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| One Mile at a Time found this trying to book a Delta Skymiles Award. This should be a felony! |
ON MY MIND
I need to learn how to take a nap. I missed going to the gym yesterday. The action in the comments yesterday was intense. I need to clone TBB to have someone else reply in the comments on my behalf perhaps:-) I need to find a way to slow down. I bought a book titled “8 Minute Meditation” and started reading it on the plane to Las Vegas earlier this month. I stopped at Part II when it was time to start devoting 8 minutes a day practicing because…I don’t have time. Please laugh! I can’t stand LeBron and Wade and Bosh and Riley and all of them in Miami. I better stop drinking Frappuchinos (mocha light kind). So many graduation parties to go to. To Ann Arbor residents: the Yassoo Greek Festival is this weekend, be there!
TRAVEL
The World’s 15 Hardest Countries to Visit. By Gunnar Garfors on Media and Travel. I may have featured this one before but so worth it. North Korea is NOT on the list…so you know this is a very interesting post!
A tour of the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai. I can dream about this because, obviously, I am no Gary (View from the Wing) or Ben (One Mile at a Time) to be worthy;-)
Three new tiny hotel chains you never heard of! From Hotel Chatter. The name of one of them is “Grandmas Hotels”. U serious??
Nate at Yomadic is meeting The Blonde Gypsy somewhere in the Balkans. He recommended her site. A quick look at it and I was hooked. Love unique real travel bloggers! Plus she has the name of my hometown, how cool is that!
MILES/POINTS
Did you get the US Air companion certificate after getting the Barclay’s US Air card ( you may have several) and already forgotten about it? Mommy Points shows how you can retrieve and actually use the US Air companion certificates. It may be helpful for some, I have two laying around. I still do not plan to use them but now I may keep them because ya never know. If no US Air card, you can skip to next item below!
If you need to place an award with United on hold, Milevalue’s post is a must read. See you tomorrow in the Blog Buzz section? 😉
TBB endorses using your miles this way if you are a sports fanatic. Dan at DansDeals shows you how. I am no baseball fan but I can see how memorable something like this is.
If you are going to sign up and use the latest two hotel booking sites RocketMiles and Pointshound, do it at the links View From the Wing has in his posts as he, kindly, gave up his own kickbacks to his readers. I wish others did this which…should lead to more credit card signups:-) Win-win, no?
BLOG BUZZ
“Sapphire, Ink and Other Cards“. A very funny take on credit card affiliate links by What’s Your Point. This was posted back on May 23 and I had it marked to feature here but it happened when I started losing the hair in my eyebrows and, obviously, I was distraught:-) Then I lost track of it, got it now!
The Points Guy had another mega…you know what. I am tired.
First2Board has a preliminary schedule on the Charleston city gathering. I thought this was going to be similar to a DO, no commercial aspect behind it. I guess I was wrong. Tickets go on sale on June 15. But wait, you can add your name to the VIP list here. I see Frugal Travel Guy and Mr. Pickles presenting. And I see “several industry leaders” on the list to appear. Well, it does sound like FTU to me then lol.
I despise sweepstakes contests that are NOT one-time entries. Unless it is for a car or a house or something that big.
Brace yourself for lots of Daily Getaway Deals buzzzzzzzzz
ODDZ & ENDZ
Drinking Too Much Coffee Is Now A Mental Disorder. Aha, I knew it!
A Ukranian guy does this? A legendary WTF moment indeed!
Eliminate These 8 Things From Your Daily Routine I know I should stop doing these, you should too. Let’s doooooooooooooooo iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit
May I suggest a daily graph, chart, meter or drawing of some sort to keep us up to date on the state of your brow. Yes, I know I look like George Washington and that I’m dead.
I actually met Louis twice. Nice guy but..oh boy, did he have a love affair with drinks:-) RIP Louis.
I thought of taking a self-eyebrow pic daily…then I came to my senses!
Seconded!
Just create an account here – http://365project.org/
Interesting site…The ones who post there sure have plenty of time on their hands…I ain’t got time for dat:-)
Agreed on the First2Board DO. Disappointed. I’m hoping for more awesome ideas like the BRT.
First2Bore
Yeah, interested on the BRT too!
@Anonymous – if you’re bored, that must mean you’re looking at our site. Thanks for adding pageviews and putting money in my pocket.
