TBB interns were assigned to help with the Gem TBB comments posts but they are so darn lazy! Anyways, we look back and we pick some comments that satisfy the TBB mission! I could do a weekly “recap” and link to all the week’s posts to help with Google search ranking but how boring and lame would that be!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order
You can support TBB by clicking/forwarding any of our Referral Links and starting your online shopping at our Amazon affiliate link . Or click on the Amazon Banner on the right, thank YOU!
British Airways Avios devaluation coming?, Wonsan North Korea, Baghdad Iraq, Sochi, best personal finance links, Pulitzer photos, Last True Hermit, Awesome Blog Buzz!
Kumar: With all the drama that I was witnessing yesterday on twitter and in the blogging world about the Avios which clearly showed the ruthless greediness of one so called big blogger and with other respectable experienced ones behaving as if the world is coming to an end (with one even talking of redeeming miles to magazines), the only solace in the mess was the article by Dan (of Dan’s Deals) who approached the entire drama in a sensible way. I understand the severity of the issue if it were to materialize but this kind of approach by bloggers themselves is uncalled for. They were just creating so much chaos in the blogging space and were running from pillar to post even when something didn’t happen. This is also irresponsible blogging IMHO. (I don’t care about the biggie but these really good bloggers should give it a thought).
Ramsey: Due to popular demand, I am back to add more Snarky Reviews of the Boarding Area Authors new drawings. http://boardingarea.com/our-bloggers/ ……………………….Delta Mileage Run looks like the guy I sat next to at last weeks Weight Watchers Meeting, Loyalty Traveler looks like a Jazz Musician (beret would work), Frequent Flyer University a rebel without a cause (beats the face paint look on his site) (anyone remember Micheal J. Pollard?), MJ on Travel and Miles From Blighty both look like they can kick my ass, nuf said, View From The Wing, try more exercise and less selling, Heels First Travel, where are the 2 hot chicks in the web page drawing I was getting worked up over? Live From a Lounge- Hitchcock, Michael W Travels – I think wrestles for WWE, Modhop a young Arnold Z., Just Another Points Traveler- I want to party with her, One Mile at a Time should have went with a profile drawing, Travel Skills looks like the Math Teacher that sent me to Summer School, and Frequent Miler has the same expression as I did yesterday when I farted on a full elevator of strangers and said out loud “who farted”.
Steve: “Delta Points have been getting more valuable over the past few years” – said no non-affiliate pusher, ever!
Avios insanity, Feedback on TBB and Next Stage, Fallen War Photojournalists Tribute
There were many suggestions on my question asking for feedback about my blog. And lots of praise which I always like of course. Just a very few representative ones with my follow up in brackets.
DiffPaul:
My first suggestion is to quit reading so many blogs. There’s absolutely no reason to waste your time, for instance, reading each and every post from the usual suspects. Maybe a boilerplate rant tab encompassing a summary of the blogs you don’t read and why you don’t read them, and a daily pointer to that page/tab? [Tried. Did not succeed. Blog Buzz section went on its own. Next goal is to reserve my colorful commentary only for the most egregious blog posts!]
Second suggestion is to go FM, and just post a set number of days a week. Yes, blogging school teaches to post lots. But not necessary in your case. [Tried that too. Will try daily and see if I can keep it up. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I always operated like this. Not sure if it is smart, insane or whatever. Time will tell 🙂 ]
Third suggestion is a card page/tab. I, as I’m sure others do, look at FT for the latest & greatest apps, then decide who (if anyone!) I should “tip” by using their link (as long as they have the best offer). I’d like to tip you, George (though I prefer to call you by your keyboard name “Buzz), because I’m entertained by your site and feel you do/have done a public service by educating folks about conversions. [ Can a blogger who is up on these things suggest me of a way to start going about this? Is there a company/contact who can let me have a tab and I can continue to do exactly what I am doing, in other words, leave me alone? And not bother me with “you are not selling many credit cards this month so here are some “marketing” BS tips!”. And is there a way that does not require much of my time to be “complying” and continually massage said links? I would love my wife to finally get the Arrival and the Discover IT card and probably match the TBB Amazon revenue year to date lol]
Fourth, I’m a firm believer in down time. Today’s business world fails to recognize the value of a rested employee at their own peril (or loss of productivity/profit). Take a week off when you need it. Heck, take four if you need it! Let readers know when you’ll be back, and come back refreshed and happy. Maybe with interesting stories 
[Finally finished the arrangements for my trip to Hong Kong in early December. I like to get away once a year all by myself and experience the fruits of my hobby. I will try to stay away from Feedly and my blog…I hope I succeed lol]
Good Luck, but please don’t go away unless you feel you absolutely have to. [Thank you so much!]
