The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Exciting Benchmark Reviews update #2

Posted on July 22, 2010 by

Ooh, this gets better and better. Viewers who've been following the thrilling story as it develops will recall the eerie similarity between the content of the Benchmarks Review feature on the Herman Miller Embody chair, and the advertising blurb for it on the site of retailer Smart Furniture.

We were a little curious about this, bearing in mind site owner Olin Coles' strident assertion that, apart from the belatedly-acknowledged passages copied from Herman Miller's press release, "the remaining 99.9% of the article is a fully independent review of a self-purchased product."

(Actually it's the remaining 93.6%, but let's not quibble.)

So inestimable Friend Of WoSblog John X dropped Smart Furniture a line.


"Hello. I am trying to find the source material for your information for the Embody Chair [link]. I presume it is based on a press release, and was hoping to get hold of the original document. Many thanks, John X."


A few hours later, Smart Furniture replied:


"Hello John,

Thank you for your interest in Smart Furniture and the copy on our Embody page! We did a great job, we agree. All the content was developed in house and there is no document to share. Best of luck to you.

Regards, Melanie

Melanie Silva | Designer | Smart Furniture
430 Market Street | Chattanooga, TN | 37402"

 

Let's just read that again. "All the content was developed in house and there is no document to share". In other words, one of two things has happened:

1. Smart Furniture has just told us a big fat lie. That seems doubtful, since they're a retailer making no pretence at anything other than trying to tell us stuff, so they'd have no reason to be ashamed of just printing the press release. (And it doesn't seem very likely that they'd have swiped the copy from Benchmark Reviews, since they do create extensive amounts of "editorial" content for themselves, for example here.)

2. Benchmark Reviews has just lifted Smart Furniture's copy and claimed it as their own. (Of course, if Smart Furniture IS lying and it IS a press release, that still means Benchmark Reviews has just printed a press release and called it "a fully independent review of a self-purchased product". In other words, they're lying either way.)

Option 2 is plainly very much the more plausible of the two. EXCEPT! It surely can't be right, because Benchmark Reviews HATES the idea of copyright infringement. Conveniently, we know this because barely a week ago Benchmark Reviews threw a bit of a legal hissy fit at Guru3d.com for allegedly copying images belonging to Benchmark Reviews without permission.

What could possibly be going on? How could a company that's so clearly committed to the concept of intellectual property accidentally "borrow" 4,000 words of someone else's work and explicitly claim it as its own? What will happen next? WoSblog is on the case, viewers. Stay tuned!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Mr Ak

Well, there is an option 3 – that it's a miscommunication between John X and Smart Furniture. For example, it could be that whoever was following up the email didn't click the hyperlink and presumed he was talking about some in-house material they have up themselves somewhere else.

I'm not saying I think that the most likely explanation, but it is a possibility.

Rev. Stuart Campbell

I'm sure someone will set the record straight if so. Smart Furniture have been sent a follow-up email, so we'll see.

Amiga500

So you’ve just spend a bunch of time to write a story about someones review of a chair? It seems silly to me that you would complain that they changed the story to show where the words came from. Isn’t that called a correction? It also looks like you missed the sources he listed at the bottom of the page.

What if Benchmark Review worked with the company and was allowed to use a clip from their website? Be careful because if you’re wrong it will give them credit.

Rev. Stuart Campbell

If that's the case then when someone asks you simply say so, rather than denying that it ever happened at all, trying incompetently to cover it up and delete all the evidence, then ranting and raving and publishing people's personal information.


