Paul Christoforo Doesn't Seem To Know How To Stop Digging A Deeper Hole Of Internet Infamy

from the wow dept

Thu, Dec 29th 2011 10:32am — Mike Masnick

Remember Paul Christoforo? The "marketing rep" for the Avenger gaming controllers who caused quite a stir this week by doing just about everything wrong in responding to a customer service request, and then missing no opportunity to make the situation worse at every turn -- especially after Gabe (aka Mike Krahulik from Penny Arcade) got involved. It involved pretty much everything: dreadful customer service, false claims, anger, curses, bravado, promises that couldn't be kept, an absolute refusal to back down, and an apology for getting caught (rather than an apology for the actual actions).

You might think that, after the widespread backlash and a couple days to reflect (especially after getting fired from handling the Avenger account), Paul might come back a bit more humble and with a bit more perspective on what he did. In fact, that's exactly what I expected when I saw the headline of Kotaku's interview with him: Chastened Gaming Rep Paul Christoforo Responds to Internet Infamy.

Then I read it. And, all I can say is that Paul doesn't seem to know how to stop himself from digging himself a deeper hole. A recommendation: in the future, maybe just don't speak up. Even as he claims to have learned his lesson, his words show that he still wants to blame others and doesn't seem to recognize why what he did was wrong. He makes additional questionable statements, such as contradicting himself in the same interview.

A chastened Christoforo is now looking for forgiveness from the Internet community he unwittingly antagonized, saying in an interview with MSNBC.com's In-Game he was "caught on a bad day" and that he hopes they will "let sleeping dogs lie."

"They've pretty much ruined me in the past 24 hours," Christoforo said. "It was humbling a little bit, but life goes on. I'm not going to die."

"Life goes on" and "I'm not going to die" are actually good mantras for getting through a tough situation, so I won't begrudge him those statements, but the overall sentiment that comes across here is that he's brushing off what happened, as if he needs to just ride out the storm, rather than fix what he did wrong. As for that first statement, about how he was ruined... just hang onto that one for a second, because soon after that, we get:

Yet despite all the drama, Christoforo said he hasn't lost any of his other accounts, aside from Avenger. "It hasn't affected my business yet," he said. "Clients have brought it up, but they've mainly laughed about it. I haven't lost any clients."

Wait, what happened to him being "ruined"? Then almost immediately after that he says it "hasn't affected" his business? I'm curious how many of his clients actually "laughed" about it. But really that's not the worst of it. As the interview goes on, Paul seems to show less and less understanding of what happened here.

"I didn't know who that guy at Penny Arcade was," he admitted. "If I had known, I would have treated the situation a little better. PAX is a great show. What he does is what I've been idlolizing since I was a kid. It's admirable he's put that together. He has a lot of connections, ones I want too."

Who Gabe is really is kind of meaningless here. Paul seems to be suggesting that it's okay to be a complete asshole to people so long as they're not important or don't have "connections." But if someone has "connections" then you should be nice to them. This certainly fits with Paul's claims during the email exchange, where he kept claiming that he had some special "connections."

As for all those "connections" he claimed? Yeah, not so much...

Regarding the litany of names Christoforo's e-mail called up as potential supporters - a list that included everyone from Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski to the mayor of Boston - he said the tactic was meant to "impress, not to threaten" and didn't come through correctly because "you can't see tone of voice in email."

"I don't know the mayor of Boston," he admitted. "That was taken totally out of context, I was just joking around. I am from Boston, though, and I know a lot of people people who own clubs. I know some influential people, like the guy who runs the door at the convention center.

Saying something you wish you didn't isn't others taking something "totally out of context." It just means you made up stuff and got called on it. And, um, the guy who runs the door at a convention center isn't generally considered "influential." Finally, nothing in the email suggested that naming those "connections" was meant to "impress, not to threaten."

And then there's this part, in which he shows that he's not really apologetic at all:

"He called me a bully, but he was being a bully ... especially when he emailed me out of the blue, saying 'That's f***ing s***ty, you're banned from PAX,' I was like 'Who the f*** are you? That's how you introduce yourself? ... I dont want to call him out, but he could have gone about that a totally different way, he could have said, 'Hey, I run the show, that email was a little unprofessional, if you don't do something to apologize I don't want you at my show.' But he just came at me and said, indirectly, 'Hey, f*** you, you're banned from PAX.' Is that what you'd call professional? I wouldn't."