Wow that is a very class response
In almost six months of blogging, one of the things I learned is that “haters gonna hate”. I take criticism as a challenge to improve! I will never please everyone, no one will.
VGP: May I suggest you do that too? I would have responded to the Anon at 6.34 am by saying “Thanks for your comment, please get me some ideas on how to improve our site, we are always looking to improve!”.
This is what MA meant to say, I am certain of it:-)
Oh, yea, and once the latter portion of the Daily Getaways are announced we’ll hear nothing but endless posts about the average 200 packages available. Assuming the latter week’s packages are worthwhile. Hilton will have to offer a crapload over previous years to make it worth the money. Thousands upon thousands of people fighting over a tiny number of point packages. Right.
I feel the same way about them.
George, your MileValue prediction has already come true.
He runs ‘best uses for Skymiles’ .. because THAT’S never done before
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2012/12/28/top-eight-best-uses-of-delta-skymiles/
http://thepointsguy.com/2012/12/travel-tuesday-top-10-ways-to-use-delta-miles-before-the-skymiles-program-probably-changes/
(And TPG managed to write the post without any credit card links embedded in the text! Only a big ad at the end for the Delta Amex.)
So what did MileValue’s “original” contribution justify…?
“Delta miles are easy to get. There are multiple personal and business Delta credit cards issued by American Express.”
We get the Delta Amex and multiple links to the Business Gold Rewards! Because it’s brilliant advice to transfer Membership Rewards points to Delta with no bonus. 🙁
Good luck burning those sky pesos. I have been sitting on 250k points for more than a year. Can’t put them to good use. KLM and AF are dead even in coach (going to Europe_. Delta has very few “saver” awards in coach. Sadly I don’t get enough vacation to visit Australia or Fiji.
Another TBB prediction comes true:-)
Where are Pickles secret tips? Its Friday, Wednesday has come and gone. Did he swallow his parrot ?
Not sure what is going on…
” I see Frugal Travel Guy and Mr. Pickles presenting. And I see “several industry leaders” on the list to appear”
Wasn’t FTG just ranting a day or 2 ago about how FTU has all corporatey?
And then George pointed out that Chicago Seminars had a Nightline crew filming. Oooops.
But then First2Bore (love it, Anonymous@634am!) has been telling both of its readers to go to FTG for credit card signups (bad advice, he doesn’t provide best links OR disclose).
At least until F2B added disclosures of its own credit card affiliate relationships!
All us angries should show up in Charleston and demand accountability for F2B’s crappy ‘travel deal’ affiliate links.
Thank you for the comments, I always enjoy reading and responding.
I was under the impression that the Charleston meetings would be like a FT DO, no commercial aspect. Maybe I misunderstood it from the get go.
Maybe it is time for an “Angries Do” lol.
Isn’t it amazing how many of these meetings/seminars can take in, wow!
Anonymous, first2board does not, let me repeat that for you, does not have credit card affiliate relationships. Look all over the site if you like and you will not see a single one. We have affiliate links to Hotels.com, Expedia, etc… but no one writing about and including credit card affiliate links.
Second, the agenda posted was a “highlight” and it clearly says that. The Charleston event will 2.5 hours of presentations out of around 20 hours of scheduled activities.
And regarding FTG, it’s your opinion as to what he provides and if it’s good or bad. Luckily not everyone has to share you opinion. And, he does provide full disclosure. Have you noticed the four paragraphs at the bottom of every page?
If you’re angry don’t come – I promise, we won’t be offended.
Hahaha I think you’re missing a “for now” VGP. But I guess when you have a horrible deals site and make your $$ off of BentOffers links (that just happen to not be credit card links) what’s the difference? You’re still making $$ off of people just the way bloggers who have cc links do…just a different product.
Also…with regards to FTG…he may have a disclosure, but you’ve never disclosed what your relationship with him is. You might as well have cc links with how much you refer to him and how much he promotes posts on F2B. Backdoor deals are worse than ones out in the open.
Short response to VGP:
I think you should not be boxing yourselves in to a corner because, if that ever changes, credibility may be impaired! For some reason, some readers think I am anti affiliate credit card links. I never was, am not and never will be! I am anti crappy/sellcarpetbombing/lazyfiller/notadding value AND assaulting readers with them! This is for the record (yeah, you MilesAbound) 😉
Ok, this is going to make my good friend even angrier. I appreciate your site not pushing credit card affiliate links left and right, I really do! And, believe me, I know how hard it is for entrepreneurs to step up and take some risks so I applaud you and Dennis for doing so! And this space could use some competition you know!
