We bite on a controversial post about sell outs, we learn more of that Cartera-like IHG Rewards Promo debacle, read a nice story on Havana Cuba, check out a trip report on a ridiculously expensive train ride from Hungary to Iran, say wow to an awesome timelapse video about Greece, and we end with some awesome Steve Jobs quotes (and I am not even an Apple guy!), and a few awesome personal finance articles you will learn from.
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By the time you read this I am on my way to Charlotte for a conference. So the posts this week will be shorter and less structured. Some developments are coming so stay tuned! 9k Avios on US Air non stop from Detroit. 30k SPG points in the Westin Charlotte, the conference hotel #winning. I should probably do a trip report but won’t bore you to pieces!
Travel is Free wrote “Who’s Really Sold Out In This Game?“. It generated lots of comments and several by me. I enjoyed reading the discussion and one of the main goals of my site was to generate these types of discussions! Some people are hung up on “hate” and “angry” camps and keep finding ways to personalize arguments when the main argument is about businesses and their practices. I would just read my comments only because they are clearly the best 🙂 Next best are comments by Kenny (12.33 pm) and TJ (12.26 pm)and Steve (5.45 pm) and Larry (3.38 pm). For the record, I stand by what I wrote. Let’s move on.
Many are shocked about yet another IHG Rewards promotion debacle. I am not. Something appeared fishy to me about this promotion. This company is having some major IT and business practice issues. I don’t have time to be fighting with them plus I really like to stay for FREE for REAL lol. I am going to start calling them the Cartera of Hotels woohoo! Travel Summary had a nice recap of the debacle here. Good luck to all, hope you get the points without too many headaches!
One of the most bizarre blogging developments is being alerted from an alert TBB reader that ALL View from the Wing posts with the (affiliate) 70k Chase Ink Plus card are GONE! Like DELETED! Like it never happened. Wow, I have not seen that before!
I have an Old Blue Cash Amex card and was targeted for an extra 2% spent in Whole Foods making it a total of 7% cash back! I prefer Traders Joe’s more lately but 7% sure gets my attention! Registering for it online did not work so I called the Amex number and it was very smooth, no need to talk to a human!
Frugal Travel Guy‘s founder made a second post today pushing his own Big Crumbs referral link for buying Amex gift cards for 2% cash back. Just could not resist making more dinero? Hey readers if you are going to go down that MLMish path, get referred by someone you know very well wink wink.
Ok, how about a true travel blog? The Bohemian Blog wrote “Homeless in Havana: How a Travel Disaster Showed Me The Real Cuba“. Give me this anytime before a flat bed review or a pic of a hotel toilet!
Holy crap, a train ride from Hungary to Iran costs $40,000 on this train, WOW. Looks like we can’t use Chase Ultimate Rewards for this trip. Looking at it, boy it looks like a really bad deal! Give me Amtrak cabins any day!
Greece Timelapse Video. Because it’s awesome and they really need the money lol!
I Have No Idea. What a great read! This may be a repeat. If it is, well read it again, it is THAT good! 🙂
Top 10 reasons you should never borrow from your 401(k) plan Yeah, this is getting on my nerves so please don’t do that.
Steve Jobs’ 14 Most Inspiring Quotes
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
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Top 10!
Comeback first.
Wow, I just might be #1!
Damn, a few seconds too late…
Will be interesting to see what happens with the IHG promo if they continue trying to do a bait & switch. I would’ve thought that the amount of brand damage it’ll do (and possible lawsuits/issues with regulators) would outweigh the massive amount of points they’d need to give out – but I’m sure they’ve done that math and it works out for them.
Right there with first commentor: Top 10 😉
Wow. Drew seems willfully blind to the hypocrisy. I called him out for the incongruity of being an oft-professed “broke” blogger who repeatedly scorned the notion of anyone wasting points to fly business, or horrors, first. Because doing so would mean he’d forego many economy trips and that was supposedly anathema to what he was all about. Yet he blogs about his trip in F on Cathay? Huh?
Almost as incongruous as reading MommyPimp tell us how educational it was to drag a 4yr old on a round the world trip in business, because you know that’s what “families” do. Barf.
As for reading that many of the worst pimps in the business, er, hobby are just super duper great guys was astonishing – what about the damage they do preying on their clueless and ignorant readers? I guess being good guys makes it OK…
F me.
Amazing what nonsense gets into some people’s heads when they want to rationalize.
Paul, I respond to your negative comments over and over but you don’t seem to read it lol. So someone please point him to this comment next time he says the exact same thing.
Let me go on record and say… all of your criticisms against me have been ridiculous. I flew premium cabin 1 time this year with the miles from the AA card that paid me $200. In 2011-2012 we flew premium cabin 9 times.
Also, in regards to your negativity about my blog claiming to be broke travelers when I’m clearly a rich blogger is insane. It’s the 21st day of the month and so far this month we’ve made $1,200. On track for $1,600/month. I wish I could say that this was abnormally low, but anything above $2,000 is abnormally high. In fact, I’ve already way passed July, and in April I made $805. Can you travel full time as two people and pay student loans with $1,200 for 3 weeks of work? It’s freaking hard.
The comments here worrying about me selling out because of this post… or that time I had 2 links in one week, or the time I went to a BoardingArea conference… they all prove my post right. People are angry if I even try to make a living and they are willing to call me a sell out at the thought of my selling out.
Is anyone worrying about my selling out because of content decline? No. But this is the actual selling out I’m talking about, not George, for sure not. But the comments here that love me when you can benefit from me, but then call me a sell out for absurd misinformation like: my not being broke, my associating with the wrong people, the praise of that milenerd post against me, my increase of premium cabin (when it’s actually a large decrease). People love me when they can use me, and quickly name call.
These are not the kind of readers I’d want as friends.