Christoforo also said his response was driven in part by what he saw as the disrespectful tone of the messages that came before it. "Not that I don't have respect for anybody, but if someone's badmouthing me or being a little punk or being a jerk, they don't deserve respect," he said. "You can't expect to go up and say 'Hey you piece of s***,' and expect respect. Send an email, introduce yourself. ... I trust everybody until they give me a reason not to respect them. I'm not a tough guy, not a bully, but at same time not going to take s*** if it's uncalled for.

Basically he's still blaming the others in the conversation, and even suggesting that they should have gone about things differently. In fact, he seems to suggest that they provoked him into his reaction. At this point, it might be worth going back to the original email thread, to see who started the hostilities. The customer, Dave, was nothing but polite through a series of perplexing emails. It's Paul who kicks off the hostilities with a totally uncalled for email that first tells Dave that his order will be cancelled if he dares to try to reorder at the new, cheaper price, and then pulls out:

You placed a pre order just like any software title the gets a date moved due to the tweaks and bugs not being worked out and GameStop or any other place holds your cash and im sure you don�t complain to activision or epic games so put on your big boy hat and wait it out like everyone else. The benefit is a token of our appreaciation for everyone no one is special including you or any first time buyer . Feel free to cancel we need the units were back ordered 11,000 units so your 2 will be gone fast. Maybe I�ll put them on eBay for 150.00 myself.

Sorry, but I don't see how that's anyone's fault by Paul's.

Then there's this:

"Ultimately, if I was able to control the customer, it never would have happened. I've dealt with thousands and thousands of customers with similar complaints, they were all asking the same question. When is it big enough that it hits the news? When it hits Penny Arcade, when it hits a guy who has the biggest affiliations in the industry."

He still thinks it's about controlling the customer, not responding to Dave's very legitimate and real requests.

Finally, at the end, he seems to admit that perhaps he was really at fault here:

So what lessons has Christoforo taken from his brush with Internet infamy? "I'll definitely stay away from customer service emails," he said. "I could have nipped this all in the bud by being a little nicer. You never know who knows who, and lesson learned. We all have bad days and they caught me on one."

"At the end of the day, I'm a human being, and it feels like the entire world was bullying me," he said. "I want people to like me, I don't want people to think I'm a bad person. ... I made a mistake. ... I hope I can make something positive out of it."

We agree, and hope that he can make something positive out of it, but it's got to start with ditching the claim that he's somehow the victim in all of this and trying to excuse his behavior.

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Filed Under: customers, marketing, paul christoforo, penny arcade
Companies: ocean marketing

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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 10:49am

Other Accounts?
"Yet despite all the drama, Christoforo said he hasn't lost any of his other accounts, aside from Avenger."

I want to know who his other accounts are. If they can just laugh that off, I don't want to deal with them. A sign of a good company is not perfection right out of the gate, but how one deals with problems that arise latter.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 10:56am

As if he really has any other clients. It's clear from the get-go that he was the sole operator of his failing business by the time Dave had his run-in with him. I know a guy in Cali that basically does a similar business distributing paint balls. It's a one man show. How he managed to get such a gig in the first place with that little podunk op he was running I have no idea. He was clearly in over his head. He's just trying, unsuccessfully, to save face by pretending he has other clients , much like he pretended to have connections.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 10:58am

The problem with his statements in that article is they are flat out lies. I love the difference between what he thought Mike (Gabe at PA) said in those emails and what Mike really said.

This latest exchange occurred over many, many days and not a "bad day" like he claims. In fact, there are at least two other cases within the last year with him acting nearly in the same manner.

Combine this with his website, which is the textbook definition of plagiarism, videos showing the type of person he is, his affiliation with Premierhealthcareonline.com in Miami (really sleaze outfit that was shut down as apart of a multi-state effort) and many, many other things -- this guy isn't going to learn any lesson that contradicts his view of what type of person he is.
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Paul, 29 Dec 2011 @ 10:59am

Re: Other Accounts?
I don't believe there's any reason to believe that any other clients actually exist. He's making shit up again.
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David, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:00am

Unrepentant
If you take a look at this interview here:
http://www.thegamingvault.com/2011/12/interview-with-paul-christoforo-formerly-of-ocean-marke ting/
You see how little Christoforo is sorry about anything. He's really just excited about all the press he's getting.
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David, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:02am