William Charles: “Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. Do what makes you happy though, not what your readers want.” [What if what makes readers happy makes me happy too? ]
Kumar: “Quitting is easy. Finding more space to grow is not. The choice is yours, George. I can continue on and on but hope you got my thought process.” [I am not a quitter. But sometimes I really want to lol. I keep going, life is a journey]
It’s me: “You my friend are a breath of fresh air in the stagnant atmosphere of the mainstream bloggers.” [Love this, thank you!]
The common man: “The DiffPaul guy makes a lot of sense IMO….We want to make sure this doesn’t become a burden for you as it gives a bunch of us a whole lot of pleasure (and entertainment).” [Always tinkering and, above all, trying to entertain us all. Thank you]
Chris: “And yeah, you really need to find a way to make money. I hope you can find a way to make the credit card thing work so we can use your links. We’d be making a statement by using your links!” [If I needed to make money I would not have TBB and will be focusing my energy in my other job. Just read an article at WSJ with the title “The rise of ultracheap financial advisers” and the severe pricing challenges going forward in our industry. So, in a way, TBB has been a way for me to fall back onto something in case everyone went to Vanguard or to a robo adviser lol. Not concerned about my own clients who have been with me for years and are not going anywhere. But, as time goes by, they will be dying, divorcing, etc. I don’t need the money so I am not in a rush at all and it is the reason I have not seriously spent any time on the credit card route, even though every day I see that it dwarfs all other revenue avenues combined! I LOVE your “making a statement by using your links”, wow! Every time I see a TBB Amazon link order I scream “Suck it Trebeck” — replace Trebeck with a commercial bank servant blogger! Best statement ever!]
Erik: What I enjoy about TBB: 1) your summary of the current topics generating “chatter” in the miles/points blogosphere. Occasionally you highlight an interesting story that I’ve missed. 2) the interesting travel photos and some of the non-miles/points blogs that you have mentioned. More than one of your suggestions has made it into my Feedly. 3) of course, the commentary/critiques of the miles/points bloggers that frequently generate some interesting comments which are fun to read. 4) your humor/sarcasm. Those 4 points keep TBB solidly on my “must read” list. [I love how TBB helps me lose weight as I go through several buckets when doing the Blog Buzz section lol. And thank you very much!]
Sequoia: This may be late to the party, but I always enjoy your links to ACTUAL travel blogs. If not for you I may not have ever experienced Yomadic (my favorite traveler), Twisted Sifter, or Matador Network, just to name a few.
I love when you juxtapose these actual travel bloggers to the “travel bloggers” that just post about Lufthansa first class (lucky), complaints about the TSA (you know who), and bullshit marketing and templates (there’s a few). Seriously, how many of the visitors to these blogs actually give a shit about these issues? Keep doing what your doing. Even when I don’t agree I still walk away entertained and usually glad that I have experienced another opinion.
Thank you for everything, if not for what you have done here I may have given up on points, miles, and “travel hacking” a long time ago. [Love comments like this! I wish Yomadic was posting more. Him and Twisted Sifter are my kind of websites that enhance my quality of life and being able to say I introduced them to some readers makes me happy! So, thank YOU!]
Kenny: I really appreciate you reading my feedback. Thanks for taking the time. Random thoughts:
Keep TBB! I’m not worried about this one, you can’t quit if you want to.
Post as often as you want, without any pressure to keep a set schedule or format.
