“Blogger’s Choice Awards” should really be called “Pay Per Post Awards”.
I have strong feelings against the destructive PayPerPost company, Ted Murphy, and Dan Rua.
I am happy to learn1 Robert Scoble will not be attending PostieCon [sic] since the date was pushed out until November to coincide with “BlogWorld” instead of canceling it due to lack of interest.
I am not surprised that the date of the Pay Per Post Awards has also changed to the new date.
Although, I have not found myself reading content on a site that includes PayPerPost content, I have found myself on a few sites that include mention of their nomination for the “Blogger’s Choice Awards” [sic]. Why is this?
Who is behind the “Blogger’s Choice Awards”? At the end of the About page it reads
The Blogger’s Choice Awards are sponsored by PayPerPost and our other advertisers.
Who are the other sponsors? Is there clear disclosure? I don’t think so. My guess is that it is more than “sponsored” by PayPerPost, but actually run by PayPerPost.
Do we want yet another blogger awards?
I think Pay Per Post Choice Awards looks like a great site, and looks like it has a good category and voting system, but why not collaborate with one of the existing awards? Nevermind, don’t answer that.
- Andy Beard is brilliant, but seems to have tunnel vision on the positive aspects of PayPerPost and claims my boss’ negative opinion of PayPerPost, “Matt focuses on the negative side of paid posts” [↩]
Hi Lloyd
I think one of the problems in all the discussions is that the people involved come from different backgrounds.
It is hard to think that I was writing computer programs on a display stand in W.H.Smiths (a book store chain) before Matt was born, and did work as a programmer a little in the days of Fortran and COBOL.
However for the last 17 or 18 years, I have been more a sales & marketing guy, but primarily in things to do with computers.
Back in 1999 I had computer games publishers telling me the idea of using advertising in computer games was never going to be mainstream, and I would never get advertisers to purchase ads.
You can still find info online about Crime Cities – it didn’t have a huge development budget or in the end a strong publisher Worldwide, and thus received the mediocre reviews budget games tend to get. The technology was all there, but the gameplay needed some loving.
These days advertising in games is big business, hell I am sure my old company can probably challenge a whole load of patents.
I recently came across another company claiming to have recently applied for a patent for their 3D music software, which had an extremely similar interface to the 3D music software I helped develop also back in 1999.
You are attacking PPP for disclosure, but although you do have disclosure in this post, and your about page, that isn’t universally true of every Automattic employee, for every blog post they make about WordPress on their private blogs.
In many ways PPP bloggers are handling disclosure better than most A list bloggers.
I have said to them I don’t like their disclosure badges, because they are not displayed in a feed.
Jason Calacanis only recently added disclosure that he is a board member of ThisNext to his sidebar after constant prodding.
He has been attacking SEOs for ages, an suddenly he is launching a service that he is proclaiming will kill the need for SEO.
There wasn’t any disclosure in his buildup.
I am pretty sure more than 1000 bloggers have written something about disclosure and paid reviews in the last year.
I have had less than 20 links to my disclosure policy plugin, and the mentions of my disclosure feedflare I can count on one hand.
Everyone is entitled to their views, but bloggers if they are to maintain their credibility and objectivity should have the courage to also embrace opposing views.
The totally biased reporting of anything regarding Pay Per Post by the majority of A list bloggers is much worse for the blogosphere than the advent of sponsored posts.
I have written paid reviews on my blog, I believe I have maintained my objectivity, enough that I even submitted my reviews to Google as Webspam.
How many people involved with WordPress development sell paid links on their blogs? I have certainly seen quite a few casino links.
Pay Per Post are currently being held to higher standards than Google, yet for some reason no one is talking about their policies preventing disclosure.
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Andy. You raise many interesting points, though few really in the context of Pay Per Post, and none about the Pay Per Post Awards.
I disagree about “the totally biased reporting of anything regarding Pay Per Post”. I think people ride Pay Per Post because they have been given plenty of time to deal with the simple issue, all ads should be clearly presented as ads in context. Addressing this issue should be at the soul of their company.
I have given up on PayPerPost, Ted Murphy, and Dan Rua and I am looking for someone else to provide the desired services.
I think I was totally relevant to your claims that I have tunnel vision.
Back in 1999 is was thought that advertising in computer games was unethical, although it had been going on for years with product placement that was paid in games on the Amiga.
If you want to get down to fine details.
On the Blogger’s Choice Awards site, in the footer it says
“© Copyright 2007 PayPerPostâ„¢, Inc. – All rights reserved.”
On WordPress.org it doesn’t mention the site is owned by Automattic in the footer on every page.
It still doesn’t mention the WordPress registered trademark.
Why don’t you concentrate on Google who specifically allow you to encourage people to download products with their referral units, but at the same time prevent you disclosing that you gain monetary compensation from them doing it.
How many people use great WordPress plugins like Alinks on their blogs, but have no disclosure that they are affiliate links?
I could question why Yahoo is listed as a recommended host for WordPress considering they don’t support the modification of .htaccess which for me is enough reason to recommending dumping any host.
How much is their service contract with Automattic worth, and is it disclosed fully?
Yes there is some disclosure on that page, but the Yahoo link doesn’t look like an affiliate link.
Some of the links certainly are affiliate link, that is advertising in content, which gains compensation based on word of mouth marketing.
In my opinion there is nothing wring with the page as far as the ftc is concerned, or morally, but PPP generally have much clearer and more specific disclosure, and reviewers rarely gain additional compensation for sales.
I actually like the bloggers choice awards, there really isnt any other good award things, besides the yearly bloggies or whatever it is, and the system i think is flawed.
Hi Matthew,
Thank you for the comment. Do you know who is “running the show”? If like me, you don’t, does that not concern you?
Isn’t blogging all about integrity through action?
Lloyd
Andy Beard, there is nothing personal about video games and video game advertising.
“On the Blogger’s Choice Awards site, in the footer it says” is a perfect example of why context matters. I looked for this type of information on the front page or on the about page. Cause I missed the fine print. Why is the same clear message not on the front page or the about page?
Your second comment raises many relevant points about the larger topic that I will have to consider.
I would be interesting what suggestions come up with from an audit of WordPress.org — personally I find it well focused on the open source product, and not compromised by business relationships which is one of the reasons I joined Automattic — there is clearly room for improvement.
Additional reference is on the Rules and Regulations page that is clearly linked in the middle of the about page.
http://www.bloggerschoiceawards.com/main/rules
That seems to be easier to find than plenty of important WordPress things such as the use for WordPress in domain names.
Thank you Andy Beard! You have confirmed that I want nothing to do with the “Blogger’s Choice Awardsâ€.
“clearly linked”: if we are explaining, we have already lost.
Yes I know PPP is hosting it… but i dont feel they are influencing it one way or another for a winner per category. they seem to be doing things right by me
I think that over the next few years we will probably get a good blog award system but for now this is all we have. What we need is a survey company to do online surveys so that we can all vote for the best blog in several different categories.
Just my thoughts.
I was doing a search on “pay per post” with a different idea in mind and stumbled across your post. I don’t have a problem with the idea of somebody getting paid to write. But I do have a problem with the opinions being determined by the people paying the bills.