I have had it with this hobby! I am going to start training for Iron Man!
A little tour in the TBB Comments section during the past week! School starts on Tuesday and we…:
August 24-25, 2013: Namibia, Fuji, IHG Win Big & Pointbreaks, Blogging affects brain, Randy Petersen interview
harvson3: “…I cringe that VFTW (which stands for What the F–k, Victor? backwards) can’t seem to spell São Paulo correctly…”
AngryBear: “Ariana does a great job when she isn’t writing for FTG (the blog, providing content that used to be written by FTG the senior citizen).”
Ramsey’s Thought of the Day: “Frequent Miler is the Elon Muck of Points/Miles Blogs.”
PatMike: “I would click on George’s links in a heartbeat! Has he not developed trust amongst us? Woe is he who tries to pull a fast one… because he taught us all to be ever vigilant …”
August 26, 2013: Shanghai, Kenya, Citi AA 50k offer public again, Sao Tome, Azores & Madeira, TBB changes, Blogging jobs
Raffles: “One thing is clear – there is little point in running another ‘me too’ US blog.”
Steve:
“I’m looking forward to the day when one of the “Top 10 CC’s” linkfests that all the bloggers pump out with regularity only have….. 10 CC’s
Count CIB and CIP as one
Lump all the 2 hotel night signup bonuses as 1 (remember when the Hyatt Visa didn’t have to share space with other CC’s?)
Put all 3 Carlson cards together (haha just kidding, they only include the Carlson card that pays them affiliate $$)
Toss in the Alaska Airlines Visa just because
And voila…. a “top 10 CC’s” list actually contains 15+ links!”
August 27, 2013: Yomadic drives Europe, Wolfe Air video, Cartagena, Hertz 3x, Bloggess Epic rant, TBB does Air Tahiti Nui
Steve:
“This goes back to why many of us, who while we wish he wouldn’t do it, at least respect Dan for being forthcoming about when he pimps credit cards and why he does it.
He doesn’t try to spin BS about wanting to “refresh our memory” and make excuses for transparent CC bombardments. And more importantly, even when he does go on a link-fest, at least he’s usually not mailing in the post. At least he tries to put something useful and original in the body (i.e. his Avios redemptions by AA hub posts)”
Everything you needed to know about The AA Fuel Surcharge Debacle. Or Dive to Hell and then Resurrection if you prefer!
ABC: “We would all be better off if One Mile at a Time had not started this avalanche. He should have a better feeling for how this community responds to these types of “information” and waited with spreading the mistake ( and it is irresponsible to state “…… book those award tickets now!”) . It is clear that corporate social media units may not be very informed. And we certainly know that award booking agents are not well informed (rule #1 is hang up and call again if you don’t get the award you’re trying to get). Sure these bloggers aren’t journalists and do not adhere to classical journalistic method, however, I can only hope that bloggers will learn a lesson from this, especially Lucky. => talk to the right folks with actual authority over these types of issues. Flyertalk moderator was more reasonable stating “Thread title updated as we have not yet had confirmation of this”.”
August 28, 2013: Cologne Cathedral, Wine, Hidden Islands, Hyatt, Voila, infamous Blog Buzz rolls on!
TBB (shamelessly self promoting moi): “I just wished that content was not driven so much by what pays bloggers but every blogger was rewarded based on the quality of their content and positive improvements to readers’ quality of their lives and contribution to a better world”
Emily Post Ramsey: “Mommy Points is good enough to be Presidential Press Secretary or a high paid Public Relations Spokesperson for a company like BP. She is good”
Delta Points: “…the day TBB “joins” BA is the day I leave BA. But that day will never happen as you need to create content not just copy others content to be on BA”
Anonymous (responding to DP comment above): “TBB, join now!”
HikerT: “Funny how most bloggers posting about the reduced AA mileage awards to Hawaii don’t mention the 50K AA signup link. For consistency, you would think that if a SPG post warrants mentioning the 30K SPG offer, an AA post would warrant mentioning the 50K AA offer. I’m sure it has nothing to do with not getting paid to mention it.”
August 29, 2013: Tuscany, Chinese airlines, Hawaii, Yemen, Ice Diving, Japanese Trucker Art
Father Ramsey: “The whoring of the SPG card ad nauseum has been unbelievable and unbearable. Why is it so excruciatingly bad Buzz? Is Amex offering a higher commission rate to affiliates during this promotion? I cannot believe that 5000 extra points in today’s world manufactured spending means a whole hell of a lot to most of us. Don’t the blogger realize they are losing credibility and turning/pissing off their loyal readers?”
TBB (yep, moi again!):
“Do you consider the way Frequent MIler is doing it as murky/nontransparent/pushy? I hope not! How about Rapid Travel Chai, Saverocity, Travel Summary, Hack My Trip? Do you bunch them in along with all the others? I certainly do NOT! So, my point has been, I wish this cancer had never joined my hobby. It is here and we can not do much about it other than educating the consumers to make right choices. They should support bloggers who work hard, try to provide original content and respect their readers by not hitting them upside the head day in and day out with affiliate cc links.
I follow almost all blogs. Some of them get a fraction of the traffic TBB does (something which I am proud you know) and they have affiliate links. I honestly have not looked into the subject, even though I get emails DAILY that I am an idiot of not doing so yet and how readers can not wait to support me.
My first entry to monetization with AdNonSense was quite educational. I am learning and having fun. One day I will look into the cc monetization aspect AND do my best to do it differently and in a way that IMPROVES the space. I have some ideas. Maybe the cc affiliate companies tell me to get lost. It’s ok.
TBB is like my baby. I love saying things people are thinking about and having a forum expressing themselves. I believe deeply in non censoring. TBB reviews blog businesses. It is like Yelp. Wish it had the authority to do recalls LOL. TBB dishes out praise when I see it is warranted. And constructive criticism. Some take it personal, they should not. Sometimes it may hurt but it is needed (imho) to effect change!
TBB will never pimp away, not my style! And please burn me at the stakes if I start doing so!
10 months, so many hours, so many smiles spread, devoted readers, still growing. I focus on the TBB mission and the content. It is like a startup, as soon as they start focusing on the big payout, they lose focus and blow up. TBB keeps building. Always a problem when people focus on the money first!
ingy: “The best thing that ever happened to me financially was NOT going with BoardingArea when originally asked. I think you’ll find that to be true of several other independent bloggers as well if they’ll answer the question. I am truly surprised some of the bigger bloggers have not stepped out on their own”
A Reminder to All:
First?
You are da man!
George, you should totally put together a rating list of various blogs. Rate them by quality of content, type of content, transparency, honesty, etc. Give them the TBB X-factor rating too! That would be really useful to new readers in this hobby who can’t yet discern between the good bloggers (FM, HTM, etc) and the dishonest bloggers that get a lot of media coverage (TPG, FTG, etc).
I have many ideas. I also have many things I should do for my blog. I just do not have the time to get to them all and am I too much of a control freak/cheap to get help.
The ratings idea I have thought about a lot. And I think I may have earned the right to be the one blogger who can pull this off and make the ratings as credible as they can be while knowing all along that every rating is…so subjective. My blog has made TBB enough enemies, do I need more? 🙂
And where does one start and stop? Can rate based on: Content, Frequency, Degree of salesmanship pushiness (better term?), etc. First step may be to refine which categories to rate on. And should there be an overall grade? If yes, how does each category factor into the equation? (Content should come numero UNO and be at least double/triple/quadruple the other categories?) You see, it is starting to get way too subjective!
I also thought about going back since Day 1 and start counting every time I featured a blog link here (plus 1) and every time one was constructively criticized (minus 1) and keep a tally and post it on the left hand side empty space (when I figure out how to post stuff there!). I think FM will have the highest + number for sure. I will let you guys guess who will be the leader of the bottom pack lol.
Again, it always comes back to there are 24 hours in a day and there are higher priorities for me. I made a commitment and personal challenge to myself to keep going with TBB. Blog reviewing (along with everything else in my life) hardly ever leaves any time into looking at adding additional features (and monetization aspects too, still trying to recover from the traumatic AdNonSense experience!).
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment. I need to think about this some more, I always appreciate readers’ suggestions!
Thanks for considering it. I agree that you’re probably one of the only people in the space who could pull it off. And, you’ve already pissed off every bad blogger anyway, so no need to worry about more enemies 😉
>>>>>>>>>>And, you’ve already pissed off every bad blogger anyway, so no need to worry about more enemies 😉
Proudly, I may add. It’s a hard job being a blog critic but somebody’s got to do it!
Thanks!
George,
I really like your idea for a +/- system. I think that would really highlight some interesting information. To add to your list (just what you wanted, right?), you should consider a daily poll for your readers: Best blog/worst blog. Just put up a list of blog titles from that day (10-15) and have a voting button. Might be interesting.
Keep up the good work. I certainly enjoy you “keeping it real.”
All day I have been catching up on my reading! I discovered that I had completely missed reading the August edition of “Inside Flyer” so I read it along with the September issue (among man other professional publications). I only have a few to go.
Next I gotta knock out a few award bookings, a Hyatt hotel night in Greece and look at flight/hotel for the blogger conference in St. Louis in October.
Then I will go for a run.
At night I will finalize material for two client meetings on Monday morning (father & son).
Late at night I will catch up on my Feedly list and try to knock out another blog post but….action is almost dead on the weekends in blogosphere and wit the Labor Day holiday I may wait for a day….So, I may need to find another filler post.
Looks like ingy below (my number 1 fan) does not like filler posts. I am quite surprised by this fact 🙂
You see…it is a time/capacity/resources issue 🙂
Doing my best. Trying not to fold lol.
Filler Posts commencing. Saw one last week as well but didn’t want to comment then. Georgie Boy, is the suit getting a wrinkle?
You are darn right these weekly comment gems are filler posts! You should know all about them as you pretty much invented the term at FTG (the blog)! I thought it would be fun to pick some comments to feature so some of my readers can see all the fun they have been missing around here!
Thank you for your positive contribution the other day which was indeed featured as a weekly gem. Thank you for contributing in the education of readers to learn about business practices [that was a joke by the way].
Actually, I have not wore a suit all summer long so I wonder if they are getting wrinkled. It is fall now and I should check soon, I will let you know. Thank you for your concern about my suits.
If you are talking about TBB folding (just in case)…Well, not yet! Please check every day and comment so you can give me extra motivation to keep going lol.
Have a great Labor Day weekend! And thank you so much for your loyalty here. Readers taking the time to comment show me that they care.
TBBon
Remember when 3x a week the FTG blog did nothing more then post “funnies”? Now that’s the definition of fillers
I liked this post George, I don’t always read all the comments, so it’s a nice summary
Remember when 7x a week they would post “Deals of the Day” where they ask readers to do their work for them and stalk other blogs and flyertalk to find stuff they can put in a filler post?
And then of course, most of them weren’t even noteworhty deals
“Use coupon code XXXXXXX at Hertz to get 100 bonus AeroMexico miles”
I remember them too. So it was quite a bit amusing to say the least TBB was accused of filler material…it sure entertained me!
First come filler posts, then a sale or fold.
A sale??? Lol, you must be joking! You are not serious, are you?
I am not into gambling at all but if I had to bet I would certainly bet on the fold, lol.
Going to a financial blogger conference next month. Main sponsor is…Chase! It should be pretty interesting!
Still learning, still having fun. And still growing readers too. Thank you for coming along for the ride. Thank you for your devotion to my blog, we sure appreciate it.
Have fun in Charleston. I like them all over there.
Entertainment. For Free. TBB (it rhymes!)
I remember those!
Thanks again!
I think I found a video of Iggy going out for breakfast, not sure if this is him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eREiQhBDIk
I really liked that movie! Did you see what they gave him, I would be angry too!
I need to atone for all the ribs I ate!
“The Truth is out there” reminded me of the good time watching X-Files TV series. Time goes by so fast since it seems just like yesterday. Thanks for taking the time to comment on the GE spin-off. I thought that you were going to take some time off on this weekend 🙂 Thanks.
X Files was the only TV series I ever watched. I miss it!
Well, with Labor Day tomorrow, it is time to catch up on everything…including TBB comments;-)
If you are afraid of making more enemies, then just do the plus side. I’m curious who you deem worthy and how long of a list it will be.
If you do this list, let me know, and I’ll donate a prize for the person who comes closest to guessing the number of bloggers that TBB deems worthy. Most likely lounge passes.
I would have donated a $40 Staples VISA rebate card, but the thing expired today, as the cashier i handed it to pointed out. Just “refound” it. I am done with the FM 300 point schemes involving rebate cards.
I have made hints in the TBB comments of who I deem worthy. I have a list but it has been changing as some drop off the list. I just never get around to it..thought I would have some time today to do something else for the blog but…Feedly list crossed 300 on a…Sunday!!! Insane.
I have some non miles/points blogs on the list. I was wondering if I should add them to the mix or just keep it miles/points blogs only.
One day, one day. I posted an ad at EMU for an intern WordPress whiz kid. Nada yet but hopefully with school starting someone may show up. Best recommendation letter guaranteed lol.
If people value your opinion (either they do or they just come here for the comment entertainment) than they (and I) would be interested in the other blogs you find beneficial. Even if it is only a one time thing (like FM talking about his spam eradication efforts)
You see my comment previous to yours, it was posted at 9.57 pm. You see the time in this post? 1.41 am. All this time I worked on the latest Blog Buzz post (Aug 31, Sep 1. 2013). And now I need to call mother in Greece and then sleep to wake up for client meetings staring at 9 am in Canton.
This is what my life has been post blog 🙂
It takes a toll but I like it.
Agreed. Filler posts should not have a bad name unless they, like so many of the blogs you call out here, are mailed in in the negative sense of telling us nothing new or noteworthy. Post what you like. You’ll know if you went off in a direction your readers don’t appreciate if they stop coming and/ or commenting.
We are getting ready to leave Jerusalem and the flat we have occupied for the last 12 nights, as we head today for my nephew’s kibbutz in the still beastly hot Arava section of Israel. We’ve had a great time here and despite the heat look forward to our next 5 days in the desert. Bob is looking forward to snorkeling in the Red Sea at Eilat. I am looking forward to time with my great nieces and nephews who are my quasi- grandchildren, since this nephew is almost like a son to us. Still ahead is a few days in Tel Aviv (thank you, Club Carlson) before flying to Istanbul.
We have checked into hiring a private guide in Istabul – something we almost never do but have considered given we’ve never been there and know zero Turkish – but think instead we will take a full day bus tour on the first day to get acclimated and hit the main sites. (Thanks, George, for the trip report. Much enjoyed and appreciated.) Then we can go back to places we’d like more time at and focus on seeing the people we have been in touch with in the remaining days. As you have probably gathered by now, we are not part of the fly-in-and-see-all-you-can-in-48-hours set. We much prefer to hang out in places we visit and connect with people we know or those we meet as we travel.
If anyone here has a recommendation for a specific bus tour company in Istanbul, I’d love to hear about it. We are looking at this one:
http://www.istanbul-daily-city-tours.com/21/ISTANBUL-HERITAGE-TOUR
We rarely do tours like this but it seems reasonably priced and a good choice given our situation. I do have Rick Steves’ Istanbul guidebook and will see if he recommends any tour operators too.
A good Labor Day to you all.
Sounds great. I think the bus stop in front of Agia Sofia has the main tour bus company…Don’t remember if there were different companies, doubt it. Worked fine.
You know what I miss in Istanbul? The street food vendors, especially the ones selling watermelons!
Enjoy!