Bonum Certa Men Certa

When Blogs Become Marketing and Benchmarks Become Product Promotions

Video download link | md5sum 7981b8c10b1b12c9687f52aae5a48708 AMD and Phoronix Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Having boasted about hardware worth as much as a house (likely in breach of FTC regulations, not just the most fundamental ethical guidelines), apparently coming from AMD, Phoronix discredited itself or tarnished its image as a trusted, objective source; now it seems to be deleting the image of this epic (EPYC) gift, though only after some backlash

Techrights has linked to Phoronix literally tens of thousands of times. So has Tux Machines, which according to Alexa (the traffic analysis site) is a leading source of inbound traffic for Phoronix (highest except Phoronix itself). I've spent years defending Phoronix from its critics, linking to the site in Social Control Media as an act of solidarity. I routinely used it as a source so it's very frustrating to see what it became [1, 2]. It's part of an ongoing trend. Presenting itself as hard-working and impoverished 'underdog', the site has crossed over to the "dark side" and is shamelessly sharing photographs of gifts. Not a gift like a laptop or a processor but something about 1,000 times more expensive. There's no valid explanation and none has been given.



To make matters worse, it now looks like parts of the forum are being removed (like the image posted there; I show this in the video above and I've verified again since) and no explanation is being given. Half a day ago I wrote (as a 15-year forum member): "What is going on here? Michael, those chips cost a fortune [sic] and are not needed in these quantities for the purpose of testing/comparing. Who sent these? Please clarify."

Intel CoreIt's perfectly possible that AMD isn't alone; AMD is one that we know about. The image on the left was posted this year as well. It is difficult to know, however, what is inside that cabinet (or the quantity). It's not entirely unreasonable to ship something for review, but how many?

Seeing that an administrator saw and approved my post, I expected an imminent response but received none. So I followed up with: "I've linked to Phoronix literally tens of thousands of times and defended it a lot from its critics. I need to see the AMD contract by which this transaction was done, dated too (to avoid it being revised in a face-saving exercise)."

Half a day has passed and no reply was given. I said upfront: "I'll give another few hours for response, seeing my posts did get approved, so they're being read. I'll draw my own conclusions if no response is posted soon."

Phoronix is aware and has posted 4 or 5 articles since (as of the time of writing), so clearly my messages were seen. As the image from the forums has been removed I'm reproducing one of several screenshots below. The video above says a lot more and today's IRC logs will add context.

Phoronix thread #1



Phoronix thread #2



Phoronix thread #3

Recent Techrights' Posts

When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
 
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: Rainy Season and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Military Games, Parade, and Actions
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, and Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: (Not)virtues and Project Yeet Broadband
Links for the day
Links 13/06/2025: Journalists Targeted by Cracking, China-Japan and Israel-Iran Tensions Grow
Links for the day
Links 13/06/2025: US Reduces Nonessential Staff at Baghdad Embassy Ahead of Strikes in Iran, Invasion of California Debated
Links for the day
X11 is Free Software
Whether you agree (e.g. on politics) with the person/s forking it doesn't matter
The More Time Passes, the Better Our Advice on Social Control Media Seems
At the end of the day, any platform you do not control yourself is working for someone else
Twitter (X) is Dying, Now It's Just Like a Mafia-Type Operation of the Man Who Does Nazi Salutes in Public
a form of extortion
UK High Court Blasts Brett Wilson LLP for Misusing "GDPR" After Failed Efforts to Censor Critics Using 'Libel' Claims
No wonder this firm is rapidly shrinking
Recent Blunders in Microsoft GitHub (e.g. Slop-Generated Bug Reports or GPL Violations 'as a Service') Taking Their Toll?
Put bluntly, if you still use Microsoft GitHub, then you're slave to Microsoft
American Imperialism and Microsoft Plagiarism
Techrights will therefore do what Microsoft does not want it to do: it'll write even more about Microsoft
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025