Don’t think many “broke” travelers would ever be sitting front of the bus sipping chamfizzle and eating foie gras when they could get multiple trips back of the bus with a bag of nuts…but maybe that’s just me?
What’s next, will we see a comparison of caviar and which vintage chamfizzle is better for “frugal” travelers?
Pullin’ your leg. A bit. Just don’t fall for the Dark Side – they may be great pals in person, but we know they don’t hesitate to take advantage of the lazy and the ignorant – we see proof of that every day…
TBB, too bad you didn’t generate a personal referral link for the 70K Ink Plus offer. Apparently those are still working. You could be pimping the hell out of it right now along with your Amazon affiliate link. 🙂
I love love love travelisfree, but in didn’t drew and MMS have a business relationship (since drew was a ghost writer there for a bit). In the praise of MMS, this fact was not disclosed.
Would you reveal that? Lufthansa-gate has yet to be resolved.
Yesterdays Travelisfree post was poorly written. Drew isn’t a skilled writer, but I suggesting spending more time on a piece like that to make sure that your thoughts are clear and you have good arguments. You will never win anyone over when you use words such as “hate” or “angries”. And I struggle to understand the meaning of “sell out”. Steve on the other hand was able to pen a skillful emotional argument.
i can say with 100% certainity. i’d email something to george (since i have his email) if he is interested
Please explain to me why your Big 10 college town has a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe’s and mine has neither? Sad face.
http://www.milenerd.com/2014/10/why-bloggers-suckat-rants/
As usual, milenerd comes right to the point.
+1000. Great post.
If I complain that milenerd’s post is *also* a bit long-winded and somewhat forced, is it considered a rant about a rant about rants?
But it’s a great one.
That was a great post, well articulated and thankfully no comments are allowed.
Cheers,
PedroNY
Milenerd nailed it.
Smittytab-
Boulder has a Trader Joe’s and three Whole Foods, but half the town would trade them all for a decent football season at CU.
I love Boulder. Lived there for a couple short amounts of time. We have neither decent groceries nor football season. One of the things I loved about Boulder is that it could snow in the morning and you could still play tennis in the afternoon because the courts would dry by then. That is my offbeat memory, besides all the other things to love.
Wow, we had 3 vying for First at 12.34 am! This is more comments than the whole week at FTG 🙂
@ William Charles: Yeah it will be interesting. I just think their management is so inept that you just can not rely on what they say they are going to do because it may not get done internally. I now feel even better avoiding to give them any money. I got enough hotel points & nights.
@ P: I think you are being a little too tough on him on the F flights. One in the past few years is really nothing! I am all for protecting the newbies. And this whole rampant cc pimping, I must admit, gets really on my nerves. Sometimes I volunteer providing financial planning advice and the stuff I see makes me cringe. I am all for personal responsibility and all but just becoming a salesperson pushing the Ink Plus card 15 out of 20 last blog posts pretending you are an expert and you are all doing it to help family and friends fly for FREE makes me barf and keep my weight low so it is not all bad lol.
@ Hiker T: Amazon brought in $1.14 yesterday, those stupid ads $0. I think I am giving up on that IPO #sadface
@ james and abc: I remember asking MMS directly “Did you write the Lufthansa piece?”. I never got a direct answer. I advised Drew to not go on for so long, he can improve his writing so much and make his blog even better! Out of all the bloggers with “pure writing” skills (organization, grammar, clarity, etc.) I think Travel Summary is one of the best. As far as the ghostwriting goes, if you are going to do it, don’t get caught! i am sure it happens more. But even TPG never pretends he writes the articles appearing in his blog.
@smittytabb: Make that TWO Whole Foods and one Trader Joes.
@guera: Need to read that, thanks!
@ Sam: Here in Ann Arbor we will trade one Whole Foods for a winning Big Ten season record lol
ETA:
Steve Jobs’s 15th most inspiring quote: “Conspire with your competitors and agree to not poach each other’s top talent. Violate federal antitrust law.”
I didn’t read all of Drew’s post because life is short and the post is long. I might go back some time to read it.
I got to the part where he wrote, paraphrased:
“TBB criticizes MMS now, but look at TBB praising MMS in January 2013!”
This set-up is fairly sloppy and fallacious reasoning, and I had my fill of that grading student essays this weekend. I stopped reading there.
#FireHoke #FireBrandon
#eliminatefootball.
interestingly, i left a comment on travelisfree, questioning the lack of disclosure btw drew working for MMS, and it got deleted…
I reread his post again, and the whole “DP and FTG are nice guys in person” argument makes me roll my eyes. First of all, DP and FTG are internet bullys – see how they act on FT. but all that aside, how nice people they are have no merit on the content they produce. I’m sure President Bush and President Obama are nice people if you meet them, in fact i think BOTH would be fun to “hang out” with. but thats’ like saying that you can’t criticize the merits of their actions as president bc they are nice guys. a that’s a little is a little offputting.
James, I am 99% sure it is just not approved yet.
1.) We are online ALMOST all the time, but not ALL the time, so sometimes we don’t get around to approving comments right away.
2.) Anything with a new combination of email address/ username requires us to approve it first before it’s published. So even if you comment frequently, we need to approve any comments before they’re ever published.
3.) Ok, I checked. That is accurate. It just wasn’t approved yet.
*”many comments”, not “any comments”. oops. typo.
I think having a beer with Bush will be a lot more fun than having a beer with Obama 🙂 Brings to mind that movie Harold and Kumar go to Guantanamo (after White Castle, the classic!). Lol
Carrie: There is a lot of good feedback here for your man. For FREE 🙂 Learn from this. You guys have earned the right to earn more imho.
I appreciate your saying we have earned the right to earn more.
As for the free feedback, yes I’m sure there are things to glean from this.
This is how i see disagreements in general. I firmly believe that every disagreement is made up of two valid perspectives. Even if not all the points made are fair or good, there is at least some truth to be found in each participant’s core conviction.
