TBB Mission: To Entertain, Educate and Inspire. Aim to at least do one well!
This blog has been a labor of love so far. If you like what you see here, please let others know by passing them a link to my blog, thank you!
This blog post contains NO affiliate links of any kind! Please see disclosures page here.
TRAVEL
Yomadic with another installment of the”69 Days, 24 Countries, 350 Euro – European Road Trip Gone Wild, the Finale?” mega trip.
A scrolling picture gallery of daily life in Cuba.
Cranky Flier had the best blog on the AA/US Air merger:American and US Airways Give Up Very Little to Gain Merger Approval
MILES/POINTS
Frequent Miler had a great post summarizing all the ways you can be “Cashing in“. I can imagine any other blogger linking this baby to the point your screen turned blue. Not sure about that Marukai card though. Maru what?
Travel is Free wrote “The Latin Hopper“. I need to sit down when I read his stuff 🙂 And need to read it again. Maybe a third time too. It usually leads to one of two reactions: 1) Brilliant! (almost always) or 2) I am so dumb, I still don’t get it (probably more often than I care to admit publicly…oops!)
Saverocity had a very important post “Creating the Master List“. And I quote this: “If you play the credit card game you have a duty to your significant others to create a list of accounts and processes to help them unravel your finances.” Yes you do! See below for a software that helps me with this.
Alaska Airlines devalued too. The Wandering Aramean has the scoop. Very minor damage indeed, if only every devaluation was like this!
Apparently Barclays has indeed proceeded with the Barclaycard Travel community where you can earn some points in conjunction with the Arrival World Mastercard. I don’t trust Barclays to run a nifty online operation but this site looks pretty good. I usually do not have time anymore to waste on activities like these that earn a few points at a time but someone else can find it useful. Can you report your experience in the site after you have used it for at least a month? Is is worth the time/pain/hassle? Or is it just another use to pump the card?
Gary Leff of View From the Wing had an editorial in the USA Today “3 lessons for American-US Airways merger“. Wow, what a coup to do this! At the same time, watching Gary for a long time, it is always fun to watch him fight to save the champagne and caviar!
And you thought coins are dead! Apparently there is going to be a new product called coin that can hold all your credit/debit/gift cards. It does look cool. But it is not going to be available until next summer. You can preorder for $55 (50% off) now. Ummm, I don’t like to give up my money for 6 months for an unproven product. Or this could be a scam. If you see bloggers pushing an affiliate link I think they already pre purchased it themselves. One of these days I am going to set up a “Referral Links” tab and participate in these things. I still would not do this one until it’s out and tested that it works reliably!
Hack My Trip had an interesting post on “Is Chase Ultimate Rewards Still the Best Rewards Currency?” In general, posts about individual valuations bore me to pieces. This one was interesting as none of the valuations were more than 2 cents. Is cash back the future soon my friends? 🙂
MY MOST LOVED SOFTWARE I CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT: ROBO FORM
I have been asked this before “So how in the world do you keep track of so many passwords and user names and security questions, in other words, how can you juggle so much online?”
Well, I use different software to assist me. But there is ONE software I totally can NOT live without. It is RoboForm. It helps keep track of all my online passwords, identities for one click form filling, additional notes, generation of random passwords and does other things I do not use. Pricing has changed over the years. Now I pay the annual fee for RoboForm Anywhere and when I get a new machine I download it, activate it and then synch it with my data. I discovered it several years ago in a professional conference and it has been a true love fest ever since. It is the first software I get for every computer I obtain (cell phone and ipad too).
I guess I could surf over to see if they have an affiliate link 🙂 If someone finds out please let me know if such link is worth it for you and email me if there is a mutual benefit. If not, no big deal. I just LOVE it!
So, you ONLY need to know the master password to get in (and they stand up to claims NO ONE will get in if they do not know the master password). So, for God’s sake, NEVER EVER FORGET THE MASTER PASSWORD! There are other programs that do this of course (Last Pass, etc.) but I will never give up my RoboForm! Mrs. TBB knows the master password, she can figure things out from there.
ON MY MIND
There was a major comment love fest in my last Buzz post. My friend Frugal Travel Guy (the person) and me went at it again. Grab your popcorn and read them, screw Netflix!
