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 🙂

That is demonstrably untrue. Many of these blogs were going long before credit card referrals became a thing.

Put me down for the AnnArborDO. Make sure to keep me in the loop on that. Would love to attend if my schedule permits!

Waiting….waiting…waiting….lol

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 🙂

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.

>>>>>>>>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?