Your site needs to find some heavy hitters to carry it for the long term, one with the following: GaryLeff, Ben/Lucky and Frequent Miler. And you need to keep working on developing the F2B brand. What IS the F2B brand? And, my friend sit down please, here is what I think: I think your F2B brand is not being helped by being associated with FTG. Having all readers referred/recommended/linked to the FTG site is, in my own humble (as always) opinion, NOT helpful to your readers! First rule of blogging in this space should be “Do NO Harm”. The reasons for this have been stated in this blog and others (that do not censor) many times.
I looked into getting flights out to Charleston. After seeing tickets/VIP lists/and who is presenting I lost my appetite. I am certain it will be a whole lot of fun and wish you the best of luck & success with it.
FTG’s version of “full disclosure” is what corporate lawyers do to justify their paychecks! Complying with the letter of the law but not the spirit. Runs rampant in the current state of financial services in this country, nada new unfortunately!
We are not angry. The only ones who keep repeating the “angry” theme is you know who. Don’t fall for that:-)
I also recognize how tough it is to equate the financial aspects and the blogging spirit. But it can be done I think. Frequent Miler, DansDeals come to mind. Yes, brain trusts like GaryLeff and Ben/Lucky come to mind too (guys, can we limit the top 5 or 10 posts like once or maybe twice a month? thanks!). Aspire to that and not sacrifice for the easy dough. Yes, the deals are not that great, I am sorry.
I also believe FULL Disclosures and Transparency should and do go a long way.
Everything I do here is constructive criticism. Sometimes it may hurt. NOTHING personal.
Have a thicker skin. Laugh it off. It is healthier this way to keep sanity.
TBB
borderlineclinicallyinsane:-)
I think the F2B brand is doing pretty well. Launched March 1st.. we are only in May and our Alexa Traffic Rank in US is 17,636… at this rate, we will be having better viewership than the big boys. Like you said, Rome wasn’t built in one day.
Yes I follow it, moving along pretty well…See my DM
DansDeals does stand out among the bloggers, particularly points/miles/deals accruals (call it “buyside” of this hobby if you will). He is rounding it off with redemption (sellside) as well with some new tips and tricks. All in all a great site.
I posted on MVD thread on FT that it was a really great original find of his after folks unnecessarily started bringing attention to it. There were good subtle hints in FT plus even more details in Dan’s post in his site. I sure reaped the benefits for a good 2-3 months.
There is something left to be desired about the readers comments over there, but hey easy to laugh it off and move on. Dan must attract a lot of newbies 🙂
I agree. I made another estimated tax payment with my MVD card. I have not been shut down…then again, I never went nuts with it:-)
I have not been shut down either, but then again I had a few unpublished strategies going for the most part 🙂 after taking the cue from Dan. I like it when an idea comes out and then left to readers to think outside the box instead of laying out everything in open.
Dan seems personable going by his comments here plus he is mostly working too hard for long hours to get everything going on a daily basis. Muchos respect.
Glad you enjoy the site. As you can tell arrows just aren’t my thing 🙂
Really got to find out where to hire some ghostwriters though to cut down on my hours.
Who ya’ gonna call? Ghostwriters!
Dan By the look of the picture on your site you are taller and bigger than Grizzly Adams, or is Justin Masterson a midget, I mean little person? Shalom Baby
ROFL!!! That just made my day!
It’s just the angle of the picture and that the player’s parking lot is lower down than where I was standing.
I may be 3 months older than Masterson but at 6 foot 6 he’s 8 inches taller than me!
Shabbat shalom!
I look at that picture and I thought that Dan was getting an autograph by a Little Leaguer. I was afraid that Dan may kick my as*:-)
Does EVERYONE need to remind us that today is the LAST DAY TO BUY US AIRWAYS MILES WITH 100% BONUS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And they don’t even get affiliate income off selling those miles, right???
I mean it’s the last day until US Airways runs the offer again, which is 3/4ths of the time.
Guess most of them need filler.
You will never be reminded of such a “deal” in my blog, rest assured.
And thank you Lord for not adding filler like this. Then again it sure beats seeing another Chase card link:-)
Does it? At least sometimes (not often, admittedly, but sometimes) bloggers work hard — really, really hard! — to find an interesting, different, or amusing angle with which to pimp Sapphire Preferred etc.