ODDZ & ENDZ
40 Seconds of Pure Wingsuit Terror. Found at The Adventure Blog I want my mommy….this is totally insane!
Check out this picture from Twisted Sifter. It reminds me of a college roommate I had for one semester who had a similar looking fan in the ceiling. Too bad he did not last enough to make it to the second term. He loved recreational drugs a little too much and stared at his ceiling way too often! I wish he had left the fan behind!
Let’s go for a ride weeeeeeeeeeee
BLOG BUZZ
Note: This section is intended for long time readers and miles/points addicts who follow the blogs in this space. TBB reviews blogs and tries to entertain above all. Don’t take this section too seriously or personally, it’s mostly entertainment!
Bloggers started pumping the Southwest card AGAIN! I thought we all had to get it by October 30th or God will punish us. Apparently, God gave a reprieve to let us decide a few more weeks. New deadline: November 18. I bet some TBB comments that this will happen…again in the near future!
I wish I had access to all the financials from each blogger and published them…TBB—->Wiki Leaks of miles/points blogosphere hahahahahahahahaha I wonder how many threats this will get!
I had more…too tired. It was a long day of fighting in the TBB comments. I count on all of you for your support into my legal defense fund soon ok? Gracias!!! 🙂
I just picked one of my comments from last Buzz post interacting with Frugal Travel Guy (the person) to explain one more time where TBB is coming from and what’s it all about. I sit down late at night and this stuff comes to me. I reread this some time later and liked it so much so I decided to reproduce it here. I could do a filler post with it I guess but I try to avoid filler if I can 🙂
TBB RANT
I did not start this blog to make money. If the money comes so be it. With my prior conduct and the way I prioritize things I think it is obvious that I am not looking to aggressively promote my site to make some bucks.
The hobby is no longer a hobby. It is NO LONGER about miles and points as you continue to portray it. Actually it was the sale of your blog that I consider the beginning of the end of my dear hobby that opened the floodgates of numerous salesmen selling something they do not have (expertise) pretending to be doing it to help “friends and family”. The space had grown so much I felt it was time for a blog with a niche that had not been filled.
An INDEPENDENT source run by someone who knows some things about the hobby (always learning every day) and willing to go through the numerous blogs (have been doing it anyways, I am addicted to this, no cure!) and find the true gems to feature along with my (sometimes entertaining) commentary. Add value to readers from my veteran perspective to focus on the reads that are truly worthwhile along with some of my own perspective.
In addition, I felt compelled to also call out the blogs that, IN MY OWN OPINION, do not represent what I (AGAIN) judge to be good blogging practices/quality content/bias/pumping frequency/and several other factors. As I call out the good it will be hypocritical to shut up. I am thinking of doing that actually AFTER I publish my “Blogs to Avoid or Ignore” list, not sure…because I am tired 
If I can introduce one reader to a blog in my LOVE and LIKE lists and/or get a reader away from the bad list I feel like I have contributed positively to my dear hobby. Based on feedback in the blog and in private I have succeeded in this and you will NOT believe how happy this makes me, it is truly priceless!
I realize full well the damage that does to my blog’s commercial appeal and I am fine with it. For over a year I have been laboring in this blog to provide an entertaining and quality product selling nothing. I like to believe my blog has brought some positive change (and I consider calling out bloggers, if they change, a positive change). If not, at least I have brought an awareness that this has nothing to do with a hobby anymore, it is all about the money selling credit cards to everyone who can apply (lots of Americans lol) and keep selling till the cows come home. I despise it and find it disgusting.
Please take some lessons from Mommy Points on how to respond to criticism, you obviously have an unbelievably hard time with it. Your conduct here is HARMING FTG and the folks behind it (and you know I like them). I have repeatedly said not to take anything personally here and you go off again and again EVERY time FTG ( a blog you repeatedly say you have nothing to do with but somehow you are still all over it) is mentioned. I have also said you are free to improve your blog. At its present state, in my own opinion, it is bad. Cherish the criticism and learn from it, I wouldn’t give it to you if I didn’t care! I know how much you think of me…I just said that to get readers to laugh about it as you are probably fuming
I told you FTG was my favorite blog back in the day (not much competition, it was all good hacking stuff that stayed alive way longer than it does these days!). It went downhill when you smelled the money. I think the damage has been mortal but Ariana is at least making some small improvements. I do not like the Travel Challenge feature, I think it is a lazy feature designed to pump more cards. All the other writers, it feels, like they all drink the IB coolaid or something and their posts are not as good as they can be. Drew is the best and you can tell he is struggling to make his material suitable to newbies. Andy is a good writer, please get him to write pieces like the Delta parody one (heck, I would link FTG to that! — oh wait a minute, it may reduce the number of Delta card conversions!). Christine is a sweetheart and you know it; if she can add some pictures to her posts, make them just a little longer and make them more personal they can be really good. Howie’s stuff is decent. And for god’s sake stop the Travel Challenge or get some one really qualified to do that!
