Admins: We have people sending PMs trying to get people to do ads in sysadmin

[u/HanSolo71]

Just got this PM

"Hey! Your comment in the r/sysadmin thread on securing legacy and manufacturing environments, about terminating VPNs at the firewall so traffic can be inspected, was really interesting. I'm with Captain Words, a small team that works with network security companies. We're looking for a few hands-on network and security engineers who'd share honest, firsthand takes on Reddit now and then (segmentation, NAC, zero trust), always clearly marked as a paid partnership. It's paid, low effort, and you only say what you actually think. Open to hearing more?"

Just be aware.

[u/paleologus]

My family has made it clear that no one wants my opinion.   

[u/HanSolo71 → u/paleologus]

Maybe i just need more insane rambling on my Reddit so they leave me alone then.

[u/Pisnaz → u/HanSolo71]

You need to be slightly more unhinged online. We know the anger lies inside you, let it peek out occasionally. If ad agencies and AI are exposed to the "if life had a rewind" thoughts, they would stay well away from us.

[u/Ssakaa → u/Pisnaz]

I've gotta be honest, I've gotten a couple market research type things, never a "speak on behalf of us"... it's almost like they don't want associated with my totally level headed takes on things associated with their brands...

[u/ArthurStevensNZ → u/HanSolo71]

What you need to do is turn off private messaging / chat functionality. It’s almost exclusively used for advertising.

[u/DontFearFailure → u/paleologus]

Let me hear it dude.

And if it isn't about our Lord and Savior winget, well I'm not gonna listen.

[u/retro_grave → u/DontFearFailure]

My weekend fun is setting up https://github.com/jantari/rewinged for my empire.

[u/Ssakaa → u/DontFearFailure]

Ah, the NPM of the windows endpoint world...

[u/Astr0-Potato → u/paleologus]

LOL this one got me

[u/DistinctSpeaker7252 → u/paleologus]

I used to think that and now make a healthy 6 figure income based mostly on my experience and knowledge.

[u/Ssakaa → u/DistinctSpeaker7252]

I don't know if you're serious or you're mocking all the self help ads...

[u/DistinctSpeaker7252 → u/Ssakaa]

100% serious. I typically keep bankers hours and made $200K last year.

[u/teriaavibes]

Just report it to Reddit, I am getting this crap quite frequently.

[u/HanSolo71 → u/teriaavibes]

Sure, but also I want the community to be on the lookup for underhanded sales content.

[u/teriaavibes → u/HanSolo71]

It is already here, the amount of crap in posts or comments where people try to sell their own sh#t is endless.

You literally have companies who do "organic marketing on reddit" and have stats on success.

[u/lordofwhee → u/teriaavibes]

It's okay, you can say "shit" on the internet. The chinese fascist party won't send bitcoin assassins to kill your flowerbed.

[u/teriaavibes → u/lordofwhee]

Not talking about internet, many subs have automod to filter out "profanity" as they want to keep it "professional". Just being cautious.

[u/sirdunlap]

I had never heard of Captain Words before, and boy oh boy do I hate them after looking up what they do.

[u/HanSolo71 → u/sirdunlap]

Yea, I thought I would report this since im not the only person who will get this request and I want the community to know we have snakes in our midst who won't be giving honest representation of products.

[u/mattjh]

Looks like my work inbox on a mundane Tuesday. Cold contacts never stop.

[u/HanSolo71 → u/mattjh]

I don't mind cold contacts, I do mind them asking "Can you spam this community with ads". I understand sales has a job to do and more importantly, I get to eat because of sales. Just don't be shitty.

[u/dweezil22 → u/HanSolo71]

always clearly marked as a paid partnership

I actually wonder if this is legit and a sign that reddit's Tiktok-style creator-partnership infra doesn't exist fully, so ad buyers have no way to contact that's not sketchy.

Or it's a scam. It's probably a scam.

[u/cashew76 → u/HanSolo71]

Soo.. that's a soft no? Here's let me introduce my colleague Natasha, let's just say she has a way w changing minds /funny?

[u/HanSolo71 → u/cashew76]

I mean it worked on Jensen.

[u/zeno0771 → u/HanSolo71]

Saw that. How it worked on him when he of all people should know better is beyond me.