Get Barclays links, put them on ‘support TBB’ page, don’t talk about them. People who want to support you will.
I can’t get my Amazon link to work, so I bought some stuff for Shaun’s birthday through yours.
Joining a network could make the tech side easier and give you a few extra adsense dollars.
Thank you again. [Wait, I think he is making fun of me by using my own and only template “Cut&Paste#1”, lol. Great feedback, I appreciate it, thank you!]
United Routing Rules, Bank of America phone numbers, State of Miles/Points Metagame, Beirut, Meghalaya India, $100 Value, Get Rich, Investing & Spices, Fees, Coffee, Blog Buzz mega crap!
AZTravelGuy: “I’m going to take a creative photo collage of Vendome toilets.” [Lol…ToiletVendoming?]
TBB (me!): “…Disclosure: I am NOT advocating I want to write for FTG. I would rather be abducted by ISIS than to be associated with FTG! I repeat. Do not approach me with an offer. There is not enough money in the world to get me to associate TBB with FTG. Eeek. Credibility is the most important asset …”
Christian: “Now eat your pasta” [Would love to! Buy some with my Amazon link and ship it to me? #shamelesswhorepimpingit]
Breaking News: Boarding Area to be renamed Credit Card Area, DEvolve & a bunch of leftover gifs & pics
MilesAbound: “… While on the surface you may think that complaints about blogger content may be a good thing, in reality what it means is that the issuers are going to further narrow down who they work with and further control what they write. I suspect the two heavy-weights at BA have either already received that message explicitly and are “complying” or they have seen the writing on the wall and are getting ahead of it. At the end of the day I expect this to end up in a situation where the only sites left will be blatantly commercial sites. I think of all them MMS is the closest to that already. He’s already dropped the “Emily & I” and “Mother in Law” bullshit in favor of having his staff churn out endless commercial posts. (And FWIW in reality good on him for creating a very successful business). Personally I am actually ok with a fully commercial web site. I mean what kind of idiot would I have to be to think that a site like bankrate.com or creditcards.com is going to provide unbiased info when I see all their ads are from banks? Am I stupid enough to think edmunds.com is going to give completely unbiased info on cars when I see all it’s ads come from dealerships? Of course not!…” [Think we are definitely seeing that now…#sadface]
MilesAbound: “…I do not like sites that “pretend to be your friend” when in fact they are just commercial” [Oh man, don’t we all? Think it’s a legit reason to get a little angry :-)]
TBB: “That IB Avios debacle was certainly one of those mega schizophrenic moments in this space for a while.”
Malaysia Enrich Miles, Citibank 2% Double Cash, SPG Tap into Luxury, South Africa, UAE, Rock Climbing, Financial Tips/Retirement Planning/401k Rollover Checklist, Blog Buzzing
Steve: Speaking of first Friday, the team at FTG.com would like to wish a happy First Friday to all their readers and to remind you that you can get 3x points today with your CSP [insert link] at all restaurants [Shocked they don’t template-y post this every Friday!]
Gems from the TBB Comments August 5 – August 14
Rich: “Being featured in the TBB Gems has been the greatest accomplishment of my life.” [I suggest adding this to your Linkedin Profile under “Accomplishments” 🙂 ]
Unbiased travel rewards credit card advice, Citibank Double Cash Card, United Open Jaws, Westin Diplomat, Nepal, Scotland, Asset Allocation/You Problem/Top 100 ETFs, Blog Buzz signs off with a bang!
tv7: “Ha! First!”
