It was a very exciting day at the comments in yesterday’sblog post. Traffic skyrocketed again as Rick of the Frugal Travel Guy took the time to rant about me, giving me some of the medicine I serve here. I felt honored that my 1 week old blog has attracted so much attention. Honored AND VERY surprised. Some people take me way too seriously, I hope you readers do not as I certainly don’t! I will again suggest you read my introductory post to read about where I am coming from and what I am doing here. I will have more to say when I get around to it. Rants too, don’t worry! Or you can read the very entertaining comments in this post, they are very worthy I think! I just need to catch some sleep this weekend and I will be back in ranting mode:-)
New policy: If I talk about some blogger (yes I will, this is the Travel Blogger Buzz after all!) I will be linking to their site. It is the least I can do for having the opportunity to roast them here (or praise them, I do this too!)
I am noticing an effect on the quality of the blog posts I see lately. A real effort to post good content & a bit less cc pushing (of course,we all know that won’t stop anytime soon!). I am doing my part to help the travel blog space become a better community…in a twisted sick way of course as I am, deep down, a sick and twisted individual. Hey, I am in my third therapist remember!
Yes even PointsEnvy caught all the hell that broke loose yesterday. Nothing goes by them, absolutely nothing. Sharpest cats in our insane hobby, no one else comes close! Wouldn’t be great if PointsEnvy interviewed me? Wacky questions and bizarre answers [Hint, hint!], nothing boring like MMS interviews “so tell me how you started”, “what does your family think of your hobby?”…zzzzz.
That
I have seen first hand what newbies go through when that light bulb goes off in their heads:
“From there, hobby took off exponentially” [Yep, hooked on crack for life now, welcome to the club!]
“It was at this point that I became truly addicted to collecting miles and points.” [Strongest crack that exists man! When you see that 50k
Which leads to a crashing of the interview when he admits he stays in hostels? EXCUSE ME?? Should we allow this person in our exclusive club of Presidential suite upgrades, free minibar roaming, lounge access, etc? After experiencing a suite in just one of the many luxury hotels featured in so many trip reports will he ever go back to a hostel?? I wonder what PointsEnvy will do when he/she/they find out that one of us admits a fondness for hostels? Just switch the world “Practice” with “Hostels” here!
“I think most friends and family think I’m certifiably insane.” [ We know the feeling dude, it’s ok, we understand, we have each other, if you need a hug at FTU or Chicago Seminar we are all there for you. Oh, wait a minute, maybe not. You may be confused with the guy from yeserday’s post who mentioned he will give hugs to anyone who applied for a cc through his link!]
“I have an amazing crystal ball”. By any chance, did you loan it to Karl Rove and company just before the election? 😉
@TravelBloggerBuzz – as much as Delta is charging for everything (grrrr), and now their own jet fuel from their plant, their stock should make money for shareholders (I know nothing about that stuff so NOT say’in to buy DAL stock!). As to Tamara, I am so proud, such a “team player”! I hope she will agree to write for the blog each Friday! 🙂
I think you know what I do for a living. If not, ask Rick:-)
We have a saying: “First rule of investing: Never ever buy an airline stock”
Tamara is a nice lady I am sure. But I think most readers are not learning anything we don’t already know, can she step it up a bit?
Thanks for the advice by DM on twitter, there is so much to learn, I am just concentrating on writing and my “expert” commentary digs, have no time for anything else!
An open letter to the travel blog community
I just have to get these things off my chest, I can’t take it any more. I have been reading FTG for approximately 2 years. It was recommended to me by a friend and I started with 4 (2 each for my wife and I) Citi American cards for a total of 300,000 miles. I was amazed and hooked instantly. About a year ago I started reading “the rest”, if you will, and of those (like many) I have enjoyed Frequent Miler the most.
I am very frustrated by the general tone/sentiment in the blog world during the last few weeks. First of all, why do all the haters think that becoming a blogger means you are supposed to be freaking Robin Hood. Travel blogging has no priestly oath of chastity and poverty (that I know of). These guys are using their time to write about a hobby that they enjoy and WHY ON EARTH SHOULD THEY NOT MAKE MONEY DOING IT?? This is the United States of America, where if you provide a product or service that somebody else wants and sees value in you can turn it in to a business. And quite frankly, you’d be a fool not to. I literally could not care less that the bloggers put links in their posts for cc affiliate links. They could put six in each post and it wouldn’t matter to me. I read their posts and either find them useful or not to my particular situation. When I do sign up for a new card I use the link of the blogger that I’ve enjoyed most in the recent past. I’m glad to do it BECAUSE I feel like I’m helping the people that teach me about this great hobby every day. I wouldn’t have found out about it on my own, so don’t I owe my gratitude and business to those that have helped me the most. I would even click on a donate button if I didn’t already know that the links pay directly to the bloggers.
