positive comments from 'regular folks' that the media narrative about the console will change. Numerous bloggers will suddenly change their tune and start supporting the console.

Worst of all, people who ask serious questions about the console's security and functionality will be ridiculed. This is the part I really don't like. Right now, people are having a debate across social media about the potential security dangers of the console. In my opinion, that's an important issue that ought to be discussed in a free and open manner. The problem is, Microsoft will artificially stifle that debate under a wave of positive hype and ridicule directed against those who asked questions. The debate will be stopped dead in its tracks, and/or driven to the fringe. In my opinion it is unethical practice to try and shut down free and open debate - to silence discussion of important issues. That's why I stand behind my decision to make that post. I stand behind what I did, even though it got me fired. I sincerely hope that, as a result of what I've done, the gaming community (not only on Reddit, but the gaming community worldwide) will resist Microsoft's latest artificial flood of positive hype. I hope they will continue to ask important questions and debate the serious issues. That's all anyone can do, really - keep going after the truth, even if millions of people online seem to disagree with you. We live in an age where those 'people' are not necessarily real people, and can't let that artificial hype influence our own opinions.

[Btcc22]

Posted by a throwaway account.

[=sw=warlord]

[Donut]

So that woman lost her job for exposing fairly obvious information about the xbone? They sent goons to her office, interviewed everybody separately, then got people fired all to protect against some bad press. For anybody still wondering, this sort of thing is why the internet is having such a vitriolic backlash against microsoft.

Also, losing your entire library if your account is banned? Gosh, that sounds an awful lot like EA's policies that helped them win worst company 2 years in a row.

[ThePlague]

Maybe EA and Microsuck are partnering up together?

[Warsaw]

So that woman lost her job for exposing fairly obvious information about the xbone? They sent goons to her office, interviewed everybody separately, then got people fired all to protect against some bad press. For anybody still wondering, this sort of thing is why the internet is having such a vitriolic backlash against microsoft.

Also, losing your entire library if your account is banned? Gosh, that sounds an awful lot like EA's policies that helped them win worst company 2 years in a row.

Not even Steam does that...they simply block you from playing on any server running with VAC.

[Rook]

Not even Steam does that...they simply block you from playing on any server running with VAC.

Other than VAC steam also has varying level of community bans, with the strongest not even allowing you to login to your account. A friend of mine had this and had to talk to support FOREVER and they finally lowered it to a 3 month community ban.

[Zeph]

Other than VAC steam also has varying level of community bans, with the strongest not even allowing you to login to your account. A friend of mine had this and had to talk to support FOREVER and they finally lowered it to a 3 month community ban.

Steam has pretty basic rules that you have to break before that happens though. Basically any attempt to screw the system (registering fake/public/stolen keys or stealing/selling accounts) will draw the ban. Cheat all you want in games, it only affects your in-game time.

So that woman lost her job for exposing fairly obvious information about the xbone? They sent goons to her office, interviewed everybody separately, then got people fired all to protect against some bad press. For anybody still wondering, this sort of thing is why the internet is having such a vitriolic backlash against microsoft.

Not exactly. She lost her job because Microsoft had a hissy fit. If she broke an NDA she, and the company she works for, would be sued into oblivion.