Deal Killing Blogs: List deals which were pulled, and the blogs which published them.
#61
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Rust belt
Posts: 300
Your love makes them strong. Your hate makes them invincible. I just woke up in LAS after a night of bottle service. I like to thank the Bloggers and FT helped me get here with some tricks and hints. The OP vs a Blogger charity boxing match!... Ugh I have no idea where I was even going with this
#62
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,499
Indeed I am amazed this thread title survived. IMHO most deals are killed by vets who participate here who go "all in" when they see their precious deals on the blogs. It was not newbies walking into OD and buying the entire rack of Vanilla cards as people boasted about here.
This thread just remains a rant by the OP who wants to keep deals secret and does not even share or contribute here on FT
This thread just remains a rant by the OP who wants to keep deals secret and does not even share or contribute here on FT
#63
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,384
Meanwhile, the points guy has wonderful post explaining why buying vanilla reloads with chase ink earns you 507 points, and unite club card 506. All nicely presented with his Chase referal links. Well, at least he's not killing any deals.
http://thepointsguy.com/2012/11/sund...eens-worth-it/
Seriously, really... Is this what this blogging sh.... is about?
http://thepointsguy.com/2012/11/sund...eens-worth-it/
Seriously, really... Is this what this blogging sh.... is about?
I think some are missing the OP point. IMO this isn't so much about the bloggers, and their existence, and CC referrals, or even the fact that they post deals. This is more of an issue of how it is done. Bloggers are here to stay with the good and bad. As I see this it is a matter of presentation/frequency/credit
A Lot of people are lazy. When a lucrative deal is found, not everyone will jump on it if they have to go figure out the steps and read the T&C's etc.
BUT....
If they are given the information like this:
You can get a free first class ticket to Thailand, just do this:
click this link
put your name here
hit next
check this box
and on and on
A lot more people WILL do it. There is nothing wrong with sharing, but it is how you share. Share the deal in general. Let people research the deal, and make a decision, then go figure out how to participate. It seems to me if bloggers did just this basic level of sharing instead of showing lazy people exactly how to do things then a large segment would NOT play the deal and they would last longer. The blogs would still get their readers; maybe just not as many people end up doing it though.
The other piece is the fact that bloggers post about things found on FT. Some give credit, but others do not, posting as original content. I can't control that but it bothers me when I see it being done.
The last thing is the shear frequency when a deal is found. Bloggers know this is happening, and it is competition to get people to the page, but when a deal is posted in one blog, if it is a good deal you can expect everyone out there to post, and multiple posts per blogger. Add it all up and that amounts to a lot of publicity, and top rankings in Google searches. All that is bad news for non-sustainable deals. If bloggers, boarding area comes to mind as they are a group that collaborates, could agree on some ground rules on this saturating, and cannibalization of messages to reduce that frequency, maybe some of this angst level would fade.
A Lot of people are lazy. When a lucrative deal is found, not everyone will jump on it if they have to go figure out the steps and read the T&C's etc.
BUT....
If they are given the information like this:
You can get a free first class ticket to Thailand, just do this:
click this link
put your name here
hit next
check this box
and on and on
A lot more people WILL do it. There is nothing wrong with sharing, but it is how you share. Share the deal in general. Let people research the deal, and make a decision, then go figure out how to participate. It seems to me if bloggers did just this basic level of sharing instead of showing lazy people exactly how to do things then a large segment would NOT play the deal and they would last longer. The blogs would still get their readers; maybe just not as many people end up doing it though.
The other piece is the fact that bloggers post about things found on FT. Some give credit, but others do not, posting as original content. I can't control that but it bothers me when I see it being done.
The last thing is the shear frequency when a deal is found. Bloggers know this is happening, and it is competition to get people to the page, but when a deal is posted in one blog, if it is a good deal you can expect everyone out there to post, and multiple posts per blogger. Add it all up and that amounts to a lot of publicity, and top rankings in Google searches. All that is bad news for non-sustainable deals. If bloggers, boarding area comes to mind as they are a group that collaborates, could agree on some ground rules on this saturating, and cannibalization of messages to reduce that frequency, maybe some of this angst level would fade.