Of course…that means I think our (yes, our) points have some lessons in them too. 😉
So…ditto.
But I mean that in the best way.
Point well taken. I have learned a lot about this too. I would love it if I am responsible to take some of the cc clicks from my “favorite” blogs and direct them to you because I always felt you deserve it a heck of a lot more than them. Or I am just being divisive again….after all, they are all nice people I am sure 🙂 [snarkiness at its finest, hehe]
I was surprised that Venckman’s response to Rene’s TIF comment @4:06 made it. I thought Doc Venckman was spot on as usual, man is a genius.
If the train ride from Hungary to Iran cost 40 grand, that might be a good place to find a Sugar Mama. That old bat in the train looked like she could use some company.
I just KNEW you would comment on this the moment I posted the pic, I knew it you dirty rascal you!
MILENERD IS ON FIRE TODAY!!!!!! PAUL, YOU JUST BECAME MY SECOND FAVORITE BLOGGER AND FAVORITE ACTOR. BRAVO!
Thanks for sharing the Homeless in Havana blog post, great read.
Cheers,
PedroNY
Yeah, i liked it a lot too. Welcome!
I think that Drew and Carrie are arguably the most transparent travel bloggers about, with the possible exception of TBB, and don’t quite get why people are beating up on TIF so much here. With regard to the ghost-writing MMS theory, if that occurred, I think it would be understandable for Drew to have left that out of his post if there was a non-disclosure agreement involved in the gig. Why am I reading this instead of packing?
TIF is a Blog I Love. No other miles/points blog is in there.
Regarding that unfortunate accident that happened at MMS it was not (Drew’s) fault. I better stop there…
That was definitely one of TravelisFree’s worst posts. So many logical fallacies, that’s it’s hard to chalk this post up to anything other than Drew defending some of the folks who pay for his ghostwriting. Because he’s way too smart to not think that those bloggers aren’t sellouts. If promoting inferior affiliate links isn’t selling out, I’d be curious to know from TIF what is selling out?
Full disclosure (or at least more than TIF provided in his post): Although I agree 100% with Steve’s comment in the TIF post, I am not that commenter
I write for one blog: travelisfree.com
Truly.
Also, I make no claims really as to which bloggers are/aren’t sellouts and which blogs have good/bad content. Except travelisfree.com… which did have bad content, and which did sell out by using crap like Discover links. That should go in the hall of shame for life.
My only point is that there are many readers who love my blog like they love the weather: day to day. Some are truly grateful and others come here and complain that I had two whole links in one week!
I also agree with steves comment.
>>>>>>>>>My only point is that there are many readers who love my blog like they love the weather: day to day. Some are truly grateful and others come here and complain that I had two whole links in one week!
I focus on the positive ones and laugh at the complainers. I actually enjoy reading the whiny ones. I miss Rick posting here 🙂 It’s like sitting back and watching the show. Popcorn time! (Imaginary….I gave it up this year…I miss it. I also gave up pizza….I have dreams about pizza!).
So, what I am trying to say is, GET USED TO THIS, COME ON!.
A blogger has a right to speak up his or her mind. It’s their blog. It doesn’t belong to the readers.
A blogger has a right to write about his flight in F.
A blogger has a right to like people that others don’t.
A blogger has a right to defend the actions of people he likes even if there are a lot of people who disagree.
A blogger has a right to rant no matter what other bloggers think about his or her writing skills. It’s the readers who vote with their eyeballs, whether or not a blogger has skills, not other bloggers.
A blogger has a right to write about pretty much ANYTHING that is not illegal, repulsive, or morally reprehensible, as long as he/she feels like it–without having other people gang up against him.
But–whoops–that would be true in a perfect world, which is not the world we live in.
I would be lying if I didn’t say that some comments in this thread make me cringe.
There’s a right not to be “gang[ed] up against” and criticized on the internet? Huh?
No one’s taking away – or advocating taking away – anyone’s right to rant or write anything. People are criticizing.
“No one’s taking away – or advocating taking away – anyone’s right to rant or write anything. People are criticizing.”
According to that logic, am I allowed to criticize those who “criticize” a good blogger with an excessive amount of venom in their critiques? Alright then.
Go for it.
LOL, I already have.
“A blogger has a right….”
I’m sorry, maybe i missed it – can you point me to those who are saying Drew doesn’t have the right to post what he did?
“It’s the readers who vote with their eyeballs, whether or not a blogger has skills”
LOL. Is that how it works? the quantity of eyeballs has nothing to do with other factors? Does that logic apply to other areas as well?
“United Airlines is a better airline than Cathay Pacific or Singapore”
“McDonalds is the best food in the world”
“The Academy Award for best picture should go to the Transformers movie”
nobody said anything about rights. everyone just sharing opinions. which they have a right to do.
Must have missed when they took away the “right” to write about things that are “repulsive?” There goes the (BA) neighborhood……..
Circle the wagons!
May I have the final word here?
Reminds me of Beastie Boys:
You have a right to fight to PARTYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!
Bloggers pour their souls out there (well, some are…some pump out 15 Ink Plus posts of their last 20 lol) so of course not ALL will agree with them. If you can’t take ANY criticism you should not be blogging because if you develop a following you will develop haters. The more successful you are the more haters/trolls/angries will follow. IT’S UNAVOIDABLE, ITS’ THE INTERNET!
So, do what I do, laugh at it!
I better stop, my chicken wings are here! Buy 10 get 10 free…can’t turn out a deal, it’s in my blood.
TBB, I have to jump in here. It’s
“you’ve gotta fight for your right to paaaaartyyyyyh”
Oops, don’t know how I messed that up, you are right! I loved that song!
Steve-
Thanks for the 411 that you were not the author over at TIF. While the post was quite good, it had neither your crisp wisdom and insight, nor your biting edge.
