The Toxic Triangle
Five years ago I had a bad experience in an outdoors shop. I was looking at base layers and thinking about possible alternatives. After I understood the reasons for layering, that’s what I’ve used since. I was briefly considering other options like hard shells which are part waterproof, part warmth, and thicker merino layers. I’m an experienced walker with a good knowledge of kit.
It’s hard to summarise what the problem was avoiding terms which prompt emotional reaction in people, not understanding. There are appropriate terms however, such as arrogant and aggressive and rude. She was telling me what to do. Not listening, no interest in me, and one year ago her manager told me “yes, we get complaints about her.” There’s more back story I won’t share here except to say I got to know more about her and it got worse. It wasn’t just a bad day. Everyone knew she was foul the way she spoke to people. I said to the manager “I just wanted to get away” which is the worst thing to happen in a sales environment. I didn’t care about the product when the talk was toxic.
Three years ago I had a related experience at Twitter. Someone had a product line and a Twitter presence based on a location in the north of England. He said something like “it’s the best walking in the world” and I replied, something like “well no I think I prefer the Alps.” It wasn’t even a hill area of Britain. It was a mill town with a few moors the extent of the excitement.
As the exchange continued he kept pushing his product. I would say “I think it’s silly comparing it to the Alps” and he would say something like “it’s a great place and people should (effectively) buy my product.” I said (precisely) “I don’t think you should talk to people like that” and he pushed his product again. I was talking normally as you would with a friend who likes walking. He was talking like an arrogant salesman. I realised it was working to his advantage. It was irritating and with every reply I made, he would push his product again. There’s a toxic triangle at Twitter based on one thing — traffic.
The triangle consists of manufacturers, review web sites, and you and I. If you enjoy Twitter exchange around the topics of photography and the outdoors, you will encounter this. You need gear for walking and photography and we all have to decide what to buy and why. We all see the reviewers, the reviews, the manufacturers, and other photographers and walkers.
It doesn’t matter how you get traffic (for some). Even if you troll people, which is what he was doing, people will see snippets of the exchange and feel inclined to react. You won’t know the full story unless you want to spend thirty minutes clicking and scrolling to establish cause and effect and who said what. Nor will you care about it as such, why would you? Twitter’s not like that, and people take advantage of it.
There’s a well known and respected gear reviewer who said to me “people have been saying that for 30 years” regarding bias. If you say these boots are good, someone will say you’re being paid to say that. I don’t believe it happens much at the UK hill walking magazines and is certainly nothing to worry about. A boot company may run an advertisement because they know the boots will be reviewed in the October edition. The editor might tell them. The editor tells the reviewer she’s told them. The reviewer wants his job but if both parties have reasonably decent ethics, and are hill walkers themselves, and like (and basically respect) their readers, it’s not a problem. It is a problem in some magazines but not, in my view, with the two main UK publications. On the contrary I said to the well known reviewer, you’ve probably annoyed manufacturers for thirty years by recommending lightweight boots, which is a relatively niche market not the manufacturer mainstream.
The triangle in a shop is you walk in, talk to someone working there, and try the products. There are unpleasant people in outdoor shops and people who know nothing, but it’s generally the opposite. I was referred to the shop worker above by another shop worker who knew nothing about the subject. The rude one knew about the products but projected that like she had something personal to prove and I had no value in the equation. It was one of the Asda-like stores not the specialist outlets where you might for example (I did) have a lovely chat about walking and gear for thirty minutes, part of which was about her forthcoming trip to the Himalayas. I understand the delightful young lady was promoted and is now working at head office.
When I worked in an outdoor store a customer came in asking for washing products. I showed her the stock and gave general advice. You wash, proof, jackets need it occasionally depending on use, even expensive fabrics need it, some say immersion in the liquid is best while others say apply it to the outer surface only: and that’s my view on the matter because you don’t want it on the inside. It’s kind of sticky I said, which it is, and probably interferes with breathability. She didn’t know about breathability so I explained it. She asked about washing and I said you can buy this if you want but I recommend you don’t. Buy a box of soap flakes which do the same job and is far cheaper. “Should you be saying that?” she said. “I don’t care” I said. “I’m ethical.”
Twitter runs on traffic not ethics. There’s a new term, the “influencer”, used to describe someone who gets traffic. It suits the unethical because there’s no reference as to why they might get traffic. Three years ago I said at Twitter “Come to conclusion there are troll-tweet channels. Post nonsense and exploit the attention. Basically, take a dump and profit from the fuss.” One of the people involved in the case I will refer to below described himself as “an influencer” after running a product advertisement at his web site and being called out on it, trying to pass it off as something else. Another person quoted me, as I was dealing with incredibly tiresome nonsense, trying to get traffic to his account and making a false remark.
Trolling is likely to get traffic and there are no managers to complain to when you encounter internet reviewers, sites, and individual based businesses. Twitter is like the strange environment of an airplane cabin. You’re stuck there with everyone else and can’t stop the lady (they usually are women) coming down the aisle selling watches and perfume. They do it gently and harmlessly and some probably like it. That’s a nice watch, and you enjoy your holiday even more. They come down the aisle too at Twitter, with different products.
The traditional model is manufacturer, reviewer, magazine, you and I the reader. The components are largely separated producing a working consensus which is informative and entertaining. Add the walking features, and you have a magazine business. You occasionally see features which are not reviews but a manufacturer or tour company selling themselves. Pictures of Switzerland, Switzerland is great, come to Switzerland. The term for this is advertorial. It sits between the feature and the advertisement and it’s not generally disguised. On the internet, Twitter in particular, you’re stuck in an airplane cabin sitting next to people who aren’t going on holiday. They’re selling product. Sometimes, and I’ve seen this, it’s like a Jeremy Kyle show. The currency is traffic. Product sells with traffic. Get people arguing for example, and you get traffic. It’s a bottom feeding activity, like a catfish searching in the dark for aquatic insects. Advertrolling, you might say. Two months ago I had the misfortune to stumble into it on the basis of making a sensible innocuous remark which provoked hard to understand nonsense. I stuck with it, referring to what I’d actually said, because this stuff is so tiresome and ridiculous. This is what happened to my traffic:

For some people, that graph is all that matters. The advertorial is less obvious when you’re all sitting together in the digital cabin. Web site, review, manufacturer, reader, walker, photographer, are crammed together into the currency of traffic. You’re nothing but a tiny part of that graph.
My advice is recognise this when it’s happening. Or, the structure is such that it will happen if you talk as you would with walking or photography friends: to people who are not that. Then stay away from it, because they are using you.