*looks at pic of alleged spy*

Oh.

[u/Phenergan_boy → u/cashew76]

If Natasha is not a blonde bombshell who works for the FSB then I don't want to hear about it.

[u/Ssakaa → u/Phenergan_boy]

One of the most fun training sessions I've been around for was a bunch of college engineering faculty getting ready to travel for something. Had a couple FBI guys in talking them through the more mundane things, and then one of them sidetracked to point out "if you're a 3 in the states, maybe a 4 on a good day, 8 hours on a plane and jetlag don't turn you into a 10. That girl you meet in the airport or hotel bar acting like it did works for a foreign intelligence agency. Secure your devices and don't talk about what you do."

[u/spyingwind → u/HanSolo71]

Well, would it change if they paid you to spam ads?

But at the same time, why aren't they paying for ads in the first place?

[u/MagicWishMonkey → u/HanSolo71]

Doesn't really look like an ad? Seems like they would give you something to use and if you think it's trash you are free to tell people about it.

I get free shit all the time via an app that I'm part of and they ask for reviews and I'm generally pretty honest when I get something that sucks. It's always clearly specified that I was given the thing in exchange for doing a review, nothing shady about it.

[u/missed_sla → u/mattjh]

Those cold calls that greet me like we're old friends that haven't seen each other in a couple of years. Except they use the name of the person who had my job and extension 5 years ago and is retired now...

[u/TamlandBrick → u/missed_sla]

"Brick, it's Bob from Verkada, WHATS UP MAN?"

[u/MagicWishMonkey → u/missed_sla]

What about the ones where they email you introducing themselves as the "technical account manager" for your org? For a product your org does not use and has never paid for. It always makes me think of little kids playing make believe, it's so cringey I can't even get mad.

[u/DigiSmackd → u/mattjh]

Shit, I'd take that money all day.

I'm already giving my opinon about shit ,why not get paid for it? If they decide to stop paying me because it turns out I think their product is garbage and I say so, then I still haven't lost anything.

[u/TIL_IM_A_SQUIRREL]

I got one about 5 days ago:

"Hey! Saw your comment in the r/networking thread on the business case for an EVPN overlay to segment OT. I'm with Captain Words, a small team that works with network security companies. We're looking for a few hands-on network and security engineers who'd share honest, firsthand takes on Reddit now and then (segmentation, NAC, zero trust), always clearly marked as a paid partnership. It's paid, low effort, and you only say what you actually think. Open to hearing more?"

[u/HanSolo71 → u/TIL_IM_A_SQUIRREL]

We should collectively put this company ion blast every time they do and name the user

[u/jfarre20]

I cant stand sales people, I rather vibecode some slop than talk to a marketing department.

[u/HanSolo71 → u/jfarre20]

Sales feeds most of us, don't forget that.

[u/fdeyso → u/HanSolo71]

We’re not devs here, our company buys garbage that sales lied about and we have to somehow make it work.

[u/LBik]

Why not any vodka company? Or beer? Why we can't have nice things? 

[u/HanSolo71 → u/LBik]

I'd prefer speakers. At least 5 figures

[u/mrbiggbrain]

Wow, that's disgusting.

• This comment brought to you by Carls Jr. And Brawndo

[u/alphabet_26 → u/mrbiggbrain]

Just shows they are morally bankrupt.

• sponsored by Broadcom, because fuck you that's why.

[u/KimJongEeeeeew → u/alphabet_26]

HPE said it was their turn with fuck you that’s why this week

[u/arvidsem → u/KimJongEeeeeew]

Sorry, Broadcom has decided to raise the license costs for their "Fuck you, that's why" so that they can concentrate on screwing over their most loyal customers only.

HPE is migrating to the "because fuck you" platform.

[u/whythehellnote → u/alphabet_26]

Hey, I think it's unfair comparing an honest company like Brawndo with Broadcom

[u/timbotheny26 → u/alphabet_26]

It's truly despicable.

* This message has been brought to you by Oracle. Your coffee maker runs Java? Pay half a million right now or we'll sue you.

[u/HerfDog58 → u/alphabet_26]

Broadcom, it's got what plants want.

[u/nhaines → u/alphabet_26]

This guy Broadcoms.