No problem and agreed – that Steve needs to come to TBB and he’ll have the wisdom, insight and biting edge down pat within days
lol, some people are never satisfied. ;^)
If I ever catch up after I am through this conference in Charlotte I am thinking of having your EPIC comment at TIF pasted here (with attribution and link back to TIF of course) as one of the GEM comments. May I have your permission (that other) Steve?
Someone said it was the comment of the year and I have to agree (to date anyway!)
Surely, feel free to use it. But please do change my misuse of the work “peak” to “peek” in the one of the last sentences. One of those things you see just as you hit “post.”
Okay, finished the article; most of the comments there and here have covered it. One small comment:
Drew’s discovery that Rick and Rene are friendly and polite in person recalls the Daily Show’s clip of Maria Bartoromo being surprised by John Thain’s assertion that things are good. Of course Rene’s friendly in person at the Chicago Seminars. He’s there as a salesman. On the internet, in non-face-to-face interactions, it’s another story. He gets criticized because he misleads readers to line his pockets and deletes comments that point to better offers.
ETA: Is it public record yet that one of the contributors to de Lambert’s Delta Points, based on a poor understanding of the laws and more bluster than sense, repeatedly threatened TBB with a libel/defamation suit? I’m sure in person that guy’s a real peach.
I am sure you have been classified as an angrie now too. You are part of the 2% or is it .2%…oh wait, sounds like the Barclay Arrival card valuation games lol.
I am still waiting to be served one lawsuit…waiting….
I met him at BACon, he’s a friendly guy. End of.
Guys I am in the Charlotte Westin. Sitting in a CFP Board required Ethics session at the moment. Hotel is nice but wifi does not work in my laptop in my room which absolutely blows! I am sorry I just can not respond and keep up as usual.
A couple of things…
I love the discussion this has generated, I think it’s very healthy.
Drew: I did not think your original blog post was necessary. Of course you can do whatever you want in your blog! I also did not think picking P’s comment to reply to was really necessary! Grow some thicker skin dude! Reread my comments 🙂
And yes I also thought Mile Nerd’s post was awesome!
And it so sucks to type this up on my phone!
Interesting George that you like the milenerd post which is clearly anti-me.
In it it says:
1) I’m a bad writer. Period. Although I will admit I wrote the entire thing waiting for the Cancun flight to board. But sad still to hear. Sad to hear you’d think that’s true.
2) I have a fear of making enemies… when last month I did a post calling out the blogs pushing the crappy cards like Virgin and the new crappy Citi card. This clearly isn’t true.
3) Again, he insults says IF one was a good writer, relationships with banks won’t allow one. There’s nothing that I’ve wanted to say and haven’t… so that isn’t true.
4) Debating the obvious, when apparently none of those things are obvious as I was complained of even using a single link.
5) He justifies hate, says that “too much hate on the internet” is a cowardly tactic. then in the next point #6) says he’s bullet proof.
6) I don’t get the point but in it he seems to think that the haters aren’t minority. Maybe this guys crazy?
What about this do you like? The part about me being a bad writer, the next cheap shot about that, the next one, the next one, the next one… Or how I’m fearful of making enemies… when I’m not and I don’t have enemies. None as much as people like this who dedicate posts about it.
None of these points make any sense. None.
But what it does prove is that there’s a divide. You guys like this post because it slams a blog.
I honestly don’t get it dude.
@Drew, I’m glad you took the time to respond to some of the commentary. People who read TBB for the most part LOVE YOUR BLOG. You have to understand that, first and foremost. If any of “the sellouts” wrote what you did, we’d probably all just laugh. But, because it came from you, we got nervous: “Maybe he is preparing to become ‘one of them'” (which you haven’t denied).
You are coming across as very defensive too. Other than one comment above where you say you agree with the Steve who commented on your blog, you seem to refuse to acknowledge that any of these people who are blasting your post MIGHT JUST HAVE SOME VALID POINTS.
You can still disagree with a lot of what people wrote but it’s silly for you (IMO) to stubbornly refuse that maybe, just maybe, you went too far in your defense of bloggers with bad behavior.
If your post was really about laying the groundwork for CC links (as I sense because you talk a lot about your money situation), my advice is JUST GO FOR IT. Be classy about it and, if you fuck up with bad links, TBB and co. will let you know. 😉
P.S. Yeah, I think MileNerd went on too long too. And so did this contribution by me. It’s damn difficult to write concisely!
P.P.S. I just visited your post again and noticed you responded to everyone. Kudos. Classy for you to respond to everyone!
I’m sorry if it comes across defensive, perhaps it is a bit.
I will say that part of the reason I’m seemingly ignoring comments about the quality of the content of other blogs, and the pimping and what not, is because it’s not what the blog post is about. I don’t say which bloggers are and aren’t sell outs… instead I just try to say: They are all people.
And that’s what I care about more. I care more Rene than I do Delta points, for example.
And I do try to acknowledge some good points, but again, I just don’t want to go down that path. My point is that they too are people. We’re all people. We all act under impulses to defend ourselves, to make more money, etc… That’s all. That’s all I want to discuss. I don’t want to discuss “us” vs “them”, “good” vs “bad”.
Thats all. And my talk about money, is because I try to keep it real. It’s a struggle for me. For us. Always has been. And if it goes away tomorrow, heck I don’t know what I’m going to do. I have no degree, no skills, no rich parents to live off of… it will just be us starting from scratch. And that’s really scary, and if my numbers don’t improve the plug could be pulled. What to do about it? IDK man. I already lost my amex links and some others for not using them. Just a tough time right now. I’m not plotting something, it’s just real talk. This is me. All my expenses are public, my travels are public… basically I am blogger and that’s all we have right now.
Darn, going on and on again.
