Comments on: Sports Legends Challenge is Engaging in a Despicable Online “Marketing Campaign” Relying on Lies and Spam (Presented by PokerNews and Absolute Poker)

By: Gry dla dziewczyn

Gry dla dziewczyn — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:32:05 +0000

yaa, I totally agree with Linda M
btw I realesed it too that most of comments was writing on twitter, you must have looooots of followers. Marry Christmas! :)

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:29:46 +0000

That’s an interesting dynamic on this conversation, jonc. Though bloggers are most often the target of the discussion in regard to the new guidelines, one wonders how they might affect people who are spamming. Not that most spammers would care, of course.

By: jonc

jonc — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:35:02 +0000

if a paid employee was blogging or pumping up the event, there are likely some FTC issues under their new guidelines for such –
The Federal Trade Commission revealed revised guidelines regarding endorsements and testimonials today. Bottom line: any and all endorsements must be revealed, whether it’s from a celebrity or a journalist or whathaveyou.

— Cost of fine for infringing on these rules: up to $11,000.

— “Material connections” (payments or free products) given by advertisers to endorsers that consumers wouldn’t expect must be disclosed.

FTC put bloggers on notice that they could incur an $11,000 fine if they receive free goods, free services, or money and write about the goods or services without conspicuously disclosing their “material connection” to the provider. The FTC guidelines extend even to Facebook and Twitter posters.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:04:31 +0000

Thanks for the comments, all.

Ms. Dow, yeah, it’s tough, that’s for sure.

Patrick

By: Linda M. Dow

Linda M. Dow — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:25:53 +0000

Hello, I am not a sports fan, nor a member of your forum community, but I sense the trouble with this type of dishonesty. It is almost like we have to code these seemingly random, ‘public’ spams with a little tiny “This is an Advertisement”, like they (used to?) have to do in the photo ads. There is just no substitute for real people is there?

By: Georgia Girl

Georgia Girl — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 02:19:15 +0000

Wow, looks like I totally dodged a bullet. I interviewed to be the assistant for the SLC CEO last year. He offered me the job but after some consideration, I turned it down. I had a bad feeling about it then. Glad I followed my gut.

By: Former Employee

Former Employee — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:42:21 +0000

I am another former SLC employee. I have never seen a company more dishonest or, even worse, down right ignorant. I agree – the level of dishonesty in that establishment, spread four or five deep through the organization, is astounding.

By: Former SLC employee

Former SLC employee — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 02:49:40 +0000

I was an employee at Sports Legends Challenge for about a month. The entire company is run by dishonest people, and yes, Shawn Buttler is a the ring leader of the spam machine. I always probed them with questions about how their “social networking” might be a little dishonest, and it was met with cult like jibber-jabber about the power of social media. They never wanted to create useful content about the athletes or poker, instead they just wanted to create more guidelines for how to falsely post things on the web and attempt to get away with it.

SLC is dangerous, stay away, the entire event is being run by dishonest people!

By: Sports Legends Challenge Canceled? | Pokerati | Texas Hold'em and Las Vegas Poker Blog

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:11:39 +0000

[...] UPDATE 2: Allegations of bad internet etiquette, too … http://www.patrickokeefe.com/2.....-is-enga... [...]

By: Were You a Forum Spammer? Looking to Redeem Yourself and Get Back on the Right Side? Start Here » ManagingCommunities.com

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:36:02 +0000

[...] I Participate? 0 Comments In July, I discussed the Sports Legends Challenge saga a bit and I posted an investigative piece on my personal blog outlining the unethical tactics they used. Suffice to say, it’s spam, spam and more spam. Not just spam, but devious, misleading spam. [...]