That night, the netizens praised Vet’s Cuties 2 in various ways, happily discussing its storylines and Doctor Yu’s tips. It was only past midnight when the popularity died down a bit, but the traffic and number of good reviews of The Vet’s Loving Pets, at this time, began to increase noiselessly.
When it came to morning the next day, the online playback rate of The Vet’s Loving Pets had surprisingly surpassed that of Vet’s Cuties 2. Ninety percent of the comments in the review section were five-starred good reviews, and the comments were very deliberately worded, such as: “After watching it late at night, I feel very emotional. It is indeed a documentary produced by the National Channel and deserves good reviews.”
“I really liked Six Hundred Years of the Forbidden City, filmed by Director Guo Nan, but sadly it has no sequels. After seeing that The Vet’s Loving Pets is also a huge production by Director Guo, I hurriedly came over to send my support. I admire you, great director.”
“This documentary has a novel topic and a unique entry point. The plot is very gripping.”
…
The comments with the most words are listed above, and there were several shorter and fake ones.
“The film is great and worth savoring.”
“The plot has twists and turns and is riveting.”
“It’s great. Continue your hard work.”
…
People who often went on the internet easily recognized that a group of professional water army spammed these comments. The water army had probably never watched the documentary and casually copied and pasted comments they had seen online. Some did not match the context, and some appeared to be random codes with merely a word, two words, or a row of Roman numbers. These characters seemed to have been casually pressed on a keyboard and were utterly illogical and incomprehensible. No matter how ridiculous the content of the review was, its top right corner would always display five stars.
TL’s Note: A “water army” essentially originates from companies that can be hired to deliberately spam good/bad comments, reviews, and messages in a bot-like manner. People normally hire water armies to boost their ratings or slander their competitors.
The water army was strong and spammed The Vet’s Loving Pets until it became one of the top ten on the video leaderboard.
It would be a good method for increasing the popularity of The Vet’s Loving Pets if Guo Nan merely hired the water army spammers to hype himself and attract traffic. Many idols and celebrities depended on this technique to acquire fame when they were still unheard of by the public.
But Guo Nan was not satisfied with just this.
Before midnight last night, the average rating of Vet’s Cuties was 4.95. Within one night, its rating plummeted to 3.43.
And a huge number of one-starred bad reviews abruptly appeared in its comment section.
“Those of you who gave five stars are blind or ignorant. Do you know what a real documentary is? Vet’s Cuties 1 still felt a little like a documentary, while Vet’s Cuties 2 is completely a news report and investigation, okay? What the heck was that undercover visit at the end? Besides, the switching between scenes is abrupt, shoddy, and disorganized.” — This was criticism from the perspective of a professional.
“This documentary is not very attractive. The two stories are far-fetched in some places of their plotlines. The current ratings online are unfair and slightly fake.” — This was the thief’s cry to catch the thief.
TL’s Note: “The thief’s cry to catch the thief” is a saying that describes how someone guilty, to disguise themselves, calls for others to catch the culprit.
“I also think the ratings are falsely high. The first story is suspected of deliberately slandering the female client and portraying an ordinary guest as harsh and unreasonable. This, in itself, shows that there is something wrong with the standing of the documentary’s director.” — This was the review beginning to find faults.
“I agree with the comment above. I don’t know what’s the point of filming the first story; I feel like it’s just to highlight Doctor Yu’s supposed good manners and make the female client seem like a clown.”
Starting from this comment, the innocent Yu Zhan began to be involved in this controversy.
“Even if a magician knows the physics behind the magic of other magicians, he shouldn’t have disclosed them to the audience. It is one of the three principles of magician practice and the most basic professional ethics. I think Doctor Yu has no professional ethics at all. To attract attention, he’s easily revealing the veterinary industry’s regulations. If the public understood his methods, they wouldn’t need to go to pet hospitals when pets get sick since they can handle it at home. Wouldn’t other vets lose their jobs? He didn’t even consider his colleagues’ feelings when he gave those tips. For this sole reason and him specifically, I give this documentary one star!”
“I’ve always felt that Doctor Yu’s image is a bit fake since he is too perfect. He is dedicated, kind, patient, and well-educated. The key is that he is a handsome guy. Is there such a person in the world? According to the documentary’s description, he does business like doing charity. He paid for the dog wheelchair with money from his wallet, which cost thousands of yuan; he spent three days treating merely one cat and earned 1,500 when the cost was at least 800; the documentary also mentioned that he provides food for all the stray cats and dogs near his shop. He’s such a saint! He’s doing a business that is sure to lose instead of making money. I’m curious: How can he afford the high rent in the capital and the daily operating expenses of his pet clinic? It’s also a miracle that his store has not closed down yet. Anyway, the more I look at it, the faker it looks.”
“It’s indeed too exaggerated. In my opinion, they are trying to make us buy the persona. Doctor Yu is a character created by the documentary. He possesses all the characteristics girls like; he’s a pet lover, a warmhearted man, and handsome… Who can dislike such a persona? It’s still a question whether Doctor Yu’s last name is Yu. If there hadn’t been a scene in Vet’s Cuties 1 where he operated a surgery, I even doubt whether he’s an actor or a true vet.”
“He’s probably not an actor and only a veterinarian who wants to be famous and cooperates with the documentary director to promote himself and stage four stories.”
“That’s right, and he’s the Hanfu Goddess’ boyfriend. Everyone knows how the Hanfu Goddess became famous. How many pennies can he earn by opening a pet clinic with two employees? He’s clearly emulating the Hanfu Goddess’ method and earning money by being a cyber star. Before Vet’s Cuties was released, he only had around a hundred thousand fans on Weibo. Now, he has more than a million.”
“And this person loves distributing red packets on Weibo so fans can follow him. He has a face that looks particularly eager to get famous. Haha. Don’t mention it. He has really become famous.”
The haters from the water army were professional and well-trained. After they received a high salary, they put all their effort into slandering their target. Their assertions were novel and well-thought, with sufficient evidence.
Netizens were easily guided by public opinion, and these haters were well-versed in this. They were professional “guides” of public opinion, and they worked overtime and did enough homework to understand “Doctor Yu” and “I’m a vet” very thoroughly. No matter how perfect a person seemed, one could still pluck out their flaws. No matter how unnoticeable the flaw was, they could magnify it infinitely, making it seem particularly severe.
Therefore, the haters had successfully swayed some passersby who had no interest in Doctor Yu. After reading these negative reviews, they actually thought the haters were very reasonable.
“I’ve always thought Doctor Yu isn’t a real person, as if he’s acting. But he has too many fans, and I’m scared of being beaten up by his die-hard fans, so I’ve been keeping in my thoughts.”
“I dislike his wearing a mask since he’s already participating in the recording of a documentary. Not only does his mask not bring a sense of mystery, but it also makes him seem like a show-off.”
Translated by: Sydney
Vandez Translations 