Jello Sheriff, self-appointed by me in my own blog
first!
@TBB,
Continuing from yesterday since the TBB comment market closed (for an all time high!).
I could not understand the correlation between what you saw in the presentation vs the frequent travel market awareness of bloggers shilling credit cards. That is a very small sample size to formulate even an opinion, let alone conclude as a fact. Now I do give you this though, there are a lot of newbies. But the chances of a newbie getting conned into using a blogger’s affiliate link is going down by the day regardless of what a salesmen is trying to make you believe. Just look at the FT agitation that started a couple of years ago, gaining a lot of momentum last year only to be controlled/quelched by the IB mod shills (apologies to Oliver2002). Why? It was a threat to revenue. That is why they are after you here.
That also reminds me. Pimps should ideally disclose that using their links doesn’t guarantee an approval. It is 100% credit worthiness based. I did see a newbie earlier this year making that false presumption and using the affiliate link was their premise for an approval.
This is a small market and awareness about the card pimping is increasing, at a faster rate than newbies coming to know about bonus points. Those who use affiliate links are doing so to reward good work or another selection criteria. If they are not, it should we our Agenda that everyone become aware 🙂
Oh yeah, about that Coin card–a friend of mine had posted that on Facebook and from what I could tell you could only get 8 cards on there at once, which I think included loyalty cards.
Very slick site. What if these people take the money and vanish? 🙂
The newbie market is barely penetrated. The market is so still wide open that several bloggers (the ones who pump the most) can make hundreds of thousands of dollars, have FT staff, etc.
They will never disclose that the links do not guarantee approval, it hurts conversions 😉
I am really not convinced that awareness is increasing at a faster rate. I follow some mainstream personal finance blogs who do this in a worse (or equal) way than some of our own pumpers!
I got me three cards today. I used blogs in my “Blogs I Like” list. One of these days I can do this so at least I get some revenue from my own apps. Oh, friends and family too. One thing for sure…can not see myself pumping non stop.
My message is: Reward blogs who do this right. Avoid blogs that do not. The 2nd camp does not like it and you see it.
It’s been a very interesting ride watching it all develop, that’s for sure.
Self interest George? There is zero need to EVER use an affiliate link. If I like your blog, I’ll read it. And IF it’s good enough I’ll subscribe and pay cold hard cash. But the LAST thing I’ll ever do is apply using someone’s link to give them a few hundred bucks for something they piously proclaim is a “hobby” for “friend and family”.
The day someone has the cajones to say “if you use this link, I’ll get $300” is the only way I’d dream of supporting their business, er, hobby. And if they then said, here’s 80% rebate (as I am the one who brings the bacon thanks to my credit score), I might start clicking.
The cone of silence regarding affiliate income shows how affiliate income has d@?&#&!!! this “hobby”.
Frankly, anyone who suggests using affiliate links is just as bad as the pimps who push them. As you said yourself, FTG used to be a good blog BEFORE affiliate income turned it into the worthless card pimping site it is today.
As much as I hate bloggers shilling credit cards, it’s not realistic and fair to expect them to do this for nothing (although a lot of them churn worthless posts after their daily scouting on FT).
Also, getting them to disclose how much they make AND giving out a kickback would get them to lose all their affiliate links in no time.
@Anonymous: I get where you are coming from and I mostly agree. I absolutely despise the non transparency that is existent in this business (“hobby” is just a plain lame excuse for the business as you have noted). I disagree on the subscription part, that has not worked in general and it is sure not going to work with our crowd 😉
You make your own choices. Avoiding affiliate links all together is fine if that is what you choose. Oh, I have NO doubt at all that the affiliate income has d@?&#&!!! this “hobby”….NO DOUBT (and you can bank on that, pun intended)
I also believe Chris is correct.
@Chris: I think you are correct too.
