Welcome Chicago Seminars Attendees! Every single blog post below exists for only ONE reason and ONE reason only! If that reason disappeared tomorrow every single blog on the list will cease to exist, guaranteed. Don’t be a Tool! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! Pump It Up!
Please click on the image for better viewing of what this space has become. I had to cut several to make it fit!
Pump this…….
So…I take it there’s a Chase offer ending soon? Or something like this? 😉
A few comments:
The one post that made me throw up inside my mouth was MMS and how he was telling readers to apply for the Ink Plus card because yes you DO have a business wink wink. This crap should be illegal!
We even got a poem to sell it! At least that was kind of creative!
The Art of Non is that Chris Gulleabeau (sp?) the one with the books and the World Domination meetings where Gary Leff gets invited to speak about his business. He also has a monthly Travel Hacking service with the most stale stuff taken from FT (so I am told, please do not waste your money). We are talking about a TRUE miles experts, folks. Barf
Of course the other renowned expert Johnny Jet could not be far behind!
Most of these online marketing experts presented at the Chicago Seminars. That did not prevent them from pumping it up while there. And that is why they are online marketing experts and I am not.
Full disclosure: My site brought $2.72 yesterday ($2.62 from Amazon and $0.10 from Media.net). Yes laugh, how can’t you?
Stay tuned. I am getting tired of being laughed at you guys. To the readers who keep emailing me to do something I should have done a long long time ago, give me just a little more time! I shut up now.
Today is the last day of Chase Ink Plus in case you did not know lol. I expect a final blitz of pimping ridiculousness…naturally!
I’m pretty sure that applying using false information is illegal — credit card fraud anyone?
Regardless, everyone must decide for themselves where they draw the line in the sand re: ethics.
Yes I agree. But openly encouraging people to do this is sickening…There should be a law about this stuff!
A few weeks ago I went into a Chase branch and was told that the 70,000-point offer would be available in branches until at least November. I didn’t read the blog posts you reference above but trust they all contain that information.
Yeah right 🙂
I don’t think I can take another “extension” lol.
To be fair, if one still reads MMS and falls for his bullshit then s/he totally deserves it (as ingy would say) for being a moron.
Some people have reported that they have seen the Chase Ink ads on national TV between football games. That would probably mean that it’s not ending today. Expect more THE SKY IS FALLING posts in the upcoming weeks “QUICKLY, ACT FAST, LAST CALL, AMAZING DEAL”
To be fair, If your caloric intake is greater than burn rate, you deserve to be obese. Don’t fall for those stupid ads wanting you to heat too much unhealthy food. Same goes with smoking. At least that’s decreasing in the industrial world. 100% personal responsibility.
Watching the #ChicagoSeminars hashtag is clear to me many attendees are just clueless how these bloggers make money…
Let Johnny Jet the “expert”pump away. As long as we are spared photos of his wifey.
If you have nothing good to say….comment here 🙂
Mommy Points has a link on site to but Mommy
Points.com gear to wear. WOW, I can do all my Christmas shopping right there. One stop shopping…… Buzz, wouldn’t your family love a MP Free Travel T-shirt? Or perhaps a MP bear?…………………………………………………………………………………………….She’s got balls!
I LOVE free Tshirts. Actually I have not bought a T shirt since high school lol.
correction…to buy, not …to but
Ok, let me give it to you straight George. I am at the Chicago Seminars. I live a few hours away and I came to the event for the third time and actually felt somewhat guilty doing so because of all of your haraunging. I won a prize in the raffle for the third year in a row. I always win these things everywhere I go. I am not a newbie, as you know, but I came anyway. I carefuly chose my meeting sessions. And guess what. I know this will shock you, but no one attempted to sell me a credit card the whole weekend. I am not making this up. What happens on the blogs is not a reflection of what happens at this event at all. I think you need to stop the Twitter rampage using the #ChicagoSeminars hashtag. It seems at bit odd to me that you would try to inject yourself into the event in this way. This event is a sharing of info of people at all levels. I chose my sessions wisely and I had a good time and even learned a few things, less each time, but it was worth my time. I got to meet Drew and Carrie which was fun as well. I had a chance to win a RedCard and was the only person in the room that knew the answer to FrequentMiler’s trivia question, so I told it to the guy next to me and he won. And for the record, Ingy’s talk on credit cards was fair and not a sell job at all. Ok there you have it.
What did you learn?
Give it to me straight!
I am glad you had a good time and learned a few things. I would venture to guess that the things you learned have been blogged about by these bloggers but we all know some repetition is good.
Now let me give it right back at you 🙂
I am glad you did not spend money to travel there and for lodging (for some reason I thought you lived out West!) as, imho, I don’t think this meeting is worth it. But hey we are all different!