Re: Cases
Excellent point about those cases. Here's two of them:
http://www.notgoodenough.org/viewtopic.php?p=329174#329174
http://www.natesnetwork.com/Poor- customer-service
One's been covered a lot, but the other I haven't seen around as much as I should.
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anonymous, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:04am

the 'internet lesson' he really needs is the one that shuts him down completely!
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:Lobo Santo (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:12am

Re: Dead business?
If we kill him, how will he learn his lesson?
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iamtheky (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:14am

twitter.com/OceanStratagy

The guy is still as douchetastic as ever.
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Jimmy, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:25am

Tone?
Another place he contradicts himself.

he said the tactic was meant to "impress, not to threaten" and didn't come through correctly because "you can't see tone of voice in email."

Christoforo also said his response was driven in part by what he saw as the disrespectful tone of the messages that came before it.

So can you or can you not sense tone in an email?
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Jeffrey Nonken (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:26am

I wouldn't want to claim to make a diagnosis, but I see a pattern here.

# deception, as indicated by repeatedly lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure;
# impulsiveness or failure to plan ahead;
# consistent irresponsibility, as indicated by repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations;
# lack of remorse, as indicated by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another;
# Callous unconcern for the feelings of others and lack of the capacity for empathy.
# Gross and persistent attitude of irresponsibility and disregard for social norms, rules, and obligations.
# Incapacity to experience guilt and to profit from experience, particularly punishment.
# Markedly prone to blame others or to offer plausible rationalizations for the behavior bringing the subject into conflict.

I left out a few about being irritable or prone to anger, because there was a strong suggestion of it leading to physical violence, which so far we haven't seen. There are other issues which may or may not apply. We've only seen a small window into his personality and none into his history, so no valid diagnosis is possible. (Not to mention that IANAD.)

I'm just pointing out that his behavior matches some of the aspects of Antisocial personality disorder.

Whatever the reason, the man is a flaming asshole.
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Yakko Warner (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:31am

Re: Re: Dead business?
How can you kill that which has no life?
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Rob, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:42am

The guy seems to have some serious mood/mental issues or roid rage. One moment he's all apologetic, and the next he's lashing out via Twitter.

I love how Gabe summed it up - he's not apologetic for what he did; he's apologetic that he got caught doing what he did.
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Nalts, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:48am

Guilty but enjoying it
So I've been feeling a bit guilty about how fascinating the Paul Christoforo fall is. However it's made easier by how much he seems to lack emotional intelligence.

I think he reminds us all of anyone who's ever been an asshole to us, and so we get some vicarious pleasure watching him being held accountable.
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weneedhelp (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:50am

"They've pretty much ruined me in the past 24 hours,"
That says it all. No douche, you ruined you.
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Rob, 29 Dec 2011 @ 11:55am

Re: Guilty but enjoying it
Seriously. It's like the train wreck you can't look away from.

The new N-Control PR who sounds cools) summed it up: "I can't worry about the fact that there isn't a bus big enough for me to throw Paul Christoforo under. The internet did that for me. I think they set him on fire too."
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Robert Doyle (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:01pm

He is from Boston... there is a reason the town has a rep... :P

I first heard about this through @unmarketing on twitter - and I was a little gobsmacked at how much work this guy put into ruining his name (not a good name to begin with mind you).

It takes a lot of effort to be that rude. It is just so much easier to actually care about your customer, and you will sleep better. (And no internets will run you over... and set you on fire...)
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:03pm

A couple of things
A commenter over at Kotaku also noticed this contradiction in Christoforo's interview:

"You can't see tone of voice in email."

Then later:

"Christoforo also said his response was driven in part by what he saw as the disrespectful tone of the messages that came before it."

Also, many people have pointed out that this wasn't just "a bad day" as his correspondence with Customer Dave spanned several weeks.
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Marcus Carab (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:05pm

Re: Unrepentant
Wow that article goes out of its way to excuse him at every turn.

