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posted by martyb on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:19PM   Printer-friendly
from the you-can-run-but-you-can't-hide dept.

TechDirt reports

Earlier this year, we discussed how UC Davis detailed in a report that it spent $175k with a reputation management firm to try bury the 2011 pepper-spraying incident that has become so infamous, as well as to bolster the positive reputation and search results of its former Chancellor, Linda Katehi.

[...] A new report has been issued that makes it clear that the $175k with the one reputation management vendor was just the tip of the iceberg, and that Katehi's obsession with her own online reputation was far more serious than anyone had known. Indeed, her attempts to meddle in her own online search results started long before the 2011 pepper-spraying incident.

[...] While the initial reporting indicated a single vendor had been paid $175k on Katehi's request to try to control messaging about the school and herself through a barrage of good, but trumped up, press, UC Davis actually hired three different reputation management firms to do this, all to the tune of over $400k. And she appears to have been more concerned with her own reputation than that of the school she was to be stewarding.

[...] It goes without saying that as we, the link above, and several other online media outlets are discussing these revelations, and placing them alongside the original 2011 incident for context, the work of the three vendors and the nearly half a million dollars paid to them has failed.

Previous: UC Davis Chancellor Suspended After $175,000 Online Name-Scrubbing Antics
University of California in Davis Spent $175k on SEO and "Reputation Management"


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:23PM (#389687)

    A high ranking woman cannot let her reputation slip since it might invite doubt into the validity of female supremacy.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:30PM (#389691)

    kurenai.tsubasa, is that you? Have you forgotten to take your meds again?

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:33PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:33PM (#389693)

      Oh now this is amusing. Any male chauvinist troll is assumed to be Ethanol. Any female chauvinist troll is assumed to be tsubasa. Your very assumptions are sexist!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:40PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:40PM (#389702)

        Well you're sexist for making this issue about sexism into a valid conversation. I for one would welcome gender neutral words and names so we can avoid this crap in the first place!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:45PM (#389707)

          I for one would welcome gender neutral words and names so we can avoid this crap in the first place!

          Here's one for you: Hermaphrodite.

          • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:04PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:04PM (#389720)

            Being a hermaphrodite is such a chore, I always need to wank both sides, or I'll be unsatisfied all day.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @09:34AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @09:34AM (#390013)

              Such a shame you can't plug them into each other, so your higher brain functions are free to explore while the animal hormones work themselves into a tilly.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:29PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:29PM (#389734)

            Stirring the pot, stirring the pot!

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @11:22PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @11:22PM (#389787)

          Not sure if you mean for everybody, but it would seem prudent for ACs at least. How can we really be sure that the few UIDs that claim to be female are the only women commenting? (It's not just and azuma and I suppose tsubasa--I've seen a few other usernames casually mention being women here and some that I recognize from the other site. Those two are just the most vocal about it.)

          At least if I were a woman who'd heard the other site's reputation (and I'm sure this one's got the same reputation by now) for misogyny and wanted to find out for myself, I'd want to stay AC for a while. Plus, this site is quite browseable at 0 and even -1, unlike the other site.

          Personally, I view he when referring to an AC to be the gender-neutral he even if that usage has fallen out of favor. I gather it's mostly guys here, but when in doubt, it's not PC, it's just polite.

    • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Friday August 19 2016, @12:05AM

      by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Friday August 19 2016, @12:05AM (#389800) Journal

      I suppose if this is informative, I'll respond.

      Not ranty enough to be me and it lacks the requisite f-bombs and exclamation points! This story isn't Misogynerd Narrative, either. I generally try to make sure I'm logged in when I'm slamming women (but the obvious way to spot a comment I'm too lazy to log in for is cis-trans-whatever). Not sure what to make of the subject line, but the comment body is slightly reminiscent of MikeeUSA. As with any attempt to identify which AC is who, it's inherently error-prone.

      Of course, if I did want to say something as AC, well, people who think I'm completely oblivious to my habits aren't quite on the money….

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:40PM

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:40PM (#389701) Journal

    We know we're superior without needing to prove it like this :) [/s]

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 3, Funny) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:11PM

      by Jeremiah Cornelius (2785) on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:11PM (#389724) Journal

      Half-million? How people perceive her?

      Can't ANYBODY see this as a desperate cry for help!
      Somebody call an intervention... and a THERAPIST for God's sake!

      --
      You're betting on the pantomime horse...
      • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:27PM (#389732)

        Narcissists cannot stand criticism of any form and will do whatever it takes keep their ego from being wounded. Check out some quotes from the Wikipedia article on Narcissistic Personality Disorder:

        "In addition, people with NPD may exhibit fragile egos, an inability to tolerate criticism, and a tendency to belittle others in an attempt to validate their own superiority."

        "When their own ego is wounded by a real or perceived criticism, their anger can be disproportionate to situation"

        "Since the fragile ego of individuals with NPD is hypersensitive to perceived criticism or defeat, they are prone to feelings of shame, humiliation and worthlessness over minor or even imagined incidents. They usually mask these feelings from others with feigned humility, isolating socially or they may react with outbursts of rage, defiance, or by seeking revenge."

        Sending her to a therapist is a good thought, but narcissism is considered to be largely untreatable.

