Are there paid writers on this site?

[Scandinavian]

This article here provides an insight in how the online forums in China are influences by the state.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/politics/2012/10/china%E2%80%99s-paid-trolls-meet-50-cent-party

Sites like Chinasmack has some posters that would be easy to suspect of this, what about Chinese-forums ?

[fanglu]

The fact that new members' posts are moderated would these kind of shenanigans more difficult, I think. I can't imagine anyone would bother posting about grammar and the climate in different cities just so they could become trusted and be able to convincingly post about political issues given they presumably only get paid for the latter.

[Gharial]

Roddy pushes a bowl of gruel under my door for every day that I refrain from posting anything. I'm not sure that counts as a form of payment, though.

[imron]

Are there paid writers on this site?

If there were, they'd be unlikely to admit to it here, and while not impossible, I agree with fanglu that it's unlikely.

There are posters who to promote their own business/service/product/website here, however we're relatively strict about requiring disclosure of such affiliations and people are generally pretty good about it.

[gougou]

Interesting interview, Scandinavian!

I'd be surprised if there were paid posters on international forums though. For one, I think it's mostly a tool to guide internal opinion rather than to influence external perception. Also, I think that on sites such as Chinasmack, there is little need to pay people - the same people that criticize the government very vocally on Chinese forums will often become defensive of it when confronted with criticism from outside China.

[liuzhou]

I get paid for writing. But not on here. I do it here for free to atone for my guilt and show charity!

[Meng Lelan]

That's it then. I'm not writing anything in here until roddy pays me.

[skylee]

So ... you guys are not here because you have been blackmailed by roddy? And roddy even feeds Gharial?

[Meng Lelan]

There has to be a secret blacklist here somewhere.

[Erbse]

yes, i am on this website, and yes, i get paid for writing. However my paid writing never appears here. My boss wouldnt be to happy me posting internal documents on public websites.

[Matty]

#7 Meng Lelan - Posted 23 November 2012 - 08:45 PM

That's it then. I'm not writing anything in here until roddy pays me.

#9 Meng Lelan - Posted 23 November 2012 - 11:42 PM

There has to be a secret blacklist here somewhere.

I guess that means you're being paid already... My turn Roddy!

[roddy]

For what it's worth, in almost ten years I've never seen anyone I thought was a government stooge. There have been some pro-Party idiots, and some anti-Party idiots, and quite a lot of people I might pay to stop writing. But I think the wages they pay for this kind of thing do not stretch to competent English speakers, and if they did they'd be better employed, I think, on the comments section of heavy-weight newspapers, etc. We're a relatively low-traffic site in Internet terms, and politics is fairly tangential to what we do.

[Meng Lelan]

Pay me to stop writing.