freeloader

count me as someone who has grown tired of the frugaltravelguy blog. and i used to be a huge fan

it seems as if the vast majority of the posts are filler... how many did we get over the last month promoting the chase offering (that was a total dud)? or how about the multiple posts he did about $450 AMEX card that really isn't "frugal", no matter how he tried to spin it?

Toss in the useless rookie tips, andrew's photos, and unisipired trip reports, a nd i'll get MAYBE one relevant post a week. and usually that revolves around something he gets a referral for. And I find his self-titling as the "World's Expert on Flying Free" a bit pretenous

Though most offensive is blatent comment editing that goes on. Post something moderately negative - and it won't be approved. kudos to ben, brian, and gary (and darius) who welcome critiques.

For points blogs - thepointsguy and millionmilesecrets. for general travel stuff - ben and gary.

teege

Would love to know how much he gets out of this.

I do think Rick provides some valuable information every once in a while but IMO he goes completely overboard with the referrals. His site recently changed to have less focus on ads but it's clearly what it's all about. Lastly, no offense to the FTG but he should really brush up on his writing skills.


Disagree with this one. His ads are on overload. His messageboard is on lockdown. If you post asking people if they want a referral, he boots you off the site for good. He claims to do this sort of thing because he needs to "pay the web hosting fee" but I don't quite understand because that should be cheap. He makes out big from it and in a controlling fashion. Just a shady ad site altogether that happens to have some travel info sometimes.

4now

Haha.
Everyday, frugal travel guy first; then the others.

infamousdx

Do an internet search and you'll find the general rates. They're usually flat fees per [approved?] application.

aubreyfromwheaton

TPG is hands down best and gets better each and every time I read it.

Keep it up.

teege

No, I wonder what he pulls in (points+cash) on a given year from his blog.

elkhornne

I agree. I found him a few weeks ago and like his info. ^

richinaz

A bit harsh but I can't say I disagree with you. Like many blogs, some posting are just posted to traffic to the site w/o providing anything useful.

The rookie tips should be a separate blog since they are useless to most people who have been reading the blog.

thegasguru

And while we're at it, I'd like to give style points to The Points Guy for his blog masthead picture.

The boarding pass logo...From: Here To: Infinity (in First Class, no less!) always makes me smile. Very inventive.

abitlost

I find all of the mentioned blogs helpful and appreciate the efforts of their authors. I think it is more than fair for all of them (I guess MMS doesn't have ads, but such an addition wouldn't be objectionable) to have a commercial element so that their creators can pursue such hobbies as eating food and paying rent. I almost posted something in this vein last evening before the thread got somewhat critical: all of these bloggers read FT and are probably watching this thread quite closely. To varying degrees, they all provide some helpful information and are real people with real feelings. I'd urge the FT community to be considerate toward them. I've learned a bunch from Gary, Lucky, Rick, as well as TPG and thank them for their work.

scozer99

Seconded ^

loompa

As someone who does affiliate marketing for a living, credit card signups should be around $50-200 depending on the card.

edit: I read the points guy and one mile at a time. I really like the first for tips and general info and lucky's is just fun to read.

wonderer

As someone who has only hung out at flyertalk, I find this topic very valuable!! But please don't just post the name ( Gary, Brian, Rick, Ben, etc,) but include the flyer blog associated with the name. Please

Again thanks

bluto

I think you've articulated well the reasons behind the decline in quality of FrugalTravelGuy. I hope he reads this thread and takes it as a challenge to return to its premier perch.

FTG seems like genuinely a nice guy and has probably accumulated a large following because he's been around so long but I think this is a case where the younger, hungrier new generation of bloggers like ThePointsGuy are willing to put in more effort, whereas the successful incumbent has grown accustomed to coasting and resting on his laurels somewhat. I also didn't love that FTG chastised MillionMileSecrets for his post on Amazon Payments. Sure, I realize the FT community is going to disagree on the appropriateness of posting precious secrets, but I found it ironic that a blogger like FTG, whose nominative mission is to show his blue collar readership the industry tricks of the trade, was trying to subtly enforce a hush protocol on a fellow member of the blogging world. Thumbs down.

User Name

Going to have to take issue with you there. Nothing posted on the blog is secret, or something that 'veterans' are 'keeping to themselves'. All the info posted is already on FT - in plain English and with no secret codes used or PMs required. It just takes a bit of reading to get to it all. Having it that way means that one has to invest a little effort in order to get the reward, which I think is all good and just. The fact that this is so also means that those who are serious get the deal, but those who cannot be bothered to do the work do not. This 'natural selection' keeps volumes down and makes deals last longer. Again - these deals are available to everyone who wants them and always were. There is an implicit understanding among the community that this is how things should be and pretty much everyone so far has respected that.

The level that MMS has gone to in order to do practically everything apart from sign up on your behalf is way, way too much. It plays straight into the hands of the companies that monitor traffic pertaining to them and all done so that the author can pamper his own ego by building traffic and appearing to play the good guy. His actions will kill deals faster and this he is fully aware of (he's no newcomer), all so he can make a name for himself. Big, big thumbs down from me.