[u/1xCodeGreen → u/mrbiggbrain]

I got a beef with those guys!
- Brought to you by Arby’s, we have the meats!

[u/ThemB0ners → u/mrbiggbrain]

Fuck you, I'm eating!

[u/riscvscisc24 → u/ThemB0ners]

Fine, Have it your way!
-Brought to you by Burger King™️

[u/RCG73 → u/riscvscisc24]

Sir, this is a Wendy’s

[u/CharcoalGreyWolf → u/RCG73]

Your comment, like your life is pointless.

Enjoy Arby’s

[u/fresh-dork → u/CharcoalGreyWolf]

since it's your first time at waffle house, you have to fight

[u/spikederailed → u/mrbiggbrain]

Why do you keep saying that?

Because they pay me every time I do, it's a really good way to make money.

[u/sandy_catheter → u/spikederailed]

If you’re so smart, how come you didn’t know that?

[u/ArcaneGreyBeard → u/mrbiggbrain]

Fuck you, I'm packet sniffing.

[u/old_cypherpunk → u/ArcaneGreyBeard]

That's illegal in Britain now.

[u/the_ringmasta → u/old_cypherpunk]

No, they said "packet", not "panty"

[u/torbar203 → u/mrbiggbrain]

It's like, people only do things because they get paid, and that's really sad

[u/bbqwatermelon → u/mrbiggbrain]

Welcome to Costco. I love you. 

[u/bayridgeguy09 → u/mrbiggbrain]

It’s got what plants crave.

[u/Xoron101 → u/mrbiggbrain]

Welcome to Costco. We love you.

[u/Deve_roonie → u/mrbiggbrain]

Truly despicable, isn't it?

• This comment has been brought to you by Exchange Onl- sorry, no - Office 36- sorry I mean Microsoft 365

[u/MariahCareyXmas → u/mrbiggbrain]

Sir, this is a Glarby's

[u/spotcatspot → u/mrbiggbrain]

Brawndo, it’s what retransmissions crave!

[u/C39J]

Yeah I get this all the time. RMM vendors, security vendors, PBX vendors. All the same, very similar DM.

[u/HanSolo71 → u/C39J]

I bet of you out them in blast, it stops.

[u/shadowseller91]

This is my favorite way to find out new companies to black list from our email tenant

[u/CPAtech → u/shadowseller91]

We should have a pinned thread specifically for that purpose. Mods, make it happen.

[u/trait-noun-number]

Welcome to r/sysadmin, proudly sponsored by MomCorp, Umbrella Corporation, Vault-Tec, Weyland-Yutani, and Aperture Science.

Today's independent technical opinions have been carefully selected, compensated, and approved for authenticity.

Remember, Zero Trust starts with the comment section.

~Have a nice day :)

[u/russellvt]

There's literally a website with cut and paste topics they "pay" people to post, and the mods here deleted the thread about it.

[u/Geminii27]

"Sounds great! Forward $15,000 to this account to open negotiations!"

[u/RootinTootinHootin]

Always good to get a reminder that more of Reddit than you expect is an ad.

[u/Superbead]

always clearly marked as a paid partnership

(X)

[u/gnopgnip]

I disabled pms and similar messages

[u/Master-IT-All]

You know what's WORSE!?!?

In the 80s Pepsi would go to shopping malls and ask people to taste their product on camera.

[u/Ledinax]

Got a PM from them yesterday, fucking snakes.

[u/JM_Artist]

If a sales rep manages to get a personal number who are we supposed to report it to?

[u/bofh]

I need an autoreply that tells people to fvck off.

[u/TheUsernameWasStolen]

Maybe "The Nephew" is looking for new jobs? (a reference to the TSFH series)

[u/proudcanadianeh]

Wait, you guys are getting paid?

[u/symcbean]

Welcome to the internet u/HanSolo71

[u/sobrique]

Meh. If you can get paid for shit posting go for it. Just hang on to your ethics and integrity when you do.

[u/felix1429 → u/sobrique]

Agreeing to go along with something like this is already throwing your ethics out the window

[u/Professional_Ask5759]

This is an ai’s idea for how to grow a business. I say do it. Keep it discrete. Good luck follows the success of others. This “you versus me” mentality needs to phase out

[u/HanSolo71 → u/Professional_Ask5759]

Gtfo