There’s not much effort that goes into these US Airways 100% Bonus on Purchased Miles Last Day!!!!!! posts. 🙁
You do make a great point you know!
I visited your friend Ariana at FTG and pointed out that she had a lesser Citi AA affiliate offer up. She asked me where to find the better offer. Now, recall that one of Rick’s defenses against not always having the best offer is that the game changes quickly. But, sigh, c’mon, the better non-affiliate Citi AA offer has been in a prominent, well-known, extensively-linked FT thread for almost two years now. (This isn’t the first time I’ve noted the better AA offer in the FTG comments sections.)
I used to smile at the naifs who offered suggestions of better (non-chain) hotels and sights for the Churning Challenges and TPG’s destination guides. “Silly naifs!” I thought. “The point of this post is not to review the best opportunities for a visit. The point is to sell credit card sign-ups.” But now I’m coming to realize that I’m a naif too, trying to change creatures of habit.
No reason to keep MMS in my RSS feed, so it’s out. I would add DansDeals, but I have no need to be bombarded with Amazon specials for stuff I don’t need. I’m of the opinion that people should add Saverocity, though he posts infrequently.
I have no use for Dubai. It’s also kinda weird that the comments on the Sapphire/Ink parody are mostly from other bloggers.
I heartily endorse any blogger that decides to donate all credit card referral revenue to charity. I’ll give them 50% of the future business I would otherwise give Big Boss G. Kean.
Maybe we can designate eyebrow hair loss awareness as our first charity. You should start cranking out some rubber yellow headbands that read Browstrong. The kids these days dig those accouterments.
I’m go to sponsor my own Buffalo DO – come see the Rust Belt, eat wick on rye, and watch me sit in a corner with arms folded grumbling angrily to myself. Also, industry leaders.
Motto: “Buffalo buffalo.”
harvson3
Meant beef on weck. Forgive me. – harvson3
The Citi 50k link finally died this week. Best publicly available link e.g. citi.com/travel is STILL better than the affiliate offer.
For what it’s worth, the only whore (I mean ‘blog’) that I’ve seen promote the crappy 30k affiliate offer is FTG. Not even TPG generally stoops that low.
When you click on the Citi link in the post, you’re taken to a page that mentions the higher offer. It should have been in the post – an oversight on my part. Anonymous #2, there is a more civil way to express frustration than to use derogatory language. I believe this sentiment was taught to us in kindergarden.
@Ariana I’m truly sorry. It was Rick that the word was directed to, not you, though since you wrote the post in question I can see how you’d take offense to its use.
What was meant to be suggested was simply that for a long time he would give his readers bad deals, hide the good ones, and even advised against using the 50k+ offers that were working just fine for a long time.
And he publicly stated on Flyertalk the reason he dd that is because the more lucrative offers for his readers didn’t help him ‘get paid.’ And that’s the reason for the characterization of FTG as a ‘whore’.
Your point about word choice is taken though. He should have been described as a dishonest shill for the banks who sold out his readers for a whole lot of money. Hopefully you will improve the quality of that blog! There hasn’t been much interesting there in at least a couple of years.
Hang in there, ran out of time to respond to these. I need to take my princess daughter to ballet:-)
In the midst of today’s anger-fest, something that I hope comes across (as intended) as constructive criticism.
When I commented yesterday on opportunity costs, I had in mind posts such as
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/frequentmiler/2013/03/20/buying-points-unwittingly/
http://saverocity.com/travel/the-problem-with-credit-card-miles-and-points-why-using-credit-card-points-for-free-travel-is-a-bad-idea/
Both posts led me to re-evaluate my churning strategy.
I think the Churning Challenges at FTG rub me the wrong way because a) they often ignore better value hotel options in favor of the chains, b) they give the illusion of “something for nothing” when the “nothing” actually isn’t (the numbers are off, period), and c) award availability – a big obstacle in the popular imagination – is rarely discussed. The fact is that most “ordinary Americans” might be better off using hard pulls and points for other ends.
See, e.g., https://appam.confex.com/appam/2012/webprogram/Paper2134.html to be depressed.
