Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - It appears that dominofiles.com is part of the same outfit, as the e-mail to which you refer prominently refers to itself that way as well, and a couple of sources verified that dominofile.com is run by the same person/people.

2 - Yer a big man, Mr. TSG. Now, I'll be really surprised if they do post a response here.

3 - I am surprised to hear the pontification of judges on awards.

As far as I understand, there is a no pay no play game for most of the awards (if you don■t buy the X Magazine ad packages you are not eligible for the X awards). When reviews of software are written up, the software is typically not tested but the software web page is simply rehashed (and there is no statement to that effect). I can only imagine what happens when awards are given out (presumably given to the one spending the most ad dollars). Judges out there, you are a bunch of hypocrites,

4 - There's a very good reason that Spam Sentinel wasn't even a finalist for the Lotus Awards. I had hoped to meet Frank P. at Lotusphere to discuss why, but apparently he was too busy selecting his "best in show".

5 - Duffbert is right on the money here. Reputable journalistic sources (who want to stay reputable) always acknowledge when they are commenting on a commercial entity that has any ties to their publication. E.g., a CNN story about parent company AOL/TimeWarner, or a MSNBC.com article that mentions Microsoft.

What MayFlower did is deliberately pose as a journalistic source to mislead customers into thinking it was an independent review.

From an ethical standpoint, there's not much difference between that and flat out lying about the features of your product on a product website. In fact I consider what InsideDomino did to be worse, because they deliberately took advantage of the trust of their readers. At least on a website that doesn't hide its associations you know to beware of claims.

Furthermore, the original link that InsideDomino had emailed out claimed right in the subject line "Best of Lotusphere", and branded their award as such complete with a logo. They even claimed to have "explored the floor of the show to find out which solutions really work as advertised." I can't prove they didn't, but I doubt they spent any time at the other spam vendors' booths. This "Best of Lotusphere" award dilutes IBM/Lotus's own annual "Lotus Awards", and others on the showfloor such as Advisor Media's Editors' Choice awards. Nothing can be guaranteed to be completely unbiased, but at least these reputable Lotusphere awards would never allow a judge who stands to profit from their award decision, let alone a one who directly owns the product he is awarding.

Interestingly, it seems that as of today Inside Domino has taken that entire "Best of Lotusphere" reference off their website. But the damage is done with their mass emailing.

6 - Tom and Jamie are right on with their assessment of the deceptive practices going on at Inside Domino and Mayflower. Awards should be unbiased and the reporting on them should be so noted. Imagine if the Washington Post or NY Times ran a competition on journalism and awarded the top prize to themselves without so stating. Even when they report on awards bestowed by industry groups (such as the Pulitzer's) they always are careful to point out the affiliation of the winners when they are affiliated.

It is ironic that Spam Sentinel was not considered worthy to be included by either the Lotus Awards or the Advisor Editor's choice (for which I was a judge) while other products were consistently chosen. As the judge of the Editor's Choice award, I looked at reputation as well as capabilities that were being demonstrated. In my opinion, Spam Sentinel did not measure up in either category.

Newbs

Play-Doh wasn■t originally intended to be a toy. It was created to clean wallpaper.
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7 - Has anyone taken the time to do some research behind the new technology being used by spam sentinel? or safety bar as it is also known? i know this was posted about a year ago, but i just now came across this blog. Anyways, take the time to check out their new processes and youwill see that the software is state of the art and very good. I will agree however that they should have disclosed the shady relationships.

8 - Ray... I can agree with you right up to this point... "What better way to advertise your solutions that you (hopefully) have spent countless hours on developing than starting your own free publication and as the editor select your solution as the winner for (again hopefully) all the right reasons."

At that point, I can't disagree more. In my opinion, it is *never* acceptable to report on any product without revealing any relationships that could influence the conclusion. To run a contest like that is fine. Awarding your own product the top slot can also be fine. To do so without prominently stating that you own the product is *not* OK. When that is found out, it completely destroys the credibility of the award, the overall credibility of your company, and the journalistic integrity of your publication.

I have no doubt that the articles in InsideDomino are good, as well as the offerings by DominoFiles. But because I no longer trust their integrity, I will not use their products, recommend their products, read their publication, or visit their site. And I would venture to guess that I'm not the only influencer in the Domino community that feels that way.

Now, would you still say it was worth it?

9 - I did get a copy of the email, not knowing the details you've included here, I was pretty surprised at how easily and directly the other products they listed were dismissed, yet it was all billed as an award. It just seemed a little fishy somehow, and I didn't even know the details you mentioned here. Now I know why it struck me as so odd...

10 - Hi Tom,

I have read the thread in BP2004 and previous posts about this but I have a slightly different view on this.