>>>>>>>>That also reminds me. Pimps should ideally disclose that using their links doesn’t guarantee an approval. It is 100% credit worthiness based. I did see a newbie earlier this year making that false presumption and using the affiliate link was their premise for an approval.
LOL! This is where we stand now? Anyone who expects to be automatically approved for a credit card because (s)he clicked on a link is a CHILD, and (s)he should be back in junior high–if even at that level–rather than trying to sign up for credit cards. Gee, I wonder what’s next.
Very similar to the couple at the LAX FTU who thought the nice bloggers presenting were making money from ads on their sites. When told they make money from the credit cards they promote to get you and your family to “fly for free” they were surprised. When asked to guess how much they estimate to earn per app, the answer was $5 or $10. So, don’t LOL 🙂
This is not what I’m saying. I’m saying that a grown up knows that when they fill out an application, it gets reviewed and cannot be guaranteed for approval. Seriously, if someone doesn’t know THAT, they shouldn’t get near a cash register, let alone a credit card. Suggesting this kind of disclosure is utter nonsense.
On an unrelated note, I am that guy who lost the Roboform Master password. I still use it between several computers, but that’s a pain.
These must be the same grown ups that need circle and arrows to understand things.
It’s always kind of creepy to find thoughtful information without commercial interests. So, I guess, thanks.
I prefer refreshing to creepy 🙂
Am I allowed to post “Fourth!” if that’s my best performance ever, or do I have to make a more substantial contribution to the discussion? This is one of those moral gray areas.
May the fourth be with you!
Why do you think people post “First!” and nothing else? Generally they haven’t taken the time to read the post and fear if they do they will lose their first. It’s basically just a way for commenters – who are not the same as everyone who reads TBB – to tease “Na-na-na-na-na! I got here before you!”
so true, so true…I find it entertaining, mindless fun. Good break to the rest of the entertainment around here 😉
The Travel Challenge is neck and neck with the Friday interview for the worst continuous running feature
“Welcome to the next interview in our interview series where travel bloggers…..”
That’s nice. Only one problem – the person interviewed wasn’t actually a blogger
Still better I guess than the latest challenge, where all the person had to do was open 9 credit cards to make that trip happen. Except that by the time the minimum spend was paid off, US might not be in the Star Alliance anymore. And even if they are, you probably won’t be able to use it on LH. But those are issues to worry about later – first open those 9 cards!
What happens when Chase does not approve instantly? Do they provide handholding? Or the recon phone number at least? 😉
In fact didn’t a few bloggers recently even delete Chase recon numbers, from their list of resources? I’m thinking one was MMS, maybe FTG was the other but I could be wrong. There was an FT thread about it.
I think they have to follow orders…One reason this site has not joined in…
#developing
It’s unimportant news, because the Hyatt card doesn’t pay a commission, but it looks like targeted offers were sent out which offer “Diamond status for as long as you keep the card” (H/T LoyaltyLobby)
One would think it would be a pretty huge story (especially in the period while the details are still murky), but obviously some stories, like the fact you can get an extra 10-15 UR points on the first Friday of every month are more important
Shhh…
Went for it myself. Prepared to fight but I can settle for 2 nights free at the Andaz Maui.
It’s about to get picked up now
Gary, who is one of the better ones when it comes to non-affiliate links (especially when he’s not doing one of his filler posts about the CSP/CIB/CIP) just picked up the story. And since it is now mainstream, the bloggers will have no choice but to pick up on it (it’s a lot easier for everyone to ignore it when it’s just LoyaltyLobby posting it)
>>>>>>>>>>>>it’s a lot easier for everyone to ignore it when it’s just LoyaltyLobby posting it
It sure is 😉
How many Chase CC can you have in total (Bus+ personal)? Or are they separate?
Moreover, is the 6 month application limit for Bus And/Or Personal?
There is no set number. As of NOW, me and Mrs. TBB have 5 in total each. The number of cards does not matter. What matters is your total credit line. When you hit “that” limit you are not going to get a new card from Chase unless you call the Reconsideration dept and “play the game” by volunteering to shift the credit line from another card to the new one to get it approved. Or perhaps sacrifice (offer to close) another card. In other words, NEVER close a card without shifting its credit line to another card FIRST! The credit line with Chase is so precious, you want it…higher! I know others who had up to 8. I think DansDeals at a time had 12 total cards open at the same or something double digity like that.
