How to destroy yourself on the internet in 24 hours

[Edvard]

Not hard, actually... but this guy shows how it's done.

First, be an arrogant tool with a marketing company.
Then, deliver product late and react like an asshat when a customer calls you on it.
Finally, watch your world crumble before your eyes when that customer takes to his favorite forum with the emails.

http://penny-arcade.com/resources/just-wow1.html
http://penny-arcade.com/resources/an-update1.html
http://penny-arcade.com/2011/12/28/i-wwebsite-as-on-the-internet
http://kotaku.com/5871400/cut-paul-oceanmarketting-christoforo-a-breakhe-probably-just-has-roid-rage/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111229/02504317222/paul-christoforo-doesnt-seem-to-know-how-to-stop-digging-deeper-hole-internet-infamy.shtml
http://www.thegamingvault.com/2011/12/interview-with-paul-christoforo-formerly-of-ocean-marketing/



As much as I hate watching train wrecks, this one just amazed me.
It all happened in a little over 24 hours, and he even got his own memes, and a Wikipedia entry.
Read it before it gets baleeted:

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

[TaoPhoenix]

Nah, he won't be destroyed, the glories of information overload will see to that. He'll just change his company name and maybe even his own and then hire a front man, and be back in 3 months or less.

[40hz]

hire a front man, and be back in 3 months or less.

Probably more like 48 hours.

Nothing is more resilient than a jerk who knows he's a jerk.

They always have contingency plans in place.

[wr975]

Your post has obviously made my life very difficult and I have not slept yet dealing with all the spam and personal information intrusion as well as my family being smeared on the internet.

I've seen "Contagion" the other day. In this movie there was a blogger with 12 million viewers he could influence and who would do what he says. In other words: He had power. He used it to make cash, but what would've happened if he complained about some support guy? A lot of his 12 millions fans would've made the life of this support guy a misery.

About the same happened here. I hope this "Gabe" guy from Penny-Arcade is happy. He used his site (4 million viewers) to destroy one customer support guy.  IMHO not funny at all...

[Deozaan]

The guy acted like a jerk, we can all probably agree on that. But I don't like the idea of mob rule. I don't have much sympathy for him and his business, but I truly hope he was lying when he said his wife and kid(s) are being harassed as well.

[40hz]

About the same happened here.

Um not quite. Reread the whole story and the published email exchanges.

Paul Christoforo is a sole trader representing Ocean Distribution and Ocean Marketing. In 2011, Christoforo was the center in a customer service situation gone awry over N-Control's Avenger Controller modification for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360[1][2]. Christoforo and a customer engaged in email conversations, resulting in threats and insults from Christoforo on behalf of N-Control. The conversation was posted on Penny Arcade,

It would have been bad enough if this guy confined his 'trash talking' to the kid making the complaint. But then he started making threats to Mike Krahulik, and talking down to him and Pax East as if it were some local gamer's show. Dumb. Very dumb. Especially when he fired off this comment:

From: Ocean Marketing
To: Mike Krahulik
Dec 26, 2011 at 9:57 PM

Your spamming me you’re not on a mailing list you idiot ! You sent me an email remember . Make sure you stir up a lot of controversy about us the more the better we needed some drama gets good blood flow going about the new product launch .  Your sites amateur at best my son could put together a better site than yours and you run PAX ?? Wow , Ill put my marketing team on a smear campaign of you and your site and your emails , I have about 125 dedicated people to run PR , Blogs , Articles , Videos you have no clue who I am . Thanks again

I can’t wait for the Penny Arcade smear campaign!

Oh and I’ll just leave this here:

-Gabe out

The line I bolded above brought an amused smile and raised eyebrows from an attorney friend of mine back when it first came out. I asked him if making a statement like that in an e-mail is actionable. He just smiled and said: "What do you think?"

As far as a mob reaction is concerned, however, I will agree. Why a few thousand otherwise uninvolved readers decided to pile on top of this guy rather than just smirk behind their hands about it is unfortunate. And I find it totally unconscionable that some people may have resorted to harassing his family members - although I'll reserve judgement on that point since there's no way to check its veracity. If Mr. C has been around as long as he's said he has - and allegedly has 125 web professionals at his beck & call, it would be an easy matter to fake some threatening and harassing actions. And based on the bad temper, threats, and lack of judgement displayed in some of his communications, I wouldn't put it beyond possible.
Sad thing is, this entire mess could have been avoided if he had taken the time to respond politely and not start dissing the customer. That's a battle you'll never win. And any marketing professional knows that. But again, I question his professionalism when he waves off criticism from his own industry and infers he has enough money and connections that he feels he can say "piss-off" to one of them.

