Slashdot Mirror


JBoss Caught in Anonymous Posting Scheme

Reader scubabear writes "For years rumors have run rampant about employees of JBoss Inc. being actively encouraged to post anonymously, drumming up business by flooding the net with fake posts and simultaneously attacking competitors, all from behind a safe veil of anonymity. With the advent of a new feature for tracking users by IP on TheServerSide.com, the floodgates have been opened and those rumors have apparently been confirmed. The Java blog space now erupted with posts from a variety of bloggers (here, here, and here for a start) exposing a variety of anonymous/pseudonymous accounts used by JBoss employees to put forth their Professional Open Source message and simultaneously slam anyone who gets in their way in online technical communities such as TheServerSide, JavaLobby, and various personal blogs. The evidence shows how a corporation can manipulate popular opinion via anonymous personalities, that open source companies can be just as ruthless as closed source when it comes to marketing their wares, and that you should never forget that your cookies and IP address can and will be tracked online. No official response has been heard yet from the JBoss crew. Disclosure: I'm one of those bloggers erupting on this issue (see my story here)."

27 of 380 comments (clear)

  1. Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    This anonymous stuff is just a bunch of crap. Why anyone would listen to someone posting anonymously is beyond me.

    Just take my advice, don't listen to anonymous posters...ever! Even if their argument is completely flawless and/or logically impermeable, ignore them.

    (By the way, I don't work for JBoss, so you can listen to me.)

    1. Re:Anonymous by BohKnower · · Score: 1, Funny

      This is not fair, they get payed to post anonymously and all I got posting with my sign is bad karma.

      That's why I use JONAS and soon Geronimo.

    2. Re:Anonymous by sik0fewl · · Score: 2, Funny

      Oh shit! I forgot to do my username!

      --
      I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
    3. Re:Anonymous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Your PHP script contains a glaring error:

      "replcace this" should be "replace this".

      I wonder how you ever got it to compile.

  2. JBOSS RULES! by strictnein · · Score: 3, Funny

    JBOSS IS AWESOMEEMO!

    - Not a JBOSS employee
    - Really I'm not

    1. Re:JBOSS RULES! by ggvaidya · · Score: 2, Funny

      Mod parent down, he must be a JBOSS employee!

      (anybody who mods this down is also a JBOSS employee )

      (Wonder aloud about whether it's all of Santa's elves who keep moding pro-Linux posts up on slashdot ...)

  3. News flash by SpaceCadetTrav · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bloggers do something useful? I don't believe it for a second.

  4. Jboss's slogan by detritus` · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously, who is going to take a company that prides itself on being a Proffesional Open Sourse Company.... have to wonder what marketing genious came up with that one...

  5. Its true, check my ip by t_allardyce · · Score: 3, Funny

    Im actually working for 7 governments and 14 large corporations to spy on the slashdot community and try to sway their opinion. also i sometimes spell things wrong to make it look like im just an average person.

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  6. So do this mean... by WwWonka · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...that all of /.'s "Anonymous Coward" postings bashing SCO can be backtracked to Linus now?

    1. Re:So do this mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      No! I told you, Santa Claus! Santa Claus!

  7. As P2P news moves into the realm of possibility... by saskboy · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wonder how well we'll be able to trust what we read on the Internet. Oh wait. Do we trust everything we read, as it is today?!

    --
    Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
  8. All tomcat users? Np PHP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Serve side, ha. I thought there'd be mention of PHP somewhere.

    All these people who are pissed off appear to be Apache/Tomcat users.

    This is like communist splinter groups all fighting each other over philosphical righteousness, but to an outsider like myself, i don't care.

  9. No way! by thebra · · Score: 4, Funny

    I must say that I am shocked to hear that some thing like this could take place, and on the internet of all places. I thought that every thing I read on the internet was true and that I would make millions from forwarding emails and that hot 18 year old on AIM that wants me is not a man.
    Oh wait, I'm retarded...

    Trust nothing you read on the internet...I am sexy!

  10. Re:I am crying big fat crocodile tears of this. by grazzy · · Score: 1, Funny

    So there you are.

    I have been waiting for those wedding rings now for over two months! My fiancee has broken up with me because the rings I told her would "soon" arrive has been lost! She thinks I'm cheating on her because of you.

    On my way to the postoffice I walked in a pile of dogpoo.

    See you in court.

  11. Re:More common than you think by cptgrudge · · Score: 3, Funny
    (Think of how many hundreds or thousands of posts you read a year)

    You do, of course, mean hundreds of thousands, right?

    --
    Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
  12. JBoss is innocent! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Hey. The people here are all wrong. You can totally trust JBoss. All this news is just trying to unfairly smear their credibility. Take it from me, there is nothing to be suspicious of at JBoss.

  13. Iraqi minister by Fullmetal+Edward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just wait, they will hire that Iraqi minister

    "It is all a lie, there was no blogs, there is no internet! YOU ARE NOT ON THE INTERNET I TRIPLE PROMISE YOU!"

    --
    --- [Insert intresting Sig here]
  14. Re:More common than you think by Angst+Badger · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm inclined to believe, often instantly and completely, a slashdot posting endorsing product X, because the poster seems unaffiliated and genuine and doesn't really have anything to gain from endorsing it.

    I spent a lot of time thinking about this sentence, carefully formulating a well-reasoned, thoughtful response to it. Then I went back over it, polishing it and making it more concise, pruning away every superfluous word that might obscure the essential message I was trying to get across. It came down to one word:

    Boob.

    --
    Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
  15. Re:One more question by Mr.+Bad+Example · · Score: 4, Funny

    > What does WTF mean?

    What's a Nubian?

  16. Re:Core Values by mjc_w · · Score: 4, Funny

    The way I've heard it is this:

    If someone says "Trust me.", count your fingers after shaking their hand.

    --
    This is the Constitution.This is the Constitution under the Bush administration. Any questions?
  17. Re:One more question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    You ruined a potentially good joke. You should have said: What the fuck does WTF mean?

  18. Re:Core Values by Monkelectric · · Score: 3, Funny
    George Orwell wrote "1984" as a warning; the Bush administration uses it as an instruction manual.

    Thats thoughtcrime bitch!

    --

    Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley

  19. Re:More common than you think by hippycow · · Score: 1, Funny

    Sounds like you need che@p V1@gra! Visit our site at http://cheepviagra.com today!

  20. Re:More common than you think by cptgrudge · · Score: 2, Funny
    545 comments a day? Wouldn't surprise me at all.

    And people wonder why US tech jobs are being outsourced.

    "Yes, just one moment, sir. I understand that you can't get your email but I've got this killer post I've just got to get done before too many other people post. My Karma is at stake here!"

    --
    Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
  21. Re:These people give all AnonCows a bad name. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    With enough of a sample size in an anonymous posting, you might well be able to correlate the author's style with openly-attributed works and thereby identify them.

    Hmm. I can cut-and-paste, too.

    Maybe I'll get a job offer from the NY Times....

  22. Re:I am crying big fat crocodile tears of this. by spun · · Score: 2, Funny

    Well I know where I'm not going for jewelry now. Ah, who am I kidding, I have the attention span of an average American consumer. What were we talking about again?

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton