Emvee's story reminds me
A while ago I did freelance English copywriting here in China. One account I had was for an Indian restaurant which wanted more foreign customers. They wanted me to astroturf (some people evidently call it sockpuppeting but I've seen it called astroturfing, in the sense of fake grassroots so I'm going to call it that) the various foreigner websites, giving it positive reviews, voting for it in end-of-year polls etc. Since it seemed like half the reviews in the websites were obvious fakes, and they were paying me real money, I was agreeable.

The thing about reviews is that the person giving them has to appear credible. If you're creating an online persona, a photo helps, as does reviewing numerous other places, even taking part in the forums, etc. So in some of them I used photos of "girl next door" types snaffled from Google, as women on the internet are obviously a rarity and highly prized. And it seemed to work well, as "their" reviews were often the most read.

What amazed me, though, was the amount of private messages "the girls" got. As a man I'd never relly been aware of the amount of lame attempts guys throw at women - well, here was direct proof, with lots of "Damn, baby, you FINE" and "Hey, I liked the reviews, we go to same places, wanna meet?" and "I am Chinese, 170cm, 28 years old, 65kg, how about you?" I was tempted to reply to some of them saying "How dumb are you?!" but felt caution was better and just ignored them. It did give me a brief insight into what it must be like for a woman, and how men behave towards them - not an edifying sight.

As for the Indian restaurant, they got thrown out of the end-of-year poll for obviously cheating, and I got a proper job. Still, they do a great bhuna. Honest.
(McChinaman banned, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:10, 6 replies)

do a great bhuna or did a great bhuna

( fluffybunnykiller Is feasting on the clitoris of life, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:13, closed)

Haven't been there in a while ;-)

(McChinaman banned, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 16:19, closed)

Guys on the internet make me laugh.
My girlfriend is a member of a social networking site and regularly receives poetry, marriage proposals and offers of sex, money for sex, or luxury itens. What makes me laugh is they're just so obviously doomed to failure -- even taking me out of the equation, the things guys say just make them look desperate.
(Me, I'm not... in any way intoxicated, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 17:51, closed)

Your girlfriend regularly receives money for sex?


Who gave you 2p? Everyone!
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 20:13, closed)

I had visions of the end of Some Like It Hot
when you were describing the male attention you got.
"But I'm a guy!"
"Nobodies perfect!"
( Clay hopes this bit is long enough to promote my websi, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 19:57, closed)

Wow, a 170cm cock? That's big for a Chinese bloke.
(badgermonkey007, Thu 7 Jul 2011, 22:14, closed)