The Drive-By Post

Sceneclips has been getting some traffic from the Filmmaker Magazine forums lately, which initially started with a kind reference given to us from a forum user going by the name of C8PR. A couple days and a few dozen hits after the post, I went and replied to C8PR, thanking them for the acknowledgment. While there, I poked around contributing to a post or two, and have gone back a few times since. What is amazing to me is how many drive-by posts there are. Some of them are so ridiculous that I am not sure weather I want to laugh or vomit – take a look at this one:

HEY EVERYONE…STUMBLED UPON A NEW WEBSITE THAT SCREENS INDEPENDANT FILMS. I GUESS ITS KIND OF LIKE AN ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL. THE SITE IS CALLED XYZ. ADDRESS IS WWW.XYZ.NET. I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS COOL BECAUSE I HAD NOT SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT BEFORE. THEY HAVE ABOUT 10 MOVIES TO CHOOSE FROM ( ALL ORIGINAL INDIES ). THEY ALSO HAVE INDEPENDANT MUSICIANS, I HAVE NOT LISTENED TO ANY YET. I DID WATCH A COUPLE OF THE FILMS. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND CALLBACK: THE UNMAKING OF BLOODSTAIN. VERY PULP FICTION LIKE BUT NOT AS VIOLENT. I ALSO WATCHED COMMIT, WHICH I DID ENJOY, VERY GOOD PREMISE. THEY HAVE SOME COOL TRIVIA GAMES AND BLOGS AND BOX OFFICE PREDICTIONS …VERY COOL STUFF. DEFINITELY WORTH CHECKING OUT.

…To answer your questions, no I didn’t modify it (except for the company name), yes it was in all caps, and yes I agree, it stinks of self-promotion. Now I understand the thought behind businesses posting in forums, they are made up of concentrated groups of highly involved consumers. Forums allow a business to target their market as directly as it gets. However, I am quite positive that the drive-by company poster thinks their consumer has a mental deficiency. Otherwise, I don’t see how it is possible to be so stupid as to represent a company with that level of ignorance. Businesses take note, forums are for discussion and consumers can smell bullshit a mile away – don’t do drive-bys.