Feedback on Posted Maya News Article

[Jeff Mottle]

Hey everyone,

 

I recieved some quite negative feedback this morning accusing me of trying to veil a piece of news as a something deceptive (hiding an advertisement) and would like to hear everyone's feedback. The news in particluar is this one ( http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=1483 ) Did this article come across as being anything other than news about success stories for architectural firms using Maya? There is no disguising this news article is biased towards Maya, but how could it not be if the title of the news is "Maya’s robust features prove perfect for architectural visualization".

This news article did come directly from Alias and yes it is biased, but it's not like these companies were made up. They are using maya and from the look of the images quite successfully. I'd think that people in this industy would like to see what is possible and what people are doing with various packages. I know I have always been keen to find out who and what was being with Maya in this industry.

 

The article was not placed in our articles section and is labled at the top as news and not "article". I am a bit baffled by this persons coments, but thought I'd get some more feedback here. Did I do something wrong or is this person simply overreacting? I hate being accused of dishonestly when I know it was not done intentionally and in my opinion was not wrong.

[moshenko]

I guess the only criticism for the article in question is that it gives the appearance that it has been written, or at least sponsored, by CGarchitect. There seems to be no direct statement that it is a "press release"-type article directly from Alias, and it bears the branding of the CGarchitect site as opposed to being a direct link to Alias' site. Even though it is placed in the "News" section, the lack of distinct source may be enough for some not to see it as "News that CGarchitect has pulled from other sources".

 

No biggie, really, but I can understand why some may get uptight about it.

[kid]

I always thought 'news' was advertising. It's there for us to read and if we so choose to, to read up further on the subject. The news informs us of what people are doing in our industry, whether they be artists, designers, software developers, hardware developers, etc.

 

I know Maya isn't that common for arch vis. around here and the few that do use it have crossed over from visual effects/broadcast so it's quite interesting, for me at least, to read about these people.

 

I don't see this Maya news item as any different to say, Discreet unveiling Max 6.

 

I don't see the problem.

[Jeff Mottle]

I added "(News Article written for Alias)" after the author. If people still have issues then I'm not sure what else I can do. At some point people just need to make a judgment call for themselves.

 

Here are the contents of the email I was sent:

 

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Jeff, while I think that your website is definitely of superior quality please don’t call something an article when it is an advertisement, it cheapens you. The most recent edition of cg had the ‘seeing is believing’ section which didn’t even attempt to hide its bias. A thin veneer please. I won’t be bothering to go to your ‘articles’ again.

 

Hope you can make some changes here.

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[STRAT]

who sent you this, a company insider or a cga member? i wouldn't take it to heart.

 

article/advertisment? who cares? i read it this morning and it got me thinking about maya and it's new tool. didn't once cross my mind about is it an article or an advertisment. doesn't cheapen the experience what so ever.

 

i found it most informative whatever you call it.

 

if this chap, in essence, is complaining over the wrong catigory you titled it then dont worry.

[Fran]

Hi Jeff,

 

I admit that when I clicked the link, I expected to read more about the architectural firm than about Maya. It came across to me more as a customer testimonial than a news article. I wondered why it was there, but certainly didn't think it warrented a nasty gram, which is IMO, what you got from this person. Anyone who is interested in supporting the community you have created here should provide more constructive comments. The person doesn't provide much incentive to you for change, since whoever it is will not be going "to your articles again."

 

My comment would be that it should have been presented as a press release - I don't know - it's in kind of a grey area. It's nice to know that you take member feedback seriously.