Dish Network - Shame on You for Astroturfing

I allow comments to my blog. Over the last few months I had noticed a bunch of odd comments from people who identified themselves as Dish Network employees. What made the comments odd was that they were sort-of on-topic, but mostly came off as shilling.  I think there is nothing wrong with company employees posting legitimate comments on blogs, if they identify themselves as employees. However, the comments that I noticed just didn't ring true.

It is my assumption, and that of others, that Dish is encouraging comment spam, if not actually outsourcing it to India. There is a clever coinage for this sort of fake grassroots enthusiasm: astroturfing. Companies that behave in this way should be embarrassed. I will no longer accept such comments on my blog.