Again, no 6 month limit really exists. Credit line is what drives the cc approval decisions. Of course we assume you have the credit score and never carry a balance. Just checking 😉
What is certain lately is that the Business apps are getting tougher to approve pretty much across the board!
Hope this helps.
I’ll just throw this out there… but one of the reasons that I don’t always post about cards that are non affiliate links is that I don’t always know about them.
When I get a new affiliate offer it is emailed to me saying:
“Here is the new offer!”
It doesn’t remind me that also I get a commission, but that is not something that I am likely to forget… so I post about it with the following caveat:
When I do get that email I do think about the offer and if it is a good deal for the reader, for example in the past week or two I had such emails for:
Lufthansa 50K offer (it wants a 5K spend so I thought meh, maybe I will write about it at some point, but maybe I will forget)
Barclaycard Ring – it is an inferior offer so I didn’t post it, nor did I get motivated enough to post about why it is inferior and link to the better one.
Barclaycard Reward- it just looked kinda average so I didn’t bother.
For cards like the Hyatt I wouldn’t get that mail pushing my Hyatt card since I don’t have it, nor do the majority of bloggers. The ethically minded ones might do what I do and if they get a different affiliate Hyatt offer (if possible) then they may google around for a better offer before unleashing it on the reader, or they may not bother.
In essence, what I am saying is that not all bloggers will find all deals because the focus of their blog is not to find the best deals. I think Nick from PF Digest does a great job of actually doing this and finding great deals from a variety of sources, and knowing how to analyse them, which is why I think us working together adds value overall.
But I myself am guilty of not seeking out every new deal that is out there, because my style of post is different. I don’t think I am alone in this.
A lot of the bloggers out there are spending most of the time in matters that only translate to revenue for their own pockets instead of trying to help their readers (oh, sorry “friends and family”) FIRST. It is understandable because of the economics. So, bloggers who go out of their way to put their readers FIRST at all times (or most of the time at least) should benefit BEFORE the ones whose reason of existence is to keep pumping away day in day out till cows go mooooooo.
Steve’s example just above is the PERFECT example of this.
Your blog is in my “Blogs I like” list. Adding PF Digest was a great move. Your place in that list is safe for now…but watch it lol
“I’ll just throw this out there… but one of the reasons that I don’t always post about cards that are non affiliate links is that I don’t always know about them.”
I don’t think anyone is criticizing for not being aware of every tiny deal under the sun that doesn’t pay an affiliate commission. But many of these non-affiliate offers, every blogger is fully aware of.
(the below is directed at bloggers as a whole, not just you. So sorry if it comes across as attacking you)
That theory would be more believable if the cards/deals that all bloggers were fully aware of and are nothing new, they gave adequate coverage to. When things like the 50K AA offer, the 2 free nights at any Fairmont or Hyatt, the $0 annual fee 2% cards etc. get discussed about as often as Rick doesn’t sound angry, it’s hard to attribute this to “bloggers just aren’t aware about it”
Got an email yesterday from a reader kind of new to this game who found me through the financial blogger conference I attended who thought my 80k IHG card to get 16 Pointbreaks niights was the most brilliant travel cost savings advice in the history of da internet. Well, not really, but very close! I think the last one who gave it such a prominent exposure it was…me. Wonder why 🙂
George, in all fairness you could post my reply?
Agenda: Afaik IB isn’t after TBB. It is my personal mission to accentuate the positive and ignore the negative. I applauded FT moving the angry threads to a separate forum. I tried with faces of FT to put a real face on people instead of anonymous commenters that can and will say anything.
IB has no influence on what I personally post here. They bought the blog, not me.
I am as invested in returning this hobby, even with the commercial influences, back to the good old days, as George is using rants and slams to accomplish the same purpose. I would gladly give George an award ticket to sav or hhi to have lunch and try to reach some common ground if he was willing to come.
And if I need to use examples and call George out on now using similar techniques and practices that other bloggers use, well he’ll just have to get used to it, or censor my comments.
except that he hasnt censored your comments, even though you keep needling him. And censored any criticism on your blog so when we comment on your blog here (on George’s forum), you dismiss us saying we are a bunch of Angries who have nothing better to do than to congregate here.