The funny thing is that a lot of the excuses he gives there (I'm not a great writer, I'm not trained in customer service, I was bogged down by emails and phone calls) would all be somewhat valid if he wasn't running a damn marketing company. What exactly is it he thinks his job is? Actually, apparently nothing, because as he says:

It�s not gonna make a difference because the bottom line is if the product�s good, the product�s in demand, they�re gonna sell it. It doesn�t matter who I am�I�m nobody

If that's his philosophy, why the hell should anyone hire him for his marketing services?
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IOERROR, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:06pm

Re: Tone?
He can, no one else on the internet can. He's special.
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MattP, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:25pm

Smarter than your average bear
I can't help but feel that this is the most brilliant viral marketing campaign ever put into motion.

1. Have a product that appeals to hardcore / disabled gamers but needs exposure. (2 distinct categories I'm afraid)

2. Hire someone to provide the most obnoxious customer support ever.

3. After dealing with 1 client they think 'The internets will get em!'

4. Social media sites are notified and the hate machine starts rolling.

5. Paul Christoforo is put in front of the firing squad apparently unaware how his actions could stir up such a ruckus and a 'If it weren't for those meddling kids' mentality.

6. N-Control can now 'fire' Paul Christoforo all the while saying WHOOPS what a bad decision to hire him.

7. Everyone and their dog knows about the Avenger controller addon and can with good conscience order one since that rat bastage Paul Christoforo has been ousted.

8. Profit!
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:31pm

Re: Smarter than your average bear
Except that Avenger came out of this about as well as they could have, and their brand has still been completely torpedoed. Gamestop has pulled the product page for the controllers, and they have a good chance of being in trouble with Amazon for posting fake positive reviews and posting fake negative reviews on competing products. They brought in a very well-known PR guy for an enormous amount of money just to try and do damage control from this.

In addition, everyone who has actually worked with Christoforo in any capacity thinks he's an insane, unprofessional hoodlum, not an eccentric genius.

The evidence is overwhelming that this is not a viral marketing campaign. Even if it was, it would have to be the most poorly-planned and executed campaign of all time, including the Toyota Stalker campaign.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:34pm

Re: Re: Smarter than your average bear
I should also add that there are some indications that Avenger is struggling with a ton of canceled pre-orders and credit card chargebacks, which means they have to take real money out of their pockets and give it back. This ordeal has cost them actual money, not just intangibles like reputation.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:34pm

Finally, an article that isn't sympathetic with Paul Christoforo's plight. I thought I was the only one that was interpreting how unapologetic he is. As Gabe said, he isn't sorry, he's sorry he got caught. I hope this guy gets what's coming
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:36pm

Re:
Where are you seeing articles that are sympathetic to Christoforo?
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David, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:47pm

Re: Re:
http://www.thegamingvault.com/2011/12/interview-with-paul-christoforo-formerly-of-ocean-marke ting/
However be warned. The site is only concerned with traffic and deletes comments they don't like. It's a pretty blatant puff piece.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:52pm

Re: Re: Re:
That link goes to a 404 page for me. I was wondering if any of his planned interviews were going to go any better than the MSNBC.com one, so I'm interested to read the interview on Gaming Vault if you have another link.

Thanks.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:53pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Ah, nevermind. The last five characters got snipped off the link in your comment.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:56pm

Re: Re: Re:
Wow, that is a pretty shameful piece of journalism. You are doing your interview wrong if every one of your questions starts with "I totally agree with everything you said about the last question."

From the line of questioning, it's not clear that the interviewer had actually read any of the emails in question.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 12:59pm

Re: Re:
The gaming vault. Totally sympathetic and poorly written interview. The fact that the recording of the conversation had to be destroyed says it all...
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:02pm

Re: Re: Re:
"Our readers demand to know: how can one man be so handsome and brilliant?"
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:09pm

Re: Tone?
You need to continue the paragraph that second sentence came from. It's absolutely mind-boggling how

Christoforo also said his response was driven in part by what he saw as the disrespectful tone of the messages that came before it. "Not that I don't have respect for anybody, but if someone's badmouthing me or being a little punk or being a jerk, they don't deserve respect," he said. "You can't expect to go up and say 'Hey you piece of s***,' and expect respect. Send an email, introduce yourself. ... I trust everybody until they give me a reason not to respect them.

So.. if someone is being a jerk to *you*, they don't deserve respect... but if you're being a jerk to *them*, you expect them to respect you?
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SysOp (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:16pm

Two Children behaving badly.
It's safe to say both parties behaved like children in this incident. At some point in our lives every one of us has done something similar in life. now, can we all get over this and look at more important things?
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:25pm

Re: Re: Unrepentant
I am amazed on how many times I whisper "wow" when reading anything related to this guy.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:25pm

I would not buy that controller ever.

