Feb 14, 2009

Facebook?

If anyone's interested, I started a group on Facebook for ex-Prizers. Click here to see. I don't expect the turn-out to be tremendous, despite the growing number of potential members.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ha. Still don't have enough spine to use your own name though, eh Mike? Pathetic.

Anonymous said...

Is it really Mike White running this blog? If so, how fucking ironic. I heard that Mike Thompson got the ePrizer of the Year award while the guy who got him in, White, gets tossed out on his ass.

Couldn't have happened to a "nicer" person. I always found White to be a tremendous asshole and to find him hiding on this blog, casting barbs at the company that supported him for so many years doesn't shock me much.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it's definitely Mike White. I don't know why he continues with this "Louis Friend" farce. He's a coward and a pussy.

Phil Jacokes tried his best to get White's attitude adjusted, as did Robb Lippitt, Jeff Dwoskin, and even James Brunk. White was as stubborn as he was untalented and the loss of him at ePrize gave hope to a lot of people that the company could move forward without dead wood weighing us down.

Anonymous said...

Once again congratulations to everyone that has managed to push this blog to the top of the google page rank algorithm. I salute you and your diligent efforts of empowerment.

http://www.google.com/search?q=eprize+blog

http://www.google.com/search?q=eprize+employee+comments

Oh and on the wonders of anonymity and the internet, I leave an explanation of your behavior to those more capable of condensing meaning into a concise space

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040319h.jpg

If you believe your comments are true then why not post them with an identity, unless you are worried about being sued or god forbid your next company sees your preferred means of communication and doesn't appreciate this mode. Of course there is more than one kind of anonymity on the net:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/?first=Jeremy&last=Walker&search=Search

Anonymous said...

Louis friend, your have definitely stirred up the hornets nest. The e-prizers that are still employed are buzzing around looking to sting you. They call you for being anonymous and yet they themselves post anonymously, how ironic or more accurately moronic is that.

How do you think all these layoffs has affected performance and customer satisfaction. Are they on the ropes swinging (drunk from the kool-aid)at anything these days.

Anonymous said...

After all the shit ePrize put you through, Walker, I hope you got a better severance package than the standard two week check. I heard tales of you literally working 24/7 during the early days of the Coke promotion.

This is the second time (at least) that you've posted this kind of "you're boosting the google rating!" message that I can remember, Walker. What's the deal? Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Seeing that you just got kicked to the curb, I'm thinking good?

Test blog said...

I came here to see how many people named Anonymous would post comments about Mike having no spine for hiding behind a fake name.

I left satisfied...

Anonymous said...

Was you satisfied to see none. I certainly was. The truth often hurts, and it can either make you bitter or better. I choose better, how about you.

Anonymous said...

I started shortly after White was fired but never got the story of why he should be hated so much. Is it because he writes this blog or is there more to it?

I still have my own theories about who's really writing this and it's someone other than Mike White.

And, yeah, I think it's hilarious how many of us are still hiding. It reminds me of the Rebel Fleet.

Anonymous said...

>>Was you satisfied to see none.<<

Does that mangled bit of English befit the caliber of people hires at ePrize these days?

Test blog said...

Do you people even read other comments before you post? And I quote:

Anonymous said...

Ha. Still don't have enough spine to use your own name though, eh Mike? Pathetic.


That would qualify as someone posting as Anonymous saying that he had no spine. In fact the phrasing 'has no spine' in my message came from that message. So no, I 'was' not satisfied with 'none' because in point of fact there was two, one saying he had no spine, one sayings he's a choice part of anatomy. I'm not saying _I'm_ bitter about ePrize, I just can't stand you hypocrites coming on here and saying 'show your face Mike' while you post as Anonymous. Don't expect him to take that seriously until you post with a name.

For the record, I've chosen to become better(sounds arrogant), but that doesn't preclude me from being bitter about the Prize if I want to indulge now and again.

Anonymous said...

I can prove, beyond a doubt, that it's White that writes this shit.

For one, it's written in his voice. I read enough of his memos, documentation, and other internal documents at ePrize to recognize his prose style.

Second -- on his Facebook and MySpace pages, White lists this blog's URL when he gives his place of employment as ePrize.

Third -- White is a movie buff and the "Louis Friend" nom de guerre is a reference to Silence of the Lambs. It was the name Lecter gives to Buffalo Bill. White even blogs about "Fool's gold" in a post on here. (Louis Friend is an anagram for Iron Sulfide).