Even then, he could have called the whole thing off with a simple "I'm sorry. I was having a real bad day when I said that. That wasn't right to talk to that guy like that." Had he done so, the SHOUTING CAPS demands in the kid's message would have then be seen for what they were - a somewhat childish rant.

Oh well...live & learn.

[Deozaan]

Following a chain of links, I found someone else posted their unpleasant experience with this guy earlier this year. A small excerpt:

Buddy your asking for free stuff and I am trying to help you , You have no idea what happened to our ordering system or our old customer service reps that told you they were going to send you a 100% COUPON AND FREE CONTROLLER  but never did . So calm yourself down , be respectful and do as I say or ask to get your free controller. I DEAD SERIOUS ! Be a little more humble we can refuse the right to ship out anything to anyone we want , I’m trying to help you. Small claims court for 49 dollars haha … that’s cute . I’m the President of my company not The Avengers so keep  your punk smite  ignorant comments to yourself. If I wasn’t trying to help you I wouldn’t have emailed you back. Customer service of old is gone were in a new generation now. Sorry for any inconvenience , this will ship tomorrow I’m putting in the order now .

[Renegade]

...Customer service of old is gone were in a new generation now...

But can anyone say he's wrong there? Perhaps he should be hanged for honesty.

[Edvard]

...Customer service of old is gone were in a new generation now...

But can anyone say he's wrong there? Perhaps he should be hanged for honesty.

As of the end of this month, I am going to be on a SERIOUS job hunt.
Details aside, as a consequence I have talked to more than a few customer service folks, and I can tell you good old-fashioned customer service isn't dead, in fact it's in more demand than ever, especially in light of the "new generation" Mr. Christoforo speaks of.

If he wasn't president/CEO/Head Honcho, he'd have been fired after the first email with that tone.
Guaranteed.

[wraith808]

He used his site (4 million viewers) to destroy one customer support guy.

I wouldn't say that.  He posted his opinion and the e-mails.  What happened after that was a result of the mob.  You have to be very careful what you post or e-mail on the internet, because your privacy isn't guaranteed, and the internet is vicious and has a long memory.  In the end, what happened was his own fault for forgetting that, and saying whatever he wanted.

[IainB]

In Marketing 101, there is a lot of solid recommended best practice for handling customer complaints.
This discussion thread seems to be about an egregious piece of customer complaint handling - it's more like a classic example of how not to do it.

From notes that I pulled from EDS' Intranet (marketing community library resources) in about 1995 was this:
(I suspect the statistics are not credible though, as no source references were given.)

Why bother?
Each dissatisfied customer:

• tells 10 others.
• 12% tell up to 20 others.
• 95% won't tell you the "supplier" that they are dissatisfied.
• three quarters of these will take their business elsewhere.

Each satisfied customer:

• tells 5 others.
• 95% of dissatisfied customers will become loyal again if their complaints are handled quickly and well.

The bottom line:
It costs five times more money to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.

And this is an interesting and relevant post Learn from Mistakes (2011-12-13)
(I have so far been unable to track down the RIA research referred to in the post.)
Here's the post content:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Learn from Mistakes
By: Phil Sasso
Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Everyone makes mistakes. Most customers realize that and are willing to forgive, if you are proactive and respond promptly and attentively to their complaints. Ignore customer complaints at your own peril.

For every customer that complains, an average of 26 more customers won’t tell you that they are dissatisfied, according to a Research Institute of America (RIA) study for the White House Office of Consumer Affairs.

Only 4 percent of unhappy customers will bother to complain—most will just leave quietly and never do business with you again. Why? Some people don’t want to make waves. Others don’t think it will make a difference.

Whatever the reason, it’s important to oil the squeaky wheels. And learn from them what you can do to increase your customer satisfaction. Successful shops don’t just do good work, they create happy customers.

The RIA study says that 70 percent of complainers will do business with you again if the complaint is resolved—95 percent will stay loyal if they feel you resolved the problem quickly and completely.

It’s important to try to avoid treating a complaining customer as an adversary. Think of the complainer as an advocate representing other quietly dissatisfied customers. Listen despite their possible angry tone or harsh words to understand why they’re frustrated. Have a system to quickly resolve problems. And make sure everyone on your staff who deals with customers is trained and empowered to resolve simple problems.

One approach is what I call the Triple-A method:
• Avoid interrupting as the customer explains the problem. (Letting them vent can help diffuse the situation.)
• Acknowledge that you understand how your customer feels.
• Ask them what they believe would be a fair resolution. (In most situations, the customer will ask for less than you would have offered.)

Remember: your customer has choices. Do everything you can to be the one he chooses.