I don't care what happens to the ass hat.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:27pm

Re:
That is no longer his twitter, he keeps changing it. He renamed it to OceanDeepSea. Other people just snatch up his old name and troll.

It's great marketing move, I am surprised Fortune 500 companies don't do it.
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techsoldaten (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:33pm

Blech
You know, I have some sympathy for Paul.

I am a business owner and there are times clients try my patience. I have never gone so far as Paul has, but I have fired clients in the past when they have been too challenging to deal with.

I also have friends who are fellow business owners and who have done far worse than what Paul has done. In some cases, these people have been sued and lost their businesses literally over unfortunate comments said on a bad day.

The thing about Paul and guys like Paul is the reality is that they never really go away. Even if Ocean Marketing goes under, he is going to have another business at some point, along with clients to go with it. He will learn a lesson from this, and probably adjust his game at some level so that he's not as much of a monster.

But entreprenurial types are wired that way and pursue opportunities to the extent of their abilities. If it's not in gaming, it will be real estate. If it's not real estate, it will be finance.

Fredyl, a friend of mine who worked on Wall Street, is someone who talks and acts a lot like Paul. The kind of attitude Paul used with poor Dave is the sort of thing Fredyl was expected to do everyday. He moved on and has repositioned himself in banking, doing outsourced lead generation with a team of about 6 people who work for him. He's still the same guy, but he learned to take that attitutde down several notches through the experience.
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enjaysee (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:42pm

Re: Blech
Can't remember where I read it, but in an email Paul welcomes the bad publicity. He states that it will all blow over and I have to agree with him. Give it a month or two and the general Internet population will forget about this. The sad thing is that it appears the Avenger controller's sales did get hurt by this. Not sure how much by, but it's amazon reviews plunged to a 1 star.
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MattP, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:46pm

Re: Re: Smarter than your average bear
Article about the new PR guy for the Avenger Controller: http://www.dailydot.com/business/n-control-moises-chiullan-paul-christoforo/

"�The opportunity,� he said, is that now there�s a �wide audience� familiar with the brand. It �is something that potentially we can capitalize on. The opportunity is there for Avenger Controllers to convert bad blood into a much broader awareness of the product.�

And late Wednesday night, he hinted at going on Reddit to do an IAmA (�I am a ��) interview directly with the site�s feisty redditors."

Found the story on Reddit. Here's from the comments (http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/nuvaq/the_guy_whos_trying_to_save_n_controls_public/)

"U ntil a few days ago, I had never heard of this controller or company.
Anyone else feel this whole thing is kind of PR stunt?
1) startup company that's not very known, running into issues getting it's product out, losing what little it has in the way of customers fast.
2) fabricate a quick and crappy PR agent and company - just copy and paste bullshit from other companies to make it seem both legit and sloppy.
3) Respond to some user complaints under this douche-pseudonym (and make sure to find a picture of the douchiest looking guy you can think of to put on the net as your PR agent), with e-mails full of ridiculous comments and mispellings.
4) Eventually you hit gold, and one of your customer complaints gets large enough exposure.
5) Ditch the fake PR guy, bring in the real one. Make the company out to be a sympathetic victim of a shoddy PR agency
Conclusion: Your company is now on the front page of the internet, everyone knows about your product, and what's more - they feel bad for you for being a victim and are probably now even more inclined to buy your product. I mean, internet-opinion is very malleable and easily manipulated. Everyone knows how these fiascoes go, and it wouldn't surprise me if they engineered all of this for exposure."

Sounds like a case of bad exposure is better than no exposure. Now that they've got the exposure and a perfectly villainous fall guy they can work on taking advantage of all of the fake publicity.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:55pm

Re: Re: Re: Smarter than your average bear
Except that all of this ignores the fact that Christoforo has been acting this way for a long time. It stretches the imagination to think that Christoforo has been mistreating customers for months or years with the eventual goal of generating a viral ad campaign.

It just doesn't make any sense. There isn't any evidence that this was pre-planned, whatsoever. There is a lot of evidence that this was a legitimate PR disaster.
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Jim G, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:56pm

Gaming Vault
Not only are they deleting other people's comments, they are even deleting their own. Mike O'Connor posted a comment on how the people complaining about Paul (and they way they conducted their interview) were a bunch of losers living in their mother's basement. Quite a reflection on what they think of their readership.

