PayPerPost forces disclosure

I so disagree with this disclosure thing. So what if you cannot tell that a person or company is behind a post on a blog? Guerilla marketing is fine. It’s cheap advertising. If I can post something positive on a blog and pretend I’m an everyday man and not show I’m really the company, then more power to me. As long as what’s being posted is not dishonest, all’s fair in love and war. Slandering should be illegal, however, and most companies will sue for slanderous postings online. I’m all for transparency in government and company finances, but if a company uses a blogging service or whatever, so what. Guerilla marketing is cool. It’s ingenious, actually. Again, as long as no one is getting hurt or robbed or being dishonest, so what. Spamming customers should be illegal, as should forcing a re-direct to a company website (browser hijacking). My reading about a whiz-bang gadget is not going to make me run out and buy it. I rely on friends and Consumer Reports for my buying decisions, not what I read on a blog written by someone who has an agenda, but I’m not opposed to people doing those things.

I’m saddened that bloggers specifically, and people in general, will do anything for money these days. Whatever happened to being happy with your paycheck from your 9-5? I miss the simple days of the 70s/early 80s, before computers. I miss hanging out at the mall playing Defender. I miss not worrying about money. The internet has become one big free-for-all, and I despise the way it’s being monetized. All anyone thinks about is money. Why can’t people just be happy? Families are being ruined because people just cannot stop buying stuff. When is enough enough? Do people really meed the latest gadgets? Do people really need to buy new computers every year? Do people really need $10K TVs? Do we really need 30MB internet connections when 5MB will do? By the way, the argument that all this drives the economy is bunk. I know enough about the economy to know that people are far too far in debt because this kind of economy drives the wants.
For example, my grandparents still use the 30-year-old console Zenith TV they bought in the 70s. They’ll upgrade when it breaks and/or they are forced to because of the digital-only broadcasting act. They drive their cars for 10 or more years and are completely debt-free and enjoy their retirement pension from him – she never had to work since they didn’s spend beyond their means.
I hate that commercial from a certain large mortgage company that has that person saying “Got big debt? Take your 1st mortgage, your 2nd mortgage, your car payments, and your high credit card debt and roll it into one low monthly payment.”
What gives? Upgrade when it breaks. Quit having to have the best or the latest. All people are doing is making others rich and depriving themselves and their kids of the future. With the exception of grossly overpaid doctors and lawyers, and CEOs, most people cannot afford to save anything, because they buy more house than they need, have car payments, and spend it all on stuff they don’t need. If your mortgage exceeds 25% of your income, you are overpaying. Car payments serve to rob you monthly.

Disclosure does not have to be within the post itself and to me, that’s a problem.

It should be clearly labeled, in every individual post.

When a netizen reads a “blogmercial”, it needs to be clearly marked. A blogger’s integrity means a lot, online or off. Mixing impartial articles with “publicity pieces” might upset some readers.

E-mail, for one, is still dearly suffering because of spam so I respectfully wish (I know, it’s just a wish) bloggers would remain vigilant with the “pay-per-post” business model.

Did Ted send you guys a gift?

He mentioned at ad:tech that he was sending a few certain bloggers a gift – he mentioned you by name actually.

Hear! Hear, Paul. Well said.

Pay per post? Who cares other than bloggers that may feel their “ranking” is threatened. Get over yourselves. If someone wants to get paid to blog, big deal. I think most people are smart enough to filter things out. (Except, apparently some bloggers)

Scoble, you are doing product placement all the time. You know, if WordPress would automatically add a tag in your blog posts for every mention of a product or company, that would be funny to see sometimes the tag line thicker than your own posts…;-)

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Did Ted send you guys a gift?

He mentioned at ad:tech that he was sending a few certain bloggers a gift – he mentioned you by name actually.
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Our PPP boxes still haven’t come in : ( When they do we’ll be sending out some stuff to people who have been vocal on both sides of the disclosure issue.

Robert

PPP did something ‘right’ because the Fed is closing in on them. This was a business decision, not an ethical one from my perspective.

I left the same comments on the TC blog post too.

Let’s be clear on this ok.

(Ted, nothing personal man…but let’s be clear on intentions)

Id bet that the pressure from this blog and Mikes is what helped force payperpost.com to do this. With that said, great work guys

Stephane: >Scoble, you are doing product placement all the time.

If I ever do product placement for PAY then I will disclose that.

Of course I talk about products all the time. The thing is I let my reader know why I’m talking about those.

I am talking about products and stuff that are sneaked into posts without a link. That’s in a sense the next-gen ads. First we had ad banners, then Google came with text links. And now most product placement is just text. But the effect is just the same.

You know, if WordPress would automatically add a tag in your blog posts for every mention of a product or company

Stephane WordPress with my Disclosure Policy Plugin can do exactly that, within the content of each post including RSS feeds.

I doubt it would be made available on WP.com as WP.com is not intended for commercial blogs

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