And it gave the author as FTG staff, not Ariana. No bad feelings toward her.
harvson3
Anonymous 3:22, I accept your apology. Regardless of who it’s referred to, I think it’s important to remain civil. I don’t know about the FT comment, but I’ve met Rick and he’s a down-to-earth, generous person who truly is interested in helping others travel like he does. He’s recently established a new blog/NPO that encourages the points and miles community to give back. He is channeling his spending towards cashback cards to generate donations to charity. Not many other bloggers go out of their way for charitable causes, unless it helps them earn miles.
harvson3, award availability is checked before a date is presented for the Travel Challenge, so if people want to replicate that trip, they can. You can certainly rent a place on airbnb or stay at a cheap local hotel. However, by channeling your spending towards a chain-affiliated credit card, you can accrue points cheaply and stay in a nicer hotel room and enjoy perks like lounge access to help you save more money. If you’re interested in minimizing out of pocket cost and staying in a nice hotel, the chain/credit card strategy is the best way to go.
For example, by channeling $1,000 of your monthly spend towards the Hyatt Visa, you get 2 free nights. That’s a better deal, IMO than spending $100 on a subpar hotel – especially in a place like europe where you don’t get much bang for your buck.
@ harvson3: Your comments rock, you are my favorite commenter! Always full of wisdom and a bit quirky humor too:-) I should make a separate blog post and feature your comments so readers who don’t read the comments actually LEARN from you! Thank you.
And we clearly think so much alike too!
I don’t take blogs off my RSS feeds because this is what TBB does:-)
Are you saying that If I donate 50% of my credit card revenue to charity you will give TBB 25% of your future business then? Hehe. I actually thought about doing exactly what you stated but then bloggers would take a contract hit on me lol.
Browstrong. LOVE IT. Thanks:-)
In for Buffalo DO! Hope industry leaders bring lots of swag:-)
@Anon at 10.40 am: I would prefer no name calling, thanks. Yeah, actually many Citi changes lately indeed! Oh, and thank you very much for the apology in the follow up comment to Ariana.
@Ariana: Oh look, yet another blogger commenting here:-) Thanks for taking the time to comment. Please read my response to VGP above. A lot of it applies to you too (regarding branding!). Contrary to what some people spread, this has been a very civil open place to freely debate issues. Proof is the kind apology the anon reader above expressed. Please read what my readers comment on, I cater to more experienced “hobbyists”, we’ve been around the block! I better stop here…
I need to cut this reply comment & make it 1 out of 2:-)
@Ariana – he donated $506 and wrote a post to pat himself on the back for it. And that’s a man who sold his blog for seven figures, after making countless more advising readers to sign up for cards through affiliate links that he often knew were not the best offers. So please don’t sell me on FTG’s alleged ‘charity’.
@Ariana at 4.39 & 4.42 pm: I hope you are not involved with the “Churning Challenges”. You are the brightest spot that has happened to that blog. But we can already see lowering your writing standards and “adjusting” your content to, gulp, serve the purpose of pushing credit cards. The game is changing. Rick is ahead of it..again. Smart cat:-)
Regarding charity/charitable intent/and things of that sort…I have said it again here: It makes ME VERY uncomfortable when others publicize their individual efforts. And unless we can (wearing my CPA hat) AUDIT the tax returns to prove whatever numbers are thrown out…to me it is a whole lot of baloney. But…I have always been a kind of a nut.
Bottom line is, we do not like the blog you write on. You do make it a little better. I (hope we) wish you focused on your own blog’s content, LOVED some of your content! But I understand the financial aspects of this “hobby”:-) I would love to meet you one day and talk further in person.
Cheers
Tons of accusations and innuendo from an anon poster. It means nothing as you provide no evidence or supporting data. In fact I worked for years supplying the best offer, but u haven’t been around long enough to remember that. I must admit since selling the blog , at times a less than the best offer has slipped through, but the editorial policy of IB is to run the best offer
@ Anonymous, TBB, you are both entitled to your opinion. This thing is a hobby for me and I’m certainly not egotistical enough to think I have anything close to a “brand” – I travel, write, and chase points so I can do it all over again. I love meeting other travel hackers – I’ll be at the Chicago Seminars in October. I’m sure you can wrangle yourself an invite if you tone it down. 🙂
I have the evidence for everything except my imputation of your motives, Rick, but let’s not go down that rabbit hole. Let’s not waste my time and yours. Peace.
Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo.
harvson3
@FrugalTravelGuy Let’s provide real evidence because you’re lying. You say you worked hard to provide the best links, and the editorial policy is to run the best offer.