I understand people saying that the posts are all filler and the same old thing every day. Here’s my take on that, if I was going to a blog that posted a new cc link every day with the text…this card is good, you should get it, click on my link…I would stop reading too. There are blogs that I skip every day because their posts just don’t do it for me and I will never click on their links. YOU CAN ALL DO THAT TOO! I know this has been said before, but if you don’t like it…just don’t read it and quit complaining.
I don’t understand why all the haters seem to have this sense of entitlement that the bloggers should bend over backwards to provide new content to them daily, not receive any compensation for it, and then smile and tell everybody to go enjoy the information that they took the time to gather and post for nothing in return.
Anyway, this was kind of a rant (I have enjoyed and laughed at TravelBlogBuzz over the last week too btw) but I just had to get it off my chest. Thank you to all the bloggers for all that you do and for making it so easy for us to support your efforts with affiliate links…I (for one I guess) really sincerely appreciate it.
~Matt (and no Rick I’m not including my last name…this is the internet. Geez)
Email me if you want 😉 ukmatt78@gmail.com
Matt: I think most of the rage and anger is due to the fact that some blogs continually expose deals (in a step by step manner) that required the average person to do a little leg work to understand the gist of the deal. By breaking it down into layman’s terms, anyone who had 10 minutes to spare could have learned the “trick”
Is that a good thing to the travel hacking community? That’s where people are taking sides to this issue. For everyone who’s bitching about non-travel bloggers feeling “entitled” to a deal or what not. No, we simply want to keep the deal going, avoid suspicion (with an exponential increase in activity), and everyone’s happy.
Rant on:
IMHO, You just can not trust most blogs anymore. Used to be that they would post good, useful, honest content about how to acquire award points. I got started with the British Air Visa 100k. Hooked! Had been reading the blogs, followed the link, and enjoyed a first class trip to Europe. That built trust. Soon after, the blogs said: “hey, you, over here, there is some more ‘crack’ for you ….link…try this”. Sure! tastes good. Give me some more. What the TravelBloggerBuzz is pointing out (in a light, entertaining way)is that these blogs contain so much crack offerings now that is is obvious that they are pushing the links for the affiliate credit card dollars. It is so obvious that it is a turnoff, and the blogs are very boring … here is some crack, here is some high-octane crack, here is some elite crack, link,link,link,link. And I for one wish to thank the TravelBloggerBuzz for providing this daily ‘recovery meeting’ for us addicts to receive some therapy. Keep it up. Rant off.
Yes, I think the blogs can provide very useful information on strategy, tactics, hacks, trip reports, etc. Just have to scan the headlines to ensure skipping over the “Next Great crack Deal is Here!”
3LeftTurns:Some of them have quotas they need to meet and this explains the continued barrage of cc posts! And some are just plain greedy, hooked on the easy money of unsuspecting people who probably do not have the discipline to do what we do & UNDOUBTEDLY get in over their heads & become slaves to Jamie D (Chase’s CEO) for many years. Nobody gives a shit about this damage, bloggers just care about how much money they can bring in. I have no doubt if the aff cc links and easy money through them were NOT available most of these bloggers would NOT continue on, they will fade away to oblivion. As they should as they are clealy not doing it because it is their passion and only doing it for the money. And that is just sad. That does not make this world a better place.
Jessica: I absolutely agree. In my real job, commissions is a four letter word. It creates CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. It pollutes your brain cells just by the fact that they are present! And the bloggers can shout all they want how pure their judgement is, that they are not influenced, yada yada. They are in bed now and they have to dance. That is what that former Merrill Lynch CEO had said with the mortgages they were shoving down people’s throats. Am I showing my antibank tendencies a bit here? Sorry, can’t help it!
@matt
It is simple. The affiliated links create bias. The bloggers begin pushing things that may not actually be a good deal so they can get paid. I have seen this many times.
Matt: I responded to you in the MMS blog. Yes I was there getting me new material for my blog Thank you again for your eloquent thoughts!
Ray: I am with you man. There are now MANY blogs and more are coming online almost daily. The editorial staff at TBB is very hard working and unpaid I may add you…keeping up with all of them is getting increasingly harder! As more come onboard, there is increased reitaration of the same deals and the good original content is getting harder and harder to find. So, when one finds something buried in Page 97 of a Flyer Talk thread the others, not wanting to be perceived as “slackers” pile on to it and then EVERYONE talks about it. Also keep in mind that Slick Deals and Fat Wallet boards have also grown fantastically in the last several years. The 2008 crash also has made a big impact in the increase in the influx of more people like us, you know, more crack addicts! As more are doing it, some of them become hogs due to hoginess and/or newbiness which just leads to shutting down. I mean, the end of the 5xOD/Vanilla deal was very swift! We could have carried on among ourselves, let our family members and good friends know and it could have been the best thing since the US Mint, lol. Nope. I hope I made some sense…sometimes I just start writing, what great therapy indeed!