I think if you title a blog post “Who’s Really Sold Out In This Game,” and your conclusion is that it isn’t the bloggers who sold out, it’s the readers who complain about selling out who are the sellouts, then you have to be prepared for some pushback from, well… a few readers. To extend on what I wrote in the comments of your blog: Most readers don’t have a relationship with Rene; they have a relationship with Delta Points. They don’t have a relationship with Daraius; they have a relationship with Million Mile Secrets. They don’t have a relationship with Ben; they have a relationship with One Mile at a Time. And it’s your privilege to have a different relationship with those individuals as humans and not just bloggers and to judge them based on their personality face to face rather than the character they present in their blog or in other online forums. But most of your readers, and readers of other blogs, do not. They judge based only on what they see and how they experience those relationships as readers. I think if you’re going to argue that we should differentiate the person from the blog, that’s fine. But if you’re going to do that, then you can’t tell people who are complaining about the blog’s apparent ethics that they don’t have a point because the dude is really nice in real life.
Maybe I’ll meet some of these people someday. Maybe not. I’m not under the impression any of them are bad people. I certainly don’t mind any of them making some money through the work they do. But I do think it is naive to say, “Well, I just won’t read those people that I don’t like,” and leave it at that – or worse yet, knock others who go further and complain. Because I’m not sure it’s just about “liking” people, as if ethical concerns were really just silly debates about taste or aesthetics. I genuinely think some readers think that the behavior of some bloggers is problematic. They don’t like to see bloggers profiting by enticing newcomers to make what they – rightly or wrongly – perceive as questionable choices. I think that’s a fair concern. If a lot of complainers go far in judging not just the blog content but painting with a broad brush the core character of the human behind them – and boy do they do that! – then sure, push back. But, like bluecat says above, it might be nice to acknowledge some of the points made.
I also will note, like bluecat, that I think it’s classy and a helluva lot of work to have a reply to nearly every commenter in your blog.
Steve (TIF poster): I endorse your other post and think you should publish it. Here, however, I think you had a misstep (IMO). You essentially said that Drew’s blog was different from the others because we associated him with his blog, unlike what we do with Dariaus and his cohorts. I have to disagree here…
I think readers do establish (weird) “relationships” with the bloggers, and bloggers encourage that. They strive to build (weird, Internet) relationship with people by sharing much of their private lives with them. These tidbits—FTG’s family members, Dariaus popping the question to Emily, Ben’s pajamas, MP’s kiddie pictures—these are all areas that we all normally would consider *private matters* but, to build rapport (and, therefore, readership) they do this. What I’m saying is ALL these guys have built a (weird, have to keep saying that) connection to their readers.
I think it’s human nature to consider all of these (oversharing) bloggers as good guys, until, like your bartender or hairdresser who starts to cheat us, we feel betrayed.
It’s hard, for me anyways, to separate the blog from the blogger once they have established that rapport.
I’m not sure I really understand what you’re saying about my comments above, but I’ll take a stab at response:
There’s the blog we can read, the blogger we get to know through the medium of the blog, and then there’s the person we could meet in real life who may or may not be exactly as they seem online. We of course associate every blog writer with their blog. We think of the them as one and the same, whether its Daraius/MMS or Drew/TIF. We can know a lot about the blogger through what they tell us personally and feel we have a relationship with them. But actually meeting that person in real life (at an FTU, for example) would reveal so much more. At that point, we have a chance to go beyond their online persona, their business model, their quirks of writing style. Same would be for Drew as for Daraius. (Doesn’t mean there are no differences – Drew seems different because he’s very raw and personal; MMS seems like a puppet show). But since I probably will never meet either person, all I can really evaluate is what I read.
Other steve (comment at 1045 PM): Okay, I just reread your earlier comment and see you were referring to the fact that Drew has met people and, therefore, sees another dimension that we, as mere readers of computer screens, have not.
I thought you were somehow saying we knew Drew better because of all his sharing, etc…. Mea culpa.
(In any case, I find it fascinating that part of many blogger’s M.O. is to (over)share personal information and then turn that base into prospective customers. Have seen it happen so often that I wonder if it’s in an InternetMarketing 101 book somewhere…that’s what I was talking about, although not relevant to your point….carry on!!)
drew, i emailed mile nerd today because i like your blog and his a lot. he said he wasn’t writing about you specifically. you should email him before jumping to any conclusions. you’re both good guys.
I loved MileNerd’s post–but not because I viewed it as a point by point refute of Drew’s post. Instead, I read it as a response to the whole string of defensive rants by the cc pumpers over the righteous criticism they’ve recently received. The only point that I thought might be relevant to Drew was #5–“polyanna.”
I’d be willing to subscribe to high-quality content like what Drew or TBB provides. I’ve paid Joe Brancatelli (sp) for many years to get his weekly biz travel newsletter. Don’t know if that model is still viable, but I’ll pay for good content.
I Agree. Mile nerd was great again about saying a bunch to a bunch of people. Im sure drew is taking things a little more personally right now with all the comments. I can’t blame the guy. But kind of started the conversation with that post.
Hello Drew and everyone in this last discussion thread.
It is late, had an awful time using the Wifi at the Westin Charlotte and escaped to a wings place with wifi. Plus it had a deal, buy 10 wings and get 10 FREEEEEEEE. Sorry, still stuck in Nightline mode lol.
I actually knocked down 10 and I am looking at the other 10….it will be a shame to let them sit there…dang it, it happens when I travel, I can’t control myself woohoo.
Drew I have responded to a comment way above. I am sorry I have not been back to your original post since yesterday.
We take the time to comment to respond to your blog post because we really care and we obviously LOVE your blog and want you to SUCCEED! So, embrace the valid criticism and ignore the type that is obviously not laid on any valid foundation (that may be hard sometimes to do I know but try).
I see life as that Lexus commercial, a relentless pursuit of perfection. Ok, everyone stop laughing now. Ok, back to my point. Your writing can be improved so keep working at it. DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY BUT USE IT AS A CHALLENGE TO IMPROVE IT. This is how I like to handle things. And listen to everything Steve (=that other Steve) has replied to you, there is a lot of wisdom there!. Franky I am not sure I have much else to add to the other ones who have replied.