But here’s a post from last year where you ran the 30k Citi AA offer.
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/04/a-roller-coaster-week-of-credit-cards.html
You specifically advised people AGAINST using the 50k offer. You called the application pages “zombie links.”
Those links had been working perfectly well for everyone on Flyertalk for a very long time. And they continued working perfectly well for more than another year.
Instead you advised your readers to use the 30k affiliate link instead.
Furthermore, if you were concerned with your readers in offering the advice not to use the 50k links, why not tell them to use the link for 40k points that was being advertised on television at the time (and still is)? That link wouldn’t have been a ‘zombie’. But you didn’t get paid.
So no ‘innuendo’ here, actual evidence in the form of a link to disproves what you say. It wasn’t just “a less than the best offer slipping through’ it was you actively discouraging your readers from getting the best deal, or even the second best deal, and advising them to take something much worse for them that produced affiliate revenue.
You complain about lack of evidence, about innuendo, then how about answering some questions?
* How much money DID you make via credit card affiliate income while you owned the blog?
* How much did you sell the blog for?
* Were you still incentivized for the blog to generate income? Were any payments contingent on ongoing revenue? (Was there a ‘quote’ from Internet Brands you had to meet to get your payout, hence the need to get readers to apply for bad offers that paid?)
Call me an angry if you wish, but these are facts and links to your words. And if anything is left to innuendo it’s only because you have been less than forthcoming.
@Ariana: Are you saying that you are writing all these articles for free???????? Why?????? Why wont’ you write on your own site if it is just a hobby??
Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinions.
I am not welcome to the Chicago Seminars. Besides, I prefer to party on with industry execs lol.
Ok, time to hit the gym!
Buffalo DO anyone?
YES!!! buffalo do!! dead serious… lets DO it… its a great place plus it can be the anti-do PLEASE promote this!
=jay
well not so much the anti-do … but the anti-commerical do!
=jay
@ Anon 7.10 PM: You don’t sound angry to me:-) Yeah, good luck in getting these questions answered. What gets me in this whole space is the non-transparency that runs so rampant…I could go on and on but need to work on tomorrow’s blog post:-)
Thank you for taking the time to comment and debate in a non-angry manner.
@ Jay: Yeah, sounds great, but I have no organizational skills and absolutely no time to devote to it. But I will do my best to come. Just make sure we get some industry leaders on board to differentiate it 🙂
Have a good weekend everyone! That includes you Rick.
To infinity and beyond
TBB
Haven’t stopped by in several months as it just isn’t important, but glad to see you are all still posting anonomously and still angry
haha I am Angry but that made me laugh. You should hang out with us more often or even join for an Angry DO.
If I had fleeced as many readers with inferior offers for a payday as you, and then sold my blog for seven figures, I guess I wouldn’t be angry. The rest of us, call us what you want, since you’re the one laughing all the way through retirement…
Thank you my dear friend for honoring my “Tabloid” Buzz Blog (as you like to call it) with your comments presence. I sure appreciate it.
I’d be up for an angry DO, but not until you get some of your false accusations under control and start reacting rationally.Civilized conversation is always beneficial but you folks feed on one another’s anger and it has escalated way past reality and truth in most instances.
I’ve tried talking with George but to no avail. Note: you don’t see many bloggers comment here. I just quit serving any purpose months ago.
I’m with you on that. I defended the attack on Ariana, while at the same time the unfair lovefest for the most disgusting blogger who is now drowned in his own web of lies. But George is human and I don’t want to speak for him and why he targeted a few much more than the shill who is showing everyone how to collect millions of miles in a secret way.
With an increase in visibility, and the role he is playing in this space, George has more of a responsibility to be fair (it is ok to not be accurate).
You need to also not paint everyone with a broad angry brush. It is like bloggers are always trying to tell their customers/potential customers/customer’s customers to take a hike if they don’t like what you are serving. That is fine and it is your pejorative to dismiss them like that. However you can’t and shouldn’t try to stop your customers from discussing how they are going about shopping. If I don’t like the food your restaurant is serving, I will sure tell my friends about it and hopefully they tell their friends. Just like any other business is treated. It is this simple thing most bloggers are not coming to terms with and hence the constant friction.