        Note the similarities with Donald Trump, who cannot help but lash out at every perceived slight.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday August 18 2016, @09:00PM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday August 18 2016, @09:00PM (#389740) Homepage

          That's the same kind of ham-handed typecasting that would lead to a White man calling a Black man a nigger on the basis of skin-color alone.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by bob_super on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:48PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday August 18 2016, @07:48PM (#389711)

    While you're trolling, it is true that female presidents or CEOs are often the targets of a whole lot more vicious and personal attacks than their male counterparts when things go south (whether it's their fault or not). The "boys" just make bad mistakes or get the painful job done, while "heartless bitches" incompetently ruin companies and lives.
    A woman (or minority) who's made it to the top has to be a lot more careful than a white guy in the same position, and I think even anti-SJW crusaders can agree with that.
    Though not to that extent, IMHO. And it should be on her own dime.

    • (Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:17PM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:17PM (#389727) Homepage

      Bullshit.

      Women who make it to the top, whether or not they deserved to, often have something to prove and overcompensate -- which leads to the very kind of obtuse thick-headed counterproductive decisions most often associated with men, even if doing so under the cover of MUH VAGINAL SOCIAL JUSTICE.

      A good example of this is to tout "diversity" (with no straight white men!) which is not only a contradiction in terms but throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater.

      Another example where this was clearly not the case was at a previous employer where most of the software managers were women. Since there are parts of the world outside of San Francisco and New York, where "diversity" isn't beaten to death or even mentioned, women flourished because there was no pressure to act out of the ordinary and behave like bad stereotypes. One of them ended up taking a cushy gig with the UC system to roll out an Oracle database and I can say with certainty that she is still the least obnoxious female employed by academia.

      As a final afterthought, I would like to thank Oprah Winfrey for her push to eliminate the word "diversity" and replace with it "inclusion." The Blacks have been manipulated by the Jews for too long, and it's good to see them return to their post-civil rights-era productivity because Reagan started selling them crack and the Jews started pushing thug culture on their youth.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:58PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 18 2016, @08:58PM (#389739)

        Adding-

        I've seen too many women in high positions treated with kid's gloves when they fuck-up.

        While it may still be true that women suffer more sniggling and second guessing, they also don't bear the same personal costs when things go awry.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Thursday August 18 2016, @09:13PM

          by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Thursday August 18 2016, @09:13PM (#389745) Homepage

          That's because they were put there by some other person, and that "other person" wants to save face.

          Marissa Mayer, for example. She was placed where she was by fellow Jews, did a tacky photo-shoot for Vogue in which she showed a (heavily airbrushed) underarm, [image.gala.de] and is now on her way to Fat City for being an utter fuck-up. Fiorina could be considered her right-wing counterpart for her own likewise ability to gut American business at the expense of the Middle-class.

          In my somewhat limited personal experience, I have seen that women who deserve to "be there" and move up or take greater offers "out of there" have earned the respect of their peers and supervisors alike and keep politics the fuck out of work. They aren't loud about identity politics or other bullshit, in fact, they don't believe in it, because identity politics are "picking the scab" to a wound that should be otherwise healed.

          Any sane corporate whore, male or not, smartly realizes that those they promote are good at their jobs. Being good at a job other than politics means -- first -- being good at that job and otherwise cleverly avoiding the politics and other non-job-related obstacles which pop up from time to time.

          Unfortunately, hiring often occurs due to nepotism and word-of-mouth. That's the weak link that incompetent workers get bailed from, whether it be because the boss was fucking her or because she was a friend of a friend of a friend of the boss and needed work.

          • (Score: 3, Informative) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday August 18 2016, @11:02PM

            by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Thursday August 18 2016, @11:02PM (#389777) Journal

            I have seen that women who deserve to "be there" and move up or take greater offers "out of there" have earned the respect of their peers and supervisors alike and keep politics the fuck out of work. They aren't loud about identity politics or other bullshit, in fact, they don't believe in it, because identity politics are "picking the scab" to a wound that should be otherwise healed.

            I would like to second this.

            The women who call me sexist simply because of my assigned gender and choice of profession: they completely suck at their jobs. The women who keep the politics out of it (one I didn't even know was a “feminist” until recently) and just git-r-done: some of the most competent people I've worked with. The women who believe in git-r-done instead of identity politics will always find, even in the face of gaslighting, sexually harassing, asshole managers and women supervisors who have loads of internalized misogyny and think it's still 1916, that in the end, once they demonstrate their value over and over again, they can rise to whatever level they wish to without any help from white knights or radfems.

            Glass ceilings only exist these days because of biological factors that won't change and dipshits who play identity politics and think the world just owes them a six figure salary and a corner office for being born with their reproductive system on the inside.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @05:32AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 19 2016, @05:32AM (#389938)

          ..I've seen too many women in high positions treated with kid's gloves when they fuck-up.

          I've worked in a University where a certain female member of the academic staff only got the job (with tenure) because she was such a fuck-up at her previous academic gig...the sneaky swine at the previous institute gave her such glowing references no-one thought to question them.
          The truth only came out when a post-doc from her previous place of employ started working with us, saw her in the corridor and uttered the immortal phrase 'what the fuck is that disaster doing here?' he then catalogued her disasters at the previous place of employ (verified later via 'side channels').
          Nothing was done (she remained there for at least a decade after I left my job there, and about a decade and a half after after the revelations about her past)

          Why was she still employed?

          1. Tenure - hard to get rid of someone once you've foolishly given them it.
          2. Gender - Females in Engineering, got to keep the numbers up irrespective of quality
          3. Ethnicity - She ticked this box as well, being non-white.

          I have to add, on point 3, over the years I've seen quite a number of staff of both genders who have managed to keep their jobs despite being obvious fuck-ups because of that card..again, a numbers game.