That comment has since disappeared...
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:58pm

Re: Re: Blech
He said that in the MSNBC.com interview. If you read the interview, he comes off as completely delusional about the situation. He was in laugh-it-off mode, but this is also where he said that he was "completely ruined in less than 24 hours."

He was welcoming the bad publicity because:
a) He didn't have any choice at that point.
b) He doesn't understand that there is such a thing as bad PR.
c) He might be nuts or on drugs.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 1:59pm

Re: Gaming Vault
I'm not familiar with Gaming Vault. Are they an otherwise credible rag, or is this trolling-for-page-views typical?
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Joe Publius (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 2:15pm

Re: Re: Re: Dead business?
To my understanding, beheading with an axe/chainsaw/katana/+1 sword will do the trick.
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Atkray (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 2:33pm

"I want people to like me, I don't want people to think I'm a bad person. ... "

Hey PAUL!

I don't like you and I think you are a bad person.
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adri, 29 Dec 2011 @ 2:41pm

Re: Gaming Vault
Exactly. I stopped commenting because they kept censoring everything. If O'Connor thinks so poorly of his readership, he won't have to worry about me hanging out there anymore.
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Jim G, 29 Dec 2011 @ 2:56pm

Re: Re: Gaming Vault
Adri, do you by chance get an email with Mr. O'Connor's exact words?

Sadly, he had deleted them before I got a chance to capture them. They really do need to be immortalized, somehow...
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adri, 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:06pm

Re: Re: Re: Gaming Vault
Only of the copy that I had posted. I didn't think to screenshot the whole thing because I assumed they wouldn't just start deleting comments. Obviously, not a correct assumption. Email me at adrialexi@mail.com and I can forward what I have to you. I wish I had been thinking clearly enough to copy the whole rant from him.
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Ed, 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:10pm

Simply ridiculous
Love the messages that show how this is not an isolated incident, it really makes anything he says completely irrelevant, if it wasn't already... I hope he is out of work for a very, very long time.
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Dan, 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:17pm

Love it!
He is so hung up on the "who knows who" bullshit, I love it. Get a life dude!
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lololol, 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:28pm

Ocean Marketing Website
I love the irony in the quote on the Ocean Marketing page header:

"Your brand is no stronger than your reputation-and will increasingly depend on what comes up when you are Googled" - Allan Jenkins
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davebarnes (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:37pm

Humor
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davebarnes (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:38pm

Let's try again
http://www.youtube.com/v/xqV9kx40RG0
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:41pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Smarter than your average bear
With a good PR manager and by using the opportunities created from this they will be able to offset a lot of the damage. But it is unlikely they will be able to do more than break even in the end. And the level of danger involved disinclines me from believing it to be planned. Though it is amazing he ever got the account in the first place.
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failterview, 29 Dec 2011 @ 3:43pm

Re: Re: Re:
As the interview progresses I feel more and more like had it not been done on the phone but in person, Paul might have got a happy ending.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 4:20pm

Re: Re: Re: Dead business?
The Sword of a Thousand Truths
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 4:24pm

Maybe he decided if he keeps digging he will just pop out on the otherside of the world where no one knows hes a douche?
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Average, 29 Dec 2011 @ 4:43pm

I once ordered from a company and ran into a bit of trouble and bad service. It was my fifth order with them and cost me $100-$200.
- The order was supposed to be shipped in under a week, yet I got no news for 2 weeks. I contacted the company to ask for info. That's when I was told an item was not in stock (for the record the website did not list it as such). I was told the item would be available "very soon".
- A month after that, I still had no order nor information (so much for "very soon"). I contacted them again, and that's when they shipped my order - so apparently, they had forgotten about it until I reminded them about it. I received no apology for this (not even a simple "sorry")
- 2 months later, I placed another order. 4 weeks went by without news so I wrote to them to ask for an update. They told me an item was out of stock (again).