Fourth -- and what goes from beyond speculation to damning evidence -- portions of this blog were reprinted (albeit altered slightly) in White's magazine.

All that said, White still continues to deny that he's the author of this blog. At least the sole author. If that's true then perhaps there's more than one person behind this and that means it's a conspiracy to defraud the good name of ePrize.

Can someone please shut this site down and sue White and his co-conspirators for libel?

Anonymous said...

"If that's true then perhaps there's more than one person behind this and that means it's a conspiracy to defraud the good name of ePrize.

Can someone please shut this site down and sue White and his co-conspirators for libel?"

That's got to be funniest thing I've read in a long time. You win an internet.

If there was anything specific in here that could be proven false... I'm sure the folks at ePrize would have latched on long ago. Awarding prizes to people has to be a legal minefield, I'm sure the ePrize legal team would if they could. Is there anything in here that is 'false'?

I mean sure he badmouth's people, but wouldn't he have to intentionally spread false information about the company to make a case? If anything your post accusing him of maintaining his log probably treads closer to libel than the blog itself, but I'm no lawyer to be sure.

I will say though, not knowing Mike very well at all, your analysis seems to make sense, god you guys put a lot of time into this. Point two is a bit iffy, he could just want to spread the word of the blog. Attaching it's URL somewhere doesn't mean that person is the maintainer. Although screaming 'can't someone shut this site down' sort of indicates a level of ignorance that is _shocking_ for someone working at an internet technology company.

He has every right to post on here, same rights you do. It's his opinion, and as far as I know there are no false statements being made here. Things like 'ePrize is disloyal to it's employees' is too subjective to be libel... could have been disloyal to one person, and if you can find that one person and quantify 'disloyal', it's not false.

The best part is the juiciest stuff is often in the comments. He's merely posting as a catalyst.

Anonymous said...

White definitely reads this blog -- I know because he sends me links on occasion, especially when he's getting slagged -- but I don't think he writes it. He's got a good job and freelance writes on the side. Why would he write for free when he can get paid for it?

Bitter? I'm sure he still is but I'm sure that can be said for 90% of the folks that have left ePrize either voluntarily or by force -- marched out to their car like an earlier comment described.

Anyway, yeah, who cares who writes the posts. It's the comments that make this blog fun. Keep 'em coming.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE the comments, long live freedom of speech, those who do not like it cannot silence it, they too have a voice to reply. Its up to the reader to decide who is telling the truth.Employees can be gagged, when the payroll ends former employees have the freedom to talk.

Anonymous said...

Listening to White gripe when I see him on occasion, I think the reason why he's not putting his name to this is because he claims Eprize owes him $20K in stock revenue and he's still got a bunch of options.

I'd like this to be the Anti-Eprize blog, not the Mike White blog. He's too easy of a target.

Anonymous said...

This is just the best blog ever. I can't believe there are still so many people balled up about ePrize.

I definitely drank the Kool Aid while I was there. I'm also glad I still had a family when I returned home after 2 years.

There are some things I still miss though.

Free Pop
Lunch Box (yes, I liked eating at my desk)
The parties
WAB
But most of all, I miss the people. I worked with some ridiculously smart people. That doesn't happen everywhere.

Best of luck to all of the newly minted exPrizers . Hope you find success in any form soon.

Anonymous said...

"good name of ePrize"

In the promotions industry, ePrize's name is ANYTHING but "good." "Slimy" is much more like it.

Anonymous said...

Jeremy Walker, I don't think you have a clue about the Google algorithm or SEO. Yes the Google Analytics script taged along within this page could be a factor in pushing this blog to the top in the rankings, I'd say that your comments are a bit exaggerated. The fact that only 17,900 entries appear when googling "eprize blog", is an indication that there is little competition for the search terms "eprize blog". If you don't believe me then just create a new page on some website and place the words "eprize blog" in the title and description and then wait about a week until you see it on page 1 of google. Also, make sure you mention the words "eprize blog" a few times within the content of the page.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jeremy Walker - domain name age and back links are another big part of seo dude. Educate yourself before you spit out things you really dont understand.You really think the ranking of this blog is due to actual user traffic? ROTFL. What a cute little fella! No wonder why you got fired.

Anonymous said...