[IainB]

Sort of relevant:
Whilst I was looking up my old notes for the above post, I came across the converse of "best practice" in business. These could be useful to learn, so that we could avoid it.

Five Easy Steps to Destroying Real Value:
From Jul./Aug. '95 HBR article by the management guru Prof. Henry Mintzberg.

Five Easy Steps to Destroying Real Value (any step will do):
====================================

• STEP 1: Manage the bottom line (as if companies make money by managing money).
• STEP 2: Make a plan for every action.  (No spontaneity please, definitely no learning).
• STEP 3: Move managers around to be certain they never get to know anything but management well, and let the boss kick him/herself upstairs so that he/she can manage a portfolio instead of a real business.
• STEP 4: When in trouble, rationalise, fire and divest; when out of trouble, expand, acquire and still fire (it keeps employees on their toes); above all, never create or invent anything (it takes too long).
• STEP 5: Be sure to do everything in five easy steps.

[40hz]

I have so far been unable to track down the RIA research referred to in the post.

Good luck finding it. It was commissioned from RIA by the White House Office of Consumer Affairs. AFAIK there no longer is a separate Office of Consumer Affairs in the federal government. IIRC it was transferred to the Department of Commerce around 1971 - and apparently vanished sometime after that.

Are we surprised?

[Edvard]

As much as I would like to have some measure of sympathy for the guy, I have to agree; he brought all this on himself by acting like an ass, no questions.
Stressed or not, you don't speak like this to a paying customer.
Ever.
IMO, if this hadn't gotten to the internet, then the folks who hired him would have eventually caught on and canned the guy, though admittedly not as quickly and not as thorough ass-whuppin' in the process.

That said, kudos to the original 'Dave' who politely requested that folks cut him some slack (after all, all he wanted was the controllers he ordered).

P.S. The memes are still rolling in...
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/events/paul-christoforo-ocean-marketing-emails





@IainB:
Awesome, and solidly relevant.
The Five Easy Steps are largely why I'm being let go from the company I'm at.
The business they are running is operating in a slowly dying market, and though they are quick to take up new technologies to provide relevant services to existing customers, they are panicking over a slippery bottom line, firing when training would take too much effort, and moving managers into areas where they have no expertise but management.

If I ever work up the chutzpah to start a business, that's getting printed poster size, framed and put on the wall opposite my desk.

[IainB]

My daughter Lily told me about an amusing game she was playing (operating on a soft toy rabbit) on a site here: http://10mg.nl/

Curious, I took a look at their "About" notes:

About us
10mg | interactive is a small web agency based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. We create highly interactive web campaigns for some of the worlds most leading brands.
10mg stands for minimal effort with maximum effect. We believe that if you use the internet's capabilities well, it doesn't take a lot to reach a great result, It only takes 10mg.

In a way, that's arguably what happened in Christoforo's case, except in reverse. All he had to do was 10 or 20mg of psychopathic-type stupid, and he sorta brought a backlash - the wrath of the Blogosphere - down on himself. But if it had been a different kind of stupid - i.e., not the psychopathic-type one - then the outcome might have been quite different.

I don't like the look of what happened to him - it is/was not a nice thing. It's as though he's been set upon and torn apart repeatedly by packs of wolves - lots of whom may feel themselves to have been actual/potential victims of borderline psychopaths - other Christoforos. That's a reflection of what we call "humanity", I guess. Collectively removing the danger.
What happened, in the long run, might be a good thing, if it acts as a lesson to other borderline psychopaths - potential Christoforos out there. But I don't think it will, because psychopaths are unable to have any empathy with others and cannot help/alter their psychopathic behaviours. They are incapable of learning the lesson. They can see nothing wrong - nothing that needs changing - in their behaviours. So they do not - cannot - change. That's why society locks full-bore psychopaths up in lunatic asylums.

As an afterthought, knowing what I do know about the Dutch, I suspect that could be 10mg of crack.

[J-Mac]

I happened to read a tweet about Christoforo's initial email exchange that was published on Penny Arcade and read it almost immediately after it was posted. A little later I read it aloud to my wife and when I read Mike's line right after Cristoforo mentioned that he liked Penny Arcade, "I’m glad you like it! You will be on it tomorrow:) " she laughed. The next day she read where Christoforo begged Mike to make it stop. It read like:

Christoforo:  “You have the power Mike Please make it stop”

Mike's comment:  The reality is that once I had posted the emails I didn’t have the power anymore. The Internet had it now and nothing I said or did was going to change that.

She asked me "What does he mean?" and I was already googling "ocean marketing". Ha! A few hundred million results! And most were NOT unrelated BS results. This guy was already done, nothing left but the bones - if that. I showed Robin and said "That's what he meant!"