Jason Steele always argues that TV stations shove commercials down everyone’s throats and if we don’t like it we change channels. Huge huge error in the attempted analogy here. First we like the program and we will watch it and hope the commercials get shortened and not totally eliminated. If a product is using unfair advertisements, we want to complain to the FTC. And finally if we really want to switch channels, we will. But we will talk amongst friends about the absurd commercials and how we hate them. The TV stations don’t come after us when we discuss it. It is here that we have the biggest problem. Even if you serve bad food, shove bad commercials down unsuspecting folks, misguide about the best financing options, you still want to come to the customers and constantly ask them to stop talking about it.
Grow a thicker skin, improve the blogging experience for your readers, just run the business like any other normal business and you will go farther than miles from credit cards.
@FTG wrote “I’d be up for an angry DO, but not until you get some of your false accusations under control and start reacting rationally.Civilized conversation is always beneficial but you folks feed on one another’s anger and it has escalated way past reality and truth in most instances.”
What accusations here about you a false?
Please correct the record.
Hey Rick, here’s a rule for civility (or civilized conversation) on the internet: when someone asks you to take their last name down in the comments, you comply.
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/11/a-blog-about-blogs.html
@FTG >>>>…until you get some of your false accusations under control and start reacting rationally.
It appears WE are angry again…
>>>>>>>Civilized conversation is always beneficial but you folks feed on one another’s anger and it has escalated way past reality and truth in most instances.
I have always been civil and always advocated to keeping it civil, name calling is not constructive! “We folks”….shaking my head!2
>>>>>>>>I’ve tried talking with George but to no avail.
The feeling is mutual, for the record.
>>>>>>>>Note: you don’t see many bloggers comment here.
Actually I get quite a few comments from other bloggers. And certainly a lot more comments than your blog. And a heck of a lot less money too, that’s for sure lol.
@ Anon at 5.53 pm: That was a fantastic comment, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ Anon at 5.57: You folk are angry!
@ Wings: Thanks for digging that up! I better stop here…Let me just say one more time thanks to FTG for featuring me in his blog. I can’t believe I am still at it since those early early days!
Angry DO in buffalo NY!!!!
=jay
I do hate the anon comments. I have no idea why people aren’t willing to post with an identity. If you’ve got something to say, put a name to it!
I agree. Just pick something like…Ribs:-)
When this thing moves to WP maybe this will change…I don’t know. I let my readers comment, not forcing them!
Like Ribs… but not Ribs or McRibs, thanks Bro. Try Wings.
Almost forgot, for your Maui trip, may i be so bold as to recommend The Fairmont Hotel in Wailea (all suites). Not as snooty as the Four Seasons, yet sophisticated and refined like yourself. For good eats we cashed in our Skypesos for gift cards to the new Roy’s restaurant in Kaanapali.
I am so busy replying to comments and going through blogs to feature in my own blog posts…that I dont’ have time to look to burn. Probably one of the biggest disadvantages to blogging:-)
I am very aware of the Fairmont Wailea and I think I can put together at least two free nights (I get 1 as Lifetime Plat & I think I could get another one with the Fairmont card). It is on the radar but looks so so far away.
“Note: you don’t see many bloggers comment here. I just quit serving any purpose months ago.”
I see no fewer than 5 different bloggers posting in just this very thread. 6 if you include TBB
You usually make a post once a week on FTG.com, correct?
How many bloggers commented on that thread?
I am still shocked about the number of comments my tiny blog gets!! And many from bloggers too. And, I would say, the vast vast majority of comments have been very civil and constructive. Yeah, some lose it here and there…but such is life I guess. Who am I to just cut them off, a Flyer Talk Moderator? LOL
[Not directed to Oliver] VBG
The increase in comments is just spillover from all the censoring that MMS has been doing
it’s just ironic that FTG of all people is “noting” the lack of bloggers on this thread
Would it be “angry” of me to note that there are more bloggers on this thread than their are commenters on an average FTG post?
It would?
Oh well
Sometimes I wonder if only bloggers and veteran miles/points addicts read me…I should start hitting the newbie market, offer them affiliate links and tell them (and their families, this is a family friendly blog!!) how to fly for free too:-)
I guess I am, obviously, not that smart lol.
Let’s make that seven, just for fun.
Bluebird.
It’s time!
Nice playing with you all again. I’ll stop back in a couple months to see if things have changed
Your comment was number 80, new record, thank you!
Hope when you are back I still have my eyebrows.
Seeya