So... I must have missed a comment here... I see Jeremy posting two links where this blog is #2 on the list of results. Then I see two guys reaching to insult him by arguing either A. it doesn't matter because of the limited number of results or B. He doesn't know anything about the algorithm.

Who the hell said anything about either? Copy, Paste, read, pretty damn simple. The blog is #2 on both searches... search that are reasonable for prospective employee's.... why are you arguing his knowledge of the algorithm against search results right from the horses mouth? Just because of the way he phrased it?

So about a week after he posts actual links that show the blog toward the top. So you spent a week researching the algorithm and then formed some argument spouting what little you learned about it? You want a cookie? You both try to discount actual search results by arguing that he doesn't know anything about the algorithm? He didn't SAY anything specific about what triggered the resulting rankings... so what the hell are you arguing?

Anonymous said...

BTW age has a factor in rankings too. I read that in my new book titled 'SEO for dummies'. The next book im reading is called 'How to teach SEO to emotional people who waste the most time writing never ending posts to counter unimportant matters in life'.

Jeremy Walker said...

Ah now I get to explain the concepts of causal relationships and intent vs effect. Fittingly they go hand in hand. If anyone isn't in the mood for one of my long ramblings skip to the end for your moment of zen.

Lets start off with intent vs effect. I believe the intent of most of these nasty comments is to discredit the original poster or make the commenter feel embiggened (a perfectly cromulent word). Their effect is to however associate unprofessional and juvenile behavior with ePrize. My intent was to curtail that type of comment (you see, I
own stock, and someday I hope that it will be worth something so I tend to act in what I think is ePrize's best interest, I'm selfish like that). The intent wasn't to explain SEO, I was using a little FUD to settle things down. I have to remember to use the stick with a nail in it rather than the scented shoe laces. Oops did it again; some of the audience is dense, don't try anything clever when attempting to influence them.

Of course I failed (see above for reason). Someone mounted a weak and specious attack on me only contributing to the general lack of maturity permeating this blog. I'd appreciate it if you, Anonymous, would remove the libelous comment stating I was fired!! I was laid off, a common occurrence in these trying economic times, you heartless anonymous coward!!! Why do you want to sabotage my job search and punish my family!?!! Sniffle... although my wife thinks I'm cute and I am relatively little so I guess it's mostly truthful.

For the record I don't list SEO on my resume but I do think I've got a decent grasp of it. This is where causal relationships come in. It is often considered possible that one variable can influence another. Anyone who has taken a basic stats or marketing class should be familiar with this idea. In fact most of the SEO ranking algorithms lean pretty heavily on this concept, at least in my layman interpretation. This can most easily be seen in the effect that increased linkages between sites has on rankings. I posit that the more caustic and thus entertaining these posts get, and the greater their volume is, the more likely that the audience will connect with the site and want to share it. I'd bet the number of linkages to this blog and comments referring to it in other media go up in direct proportion to the vitriol/hilarity of the posts contained within. So, the amount of traffic a site receives does affect a page's ranking, albeit minutely compared to other aspects of the site, but the quality of the content has a causal relationship with other higher weighted aspects of the ranking algorithms such as linkage. This site == pure comedy == good sharing content. Oh yeah, I'm calling you dense again, try to step outside of your myopic world and recognize how things influence each other. Thanks.


I could go on all day but I have to say "ePrize Blog"x10 comment was well played, well played indeed. Also I'm not capable of working 24/7 and I fear the person who is. The most I ever worked in a week at ePrize was 144 hours, far short of 24/7.

And now your moment of zen:
http://twitter.com/themime

Anonymous said...

Jeremy. Please accept my apology for my anonymous comment above. I misunderstood a previous comment mentioning you were let go when in fact it was not a firing. A long time ago I received the wrong impression of you when you publicly stated on this blog you were one of the people who tried to get Mike White fired yourself. To me this didn’t sit too well, and so seeing you come on again triggered an immature and emotional response. Still this is no excuse I know, this isn’t the kind of person I want to be, and I am deeply sorry. If possible, would the moderator of this blog please remove the comment above as I do not have the capacity to remove it myself.

Anonymous said...

"Phil Jacokes tried his best to get White's attitude adjusted, as did Robb Lippitt, Jeff Dwoskin, and even James Brunk."

Ironic that none of these great leaders are with ePrize anymore, eh? At least Brunk left on his own.