I just wanted to make sure you guys are aware this happens sometimes before I delete this user.
Astroturfing is a word in English describing ... advertising, or public relations campaigns seeking to create the impression of being spontaneous "grassroots" behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.
User in question:
https://stackoverflow.com/users/96878/tom-lo
(Edit: sorry, Marc spoilt the fun by accident; not much to look at on this account now....)
Take a look.
Of course misrepresenting your affiliation is unacceptable, but what if each of the posts had a full disclosure at the bottom? Is that still disallowed?
On another note, how can you tell the difference between an enthusiastic user and genuine astroturfing? In this case it was pretty obvious because the user had little content otherwise, but I'm sure that there are some users on the site with as many or more answers that boil down to "use JQuery" in response to a JavaScript question. Is it OK because it's free/open source? Where's the line?
Since I plan to delete this user, some sample "answers" for permanent reference.
Answer
We got tired of how badly Selenium handled XPaths, and the fact that XPaths were the main cause of us having to maintain scripts every time there was a minor layout change from the coders. We successfully trialled and then purchased several licences of a product called LiquidTest. We no longer have to combine multiple tools like Firebug and Python scripts together to create a test that will actually run.
The teams finishing projects with Selenium are jealous of the teams on the newer projects using LiquidTest, and they can't wait to get involved or be on the next new project. That's a good sign in my books
Answer
I have found XPaths to be more trouble than they are worth. They're ok if you're not changing the pages your testing, but if you're not changing them, why not spend less effort testing them.
When my CTO factored in the cost of the man hours editing the Selenium scripts to work every few builds, we realised that it provided us with a poor return on investment. We've spent some R&D time hunting alternative tools. The latest is a trial version of a a tool called LiquidTest. It seems less brittle so far, using other references to objects before resorting to XPaths. It runs in Eclipse, records tests through the browser UI and can write JUnit, Ruby, C#, etc. so all the Java coders here picked it up almost immediately. So far so good.
Answer
The problem with Selenium RC as far as I can tell is that it was created by a third party. Even Jason Huggins has trouble making RC work - http://clearspace.openqa.org/message/48380
We trialled and purchased a product called LiquidTest that lives up to their claim that it makes test record and replay as easy as it was meant to be. It handles dragging splitters in our ExtJS framework pages, and replay works just fine without hacking or adding python.
There are a few answers that could be construed as valid, but the overall pattern is very strong and consistent -- astroturfing.
I have a gold badge in one of my employer's trademarks. Should I delete all my posts?
Seriously, my employer has an anti-astroturf policy. I feel the need to insert the occasional disclosure statement. I guess it's a matter of common sense rather than something that can be automated. Though perhaps I could insert a TM symbol every time I mention an affected trademark, such as JavaScriptTM.
With regards to the accounts that only exist to astroturf... I know you're not a huge fan, but I wonder whether a "hellban" approach would work. Note that I'm not suggesting this approach for the "exist to aggravate" accounts, since they tend to be throwaway accounts; but 'turfers tend to keep their account.
The problem with deleting the account is that we know very well (from experience) that these accounts tend to see more resurrections than the Vatican film festival. At least with a hellban we know where they are. Presumably only mods and the user would see them.
The system would also probably need to throw them random up/down votes, just to keep things interesting. Not sure what to do if they attempt to edit somebody else's post... perhaps just tiddles?
I would say there's nothing wrong with promoting a product if that's what the question was about, e.g. "is there any better alternative to Selenium?". But if the question is "how do I do X in Selenium?", referring to other products is irrelevant. In this case, half the time his posts were half relevant, the other half they were irrelevant advertising that did not answer the question.
Ooopsssiiieee... Jeff: I didn't look at MSO first, but was looking at this user separately due to some spam flags. I too noticed the behaviour, and deleted all but the 3 posts that didn't do any of this. So there isn't much left to look at on this account now.
Sorry to spoil the fun, guys.
Jeff: if you want to do a public show-and-tell again, perhaps add a moderator annotation to the account so that other moderators don't delete it out from under you ;-p
I have a few examples of what I did on Super User:
It's a slippery slope, some rules that are important to live by:
I find it incredibly difficult to deal with this issue.
Awww... Poor Selenium. They just couldn't match the inherent awesomeness of FluidTest!
They should really know better than to try that on a site by programmers for programmers.
We're more likely to notice when something isn't quite right. We also like exploring inconsistencies. Which makes it significantly more difficult to sneak something behind our backs.
If they really wanted people to use their stuff, there is this little thing called advertisements.
When discussing or linking to your own or affiliated products, a caveat and full disclosure is always appropriate, if not required.
For example, I like the tool Balsalmiq Mockups.
Caveat: I have no affiliation with Balsalmiq, and I'm not nearly as fond of ponies as this guy, but I love my new iPhone.
I really don't see the problem. Sure, those answers are annyoing and when I read them I get a little angry. I sympathize when the owner of stackoverflow gets even more angry.
But usually, we do rely on voting. Don't we? If this liquid test stuff is any good and better than selenium (which I kind of doubt, but that's not the issue here), his answers will be voted up because they really are helpful. And if he's advertizing crappy stuff, he'll be downvoted pretty soon.