At that point I was quite upset about their service. I wrote them to politely explain that I was a loyal customer who spent $1000 at their store in a year (their average customer spends only $100-200 every 5-10 years) and that as such I had trouble trusting them seeing how irresponsible they seemed to be with handling orders. I told them right away that I was likely to stop doing business with them.
They responded by telling me that they'd ship my order in express (I had paid for regular mail) and that they would forward my mail to their management team (although I never heard back from them).
I'm not going to lie, I was expecting a gesture on their part. Adding a free item to my order or giving me a discount or something... Nothing. Express was nice but it just let me get my order 2 days earlier and it hardly convinced me they valued me as a customer, not to mention the order should had been there 2 weeks earlier to begin with (their fault that they didn't update the website to list items as out of stock).

So I decided if they couldn't spare $20 to keep a customer who spent $1000 a year at their store, then it probably meant they didn't value me, and customers should be suspicious of businesses who don't value them. If the business doesn't value you, then you never know what kind of trouble you can expect.
So I just stopped ordering from them and went to one of their competitors.

I did not give them bad publicity or anything because they were not rude nor did they steal my money or anything serious. They just provided poor service. So on that point, my story is different from Dave's experience with Ocean Marketing. But I think the point is the same: when you do business, you need to treat customers properly. You need to be respectful and professional.
Some businesses are indeed abusive and sometimes it's difficult to do anything about it. I once bought a software that was supposed to give me multiple desktops; it turned out that there was no way to have different icons on each desktop (contrary to what was advertised), therefore the software was just an expensive desktop background changer. My e-mails to support, first for help and then for a refund, went unanswered and since the company was tiny I could not do anything about it (couldn't afford to hire a lawyer to get a $20 refund, not even out of principle).

So I'm glad that Dave's ordeal went viral and that Ocean paid a high price for their behavior. Hopefully this will serve as a warning to other companies. There are too many out there who need such a warning.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 4:44pm

Re: Two Children behaving badly.
It is?
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2011 @ 4:57pm

Christoforo
He is a sociopath and pathological liar.

Fortunately he doesn't torture cats or children, but his moral empathy is zero.
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Wizardling (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 5:29pm

So much arrogance I can hardly believe it
Wow. This illiterate douchebag just can't it through his thick head that he's in the wrong. What kind of delusional mind blames everyone but themselves for their own problems? Is this a result of the me me me generation? No taking responsibility ever...

Serious Paul - you need therapy you're so screwed up. You're simply not living in reality the way you're carrying on. YOU ARE AT FAULT. No one else. YOU.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 6:27pm

Re: Blech
The issue is Paul is not the controller company.
He was an outside PR guy who was going to use his connections to get the product really moving.
He was doing things so poorly that the original PR firm, left the manufacturer because they wanted to keep this guy.
The left him in charge of it, and expected he would handle it. He has claimed a staff off 125, hes also a known liar now, and I think the controller company expected things were moving along nicely.

The truth is Paul was lying to them, their customers, and anyone else he could talk to. No one was checking up on him, and it is becoming clear this was not 1 bad day but pretty much how he operated all of the time.

You can hire a PR firm to handle things for you, but you always need to make sure your checking up on them from time to time. Seeing hundreds of orders charged but not shipped should make a business owner very concerned.

The controller company is going to have a hard road ahead of them digging out of this fiasco. People who put an order in today are paying $10 less than the people who ordered and paid months ago and still do not have the product... There is no idea when the product might arrive or clear customs. Gamestop has removed the accessory from their website. I am willing to bet any "deal" they might have had with Best Buy has gone bust as well. There are questions if customers on Amazon were charged for an item that should have been listed as preorder but was listed as instock.

And Paul was possibly in Real Estate in the past, in Miami before the bubble burst.

Hopefully the next people who encounter him will just type his name into Google before making a decision to hire him.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 29 Dec 2011 @ 6:43pm

O M F F S M....

"In the nearer term, Christoforo has entertained the idea of doing some Internet videos himself, and even considered going to PAX East, held in Boston this April, with a shirt tauntingly saying 'I'm Paul Christoforo' on it. "I'm not sure I'd actually do that, since I don't want to get in any fights," he clarified."

http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9770514-chastened-gaming-rep-responds-to -internet-infamy

Yeah he has learned his lesson, and totally understands....
In bizarro world....
If he still has any clients, they need to read that crap interview and that line in particular.
After all of this, and the oh poor me, his idea is to still try and prove he can win...
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FSK, 29 Dec 2011 @ 6:59pm

Video Of Paul Christoforo
Does anyone have a video of Paul Christoforo? All the links here were text interviews?