Depends on if you want to make money or not. If so, yes, and then you can get sponsorship to chase the points guy!
#64
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,384
Indeed I am amazed this thread title survived. IMHO most deals are killed by vets who participate here who go "all in" when they see their precious deals on the blogs. It was not newbies walking into OD and buying the entire rack of Vanilla cards as people boasted about here.
This thread just remains a rant by the OP who wants to keep deals secret and does not even share or contribute here on FT
This thread just remains a rant by the OP who wants to keep deals secret and does not even share or contribute here on FT
I think it's the dichotomy of opinions that plague this issue.
#65
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: SPG Platinum, UA GS
Posts: 121
I haven't contributed a lot here, and I am still new. I've learned a ton from Flyertalk and also from the blogs. I do wish some of them didn't make this so easy, because I do wish to keep some of this for myself. If fewer people knew about deals they would likely last longer. But I sort of sound like a jerk saying that, right? That I want it all for myself? But I will admit to still feeling frustrated by some of the photos and arrows and whatnot.
Still, the vitriol on this thread seems misplaced. If you want to convince anyone of your position, you should address the strongest form of your opponent's argument, not the weakest. Criticizing gleff for 'killing' or 'outing' the 4 mile Hong Kong deal is weak, since the long main Flyertalk thread on that deal cites his blog post. Blaming him for killing Vanilla Reloads at Office Depot seems strange since his coverage of those was pretty modest compared to other bloggers and compared to the play it got here on Flyertalk. (This is hardly some secret corner of the internet -- the frequent flyer programs themselves often monitor what's said here!)
I've seen lots of folks who want to keep deals for themselves and won't even post them on Flyertalk, it isn't because of the bloggers since reading back through the archives it looks like many of the secret forums started before the proliferation of bloggers. But if someone wants to invite me onto the secret deal sites I promise not to start a blog!!
Still, the vitriol on this thread seems misplaced. If you want to convince anyone of your position, you should address the strongest form of your opponent's argument, not the weakest. Criticizing gleff for 'killing' or 'outing' the 4 mile Hong Kong deal is weak, since the long main Flyertalk thread on that deal cites his blog post. Blaming him for killing Vanilla Reloads at Office Depot seems strange since his coverage of those was pretty modest compared to other bloggers and compared to the play it got here on Flyertalk. (This is hardly some secret corner of the internet -- the frequent flyer programs themselves often monitor what's said here!)
I've seen lots of folks who want to keep deals for themselves and won't even post them on Flyertalk, it isn't because of the bloggers since reading back through the archives it looks like many of the secret forums started before the proliferation of bloggers. But if someone wants to invite me onto the secret deal sites I promise not to start a blog!!
#66
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Brooklyn, NY, United States
Programs: AA, BA, UA, Spirit, Delta, PC Plat, SPG Gold, HHonors Diamond, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,735
I have a suggestion for OP: start your own blog about hating other blogs. Wouldn't that be swell. Honestly, some folks here have too much time on their hands.
#68
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,758
Indeed I am amazed this thread title survived. IMHO most deals are killed by vets who participate here who go "all in" when they see their precious deals on the blogs. It was not newbies walking into OD and buying the entire rack of Vanilla cards as people boasted about here.
This thread just remains a rant by the OP who wants to keep deals secret and does not even share or contribute here on FT
This thread just remains a rant by the OP who wants to keep deals secret and does not even share or contribute here on FT
#69
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: LAX
Posts: 10,901
Just wait until referral cash flow goes down (and i am pretty sure it is decreasing with fewer and fewer bonus offers) and many blogs will go away.
I take the recent surge of line by line explanation of rather miniscule mileage opportunities as a sign of desperation. What is the business model here after all?
