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The invisible hands behind Web postings

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Solving problems

The situation has led many consumers to believe that the best way to have a complaint heard is through publicity.

A recent online survey by sina.com, a Chinese news website, found that one-third of the 783 netizens polled see the media as the most efficient way to solve a dispute.

"Not all the disputes can be solved this way but I like to report my complaints to warn others that there is a problem," said Qu Lingdi, a network engineer in Beijing.

Zhao Chaofeng stares over a laptop at the Beijing branch of 315ts.net, a consumer protection website on June 3. Zhao keeps a watch on the Internet's consumer forums by deleting posts that are proven to be fraudulent and helps to take customers' complaints. [China Daily]

Although PR expert Li Haigang said he believes deleting posts is still a "necessary measure", he admitted that "papering over the cracks" of a problem usually only leads to crisis in the future. "Communication is the best solution," he said. "If these bad comments are being generated by competitors, then we can find out the source and tell them to stop. Otherwise, we will fight back."

However, the current law is too slow to prevent the fast spread of information on the Internet, he argued.

"Do you know how long it takes a company to file a lawsuit against libel?" he asked. "Netizens' attention spans are very short, so it could be too late once a bad impression is made."

For those people who have noticed their posts being deleted, however, they say they have already lost faith in what they read on the Web.

"I don't trust websites anymore," said blogger Ma Mingdong, who has given up posting negative articles. "My posts are just tools for these websites to make money."

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