TBB: “I know it must be shocking! After you refresh…you realize it is indeed a first! How do you feel? “
tv7: “It feels amazing! 
mia: “Thanks TBB!! Blog Buzz are the greatest blog posts one can ever find…” [You are very welcome Mia. If I agree with you will that make me look like I have a huge ego or something? 🙂 ]
Lemongrab: “I’m not sure who is more sad, FTG or DP.” [If this was on their sites and it revolved around (what else?) a credit card “question”…the answer, no doubt, would have to be BOTH! 🙂 ]
RoboForm, Seat 21A, Advice for College Freshmen
Erik: “@Buzz, the “Seat 21A” and College posts are totally a big reason why I read your blog. I call them Discovery Posts. I don’t know where you pull these gems, but somehow when I finish reading your blog and any associated links I nearly always have a smile on my face. And that is totally worth the 5-10 minutes of time invested. And given that you are the legendary TBB, I know that following one of these links is probably not going to cause me to get bombarded with a 35 link cc post. Thanks dude! ” [Appreciate that! You should have the TBB Amazon link as your homepage then, woohoo!]
TBB: “Can we be angrily happy? Or happy being angry? Discuss …No wait, Think! And then discuss. Or…screw it, do whatever you want!” [This TBB guy must be such an asshole always choosing his own comments, WTF!!!]
msmcmotown: “Maybe I missed it, or my feeble mind has misplaced it, but I can’t ever recall FM calling out by name GLeff, Lucky or any of the other BA pumpers for their far more egregious posts.” [Very good point!]
In general, posting the Seat 21a article was overwhelmingly cheered. I just enjoyed it very much and thought I will share with you. I also think RoboForm is the best software ever invented!
Latin America for Free, Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, Hotel Promotions, Newport Beach, Journeys to School, Investing Myths/World Savings Rates, Credit Card advice
Fancy: “…I read something that made me think of you just now. “If you’re producing garbage articles just to dupe people into clicking, you’ve earned a special place in content marketer hell.” [ Maybe they are too busy counting the dollars to notice? Lol. Easy to dismiss us as “angry’s”, 2% or is it 0.02% and other nonsense!]
The common man: “Not only do MP’s posts read like they were written as a mouthpiece of Amex, they are also blatantly inconsistent with her blog’s purported focus on family travel, when the vast majority of families dont travel in that manner. If there is one blogger that has drunk the “blogger lifestyle” cool-aid the most, it is MP. At least the others are not in denial….Oh, and prepare yourself for another Amex-sponsored post re: the US Open which is surely coming up on her blog. [That US Open swag was so amazing I immediately convened a meeting of the TBB PR Dept and told them to get me on that gig asap or they will get all fired! Hehe]
Steve: “MommyPoints doesn’t get invited because “luck intervenes”. She gets invited because Amex knows it can count on her to give her “honest review wink wink” which what do you know….. turns out to always be glowing!” [ I did a review of the Dallas Amex Centurion Lounge that I found wildly over rated. Maybe THAT is why they never invite me 🙂 ]
And I leave you with these:
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs I Ignore
Please pass my blog link to your friends and family if you think they will enjoy it too.
TBB
travelbloggerbuzz@gmail.com
Join over 3,061 TBB followers on Twitter @ FlyerTalkerinA2 and add TBB on Google+
First?
2nd, live from Las Vegas!
Raffles….please post a picture here with you and one of those nuts dressed in costumes from the sidewalks of Vegas. PLEASE.
Taxi – Mandalay Bay – remain for 3 days – taxi to airport. That is my weekend, apart from the organised BA tour on the big wheel!
I saw some tweets from the conference that make me scream WTF! I am going to channel that inspiration to a #Bacon14 satire…if I get to it tonight. Dang I wish I had me some templates!
George you’re my favorite. I want to be featured in a blog post! I will try and say something witty in the coming weeks to links or some other commentary to earn my refence in a featured blog post.
Umm, are you sure about that? 🙂
Buzz, just read some of the ass kissing of RP in tweets from the fine folks at #bacon14. Looks like they are working on more ways to separate more readers from their money. Maybe you could get out that old Hitler video (the one where Hitler has a thing for Emily pix) and re subtitle it with what they are discussing at #bacon14. I am sure dealing with insurgents like TBB is on the docket.
I have prepared a Satire(what else?) post about this Bacon BA Conference. No Hitler videos 🙂
RP knows how to take care of them, it’s like family over there 🙂
George, I can’t wait to read your post on #EGGS14
Thoroughly disappointed that my public flogging of The Miles Professor never made the cut.