Gawker Commenters Are Gawker Interns?

Attention Gawker commenters: Nick Denton needs you to pick up his dry cleaning. Though it sounds too good to be true, it seems that eager young Gawker interns are working their way up the new media ladder on the strength of their smug observations, sarcastic bon mots and impassioned diatribes on all things trivial. Will the "first!" be the first to be hired?

Yesterday cewebrity heartbreaker, CollegeHumor co-founder and Gawker darling Jakob Lodwick posted an IM chat with Gawker owner/editor Nick Denton which, if not actually a joke, exposes the true identity of many Gawker commenters.

Hmm, not such a bad idea. How about the next commenter brings us a couple lattes with their comments and we'll take it from there?

UPDATE!!! In case anyone missed the part where we cautioned "it sounds too good to be true" and "if not actually a joke", we've heard from both sides of this "story" and the "plot" has "thickened." In one corner, Nick Denton says (via his iPhone, naturally): "of course that IM exchange is fabricated! please, duh." From the alleged fabricator, via his website: "To me, the point is kind of moot: Even if Nick were lying to me — even if the commenters are real people — they cannot prove that they are real unless they give up their anonymity..."

ANOTHER UPDATE!!! Not mollified with our first update, which again stressed that this could all be a joke, Nick Denton now has a follow-up: "Jakob Lodwick is a prankster. And you fell for it. Do you really think that we would hire thousands of interns to pretend to be commenters? And, even less likely, that I would ever admit to the scam even were it true? Next time, turn on your bullshit detector."

En route to pants the entire city of Baltimore, Lodwick could not immediately be reached for comment – if in fact Jakob Lodwick even is his real name.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on January 23, 2008 10:01 AM

Comments [rss]

Daniel Lewis

thanks for sharing an idea.............Really it was a nice post............

Mike D

I feel like the New York blogging establishment has become so self-reflective and naval-gazing... there has to be more interesting offline new york thing to talk about.

Ha Ha Sound

Gawker has paid me to not comment. But I never listen. And I always spend the money on yogurt.

brooklynbee

I have commented on Gawker and written for Gothamist and got paid for neither.

emilydickinson

If I remember correctly, quite a few commenters on Gawker mentioned that they work at Gawker often enough (everyone knew that LOLCait works in ad sales). I was at a party that a couple of the Gawker folks were 'covering' for the site and they all dress and act like the 'hipsters' they spend all their time ridiculing. I guess that is a whole new type of irony that is too ironic for me to understand. Gawker is a lot like The Onion, it was brilliant and funny at first, but now the joke is worn out and it's just kind of sad. Plus, you can get away with being ruthless if you're funny, but ruthless and unfunny just appears mean spirited.

Nick S

another gawker post on here? really?

AnnaZed

The planted comments have been obvious all along with that site. That whole bizarre BS about submitting comments to be "approved" for how witty they are before being "allowed" to post has always been a huge red flag given how banal and dumb the posted comments are. Now even the Times thinks that they jumped the shark. It's funny really.

moonyap

Jesus Christos!

THIS IS NOT NEWS! It is just a jokey convo between a couple of masturbatory on-line narcicists.

The real issue here is that Jacob Ludwick needs to take a long walk off a short pier. NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR POINTLESS LIFE - PLEASE STOP PUBLISHING YOUR BS AND BLOGS STOP POSTING ABOUT IT!!!!!

TimSPC

Typical Gawker.

btw, John, I need off tomorrow. Dental appointment. ktnxbye.

MissPinkKate

I'm a Gawker commenter, and I don't work for Gawker media. Come on, Gothamist, as stories go, this is pretty lame.

matty

yes gothamist is wrapped up in the 2nd avenue deli, shake shack, magnolia's conspiracy!

Roger McDowell

How many interns do you think Gothamist has evaluating the Shake Shack line on the webcam they love to SOOOOO often point out they suggested?

moocowtoo

Roger, you are almost there, all you need to do is make a reference to the shake shack and you are headed for the gothamist payroll!

Roger McDowell

I had no idea Dobkins was so analytical. There is a genius behind that spray painted facade.

(so, did I get the job?)

Jake Dobkin

another brilliant dr. evil style move! my question is a tactical one: what percentage of paid commenters produces the greatest number of total comments per thread? i'm guessing the ideal is about 30%-- with a higher percentage at the beginning of the thread, and trailing off as real people join in.

last month, gawker media produced about 350,000 comments. i'm not certain what the red line is, but if it's total number of commenter accounts, that's about 30 comments per account. the interesting stat would be a stacked histogram-- i'm guessing the top 10% of commenters produce the majority of activity-- 70-80% of it?

matty

oh also i am convinced that

busted tees, college humor, jakob lodwick, julia allison, tumblr.com, nick denton, emily gould, blackbook.com and jen carlson are all drinking champaign and making fun of their user base from a loft in soho.

virgil

Ha. "Ccommentere" sounds like a commenter on a Mob site.

virgil

I comment on that site from time to time, and I can assure you I would never work for them, even if I were paid. I'm sure there are ccommentere who do work for Gawker, but as with so many things in liufe, it's sounds better if you exaggerate it.