@Jessica I totally agree with you that bias can be created…however, I guess I think it’s the readers (not the bloggers) responsibility to understand what they’re getting in to and figure out whether it’s a good deal for them. And again, when I see a blogger annoyingly pushing the same cc link over and over with no new content that I’m interested in…I just move on and stop reading them. I’ve resorted my order of these blogs many times.
@Ray That is a different issue…I’m actually not sure how I feel about that one. Being fairly conservative in this game myself I definitely wish the hogs would not kill deals so fast. I do, however, think that there are many more readers of FT, Fatwallet, Slickdeals, etc. than there are the blogs. As you saw from my post, I’m really more annoyed by the people that give these guys such a hard time for making money doing this.
Lets try some statistics here to try and move the discussion from ranting and emotion to facts. I’m of the three blogs that you can actually get info on (Pointsguy, MMS and me) the smallest. Daraius is a little larger and Brian the largest (probably twice the size of mine) as far as readership. I get 5-7K visitors per day, Daraius a few more and Brian maybe double even triple. These numbers are nothing compared to FT. Our Alexa rankings are probably 25K largest, 20K largest and 9K largest sites in the US. In contrast Fatwallet is the 452 largest site by Alexa ranking with over 6000 sites linking in to it. I have 200+ linking in. Flyertalk has more people online at any one given moment than I get all day. You want to complain about somebody closing down deals, keep it off Fatwallet. Those are the statistics.
Readers are not stupid. They get and do what they want. Bloggers have pushed the crap out of the INK products last month because of the Gold Mine of 5X. True, it was the best deal around. We get readership increases by providing good information and summarizing the monstrosity that owns my blog, FT, which has become so big and cumbersome the average reader just doesn’t have time. And the most popular card the last 15 days on my blog was the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I know, I just checked the statistics for the first time on the leading card by approval. It was not what we were pushing but what the intelligent readership thought was best
And it is about time we all admit we are addicts when it comes to this stuff. We will do or say anything to get our fix. For all of us it is the “deal” and for bloggers you can add the allure of cash from affiliate links. Why in Gods name would anybody read 10-12 blogs all covering the same subject day after day even though there is no new information. Why would you obsessively check FT numerous times per day? Why would we rant over miles and points? Because we are “addicts”. We can’t control ourselves and need our “fix”. And that goes for us bloggers as well. As hard as it may seem to you, I want the miles and points as bad as you do. Thats the “game”: beating the system. That’s the “high” I’m as sick as the rest of you that the 5x deal died. You can believe me if you want or not. I dont really care. But please take a look at your own behavior before lashing out at somebody that suffers from the same addiction you do. And family and friends and daughters and sexuality and personal attacks need not be part of the discussion.
Rick, thanks for a very thoughtful post. I knew you will come down eventually:-) Sadly, it came after the editorial board at TBB decided to elaborate on your post from yesterday about helping that 23 year old whose parents carry a $12k balance in their Amex. I so hope it is their monthly bill about to be paid off:-)
I will respond here when I find some time. Lots of personal things to do today. This blog thing is a timesuck for sure as I was afraid. I am stepping away from my computer now and I promise I will be back, I am not going away, getting stuff out of my systems is the best therapy, I think my therapist is right, I may keep her afterall, lol.
Rick, thanks again for posting with facts and arguments and not ranting out loud (like about my name, come on!). I forgive you, you just had a bad day or two, we all do!
Thanks a lot for the numbers info on the sites, very informative!
Yeah, Fat Wallet folks are a problem. My point has always been as blogs grow in numbers, more spoonfeeding is spread and then it just becomes TOO easy to do by pretty much anyone…leading to more hogs…leading to killing of the deals MUCH faster. It is happening, I see it. You add the fact of the easy money by the aff credit card links…and it has just become a relentless barrage of credit card link orgy!!
You sold at the best time I think and congrats on that.
Don’t get me started on the other issue I wrote in today’s blog about the 23 year old. You could respond there if you want, you do increase my hits and I also link back now to whoever I had the honor of featuring in my blog:-)
And I agree with you 100% about your last paragraph. I am SO addicted to this crack! With the time I spend on the blog now, I see I have less time for office supply/drugstores excursions and that bothers me the most of all, lol.
>>>>>>>>>And family and friends and daughters and sexuality and personal attacks need not be part of the discussion.
I absolutely agree man! Can I still say my favorite blogger posts way too many pics of himself and his wife? He does! NOBODY else does that! He is very tenacious that kid, what can I say? His numbers are impressive, wow…doing this part time!
I have no clue where this is going to lead, I am enjoying the ride!
Thanks again for all the years we know each others. Friends again or will you bar me from Chicago next year? 🙂 Whatever happens, the editorial board of TBB will do its thing. Love that independent voice, I am kind of like the lone gunman or something like that. Whatever I am tired, personal trainer kicked my ass today again, I need a nap!