Like the proverbial trainwreck that horrifies you but you can't avert your gaze, I read about all that happened to this guy for over an hour! It's really hard to comprehend just how totally destroyed this guy was in a day!

Really sad, but hard not to admire the raw and terrible power of this medium.

Jim

[J-Mac]

The line I bolded above brought an amused smile and raised eyebrows from an attorney friend of mine back when it first came out. I asked him if making a statement like that in an e-mail is actionable. He just smiled and said: "What do you think?"

Only if acted upon. Threats generally aren't actionable unless they present an imminent physical danger.  (I am not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once...    )

If Mr. C has been around as long as he's said he has - and allegedly has 125 web professionals at his beck & call, it would be an easy matter to fake some threatening and harassing actions. And based on the bad temper, threats, and lack of judgement displayed in some of his communications, I wouldn't put it beyond possible.

In reality - Christoforo was the sole employee of Ocean Marketing. There were no other employees.    What a guy!

Jim

[40hz]

Threats generally aren't actionable unless they present an imminent physical danger.

Really? Try living in Connecticut. Verbal and online threats tend to get taken pretty seriously around here depending upon what's been said and to whom. And if there's a minor involved, it gets completely nuts. Especially now that cyber-bullying is in the news so much. Even megacorps are hopping on the bandwagon by going after certain persistent bloggers for the "emotional distress" their negative comments have caused their officers and employees.

Quote
If Mr. C has been around as long as he's said he has - and allegedly has 125 web professionals at his beck & call, it would be an easy matter to fake some threatening and harassing actions. And based on the bad temper, threats, and lack of judgement displayed in some of his communications, I wouldn't put it beyond possible.

In reality - Christoforo was the sole employee of Ocean Marketing. There were no other employees.  Grin  What a guy!

Yeah really. One of the biggest risks you run when you're bluffing or outright BSing is to be taken seriously. Like the saying goes: Don't let your mouth write a check yer ass can't cover.

[J-Mac]

And just for those who think that some people (now apparently unofficially known as "The Internet") might have gone a bit too far in their treatment of dear Mr. Christoforo, here's what he was doing to his former employer lately:

Headline on The Escapist web site - [UPDATE] Ocean Marketing Attempts To Extort Former Client


A quote from Moisés Chiullan, the PR specialist that N-Control hired to try and clean up the mess left by Christoforo. This is from an AMA he set up on Reddit three days ago:

    I've been trying to get him to give up the access to these things he's been holding hostage (email accounts, Twitter, etc) by asking nicely for a couple of days. The gloves are off now.

    Paul told me on the phone two hours ago that "Eight months ago, I locked down all this stuff so they wouldn't be able to fuck with me. If they don't give me what I want, it's war." His demands include a contract written on his terms and substantial compensation, both immediate and for as long as the company continues to exist. He flaunted the PR debacle he created as proof that he "made the company a success", citing all the media and public attention as the "best thing that ever happened to Avenger".

    He didn't count on the fact that I anticipated all of this and have been a computer hardware and web tech since I was 14.

    The thing we did have is control over the AvengerController.com domain. It was transferred away from its original account, which Paul has complete control of. Because of how GoDaddy works, that old account retained all of the email addresses and their master control settings (forwarding and so on). He has continued to respond to customer emails from his personal GMail account and lied to me repeatedly about doing so.

    I tried to play nice, and Paul played stupid, acting like he didn't have access to this master account, blaming his "Indian outsourced tech team" being on vacation. I gave him two days to give over N-Control's digital property.

    He finally leveled with me tonight that he knew I wasn't that stupid and that he was lying about his access to all these accounts. That's when he issued the above-mentioned threat. He reiterated that he had the hosting, email, and everything on lockdown.

Christoforo's response, also on that same Reddit AMA, after Chiullan told him he would take action if Christoforo continued speaking to the press on behalf of N-Control: (I think I hid the quote behind one of those little gray boxes - we'll see!)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"don't you fucking threaten me! You don't know who the fuck you're dealing with! I will do things to you that you cannot imagine, they are so fucking bad! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M CAPABLE OF!"

Yikes!

I do see though that Chiullan has had some success. A follow-up quote:

Mr. Christoforo has very recently become much more forthcoming and helpful regarding a variety of Avenger/N-Control's digital assets that we requested he return a few days ago (as mentioned below in detail). We thank him for his renewed helpfulness.

This sudden bout of agreeableness (not even a real word!) came right after the first quote above was posted on Reddit. So even after all of this happening, Christoforo tried to extort N-Control for a new contract with substantial compensation for as long as N-Control is in business. Ha! He doesn’t give up easily!