You claim that you are invested in returning this hobby to the good old days, but as long as you are complicit in passing long inferior offers to folks who are ill-informed in the name of “helping newbies” while pocketing commissions from those applications, you dont really have a leg to stand on.
Amen.
I can not post your reply because then I need to post my reply…and the blog post length is already very long. I thought I had a link to it but just realized I didn’t. I will add it after lunch.
My blog’s mission is to Entertain, Educate and Inspire. My personal mission is to enjoy my life and contribute to world peace 🙂
The Faces of FT was interesting. I refused it because it was a way to add content to sell more cards.
If you are so invested in returning this hobby to the good old days you can start with improving the quality of your own blog and/or promote the blogs in my two lists 🙂 Put the reader FIRST at all times. A little less blatant selling of cards will help too. Ok, who am I kidding. Just kill the Travel Challenge which is anything but…..please!
You appear increasingly interested in the censoring part, hmmmm.
Thanks for the offer. I am busy. I think you should add an FTG vs TBB debate in the next Chicago seminar…Moderator Gary Leff? 😉
@The common man: From another common man…thanks for taking the time to comment here!
George, George George. It took me six months to get you to separate FTG the person from FTG the blog. If it takes six more years I
L keep trying to get this through your head.
1. I don’t own the blog.
2. I don’t control what is on the blog and what isn’t.
I can recommend all I want, but I don’t make the decisions Anymore. Try to think that through George and the implications of that reality.
Not surprised by your response to my offer of a face to face.
“George, George George. It took me six months to get you to separate FTG the person from FTG the blog”
You post on the blog, you solicit credit card advice on the blog (with your email on the side panel), the name of the blog was your longstanding nickname, the tagline at the top of the blog is one you’ve used for years, you hypocritically shill for cruises on the blog etc.
If it makes you feel better, being associated with the blog is actually a good thing for you. While the current version of the blog is nothing special, it is certainly a much higher quality than it was towards the end of your ownership
Anyone remember those awful deals of the day features? They made the travel challenges look like a Pulitzer winner by comparison
I think Steve answered for me. I don’t think he is an “angry”.
I move slow, what can I say? It is the exact opposite of how fast FTG staff moves when a new affiliate offer gets in the “channel”.
I would love to meet you face to face. You can visit me and we can do lunch. I ‘ll even buy because you are not rich 🙂 I just don’t have the time to come to you, that’s all.
Rick if you were interested in returning the hobby to its roots, so to speak, why sell the blog in the first place? It’s much, much more commercialized now and no different from the other more commercial miles blogs.
Really, this blog is the only venue for unvarnished comments, criticism, and discussion of the miles/points bloggers out there. Sure there is the EMPR forum on FT, which is not full of “angries” as you assert (sure there have been some posts that were a bit snarky, but no more so than elsewhere on FT)…but EMPR posts can only say so much without running afoul of the random whims of the Mods.
It’s no different than Yelp, Trip Advisor, you name it. A commercial business (which FTG was even before you sold it) is going to be open to complaints and criticism. Period. Don’t like it, don’t go into business!
On one hand you disavow FTG saying that hey, IB owns it not me, I’m just a guy now. Yet you’re up in arms over anything negative towards it.
I don’t know why you’ve become Don Quixote over TBB, as the self-styled leader of the Miles Bloggers Self-Defense Army 🙂 But I don’t see what purpose it serves. You don’t like that TBB has critical commentary of FTG and other blogs. OK, we get it. Move on.
@Lemongrab: Thank you for taking the time to comment. I fully agree with your comments and I know you are not angry. But I have no doubt you angered Don Quixote.
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” -> Mr. Twain
That is some deep stuff, thanks!
“you ever notice people that drive slower than you are IDIOTS and people who drive faster than you are MANIACS” ->Geo. Carlin
Carlin can go even deeper? 🙂
Some comments and then I’ll go back to doing whatever it is that I do.
1. Rule of thumb: Ignore trolls. Of all stripes.
I’ll break this rule briefly.
Whoever is using homophobic language to imitate AgendaGuy or to claim that George “bends over” for MMS or DD: grow up. That’s just pathetic.
Rick, both you and George have stated your case. We’re past an interesting back-and-forth to the realm of self-parody.
2. No one cares about 95% of the stuff written on the blogs, or on this blog. I think George’s lasting influence is greater accountability in getting bloggers to list superior non-affiliate offers where they exist. Even TPG does it now. People are more aware than they were one year ago.