8 wings left…they are very tasty wow!
You do not get Mile Nerd. Maybe because you have not been reading his blog. If you did you would not take things the way you did. I suggest email him directly, you will find he is a very down to earth individual who will give you great advice.I can assure you he is not crazy…wtf!
My point was your original post was not really necessary. It surprised us all. There are blogs who do things right and there are blogs that do not. Of course we are all people. And all the ‘advisors” who have scammed nest eggs of so many innocent consumers who trusted them I am sure they were very NICE in person too. That does not excuse their business practices. Bringing these out to the attention to inform newbies and consumers in general is good for humanity and we make the world a better place. Following me here?…Helping bloggers like you improves humanity and our hobby! We want you to succeed. Just do it in an open way and stick with what you do and improve it. I know where you are coming from….all this work and so little financial rewards…sometimes I want to stab myself but instead, excuse me….mmmm, yummy, the spicy kind is best.7 wings left!
And yes responding to every comments is super classy indeed. Just ignore the really “angrie” ones 🙂
I lost my train of thought…I am so full…I have so much email to catch up you guys. I apologize for not answering to every single comment.
And the next two days are FULL Days! My daily posting streak is in jeopardy!
Going through the thread, I have questions and comments, some of which I would like to hear Drew’s response on
1) Who ever criticized you for your affiliate link strategy? Maybe some one off commenter did it at some point, but between TBB and FT (the 2 areas where affiliate links are discussed more than anywhere), I have never seen anyone criticize you for it. And trust me – we don’t hold back. If anything, I think you don’t put enough – I’ve certainly seen posts from you were I thought affiliate links were reasonable where you had none.
2) As a whole, your disclosure policies are great. In this specific instance though it wasn’t. It is worth disclosing in the post that some of the bloggers you defend by name in your post you’ve worked as a paid writer for. On that note, you call out TBB for becoming critical of MMS despite no change in disclosure policies – that is incorrect. TBB started becoming critical of MMS when he had a Lufthansa series that not only did he not disclose the fact that he didn’t write that series, but actively mislead readers into pretending he did (“MY mother in law….”). Just out of curiosity…. who was it that ghost wrote that series for MMS for which he tried to take credit for? :). And around that same time, MMS also started censoring comments regularly – something he never used to do. So yes there was a change in disclosure policies, and a clear turning point for where TBB stopped defending MMS, consistent with TBB’s criticism of blogger disclosures and blogger censoring. You should correct your post – it’s factually incorrect that nothing changed on MMS.
3) You wrote a post titled “Who really sold out in this game?” and the answer to that question did not include DP, MMS or FTG as answers. Ergo, the post wasn’t good. And it’s pretty reasonable to assume that since they weren’t the answer to your thread title you either didn’t think they’re sellouts or you weren’t willing to actually call them sellouts. If the former, you have a very ass-backwards view of selling out, if the latter, then don’t make a post about it.
4) Pretty obvious the MileNerd rant was calling out this specific post, not you as a blogger. And no, you’re not a very good writer. But don’t take that as an insult – i don’t care how good your writing is as long as the content is top notch. Give me a poorly written TIF post where I learn something over a well-written FTG post about how 20K Avios will get me from CLT to LHR with 4 stopovers because they use nautical miles
5) You’ll have to excuse anyone (myself included) worried about you’re blog dropping in content based on posts like this. Hopefully we’re wrong about it, but most of us have seen this rodeo before – FTG, TPG and MV used to be superb blogs at one point and now are trash. VFTW and OMAT used to be superb blogs at one point and are now just Chase and Amex blogs who occasionally have good content (but at least don’t mail in their blogs, so credit for that), and guys like MMS or MP who were never really great blogs, but at least had a certain charm to them but now are just proxies for credit card companies. Those of us who like good blogging hold our breath hoping we don’t lose the few good bloggers we have left like you, Frequent Miler, Saverocity etc.
I want to reply as politely as possible, but some of if it is slightly offensive to me, but I know you don’t really mean it as such. Still, I’ll try to quickly answer your questions/comments.
1) Thanks. Although even here on TBB http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/blogbuzz-click-on-all-my-links-247-big-news-tbb-joining-boarding-area-means-the-end-of-blog-buzz-sadface/
“As much as I hate to say this, but is it just me or has Drew had 2 posts in the last couple of days with affiliate links prominently placed versus 0 in the last few months? Did he join BoardingArea???”
Then it continues… That’s one example. Although, obviously I’m more sensitive and aware of these comments than you probably are. 🙂
Kudos for Matt who always sticks up for me.
2) I answered this a couple times already but I’ll repeat. Disclosure implies that I would somehow financially benefit from recommending something. I 100% assure you that I have no financial relationship with any blog, except my own. I plan to keep it that way unless things don’t work out for TIF.
3) I don’t address any blogger being or not being a sellout. I don’t really care. What matters to me is how people treat other people. Daraius is a kind person, period. Further more, he conducts he blog in a way he sees ethical, and he has stood toe to toe with threads of pulling his links for things like posting older better offers. Things people don’t know about it, but he is truly kind and ethical. If you don’t like his blog, fine. I don’t care about that much either, the post is about benefiting from someones blog for a longtime and then being so quick to call names as soon as one stops benefiting.
This gets into the “just don’t read that blog then” debate. I quickly see how it’s happening to me. As long as I’m writing about economy I’m on Paul’s good side, but I’ll be darned the minute I fly F, I’m starting an evil empire. And that’s what I’m realizing, that there are tons of people who like my blog like they like the weather: day to day and very fickle.
And sure I see it go both ways, and that’s why I say last month I wrote a post about how bloggers are pushing crappy credit cards for profit. But at the end of the day I don’t degrade someones character.