The Reddit AMA set up by Chiullan is here.  Read it only if you can stand any more of this crap.

Anyway this makes me feel a little less sympathetic toward Paul.

Jim

PS to 40hz- Really? And here I thought Pennsylvania had some restrictive laws!

[40hz]

PS to 40hz- Really? And here I thought Pennsylvania had some restrictive laws!

It's gotten marginally quieter now that former AG Dick Blumenthal got himself elected to the U.S. Senate. For a long time he was suffering from that syndrome that plagued so many AGs back in the 90s and early 2Ks called Elliot Spitzer Envy.

Hopefully he'll get some of the recognition and acclaim he feels he so richly deserves at his new job.

[Edvard]

Okay, any sympathy anybody may have had for Mr. Christoforo at this point should now be out the forking window.

He has proven himself to be the most gravity-warping epithet for neandertalic behavior patterns I have ever seen, encountered or read about.

[40hz]

Okay, any sympathy anybody may have had for Mr. Christoforo at this point should now be out the forking window.

He has proven himself to be the most gravity-warping epithet for neandertalic behavior patterns I have ever seen, encountered or read about.

Oh yeah! This guy has personal "issues." All that semi-literate macho ranting and 'godfather' talk accomplishes nothing other than to paint a pretty clear picture of who this guy is and how he grew up. He really needs to get professional help before he gets himself into some serious trouble. Enrolling in an anger management program (and a spelling class) probably wouldn't hurt either.

[IainB]

He really needs to get professional help before he gets himself into some serious trouble. Enrolling in an anger management program (and a spelling class) probably wouldn't hurt either.

I would suggest that your first statement is probably the right and only course to take, and the 2nd one would prove to be a futile course of action.

If it's true that:

Headline on The Escapist web site - [UPDATE] Ocean Marketing Attempts To Extort Former Client

Then, it merely tends to substantiate, as I pointed out above, that if his behaviours are psychopathic, he would probably be unable to change his behaviours. Being a borderline or full-on psychopath doesn't necessarily mean a person is "bad" per se. They just behave in a bad way (that meets about 7 defined criteria). They have a mental illness. They are potentially dangerous to the rest of humanity, including their own family (e.g., wives and children). It's arguably them you should be worried about - they may have no voice.

I have seen this demonstrated from first-hand experience. These people can be chameleons - and personable, affable, cunning and vicious. Having a psychopathic boss/spouse/father is one of the most frightening and traumatising things you can subject a person to. I have seen how having a psychopathic boss turned a star managerial employee into a terrified victim who never quite recovered from the experience that made her a shadow of her former bright potential. And I have seen how the wife and two children would sit at home in a state of terrified anticipation, waiting to see whether their psychopathic father, when he returns home from work, will be in a nice mood or will subject them to yet another terrifying and brutal display of his anger, abuse and violence being vented on the innocent.

Ripping such a person (a psychopath) apart, once they have been revealed by their actions to a more public gaze, in Tweets and Internet posts - is likely to achieve ½ of 3/5 of the proverbial SFA.

The best advice I was given by a psychiatrist was to lock such people up, and throw away the keys. Then ensure that their family are removed to a safer place and given anonymity.
Because he'll be back.

[J-Mac]

Ah, but psychopathy (and sociopathy for that matter) doesn’t exist anymore officially!  

Both of those terms are now labelled as "Antisocial Behavior Personality" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV). New and improved insight into such personality disorders? Or simply more political correctness garbage in the English language?

Oh, who cares! Just put 'em in a rocket ship and send 'em out into space.... somewhere. Can't hurt anybody out there... Right?  (Anybody see the movie "Jason X"?!  

An added benefit to the above "solution" is that ~4% of CEOs in the US are estimated to be psychopaths**, which is four times the number in the general population. So you'll be sending a few of those "bonus  (bone-us?) babies" into space with the rest of them! Makes me feel better!!

** - Per Jon Ronson in his book, "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry"

Jim

(My new sig:  "I am getting so tired of slitting the throats of people who say that I am a violent psychopath."  Hehe!  )

[IainB]

@J-MAc: Thankyou. I had not known that the PC brigade had ameliorated the definition of the terminology for "psychopathy".

...psychopathy (and sociopathy for that matter) doesn’t exist anymore officially!

Both of those terms are now labelled as "Antisocial Behavior Personality" in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV). New and improved insight into such personality disorders? Or simply more political correctness garbage in the English language?

One of the more accurate comments I can think of to say about that is:

"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a piece of sh*t by the clean end."
(Texas A&M website)