OF COURSE NOONE ATTEMPTED TO SELL YOU A CREDIT CARD, THEY DO ENOUGH OF THAT ON THEIR BLOGS, LOOK AT THE DARN GRAPHIC I PUT UP! These meetings are to enhance or begin personal relationships, show off “expertise” and in general let attendees leave with a good feel for the businessmen/women running these online marketing operations. Because, you know, people end up doing business with people they personally like.
It is very obvious to me that many newbies there have no clue so me injecting the hashtag leading them to some material that will EDUCATE them is fine. Hey, I did that with #Bacon14 so I am not sure what is the big deal, I see it as EDUCATION!
Drew and Carrie are cool but I am so disappointed to see them there. And to others in my two good lists.
Don’t get me started about ingy now. FTG still attempts to shove 7 cards at once down newbie’s throats! Again, read above about being nice and all. The selling happens on the blogs every freaking day in almost every post.
Even more frantic blog posts today about the ‘final hours” of the Chase Ink Plus…
It never ends…
I need to get a life and fight the system from within 🙂
Ben/Lucky’s award to Asia presentation was particularly helpful. If you have been to any of these types of events, you learn tidbits of all kinds from other folks. Or you are reminded of things you already know but had not focused upon.
Hey Smittytab-
Ask Howie from FTG my question:
How much do I have to spend using that Diner’s Club card to break-even on the $300 fee.
Sorry to ruin the karma, or whatever they call it there.
This isn’t about Karma. You ask Howie. I didn’t go to any of his presentations. And again, my point is this. I am not a fan of binary thinking or black and white thinking. There are always shades of grey. Everyone that is here on this site is not angry. And everyone who goes to Chicago Seminars is not a wide eyed deer in the headlights. Every blogger you respect need not boycott this event in order to make a point. Of course they are there to market their personalities. I enjoy taking part in some of the shared expertise. Ben is incredibly knowledgeable and a great speaker and I went to everything he presented. I skipped many others on purpose. He sells credit cards. I get that. Some people will be taken in by all kinds of things. Some people are sophisticated and discerning. I have been an educator at all levels during my career. Teaching people to be discerning and giving them the skills to make informed decisions is a better play than bashing individuals and events. And I did stay in the hotel. There’s an IHG promotion now and it was a good rate.
I appreciate the thoughtful response.
>>>>>>>>>He sells credit cards
Really? How long did it take you to GET that? I bet you a vast portion of the attendees did NOT know that. And if, in passing , knew that they would have no idea how that dominates our “hobby”. Because, you know, every single one of them up there loves to talk about the “hobby” which is a bunch of horse shit when if it was not for the credit cards they would NOT be doing this! Well, maybe not Ben because that’s all he knows anyway and is still young and single.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Some people will be taken in by all kinds of things.
Does that mean we can pump them 24/7 without impunity and without expressing an opinion here that doing this is WRONG? You know, like pumping unsuspecting gulllible readers who happened to read or watch a Nightline segment with 14 mentions of FREE all over it with hideous Credit Card “Tools” that pretty much every combination you give it it “expertly” recommends five or seven travel reward credit cards (the SAME ones!) when you are only looking for ONE FREAKING CASH BACK card. And then has the audacity to recommend to the poor newbie to apply for all seven at once. WTF!
It’s a free country and we all do what we want. I think attending such “seminars” legitimizes horrendous practices. I think they should be scorned. But this is my opinion. Maybe I am just angry…I don’t know.
>>>>>>>>Teaching people to be discerning and giving them the skills to make informed decisions is a better play than bashing individuals and events.
And please tell me how do these blogs do that when so much of their content is SO dominated by what lines their pockets in a frenzied race to keep their sales numbers so they can continue keeping their lucrative cc links? There are some cards out there that NEVER get mentioned because they don’t get paid. When an affiliate version comes out then they ALL pump it like the greatest card of all time with ridiculous headlines (hurry, only hours left, last call) and other BS.
Like I said, I may be just an angry white man. Actually, I had an awesome day today.
I watched Kill the Messenger last night. Ok movie but I just don’t trust anyone in authority.
Please be gentle with hypocrite accusations when i jump in the ring. It’s way to get me to the TBB endgame because,you know, authority and all that jazz.
Check Loyalty Lobby about continued tech glitches with IHG’s promotion.
I just don’t like to be pumped. I made that very clear in my pumpization scheme post 🙂
Cheers!
You nailed it George. There is so much pimping that many seem to give it a pass, and accept it the same as they accept you need to breathe air. It’s actually worse that the pimps don’t have the cajones to pimp in person – shows they are embarrassed to do so. But when it’s a matter of pushing out “expert” content rife with affiliate links online, there seems no limit to how low they’ll stoop to line their grubby pockets.
I think you nailed it that I nailed it…lol…that did not come out right. Thanks.
the pimping decibels are off the charts. This is what happens when they are all trying to capture the same eyeballs.