4) It’s hard not to take that as an insult as I’ve been a writer for the last 3 years.
5) I don’t understand what I’ve done to warrant “worry”. That also seems a little unfair to me that I’m being judged based on other blogs. Of course I want to pay my bills and I’ve been open about that, but I’ve made no decline in the quality of my content, and as I say in my post, there has been no increase in the affiliate links on my site, despite what’s said. And this feels a lot like the loving like the weather, I was talking about. It feels like there are a few who are waiting on the edge of the boat threatening to jump off and leave if I do anything wrong.
My content will not change.
I take that back, my content will only get better. This is the only the thing I’m good at, and I’m obviously driven more by that than the money. So please, judge me on my work so far, not others.
Conclusion (I try to always have one)
I hope this does seem defensive or angry, as it isn’t angry. Just trying to converse honestly.
It’s me the rant artist 🙂
I think we are going in circles here…so let me have the final word…hey, it’s my blog!
1. WTF Drew??????????????? Steve praises you and I also think you don’t push your affiliate links enough and you choose to pick ONE comment of hundreds being critical of you? Are you serious? Some you just need to ignore. It comes with the territory. Get over it. Geesh!
2. I think we have established very well that MMS blog had a drastic turn. I think Steve is right again. We have valid reasons to suspect that you wrote the Lufthansa article and MMS pretended he worked so hard for it. I find this a highly unethical business practice, NOTHING TO DO WITH A PERSON. Can you say you have never had any financial relationship with MMS (the business)? If yes, I will believe you and I will apologize (actually go eat broccoli…lots of it…especially after knocking down 20 chicken wings….to my credit they were really tiny LOL).
3. Are you freaking kidding me? Like we don’t like treating other people in a nice way. But when we see bloggers treating their readers like phucking morons beating them every single freaking day, err. post pumping them up with ridiculous click bait headlines…let me go on please….telling them to cut the line by using grocery card (or whatever card it was, I forgot), pumping the UA affiliate card links and by passing to mention the one that can save the reader $55, telling them to go fetch the airport carts, pretending to write posts, using the same freaking questions in the Friday interviews and then using them to push more of their affiliate links. Don’t get me started about FTG, DP and MV….I am sure MMS is kind. Ethical…excuse me, like the other Steve says, I am not so sure. So if you don’t like stuff like that DON’T WRITE ABOUT SELL OUTS! Let me be the bad guy, I kind of get a kick out of it actually 🙂 Besides, I hate so overly commercialized businesses, so freaking boring and stale. Or maybe I am just not that greedy. I don’t know. I want you to be more successful than him and here we are the pumpiest blogs are the most (financially) successful. And that makes us very sad. One more thing, people are fickle, get used to it.
4. Maybe we are telling you that to help you? Roger Ebert once said: “What I do is condemning and helping”. Would it be better if we told you are the greatest writer in all blogland? HELL NO! You may get lazy then! Remember: We still think you are the best miles/points blogger! You have room to improve your writing. ME TOO! I used to be so freaking mindful of what I write I used to agonize and spend hours to write a single page. Blogging here at TBB has helped me a lot to just go with the flow. You stick with what you do best, we love that shit! If you want to get introspective and honest and real, just don’t write about sell outs ok if you are not ready to take the criticism! And pleeeeease learn how to take criticism…I think people criticize when they care about you. And you can spot the ones who just do it because of some issues. Not your problem and then it can take some experience (maybe age?) to distinguish between the two.
5) I agree with Steve. We have seen this movie before. “My content will not change” and we are a little skeptical. Hey I think it is natural to feel this way. We are the ones who read the blogs dude so you cut us some slack too! We are glad you say the content will improve. And we really want you to succeed financially because you deserve it (and not the mega pumping blogs<—————-notice I said blogs not the persons). Mile Nerd likes you and your blog too by the way.
Dang I just realized I could do blog posts with all this back and forth. Maybe I do a TIF/MileNerd GEM Comments post LOL!
Again, hinting: Drew, do whatever you gotta do to make more money. Hey, I need to do that some day…a third straight loss and IRS may think this is an actual hobby lol.
Oh crap, all these wings I can't go to sleep, this blog is like a drug addiction or something.
George,
What the heck?
1) He specifically asked, “Who ever criticized you for your affiliate link strategy?” and I gave a specific answer. What is there to be upset about?
2) I have no financial connection, and that’s the point of a disclosure. The continuing the subject is for the sake of gossip and nothing else. Regardless of the situation it has no current relevance. None. It couldn’t possibly affect my opinions unless I was getting paid commission, which is ridiculous.
I can’t even respond to the rest. It’s a joke. It’s nothing but negativity. I hope I never show someone I care for them like you seem to. Not in real life.
Honestly, I don’t want to be associated with this crowd. This will probably be my last comment here.
But if we’re giving tips for success, I’ll give you one that doesn’t diminish your life, work, or character. The angry thing scares off people. Go read the comments in that post George and take note of every name that is in the angry camp. Maybe 4 or 5 different names out of 100 people. They might comment over and over, and in fact, the same exact names are all here. But in reality it’s a small percentage.
The very first comment is “Well, let me be one of the first to say “Bravo”. This needed to be said.”
These people are aware of what’s going on. If you want to appeal to the few, that’s your choice, and you may enjoy doing so. Plus, it may be how you actually feel. But the ” We have seen this movie before. ‘My content will not change’ and we are a little skeptical”, and the insults about the writing, the unrelated gossip, the love me until you hate me, the angry tone… personally I don’t need or want it.
This is not a movement in the hobby I personally want to be associated with.
For the record: I wish you George, and TBB the best of luck.
Drew,
I am speechless, disappointed you feel this way and I am really sleepy.
And my stomach is on fire with all them spicy chicken wings.
Do what u gotta do. Thanks for the awesome content so far.
George
Do you like Ranch with your wings?