As for links bombardment, eh, it’s a losing battle. Used car salesmen gotta sell used cars.
Is this hobby made worse by George and his commenters? Probably not. The used car salesmen haven’t stopped selling used cars. You think MV cares that he’s singled out? Not as long as his business stays afloat. You think MMS cares that we call his blog dull? Nope.
In my view, this hobby moved from a clubby, trusting environment to one full of used car salesmen when it became more open to the public. Suddenly, insiders that had passed deals among themselves in a niche website saw their mistake fares and tricks die faster. The US Mint died. Office Depot died. The Alitalia trick died. A good lot of hobbyists became upset, and moved to super-secret members-only lists. Many lashed out. (Those lists still exist.)
It boiled down to financial incentives. Bloggers had incentives to spread the word widely, because training newbies is (admittedly, psychologically rewarding) and financially lucrative. Companies had incentives to limit tricks and loopholes (or not honor them) as a larger number of people took advantage of them.
In the end you have two level of hobbyists, the insiders who know the secrets and are skilled at finding the deals and playing the game. They’re the ones who make the discoveries. Then there are the newbies and amateurs, who either have better things to do or are just too dumb to push the game forward. And the former have less incentive now to share ideas with the latter because tricks go viral too fast. In my mind, that’s why there’s less clubbiness and trust in this hobby. Call it the “bloggers kill deals” theory of recent, niche history.
Do George’s over-the-top commenters kill trust? I’ve yet to see the causal mechanism.
Do I care that anonymous strangers on the internet are rude to each other? Do I care that some people want to keep this a closed, exclusive club? “Yawn.” On the ranked list of problems, it’s probably somewhere in the triple digits.
On the flip side, is TBB saving the world or improving the hobby? I think George won a partial victory on disclosure of superior offers. I don’t think there’s much more, but at least the rants save on his therapy bills. By the way, George, what happened to going semi-weekly?
Why? Because just like no one is feeling less trust in or love for her fellow hobbyist from this website, no blogger is being dissuaded by the rants here. There are infrequent discussions of particular blogging practices, but at no point are the highest revenue-earners going to suddenly see the light. “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
3. That MMS interview and the website are awful. The conceit is to add an abbreviated dirty slang word and add it to “living” and merchandise it as a supposed lifestyle? Really? Good catch to the first commenter there, though.
4. I just figured out that I’m older than Ryan Gosling, so I can officially claim a right to be old and crotchety. Hooray.
5. Randy Peterson should fire Onanism At a Time and hire hauteboy to write a travel blog. His travels are about 300% more interesting. And yes, I only found them because they were featured on the FT front page.
I need to follow up on that Hyatt “lifetime” deal so this will be quick
Thank you again and again for taking the time to comment here. You are the voice of reason and wisdom and your comments are MVP material!
I need to follow Rule #1 but my biggest fan will be so bored. Deep down, we both like arguing here for all to see.
I FULLY agree with #2.
#3 MMS interview is in the queue.
#4 Just wait when you cross 40, it’s all downhill from there lol.
#5 hauteboy should get his own blog!
A couple of more things:
I tried to go semi weekly but failed…miserably! 🙂
I got me the DiscoverIT card so you don’t have to take shots at me for my obvious mistake 🙂
Great post harvson. And thank you kindly.
Harv, If you wrote this blog and you wanted to criticize blogging practices of others, I believe that it would be far more tolerable than the current owner. Criticism well delivered is easily swallowed. You are a master and I enjoy every comment you make. You prove clearly if doesn’t need to be nasty and snarky to be effective.
Yawn 🙂
Thanks for the link to Hauteboy’s trip reports! He reminds me of how I traveled in the 90’s before I got married. I didn’t know people still traveled like that! It’s getting much harder to do with visas getting more expensive, rising crime and post 9-11 security issues.
Rather than being comment #122 on yesterday’s post (congrats, George!) I will make my comment here. In Ingy’s reply to George’s explanation – not really a rant in my book – I noted a HUGE double standard. Ingy said :
[quote marks and dots indicated it is an exact but excerpted quote]
“…
5. We clearly disagree on calling out the bad blogs. I would just ignore them. That is our big difference George.
…
8. We all have our styles George. Mine is a lot like yours. When I see something I don’t like, I say it. I’m not gonna sugarcoat my reply in your blog just because others do. Mommy has her style. I have mine.
