Intel vs. Slashdot... pull up a seat and bust out the popcorn
posted by Jeff Moriarty on February 01, 2007
Ah, sweet Intel. How I love thee, and how thou driveth me bat-freaking crazy. If you want to see a textbook example of how I disagree with the way Intel communicates with people head on over to Slashdot and give the Intel area a peek. It could get really flametastic any moment now.
Two days ago I heard my name was in a Slashdot ad from a slew of people who saw it and wanted to know whas was up. I had no clue, but a few email exchanges later with people inside Intel and OSTG and I had the scoop. So I nosed around a bit, chimed in a few times, and saw to my horror that that Intel appeared to have nobody actually participating in the conversations in the posts. They seemed to be taking questions, getting answers, marketizing them, and then making whole new posts on those topics.
Kudos to our marketing group for trying something new, and trying in their own way to “start a conversation”, but I was (and still am) worried this discussion could end up being one-way. I feel better after receiving an email this evening from some of the internal program owners and hearing they are lining up Intel employees to respond directly and have plans to bring out new things next week.
I’m still cautiously optimistic as we tends to talk to rather than with, but this could be a great opportunity for some open and honest discussion. I think the best thing that can happen is for anyone on Slashdot interested in the idea of a dialogue to reply there with your honest input. Working? Broken? Good? Bad? Let it all out in sparkling Slashdot fashion and see how we respond.
It should be fun to watch either way.
Updated: Edited based on getting more information from internal marketing team.
Comments (5)
tagged: discussion, flame, marketing, slashdot
Comments
Feb 01 | Tim said:
Wow, I’m actually pretty shocked at such a pessimistic post. I personally think it’s a fantastic idea. And please note, not all of us “slashdotters” are 14 year old AMD zealots. Some of us are actually out there in the real business world using the technology you’re producing. Not only that, we realize that the products you produce are tools, and should be treated as such. We are even unbiased, meaning there are no flames unless they’re deserved. Your final revisions of netburst cpu’s running at approximately 1200C? They deserved to be lambasted. Your core* cpu’s? They deserve to be applauded. I don’t know if you’ve followed slashdot much, but in my experience that is exactly what has/is happened/happening.
Feb 01 | Jeff Moriarty said:
Tim, I’m not exactly a 14 year old AMD zealot either, but I do know how crazy the Slashdot boards can get and the particular biases that turn up. I can’t see the overall Slashdot community looking kindly on Intel trying to sneak a marketing ploy past the goalie.
Intel’s approach in these areas always makes me pessimistic. Historically we tend to have a heavy hand, to put it mildly, and that just doesn’t cut it anymore. I agree this is a fantastic idea, which is why I made this post. I’m hoping comments on Slashdot and input on what is valuable to people will help shape both this effort and future ones.
Feb 02 | Tim said:
Fair enough Jeff. I can definitely see why you would be hesitant if it was strictly marketing running the show without any interaction from real engineers.
I think we are probably on the same page, you just have some cynicism which is (I’m sure) well founded. Reading back through your original post, I probably jumped the gun. I too have been the victim of over-eager marketing and understand what you are saying.
I think we can both agree, if done right, this could be one of THE best projects by any company ever as far as getting their users involved in open discussion. If done wrong, well, you’ll be creating a lot more zealots :D
Feb 13 | Red said:
Can you tell us why Intel removed all the previous comments and stories from the Intel area? It’s a very bad move from the company and will backlash when they open again, I don’t know how you could avoid all the bad press but you’ll have to give a lot of explainations about that.
Feb 13 | Jeff Moriarty said:
Red, removing the comments was a topic of much debate internally. The team behind the Intel Opinion Center on Slashdot is revamping the area based on all the input they’ve had, and we think the revamped site will be worth it. When it reopens for business the comments will return so you can let us know what you think.
You can read more detail at Slashdot at http://intel.vendors.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/12/2231216