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,670 Posts, 1,202,828 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “Now into telling blatant lies to justify gen0ocide and ethnic cleansing. What a repulsive individual. The world can see who…Nov 22, 08:09
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Winter Covid’s making a resurgence, Gregor. Many don’t know when they have it. First thing to go is the sense…Nov 22, 07:52
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Stupidity, surely. He’s standing with the burners of babies, the rapist mutilators of teenage lassies, the hostage takers, the indiscriminate…Nov 22, 07:27
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Well, well. So you do have an ‘S’ on your keyboard. It’s just “scotland” that has to go without. Who’d…Nov 22, 07:16
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “‘This is not a case of me , you , or anyway else thinking our opinions are ” superior ”’…Nov 22, 07:07
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Sure, Breeks. The soil of Holy Mother R is, of course, sacred. The soil of everywhere else, like U for…Nov 22, 07:00
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Falling out of windows is certainly endemic in R and its satellites. But targets and innocent bystanders can also get…Nov 22, 06:53
    • Robert Hughes on The Long Unravelling: “Yes , indeed , B . I’ve never known such levels of mendacious propaganda being spewed 24/7 by MSM &…Nov 22, 06:03
    • Oneliner on The Long Unravelling: “Yep – better to stick to an ad hominem like ‘microbe’ Do you have any mirrors in your butt an’…Nov 22, 05:21
    • Mark Beggan on The Long Unravelling: “He should have grown a moustache like Neil Gray.Nov 22, 04:59
    • Breeks on The Long Unravelling: “I haven’t either, indeed it’s something of a fallacy calling them newspapers. A cursory glance in the direction of the…Nov 22, 04:56
    • The Flying Iron of Doom on The Long Unravelling: “Don’t you mean “You fall out with the Tsar, you fall out of a window”? 🙂Nov 22, 03:00
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “https://www.progressscotland.org/uploads/Progress-Scotland-Nov-Release.pdfNov 22, 02:51
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “https://www.progressscotland.org/uploads/Progress-Scotland-Nov-Release.pdfNov 22, 02:49
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “Julius Evola – The Yoga of Power: Tantra, Shakti and the Secret Way, should steer you in the Right direction.Nov 22, 02:43
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “I see that I’m living rent-free in your head. … Perhaps you’d explain how childish name-calling advances your cause?Nov 22, 02:23
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “Perhaps you could explain to us, Camp Bellend, how Scotland benefits from being in the UK? How does having governments…Nov 21, 23:37
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “It’s deliberate. He’s an unelected UK state plant. He’s just continuing the sabotage and destruction that’s been ongoing since 2014.Nov 21, 23:11
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “You do like your facts embedded in your fantasy future Dumpster CamelMan. Unfortunately for you Cancer FannyBaws the last two…Nov 21, 22:58
    • Shug on The Long Unravelling: “I do hope Swinney and co turn up at Salmond’s memorial so we can tell them what we think of…Nov 21, 22:52
    • wull on The Long Unravelling: “Flynn should also have known that Alex Salmond also donated one of the two salaries he had at one point…Nov 21, 22:39
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “Glasgow is an Indy stronghold. If these areas vote 2-1 Unionist parties, all the Alba/Salvo fantasies and all the lies…Nov 21, 22:37
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “There ain’t no medals for his kind of bravery.Nov 21, 21:38
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “I have not bought a newspaper in 20 years but I have an X subscription which I bought just a…Nov 21, 21:30
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “What Craig Murray is doing is beyond brave. I really thought he had a death wish this last couple of…Nov 21, 20:56
    • Ian Brotherhood on The Long Unravelling: “Watching that right now. It’s remarkable, listening to these people, (regardless of whether you agree with them or not) and…Nov 21, 20:50
    • znovak on The Long Unravelling: “Craig Murray’s argument about purity is fallacious. When organic chemists say that that the product of synthesis was 95% pure,…Nov 21, 20:46
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “And you are a thing of wonder, Camel Humpster TransMan. Let’s see, the last 2 polls on Scottish Independence clearly…Nov 21, 20:31
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “There are four council elections today. Three are in Glasgow, an SNP stronghold. I wonder if the “Indy” parties (assuming…Nov 21, 20:12
    • George Ferguson on The Long Unravelling: “I was surprised Flynn didn’t know that Ross donated one of his salaries to charity when questioned on the Sunday…Nov 21, 19:41
  • A tall tale



↑ Top
114
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x