So now we got a title. And I know the following: Google will find this title and will link this when you search for Rob Matthies eventually. Because it is true. He is a scumbag.
Let me explain! Robert Matthies is a magician who found out that he will get noticed if he uses other magician's names to advertise. So he does have a really crappy video out that I urge you to look at at YouTube. That way you can see that the tags and keywords are basically all names of magicians from around Vancouver.
So whenever you look for one of those names, his video with his contact address will come up. The video also tells you how much Rob charges for an hour. 75 dollars. That is way cheaper than most magicians in the list. Ergo chances are good that Rob will get the job.
Such behaviour is a big "fuck you" to the faces of other competitors. You can read all about it right here and even more on the follow up
I think we have found a new low here.
I certainly do not endorse the following behaviour I am just telling you a story how a comparable case was "solved"
In Munich, Germany there is a common place for street performers. One day a Russian street performer was doing his show there. He didn't let others do their show, he just kept making money. (Usually if there are more than one busker a line up is discussed so everyone gets a fair chance to make money) Well, the other buskers were pissed naturally. According to the story this took place on several days.
Munich is big and it has a lot of performers. So it happened that this Russian performer was finishing his last show, packing his stuff and wanted to go to his hotel room. Let's just say he never performed in Munich again and he had learned a valuable lesson.
Vancouver is big too.
6 comments:
Also interesting to read:
http://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=394004&forum=177&20
Roland,
A big thank-you for bringing this up. It's much appreciated.
If you read the Cafe thread, you'll notice that one of the magicians in Vancouver actually said that he doesn't think that what Rob's doing is that big a deal. I think there's some merit to that argument, but then again, that guy is booking very well these days, and charges a premium. For those magicians in Vancouver who are still getting established, this is really crummy marketing tactics.
The argument was also made that what he's doing is similar to what happened with Chung Ling Soo and Chung Ling Foo. I don't entirely agree, since one of Rob's strategies is to use the ambiguity to his advantage. If somebody does a search on me, and one of the results is "Rob Matthies offers a better magic show than Andrew Musgrave", I can live with that. But when it's ambiguous to the point that people think they might be booking me when they call his phone number, that's beyond low.
Anyhow, it looks like my early efforts to get the word out there are paying off. A google search on "Rob Matthies" gets my blog on the issue on the bottom of the first page, and a search on "Rob Matthies magician" gets the same blog entry as the number 1 result. This is promising. Hopefully there will be a similar yield from your work here, and we can get the word out about what this guy is doing.
These fake keyword tactics are not just limited to magicians. Whenever I look for new videos on some famous pop star or popular television show, you can count on some unrelated video to show up in the search results.
How? They have included popular but irrelevant keywords to get viewers. I always rate these down and in extreme cases I report them to Youtube or another relevant site owner.
Rob just sent me this email....
"Dear Mr. Andrew Musgrave,
I protest your inciting of hate and violence against my person, by suggesting my disappearance as a "solution" by use of parallel, to the Russian immigrant busker, in your disguised blogsite story (imo, its your blogsite, as evident by the blogroll),
Unless I obtain a retraction, apology, and explanation to the public from you, by tonight, I will posit that you are not ashamed of your actions in this, our peaceful, and civil society.
Rob Matthies"
Hilarious. He's going to conjure up some outrage by pretending that Roland's comments are my own, all the while ignoring the unethical nonsense in his own marketing behaviour. Classic hypocrite.
To make it clear, Roland's got his own views, I've got mine. But, we are not the same person.
Well, it seems Rob's feeling are now hurt, and he's decided to escalate things further by going anonymously on internet forums out there and putting up posts stating that I'm behind a campaign of violence against him, and going so far as to compare me to Hitler.
Quoth the Cafe...
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Well, things just got interesting. Yes, he's escalated yet again.
Rob Matthies emailed me today with a complaint that I was behind some violent campaign against him. Basically, on the WMF blog, Roland made a suggestion that magicians in Vancouver should do what magicians in Germany did to a Russian busker who was trying to steal their business. Rob decided that I am, in fact, Roland, and running the blog under a pseudonym, and has decided to start posting on the internet that I've started a hate campaign on him. He's even gone so far as to quote this Café thread in the following places...
http://canadianstalk.ca/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=16682
(additional link too long for blogger)
All the hallmarks of his spamming are there. He doesn't give his own contact information or website. Instead, he's using all the necessary keywords so that he can get more focus on videos that will show up on any google search related to the people involved.
Again, to those magicians who've gotten in touch with me who are thinking they want to do something about this, DO NOT POST YOUR NAME PUBLICLY. He's only going to use that against you.
EDIT: The following just appeared on the local Craigslist...
"OPINION follows -
Amateur inventor Rob Matthies created kids innovative magic shows and charged as low as $40 in Metro Vancouver BC. Now, one or more professional magician such as Andrew "Andy" Musgrave (who apparently charge $700-$1,800) are promoting hate and suggesting his "disappearance" (i.e. use of violence) from the entertainment scene, using inciteful words, right out of Hitler's playbook against the Jews of Europe.
LINK to factum and details:
(link too long for blogger)
Will you stand up for hate and violence in your Vancouver? "
This is basically the kind of guy we're talking about. If you check out the second thread above, you'll notice I'm being compared to Hitler. Classy, eh?
-------
Anyway, the warning for the Cafe is applicable here as well. Don't comment on this publicly using your real name.
Well, it seems Rob's feeling are now hurt, and he's decided to escalate things further by going anonymously on internet forums out there and putting up posts stating that I'm behind a campaign of violence against him, and going so far as to compare me to Hitler.
Quoth the Cafe...
-------------
Well, things just got interesting. Yes, he's escalated yet again.
Rob Matthies emailed me today with a complaint that I was behind some violent campaign against him. Basically, on the WMF blog, Roland made a suggestion that magicians in Vancouver should do what magicians in Germany did to a Russian busker who was trying to steal their business. Rob decided that I am, in fact, Roland, and running the blog under a pseudonym, and has decided to start posting on the internet that I've started a hate campaign on him. He's even gone so far as to quote this Café thread in the following places...
(links too long for blogger... see Magic Cafe thread to get them)
All the hallmarks of his spamming are there. He doesn't give his own contact information or website. Instead, he's using all the necessary keywords so that he can get more focus on videos that will show up on any google search related to the people involved.
Again, to those magicians who've gotten in touch with me who are thinking they want to do something about this, DO NOT POST YOUR NAME PUBLICLY. He's only going to use that against you.
EDIT: The following just appeared on the local Craigslist...
"OPINION follows -
Amateur inventor Rob Matthies created kids innovative magic shows and charged as low as $40 in Metro Vancouver BC. Now, one or more professional magician such as Andrew "Andy" Musgrave (who apparently charge $700-$1,800) are promoting hate and suggesting his "disappearance" (i.e. use of violence) from the entertainment scene, using inciteful words, right out of Hitler's playbook against the Jews of Europe.
LINK to factum and details:
(link too long for blogger)
Will you stand up for hate and violence in your Vancouver? "
This is basically the kind of guy we're talking about. If you check out the second thread above, you'll notice I'm being compared to Hitler. Classy, eh?
-------
Anyway, the warning for the Cafe is applicable here as well. Don't comment on this publicly using your real name.
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