Yes
I keep noting that Drew gives “Clintonesque” response to question about writing MMS article. He always says he “has (present tense) no biz relationship with others”. But does not outright deny it.
Weaselly.
-1
-1 for Drew’s responses which do not make sense to me. Out of all the bloggers, MMS is the worst. No one said MMS wasn’t a nice guy. He kills deals for his own personal gain. Where is the “I want to help people out for free and want to give back to the community”?
I’ll keep applying through TIF links unless he pulls a MileValue. Keep up the good work.
Yeah, that is exactly how I feel about MMS. I try to just ignore his blog, but it affects all of us when he kills deals with his circles and arrows. And he encourages sleazy behavior, like trying to use your grocery card to trick your way into the priority security lines at the airport.
Oh dear, what a storm in a teacup. Drew, please get a real job. You certainly have a skill set that will pay you more than 1200$ in three weeks.
Wow, just wow. “Drew, get a real job?” Really? Really? Last I checked it was a tough job market for those with a college degree, much less those without. What also is incredible is after he was vulnerable here, you just kept beating up on him. And, I am amazed at the lack of civility towards Drew here. Do any of you have adult children? Would you treat them this way? If Drew were my son, I would tell him to keep doing what he is doing. And enjoy the heck out of this gig he has created. And I would also tell him to be true to himself and stop listening to all the negativity. It is toxic. I am tired of all the speculation about what Drew will or will not do in the future or who he has or has not written for. Let his content stand. Who he associates with is his business.
I know Oliver, you are misunderstanding him. We are basically telling Drew to NOT “keep doing what he is doing” and it is okay to do a little cc pimping because he has earned it and we hope he keeps up the quality content. If he keeps doing what he is doing, well, it is NOT sustainable! I get it now. We like that positive talk of course but it sure does not pay the bills. I am different and they only have this blogging thing so we really want them to make it and they got to change something. The negativity is from a few commenters, they exist. The vast majority of the feedback is positive, glowing actually. And by telling him to improve his writing…we are doing it because we care!
Let the content stand. That post was not a fine example. It happens. Hope we all learned something, I sure did!
That was plain rude, man!
Let’s not forget the sagacious words of Bill and Ted: “Be excellent to each other!”
Loved that movie 🙂
It was a sentence typed on the train before I had to get off. I was pointing out the fact that writing blogposts (undoubtedly of good quality) and burning the midnight oil to earn $800/1200/whatever cash is not worth it. Get out there and work a “normal” job, then rake in the sustainable long term money in the future. Heck even writing for IB gets you more!
The CC promoting won’t last and in a few years you will miss the footwork that should have been it into the career and not some M&P blog with secondary income. Sure if you have a regular career (look at the Greek god here with his EMU degree) you can write on the side to earn some cash in the evening when there is nothing good to see on TV?
This has been in my brain for a while and it is crowding it more and more. I feel like a rant is building slowly and steadily. We shall see if it ever comes out. If the darn blog posts in Feedly slowed down…
I see so many new blogs by young (and older) bloggers working away to build them to a level where they can make some big money. Thing is…this is VERY HARD work with TOO MANY competitors! To make the big money you need to pump nonstop. And in order to get to that position you worked for a long time (in most cases) not making much. It’s a stamina thing….I beileve, and what Oliver is saying I think, that most of the bloggers out there WILL BE BETTER OFF focusing on a real career building up some marketable skills to help them build a better life instead of blogging away in a sea of aspiring bloggers. Let’s face it, only a very few now have a unique voice and a real talent with really good original content.
On the same thought….maybe the big pumpy blogs are just going all out because they realize the present marketing model is just not sustainable. Then again, we are talking about a really weird animal…US Banks. Never underestimate them to do things no other banks do! lol
i am proud of EMU. I wish my son would consider going there but he won’t even consider it. Oh well.
The greek god reference made me laugh…like a lot….still laughing!
Plus one to SmittyTabb and plus a lot more to MileNerd’s followup “rant” today. I do hope that MN’s post today will put an end to all this bickering. I have remained silent, because with all the comments, the points I might have made had already been made countless times. I will say just two things:
1) The fact that a person has been writing a blog for “x” number of years does not make him or her a good writer. Most of the bloggers I read, and I am pretty selective, could benefit from some efforts to improve their writing skills. There are some exceptions – Sam of Milenomics and Scott of HackMyTrip come to mind and there are a few others – but in general I am appalled on a daily basis at the poor grammar and idea development I see on most of the blogs in the travel hacking space. There is little if any outside editing done on the work of bloggers in this space and it shows. It is also understandable, if too bad.
Indeed, the derivation of the word “blog” is the combination of “web” and “log” and the earliest ones on the net were similar to personal journals of their authors. But the blogs metamorphosed from personal journals into theme-based efforts, and that led to the entry of advertisers and affiliates, as bloggers realized they could monetize their daily ramblings. Monetization brought even more bloggers to the space. With that, the quality of the writing, which varied to begin with, dropped even lower. Monetization also encourages a rush to be the first to reveal a new hack, because the first guy just might get more clicks than those who follow. Writing in a hurry rarely produces a well-written piece.
2) The fact that someone is nice and friendly in personal interactions does not mean that he or she is an ethical person in his or her business dealings. I am certain that many of Bernie Madoff’s now ex-friends thought he was just the greatest guy. And they may have given him their money to invest because of that.
Moreover, we do a disservice to this space if we do not evaluate the work product a blogger produces. No need to call names or claim to hate someone, but the words bloggers write, the suggestions they offer, the strategies they develop and the interactions they have with their readers all must count. To my mind, these things count more than whether or not someone seems “nice” when I meet him or her.
Just my two cents.
Beautiful comment, thank you
Wow twa44 that was awesome. Big thumbs up to people like you, mile nerd, and george who can express yourself so well. Pity not everyone can do it.
Thanks. I actually think I totally suck in writing!