Sky ride

To say the least I am incredibly concerned and disappointed about the right wing corporation's involvement with British Cycling in the SKY ride event.

How should we as a cycling community trying to create non-discriminatory, open minded sustainable travel/ cycling groups in our city, react? Do we participate? Do we oppose it?

How can we, as a cycling community encourage more women and people from minority ethnic backgrounds to cycling, whilst at the same time helping to support a corporation that unashamedly marginalises and discriminates against these groups?

I'd like other people's reactions to this as I can't quite believe it...

for some info on SKY see...
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=360

**'The greatest thing to come out of this for the world economy...would be
$20 a barrel for oil. That's bigger than any tax cut in any country.' -
Rupert Murdoch on the benefits for a war on Iraq - Sydney Daily Telegraph

**In the build up to the war on Iraq, no editor of a Murdoch-owned paper
was allowed to oppose it. That's 175 editors worldwide and 40 million
papers a week.

**In 2000, The Sun, Mail and other quality papers chose the Christmas
season to campaign against refugees. They targeted a small group of
frightened women and children accommodated in a disused Dartford hospital
and then a Gravesend hotel. The 'Sun' called them 'scroungers',
headlining: ‘Refugees move from hospital… to £65-a-night luxury hotel’.

And....

YouTube - OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism -- Trailer

OUTFOXED : Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

OUTFOXED : Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism

Related: Sky seem to have hired a company to promote the events and their sponsorship throughout social media.

The company did actually contact me ages ago, but I ignored it as I didn't see it as being directly applicable to this community in that I felt that they didn't give a hoot about us, we were just one of a number of targets for their campaign... which was fair enough.

However I've now noticed as a result of a post made earlier by the user "GoSkyride" that http://absorb-london.com/ had actually registered a number of accounts which I an only assume that they were going to use to back-up any positive spin their primary account made.

Thankfully a couple of people reported it as spam, and so now it's gone. As are their other users.

Just for note: I don't mind promotion or participation or support of anything that gets people on their bikes. And in fact I'm happy if we can lend support to such things.

However my beef is this: This forum and community was not established to allow some corporate giant to pimp their brand through a crass use of external companies who would like to game the opinion of the community through duplicitous behaviour (those extra user accounts).

If the community wishes to champion any event... then fabulous. If a company wishes to try and game it... you'll earn a fuck you response and the ire of the community.

Social marketing should be approached non-cynically. Don't try to buy it! It won't work. To Absorb and anyone else contemplating trying to game the site... if you want to engage with us, don't treat us as a market to be sold to, don't treat us as a company or entity to approach... realise that the site represents a lot of individuals, and to reach this community your only option is to be a part of the community. If you want to reach us, join our rides, come have a beer with us... but don't do what you just did.

What a set of cunts.

Like arrows, I believe the collective noun is a "quivver"

http://absorb-london.com/ had actually registered a number of accounts which I an only assume that they were going to use to back-up any positive spin their primary account made.

What a shower of cnuts. Good on you for nipping this in the bud.

Web 2.0 social media marketing BS can suck a fat one

VB, did you complain to them?

rushes to delete all Rollapaluza accounts

Honestly, what a crock of shit.

What we do
We work with brands to maximise the conversations they have with consumers.

How we do it
By using a variety of social media tracking tools, SEO and reputation management, we’re able to monitor what any user is saying about your brand.

So basically you post on forums under a bunch of aliases, start facebook and linkedin groups, and post crap on twitter? revo-fucking-lutionary. astroturfing leaves a really bad taste in the mouth.

Disappointed to see that Alice Fisher and Guardian google search doesn't deliver a lfgss link until page 3. Aidan!...

VB, did you complain to them?

rushes to delete all Rollapaluza accounts

Not at all, I never contact spammers. I have very little to say to them and what I would say would not do either party any good.

And as I've said before and said again above... if someone is part of the community then it's different and not spam, then I'm cool with those within the community sharing what they are doing or what someone else is doing with everyone. Which is why you don't have to even joke about deleting Rollapaluza accounts, you're very welcome to continue as any community member can pretty much do what they wish.

I feel a watershed moment coming on.

I used to work for a chain of bars who hired one guy two days a week to operate mutiple forum / facebbok. myspace accounts and leave feedback on the bar's own sites, even with pictures......but an agency doing this...WOW!

Just thought it might be embarassing to them and potentially damaging if they knew that someone had cottoned on.

There are no Rollapaluza accounts, just me, Rapsac and the mysterious Winspar.

well pleased on the move to remove skyride fools. it really annoyed me when i saw it.

these rides are ok if it gets people on bikes but the corporate bullshit asscioated with them is not.

Dear absorb,

I will guarantee 100 participants in your goskyride endeavour if you fire Rupert Murdoch into the sun.

A fair exchange I think you'll find.

Dear absorb,

I will guarantee 100 participants in your goskyride endeavour if you fire Rupert Murdoch into the sun.

A fair exchange I think you'll find.

A very fair excahnge.... i reckon you could easily get 1m + people with a promise like that!

A very fair excahnge.... i reckon you could easily get 1m + people with a promise like that!

1. TSK
   
2. Soul
   
3. Khorn (can I sign up people who aren't on this forum, but would buy a bike to see him burn?)
   

Only idiots give their money to Murdoch. Fuck Sky and fuck their cycling team too.

http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3934

Yeehhhhh sky is great!!! Can I get a +1??

Nah maybe not then...... :-)

Only idiots give their money to Murdoch. Fuck Sky and fuck their cycling team too.

http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3934

Not for atleast 8 weeks.

Go on the Skyride, don't wear the issued Skyride top, take banners calling Murdoch an evil cunt.

It's as if the Cluetrain Manifesto had never been written. Arseholes.

It's as if the Cluetrain Manifesto had never been written. Arseholes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cluetrain_Manifesto

Only idiots give their money to Murdoch. Fuck Sky and fuck their cycling team too.
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3934

I'm an idiot then. But I'm an idiot who doesn't lose his TdF feed with 2k to go.
Sky+ FTW!! Don't give a fuck who owns it.. some dodgy shit always ends up with the cash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cluetrain_Manifesto

Cheers for that I was scratching my head abit there.

Go on the Skyride, don't wear the issued Skyride top, take banners calling Murdoch an evil cunt.

I love this idea...

I hate everything about News Corp and Sky, from a social awareness POV and having had to be shafted/work with them on projects before...

but I love that my cycling beginner friend was thinking of going on Sunday to help her get some confidence up on the roads...

Maybe not "Murdoch is an evil cunt", but how about something a little more soft/witty that gets the message across, I don't know, ride topless with something written on your back?...

Throw your TV
Read the Guardian
Love your Bike

Nobody should be encouraged to read the guardian.
All newspapers are offences against honesty and truth, but the guardian is an offence against the English language too.