I think some of the inside domino articles are quite informative and always positive and it is good to see some Lotus Notes trivia/adverts/publications that are free and widely distributed. I do agree with everybody■s sentiment that you should not be dishonest and steal someone elses thunder.

However, how else do you sell product and consultancy in a difficult market? It is difficult to put together good stories about Domino at the moment and not that easy to find new products and utilities and I am sure Inside Domino has a tough time finding material so they have to fall back on their own solutions.

I have not used SpamSentinel yet or seen bench marks or bad write ups and it is probably really good. What better way to advertise your solutions that you (hopefully) have spent countless hours on developing than starting your own free publication and as the editor select your solution as the winner for (again hopefully) all the right reasons.

If you had advice for Frank on how to better advertise his solutions what would it be?

11 - Hi, Marcus... I'm sure the software is probably good. But based on their ongoing pattern of shady practices, I'd never bother to investigate one of their products. They are disqualified right out of the blocks as far as I'm concerned (and as far as many other bloggers and influencers).

The reputation of a company is not something that can be separated from the product of the company. They each affect the other, and in this case, they've shot themselves in the foot repeatedly.

12 - I remember when I saw the InsideDomino "award" last year, and how angry it made me because it does take away from all the other awards programs that are out there.

I have a particular emphasis on wanting to see awards programs maintain their integrity and therefore their high standing in the community: I've been a judge for the Lotus awards, the former Lotus Beacon awards, the IBM beacon awards, and our own e-Pro Magazine Apex awards for many years.

I feel strongly that awards programs are great for the vendors and the sponsor, when done correctly. That said, when something like this happens it makes all awards programs a bit suspect in many people's eyes. I've had people complain to me that any and all of those awards that I've been a judge for are biased, politicized, and unfair.

Now, partially that's sour grapes. But partially, I think, it's how folks really feel. And I can't tell them categorically that they're wrong. From my own experiences, however, the judges *I've* worked with or talked to for any of those awards, especially for the Lotusphere Best in Showcase Lotus/Beacon award, are exceptionally smart, thoughtful, and earnest about giving the award to the product (or company, depending on the award) that most deserves it.

Now, on to the topic of whether Tom was responsible for giving InsideDomino an opportunity to comment on this blog entry. If you feel that the blog is equivalent to a **news** article from a publication such as e-Pro Magazine or another magazine, etc, then you probably do have some responsibility to get a comment on an article. But if you compare the blog to an **opinion** piece from a magazine, then I don't think the responsibility is the same. If you're acting as *news* -- you have a responsibility to remain objective and give the reader as much unbiased information as possible and, mostly, let them draw the conclusions.

If you're writing an article that has the main purprose of giving an opinion, well, you still have a responsibility to be honest and not hold back facts just to prove your point. However, your main goal is to interpret the facts, to prove your point and give your thoughts on what the facts mean, so you're not really obligated to let someone else give theirs in the same venue.

That said, giving someone an opportunity to comment is always an honorable thing to do, Tom, and I think highly of you that you've chosen to do so, especially because I believe you were not and are not and should not feel obligated to do so.

13 - Tom, I'm going to call you on the carpet here. Did you send a link to this blog entry to InsideDomino? I agree with you all the way, man... but I think journalistic integrity, harsh master that it is, also demands you make sure they get to read this so they can offer a defence. If you alredy did this, kudos man, you rock.

14 - Um... Ur.... well....

nope.

I'll have to give some thought to *that* one.

15 - OK, Jerry... you win. The longer I thought about it, the more I realized that I should have contacted them to let them know they had a chance to respond to the feelings being voiced here. I just filled out the "Contact Us" form on the InsideDomino site, so they now have an opportunity to present a differing view of the circumstances.

Thanks for calling me on that... I was in the wrong there.

16 - Gee... Thanks, Libby! I appreciate your input on the whole subject matter. Especially since much of my writing passes through your hands at some point...

And I agree with Jerry... I'll be shocked if MayFlower does respond here.

17 - You've got a point Libby. I flame IBM and other big companies a lot on my site, well, not a lot, let's just say it happens... and I never send a link. In this case, since it was almost a personal bone picking, the subject being a particular individual, it seemed appropriate. Personally, if I had a bone to pick with a specific individual, I'd let them know directly... and that's more of what I was getting at with my comment. I don't expect the IBM's of the world give a crap, nor do I expect them to change because I post a gripe. The Frank P.'s of the world though are kind of on our level in a way, small timers just trying to publish and promote themselves (ethics aside)... so, yeah, it's mostly the honorable thing to do. Tom wasn't obligated, but I would have given him crap privately if he hadn't.

18 - And I think the lack of response from InsideDomino after a couple of days says something...

19 -
www.dominofile.com
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