Trying to shame bloggers or plead to be reasonable will only drive more traffic to those blogs and prolong this - there is no such thing as bad publicity.
I take the recent surge of line by line explanation of rather miniscule mileage opportunities as a sign of desperation. What is the business model here after all?
Trying to shame bloggers or plead to be reasonable will only drive more traffic to those blogs and prolong this - there is no such thing as bad publicity.
#70
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: AL
Programs: All of the Above
Posts: 1,374
Equate this to the Trick It thread. Do the airlines know that there's different tricks to drop YQ's on certain routes? Most certainly. But if only a handful of people are doing it, then it's no harm no foul. But if thousands of people start using a trick, then the airlines will no doubt shut it down. Hence the level of code speak and PM's shared in that thread, so that morons won't spill the beans.
#73
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: RDU
Programs: A few
Posts: 5,499
Anyway you did say you were going in big knowing the end was coming so I hope you got a good slice of the pie
#74
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 6,384
Can we stop bashing bloggers here?
It's a list of deals which bloggers posted.
Seriously, mods? Can you change the title/stop the bashing?
Go make another thread. This is seriously irking me.
#75
Join Date: Apr 2004
Programs: AA, UA, SQ, VA, QF, AF, BA
Posts: 2,865
Just wait until referral cash flow goes down (and i am pretty sure it is decreasing with fewer and fewer bonus offers) and many blogs will go away.
I take the recent surge of line by line explanation of rather miniscule mileage opportunities as a sign of desperation. What is the business model here after all?
Trying to shame bloggers or plead to be reasonable will only drive more traffic to those blogs and prolong this - there is no such thing as bad publicity.
I take the recent surge of line by line explanation of rather miniscule mileage opportunities as a sign of desperation. What is the business model here after all?
Trying to shame bloggers or plead to be reasonable will only drive more traffic to those blogs and prolong this - there is no such thing as bad publicity.
No one has mentioned US Grand Slam as a deal that was killed, although I gave more details on a thread in the GS forum, I would attribute the killing of that deal to a certain female Texas based blogger (mother of a toddler) who was running monthly tutorials on how to prepare for GS 12. I'm pretty sure the USDM people saw that and decided they didn't want hordes of people buying the minimum on their partners and having to deal with complaints when it didn't post on time. USDM still wants money so they at least gave us a share miles bonus but even that wasn't half as lucrative for experienced Grand Slammers.
The other killable deal occurred in April and May of this year. Now it's one thing if a company wants to promote tourism in the USA but quite another for a blogger to break down in great detail how to use hotel points in certain hotel programs to exchange for cheap airline miles. Result was that it was nearly impossible to log on to the site in question to buy points because of all the newbie traffic. For the sake of the OP, you can file that one under the same female blogger from Texas.
Notice how I am being discreet with the names? I don't want to contribute to raising traffic at the blogs by giving their names and possibly give them more readers. That's one thing you all need to consider when discussing bloggers on FT or elsewhere. The more links they have, the higher their rank on Google which leads to them expanding even further. Either use acronyms or descriptions that FTers will understand but Google won't. Gregorygrady, maybe you could consider altering your OP. I understand your intent but it could backfire and have MORE people going to those blogs.
Now for my other idea. We don't like bloggers over-exposing deals that in the past would have been exploited by FTers with the capability of doing their own research. Why don't we dilute THEIR income? Let's turn the tables on them and over-expose credit card referrals!
There are only so many people out there who don't have the usual credit cards and every blogger who comes on board with referral links further dilutes that pool. So maybe we should ALL make blogs. Not blogs that kill deals, but ones that share unkillable deals and maybe give an extra slant on them. If we make some kind of alliance like Boarding A. and all link to each other and put links on any personal website we have we should get Google rankings soon enough. We can't completely get rid of deal-killing bloggers but we COULD cut their income enough so they have to return to their day jobs!
Is anyone else interested? What's the best blog software to use?
Last edited by Tiki; Nov 18, 2012 at 3:10 pm