Be careful what you StumbleWish for

On my Link to Bridlepath page, I mentioned StumbleUpon and what a great community it is. You install the SU toolbar on your browser, and state your preferences for certain sites (Equestrian/Horses, UK, Cooking, whatever you like). Clicking the SU icon will show you a page in that category; you can then give it a thumbs up or thumbs down, add people to your network, write reviews, etc. I’ve found lots of neat sites that way, and have used some of them in Bridlepath. It’s a great resource and the people I’ve ‘met’ on StumbleUpon have been great.

Until recently, that is.

Someone calling themselves “topdaz” created an Amazon affiliate site called StumbleWish. Supposedly, you would give the thumbs up to things you liked on the site, in hopes that some benign person would then buy it for you. Riiiiight. I’m not linking to it because I don’t want them getting any AdSense income from clicks; you can Google it if you’re really curious. I refuse to take part in their advertising scheme by condemning it.

The Disneyesque font and unauthorized use of the SU logo were bad enough. Many Stumblers, including myself, thought the whole thing smelled scammy and spammy and gave the site a thumbs down. The idiot responded by adding this to the site:

NEWS FLASH This website has been the victim of a sustained attack by a hard-core group of SU users dubbed: THE STUMBLE-WISH-HATERS-GANG (who have made public comments like: “The site is dishonest, illegal and vile on so many levels.”) “English law allows actions for libel to be brought in the High Court for any published statements which are alleged to defame a named or identifiable individual or individuals in a manner which causes them loss in their trade or profession, or causes a reasonable person to think worse of him, her or them.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander_and_libel If you have been contacted by anyone encouraging you to act illegally please contact us. If you have been caught up in the hysteria created by “The Stumble-Wish-Haters-Gang” you may like to re-evaluate your comments made against StumbleWish before possible legal proceedings commence.

Not only that, but I also received an obnoxious PM in my SU inbox, claiming that the whole thing was on the up-and-up; at the same time, I’m proud to say that my username samoboe was added to a “name & shame” list on the main page of the site. Oh goodness, that’s professional, isn’t it?! Reminds me of a certain troll who used to hang around the alt.fashion newsgroup.

It’s amazing what lengths people will go to for their stupid little viral marketing schemes, and how quickly they resort to bullying and attempts at intimidating when things don’t go their way. Topdaz, I think you’re about to find out how quickly social networking can turn around and bite you in the butt when you least expect it.