I am not against affiliate links per se, I always said that. Nothing pays enough to keep blogging. But so many bloggers are using them and you wouldn’t know they even have them! I think that is a much better practice, keep teaching and not just pumping non stop about the latest card promo.
Ben may very well be knowledgeable. However, knowledge has no meaning without a purpose. It’s been many, many years and I have not been able to apply any of the information that I’ve absorbed from Ben into anything practical. We’re simply not on the same wavelength, and we value different things. Sometimes I’ve gotten excited about the idea of all the bling, bling, champagne, Porsche etc, but that really doesn’t matter to me. In short, I’ve wasted time listening to him.
This space is filled with information. And most of it is worthless. Ask yourself what’s really important to you and what you want out of this hobby. It’s about knowing yourself and knowing what’s valuable to you.
Amen. Lucky and Gary blather about inconsequential nonsense most of the time. Does anyone really give a hoot which F product is best? After reading a few of the trip reports, the others are so damn repetitive my eyes glaze over.
The guys showing how to earn miles are vastly more important to me. Show me a new technique or product to earn more miles and that way I’ll never have to worry about being super efficient in burning them (teach me to fish). And reality is with so many devaluations and product “enhancements”, I find that by the time I might find use for one of the “secrets”, many are gone or are obsolete.
Saverocity, Frequent Miler, Free-quent Flyer, Dr of Credit, Milenomics and a few others are about all that I find have content worth reading. Other than FM, Boarding Area a pimping cesspool.
>>>>>>>>This space is filled with information. And most of it is worthless. Ask yourself what’s really important to you and what you want out of this hobby. It’s about knowing yourself and knowing what’s valuable to you.
I just pushed the “GemTemplate” button to grab this, perfect!
Hey P, I wait for the hot towel pic to notice the different texture in the F products Ben reviews.Or maybe it is the diet coke and the warm nuts shots lol.
And I guess you won’t be reading Chris Elliott over at BA huh?
Look, I completely agree that the space is filled with pimping and useless information. I know exactly what is important to me and what I want out of the hobby and what is valuable to me. I am an informed consumer of blogs and information. No amount of scorning the practices and events is going to change anything. If I do or don’t go to Chicago Seminars, the same things are going to happen. I hardly read Ben anymore either because of the fluff, but when he talks about creative award options to Asia, his opinions about the AA and US Airways merger and the leadership at Hyatt, I listen. When I go to apply for a credit card, I am more likely to give it to Rapid Travel Chai who more closely shares my philosophy on travel and who doesn’t pump at all. Or I will give it to Matt at Saverocity who will donate it to charity. I don’t live the pumping in this space and I do think it drives content on the blogs. P makes a good point about being embarrassed about pumping in person. The online space is very different from F2F and people say and do things they wouldn’t otherwise. That applies also to what people say here and sometimes I think that civility is lost. That was my point all along. Thanks everyone for a thoughtful discussion.
Thanks for the thoughtful post again.
My point all along has been: Pumping 24/7 your readers is hideous. Especially when you are selling “expertise” disguised as advice on how to travel for free by showing off yourself how you travel for “free” while you pump credit cards to everyone. There are better bloggers out there to get the information you need than these bloggers in my Ignore list who are so busy selling that they don’t have any time to work on the “hobby” and are mostly out of tune. It is a freaking con job imho. Paying money to go to their “seminars” just legitimizes their practices. You should come to the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO next year, no fees to attend! Look, I get your point about civility. The FTG dude dished so much of it here in this blog! Look at what civility has brought in this space, it has become a giant circus. Somebody needs to stand up and tell them to their faces that their blogs SUCK! I am still raving mad about MMS’s post encouraging readers to “start” businesses so they can apply for an Ink Plus card…barf!
And now I am going to eat a sandwich 🙂
Put me down for the AnnArborDO. Make sure to keep me in the loop on that. Would love to attend if my schedule permits!
Smittytab-
I did ask Howie how much spend I would need to earn back the $300 fee on that Diners Club card he wrote about.
I’m sure he’ll write back as he’s into education and, of course, personal responsibility.
Waiting….waiting…waiting….lol
“Welcome Chicago Seminars Attendees! Every single blog post below exists for only ONE reason and ONE reason only! If that reason disappeared tomorrow every single blog on the list will cease to exist, guaranteed. Don’t be a Tool! Enjoy the rest of your Sunday! Pump It Up!”
That is demonstrably untrue. Many of these blogs were going long before credit card referrals became a thing.
Yeah that was a little over the top I admit so my bad.
How many do you think will still be around with the same posting schedule if cc money went away tomorrow. I think…none! They may stick around hoping banks get back in it before they eventually go do something else.
I made a phone call. Watch TBB disintegrate soon….Can’t wait for next cc promo to begin now. I need conversions too.
I need to do something more useful with my life, this hobby is killing me. I even got Drew pissed off at me.
I just wanted to save the newbies and not have them treated as sheep 🙂