…
I have tried and will continue to try to promote the good and ignore the bad in our hobby. And that George is where we differ. If you continue to call out the negative, I will continue to ask you to stop….”
What a double standard! A double double standard! First he says he’d simply ignore bad blogs, but then he says when he sees things he doesn’t like, he says so.
Then he says that he will “promote the good and ignore the bad” – no, he just said he if he sees things he dislikes, he says so! Yet if George points to bad blogs, Ingy feels he must continue to criticize George! What convoluted thinking!
I wasn’t here back when it was a small, non-commercialized hobby. I am only approaching my one year anniversary. I am very grateful that, thanks to TBB and the travel blog area on FT, I now know my way around the blogs in terms of who I can trust and who deserves my clicks. Given what I have seen of FTG the current blog and Ingy the guy who posts here and on FT, it is hard to imagine that FTG – the man and the blog – was once the go-to source.
BTW George, I did see a post that the powers-that-be caught the Diamond error – wonder what they will do for those already approved?
Harvson 3 said “Rick, both you and George have stated your case. We’re past an interesting back-and-forth to the realm of self-parody.”
Harv must have been posting while I was, since his comment wasn’t up when I started mine. I completely agree that the Ingy/George interaction has gotten boring and stale. I contemplated saying so but held back. But enough with it. Perhaps George can just link to yesterday’s comments whenever Ingy says anything and he’ll get bored enough here to just go away.
Boring and stale? I’ve linked to TBB-FTG give-and-takes a couple of times, and based on the way people are clicking, I think you could have a very successful website consisting of nothing but TBB-TFG debates. To provide the obligatory “points” or “miles” reference, you could call it milesfromagreement.com or pointsofcontention.com.
The deal is that if you’ve been reading the back and forth between George and Ingy for the last couple of months or more, it is pretty repetitive. They each make the same arguments. I read TTB daily and it is getting old – at least to me.
But the opposite of old is young, so congrats on your new young’un! I just saw a super cute pic on Saverocity! Congratulations!
Thanks for the kind words! I haven’t been following the back and forth until the last few weeks, so maybe that’s why I’m enjoying it.
Has been going ever since TBB dared to kindly constructively criticize FTG (the blog)…
Buzz’s problem isn’t that he criticizes bad blogs/blogging habits. It’s that FTG (the blog and the hypocrite) is among the bad blogs/blogging habits that he criticizes
Considering FTG is the king of “do as I say, not as I do”, it’s a pretty fair assumption that if TBB merely criticized those FTG doesn’t like or is jealous of (like Randy or Gary), Rick would have no problem with it
Speaking of “do as I say, not as I do”, did the guy who was at the forefront of turning this from a hobby to a business, then cashed out to a large corporation seriously talk about how we should move back to a hobby?
“Let’s go back to the old days. Now that I’ve profited handsomely from deviating from it”
Thanks again TWA44, glad to have you here. Excellent observations (Steve too!).
It will be interesting to see how the Hyatt “mistake” develops. Whatever happens I will not sue if I don’t get Diamond for as long as I hold the credit card (yep, I knew what I was singing up for!) #developing
Steve: Please, please, go easy with the application of them quotes.
Why? I mean those weren’t his exact words (and nobody mistakenly thinks they are), but it’s the general crux of what he was saying
I just took what he was saying over the course of 8 paragraphs, and condensed it into 16 words
“you ever notice people that drive slower than you are IDIOTS and people who drive faster than you are MANIACS” ->Geo. Carlin
I just want to prevent a potential “I am being misquoted again” so I wonder if….blah blah blah. That’s all.
Got some bad news today on the real career front, insurance cost debacle and daughter in mega behavior trouble…
I need to recover…Feedly unread nearing 4 digits!
ramsey: did you intend to post this again down here too? If not, tell me and I can delete it if you want.
Oh dear, I take a two week break to visit Grandma in Kolkata (not Kansas) with family on points and you guys get at each others throats. Funny how IB is portrayed as the faceless satan. Lol! The little time they spend on FT & FTG is spend on other things… whether some blogger is linked to on FT is IMHO not even on their agenda.
You mean IB is portrayed as this? 🙂
http://wonderfulwebwomen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/austin_powers_mike_myers_as_dr_evil2.jpg