In this link, do you have the two videos mentioned here

p.s. You look really douchy be having one youtube video complaining about the noise of traffic next to your home and then another video showing off your obnoxiously loud rice rocket (which is nice, I gotta hand it ya).

I'm looking for some videos of Paul C. Any good links? All the interviews I saw were text only.
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Shaddy, 29 Dec 2011 @ 9:39pm

Re:
no, you'r not, it's quite hard to believe, the guy really thinks he is not at fault. He genuinly does not understand what the fuss is about, every word of his apologies paint the picture of a man with a serious social disorder, this guy can not feel himself into others. At all. I'll even go so far to say I think this guy is a soziopath.
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Dave, 30 Dec 2011 @ 12:26am

Re:
As far as not knowing if physical violence is involved, here's an article which shows it is a very real part of his life: http://alteredrealitydave.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/one-last-paul-christoforo-post/
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Anonymous, 30 Dec 2011 @ 1:47am

Response to: Jeffrey Nonken on Dec 29th, 2011 @ 11:26am
Actually he does have a history of violence against women http://www.gameranx.com/updates/id/4224/article/ocean-marketing-s-paul-christoforo-has-a-history-of- domestic-violence/
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Wizardling (profile), 30 Dec 2011 @ 2:01am

Check out Paul Christoforo's new twitter account's latest tweets
https://twitter.com/#!/OceanDeepSea

He's STILL refusing to accept he's at fault. A few minutes ago he called PA's Mike Krahulik a bully _again_ :-D This illiterate jackass is amazingly arrogant and appears to have learnt NOTHING from the last couple days.

How do you deal with someone who has their head so far up their arse?
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 30 Dec 2011 @ 3:28am

Re: Check out Paul Christoforo's new twitter account's latest tweets
I think he's bi-polar.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2011 @ 6:05am

Re: Other Accounts?
How do we know this is true?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2011 @ 6:39am

Is this guy following Jerry Sandusky's strategy for managing bad press?
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Dec 2011 @ 8:30am

Re:
I'd say he's a meglomaniacal sociopath with narcissistic personality disorder.

The rabbit hole goes deeper: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/114994-Ocean-Marketing-Attempts-To-Extort-Former-Client
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Jeremy, 30 Dec 2011 @ 8:31am

Paul Christofor needs counseling
This guy sounds like he has always been this way, and it probably stems from something early in his life. I really hope he seeks counseling and that the counselor disects this whole affair with him. I think it is something really deep that needs to be addressed.
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enjaysee (profile), 30 Dec 2011 @ 8:36am

Re: Re: Re: Smarter than your average bear
You're forgetting the whole reason this started is because a customer didn't get his order on the advertised date. It seems to me that demand was greater than supply. If that's the case, why fabricate this whole disaster?
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enjaysee (profile), 30 Dec 2011 @ 8:41am

Re: Re: Re: Blech
I'll takeall of the above
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WorkingStiff, 30 Dec 2011 @ 12:44pm

Would fit right in at Oracle..
He should go work at Oracle. That's exactly the way Oracle treats its customers.
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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 30 Dec 2011 @ 10:21pm

Re: Video Of Paul Christoforo
It took him several days to notice he had a wealth of information online, and he has been systematically trying to cover his tracks. Sadly I he cleared his YouTube account, hopefully someone will will have grabbed them.
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WSOTW, 2 Jan 2012 @ 9:29am

Paul Christoforo interview
We have been following this cluster F as much as you guys have, and wanted a chance to talk to Paul directly. ...so we are. We will be interviewing him tonight (January 2nd, 8PM Pacific Time) on the Worst Show on the Web. If you have questions for Paul other than "why are you such a douchebag?" you can call and ask him yourself. www.worstshowontheweb.com
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Harry, 2 Jan 2012 @ 9:37am

Christoforo
Paul Christoforo will be the guest on "The Worst Show on the Web" tonight. We'll be taking your phone calls live. Let's see what he has to say for himself...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worstshowontheweb/2012/01/03/1212--the-internet-controversy-show
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Harry, 2 Jan 2012 @ 9:38am

Christoforo
Paul Christoforo will be the guest on "The Worst Show on the Web" tonight. We'll be taking your phone calls live. Let's see what he has to say for himself...
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worstshowontheweb/2012/01/03/1212--the-internet-controversy-show
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