the hotel bar

In the comments section of part 1, a commenter noted that the title of the post originally said the author of the post was Drew Macomber (author of Travelisfree.com, freelance writer, and former Friday interviewee)

Currently, it has MMS listed as the author

A few people on both his blog and on TBB (where he was active in the comments) asked who wrote the post, but he has not responded to them despite responding to all other comments on both blogs

As the post and comments section give off the impression that MMS wrote this post (and did "80 hours of research" prepping it), I think it would be pertinent to clarify the commenters post with a simple 3 word answer


The thread:
http://millionmilesecrets.com/2013/0...fthansa-miles/

freeloader

I guess he won't answer.... Odd he won't say one way or another. I'm guessing he didn't, since he won't deny otherwise.

the hotel bar

If true, it would be a pretty terrible breach of the blogs credibility in my opinion

Much worse than TPG or FTG outsourcing their content to other writers (not that those don't have many flaws by themselves)

It's pretty clear in the content of the post and his responses to comments that he's trying to give off the impression that it was him who wrote it.

Raffles

Does it really matter?!

If I wanted to write an 8-part piece on the best use of LH miles then I'd outsource it as well, as I haven't got a clue! Although I wouldn't put my name on it.

the hotel bar

I think so for a couple of reasons

1) If you outsourced it, it's likely not because you wanted to write an 8-part piece but because you thought the economics of it made sense (the CC links you'll be taking in vs. paying for the article). The fact that dozens of CC's are linked either directly or indirectly in that post corroborates that

2) Is the CC advice given in that article really his, or is it of someone he hired to create a link-laden post? Readers should know who wrote the article so that they might rely on Darius opinion.... but not some ghostwriters


1 and 2 are pretty much catch-alls for every outsourced blog post by any major blogger. Those aren't unique to MMS. 3 though is unique....


3) He is actively giving off the impression that it was him who wrote the article. References to "his mother in law" are in the article, comments praising him for "the 80 hours he put in" in the comments are met with thanks (as opposed to "actually it was Drew who put in the 80 hours").... people think he did yeoman's work to put together an 8 part series when really he (presumably) did no such thing.

freeloader

i think the reader deserves to know who wrote the piece, so they can judge the integrity of it.

the hotel bar

Textbook example of this - on yesterday's part 2 of the thread, someone credited Darius for all the hard work, and says he's going to toss the referrals MMS' way because of all the hard work he seemingly put in

Think this poster should be informed about who is truly writing this series....

oliver2002

If the owner of the site paid anyone to write todays LH article, it was money wasted. LH and M&M has wired the 1-800 number to divert to a different GTS call center if the local one is closed.

the hotel bar

I guess 80 hours of research wasn't enough?

The more Darius dodges the question (despite responding to everything else) combined with how the content has all the makings of outsourced CC linkfests (is he going to put the CC links in every single post? of course he will) I'm inclined to believe that original commenter who brought it up wasnt just seeing things

Raffles

He wasn't - if you google it you get this:

Use Lufthansa Miles | Million Mile Secrets millionmilesecrets.com/2013/05/22/use-lufthansa-miles/‎ by Daraius Dubash - in 32 Google+ circles17 Ways To Use Lufthansa Miles. ... Posted on May 22, 2013 by Million Mile Secrets | 59 Comments. [Disclosure: Emily and I get a ..... Author: Drew Macomber…

because the Author data is still attached to the post, you just can't see it on screen now.

However ...

The question 'would MMS have run this post without the credit card miles promotion' is totally pointless.

Without the LH 50k bonus, no-one (especially in the US) would have been bothered about what to do with Miles & More miles! The launch of this card therefore makes such a series of articles a totally valid things to write about. Perhaps not in 8 parts, of course, but ....

This is NOT the sort of post where 20 unnecessary links are somehow added in to a post about lounge catering or whatever! And it is unfair to MMS to compare these posts to that.

the hotel bar

The worst thing about this isn't that it was written

It's that he's actively pretending that he wrote it, using verbiage in the post and his responses that gives the unsuspecting readers (many of whom want to "support him because of all the hard work he put in") the impression he put together this post and he put spent 80 hours on it

I've seen no fewer than 5 commenters say they'll give him the affiliate dollars because of how much work he put in

freeloader

i see he just deleted a comment on today's post that mentioned Author-gate...

i'm oddly enjoying watching this go down. i can't figure out why he's doing so much to NOT address it. its only feeding the flames...

hotelmotel

The byline was quite visible for a while yesterday. Then a couple of commenters picked up on it, and the byline was ninja-edited to MMS, without any explanation from D.

the hotel bar

Looks like active censoring is taking place..... should be added to the thread of which blogs censor

hotelmotel

It's a wiki. You can add it yourself.