I appear to be censored on Points, Miles, and Martinis. Posted 2 comments which never appeared. Changed handle, comment posted instantly.

TBB now censors. Direct quote from his site:

"I deleted a comment on my site revealing my identity. Some people got way too much time on their hands and can not take any criticism at all?"

http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/new-zea...#comment-34253

Come back here when you stop treating your own site like North Korea dude. Weren't you supposed to be self-exiled from FT?

I wouldn't in any way say that makes it accurate to say that "TBB now censors". If someone was posting personally identifying information beyond what he wants to share online, that's certainly fair to delete. Who wouldn't? And it sounds as if the commenter was doing so in anger or some sort of ill will.

A blog with a history of always moderating each comment and censoring frequently, is I believe what the thread is primarily concerned with.

Why that seems to be a bit of a double standard to me? Is it OK to tout your blog as one that will never ever, ever ever, censor, and yet censor to allegedly protect your identity? The blog owner makes the issue of never censoring one of his platforms by repeating the claim almost daily. It is part of his schtick. (I never saw the comment. It was censored, plain and simple).

When you allegedly hold yourself out to a higher standard with repeated claims that you will never do something and then do to cover your own ..., I would call that hypocritical.

If someone posted your personal information, you wouldn't delete it? Really?

Your blog used to censor comments (at least when you ran it, I don't visit much anymore) that you deemed inappropriate regarding you or your family. In fact comments all required approval in the first place.

A one-off deletion for legit reasons, is not the same as blogs that routinely moderate/censor, another one of which is DeltaPoints, which makes it ironic that he made the TBB post to begin with.

admittedly I never saw the comment before it was censored and can't speak to anything other than Georgie indicated it identified him. So what? Is his identity a big secret? I suspect the true answer to that question is yes, particularly in light of the censorship.

I think the censoring is just a continuation of a pattern on this blog that is hypercritical of others.

1. the first issue was disclosure. In the early blog days the hype was bloggers needed to disclose fully their link relationship to some standard George decided was acceptable. Little did it matter that all bloggers conformed with the legal requirements of disclosure. George wanted is own standard imposed until the question of his name disclosure was repeatedly brought up as a counter point. that issue disappeared from the radar screen until this past week.

2. Next was the issue of card pimping, and that still continues on the blog. George always insinuated he would do a better job with links BUT money wasn't important. Yet, we all remember the great Adsense debacle of '13 where he tried and failed to monetize his own blog, and has he has gone to conferences, and met with affiliate marketing managers to do the same himself. Yet he continues to call out others for of all things: the barrage of blue links.

3. And most recently his shtick is credibility, yet he can call others out for deleting comments and you want to give him a pass for doing the same thing? I'd gladly give him the pass if the pattern wasn't so clear, the ranting so loud and the degrading of others so severe.

If credibility is truly an issue for George, maybe he'll take a little helpful criticism for a change instead of just dishing out his rants and slams. If you are going to try to hold yourself out to a higher standard, you'd better live that higher standard yourself.

when it is all said and done, George is just another Bozo on the Bus with little room to criticize others.

"Let he without sin, cast the first stone"

I have no double standards. I PROUDLY censor. I state it up front for all to see and I DO censor. Those who YELL THEY DO NOT CENSOR, then they censor, have double standards.

MODS - maybe we can change this thread to:

"Which miles and points blogs censor comments now and then when either the blog or 84fiero thinks it is ok to censor"?

I literally have no idea about all the TBB history you're bringing up, as I haven't been following it, and frankly don't care to get roped into it. I simply commented on the item posted upthread...if there is some broader feud between you two, that's probably best handled elsewhere IMHO.

I thought you didn't like "the angries" but the above post sure comes off that way to me.

I never said you had double standards, just wonder why you care since you censor anyway. And I don't see any reason for you to yell.

TBB has censored personal information in the past. Pretty sure one or both of the crybabies above threatened to sue too if the comments were not removed, lol. Yes you can argue removing personal information in comments is censorship. If you want to be even more disingenuous about who censors, you could go so far as to claim any blogger that has removed a spam link censors.

This is a slippery slope.
So if some hater decided to post my address and personal info on TBB's blog, would george remove the comment? is that censoring?
What if someone posted a mistake fare in the comments?
I think it's only fair that now we see the comment that tbb removed, with personal information removed?

I think it's only fair to see the spam links TBB has removed. Just don't trust the guy now.

Agreed! Gdapop where are you????

What did TBB know and when did he know it? The American people demand answers!!

Where are Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward when you need them??

We should change the title of this thread to:

Which miles and points blogs censor comments for the reason of keeping the reader of the comments in the dark about monetization practices that do not have the readers best interest at heart.

It's a little lengthy and loses some of the Zip I agree, but otherwise what we have is more than two categories - everyone censors spam, some people censor personal information, some people censor profanity, some people censor comments that challenge the ethics of the post.

Are all these things equal?

Hi, I was busy on the Hyatt Lifetime Diamond thread :D

Ok, life has thrown a few arrows at me this weekend so I will keep it simple.

My two biggest fans ingy and Delta Points appear to be totally obsessed with my tiny blog. I will not waste my time going back and forth again. If you want to read some legendary interactions you can visit my blog and bring some popcorn :)

Someone with obviously TOO MUCH TIME in his hands left a comment identifying me AND left a link to my professional site and made a ridiculous comment "let's see how fast this one gets censored". It is the only comment in over a year of blogging that was deleted. To this day I delete one or two obvious spam messages because we can only have so much viagra or nfl jerseys lol.

If you care to much to find out who I am (if you are one of the few who do not know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist or pics and arrows to figure it out) please send me a PM or email.

Jeff: It IS a slippery slope and was done on purpose...

ingy: "George is just another Bozo on the Bus with little room to criticize others."

Thank you Sir. Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Agree ^

Then why not edit the details? the fact that you deleted the comment means you're just doing as the hater expected you to do...

Editing is censoring- especially when the entire comment was personal info followed by a 'let's see how long this lasts' no different outcome would be achieved.

Jeff: You are not listening....It was intentional and designed to get TBB to go down on a slippery slope.

ingy: I just reread your comment #367. Wow dude, you sound really really angry. May I refer you to my therapist? I get no commission (full disclosure).

I explained myself many times about TBB and you can read more here under "TBB Rant":

http://travelbloggerbuzz.com/cappado...per-robo-form/

Peace and entertainment!

Well put! Totally agree.

I guess....
but your categorization is way to complicated:

i'd say filtering comments which don't say "amazing post!" or something like that is censoring just the same. and not all bloggers are for profit..

I think you're missing the point.

Some bloggers are deleting comments that alert their readers to the fact that there are better deals for them on credit cards.

Some bloggers are deleting spam or personal attacks (deliberately posting personal info etc)

The two groups are very different, though the former is trying to pull the latter into the same simple two category 'censors' or 'does not censor' in order to achieve one of two things:

Dilution of the negativity of being labeled a censor

Or

Dilution of the integrity of another blog by branding them with the same negative brush.

It's really very simple.

Ps show me a blog in this space with more than 4 readers (including their own family) that isn't monetized.

That was beautiful, thank you.

And, as of today, I would like to volunteer my blog as one not being monetized. Key words "as of today" :)

How dare you suggest some one is hypocritical? The guy who says he has no involvement in his former blog - yet defends its pathetic card pimping at every turn? Almost as pathetic as Delta Points and his utterly contemptuous blog.

TBB is the only blog that calls all the card pimps to the carpet for their sleazy practices - and it gets under their thin skin because they can't delete any comments that aren't gushing over how smart and clever they are.

It's revolting that anyone reads such blogs, let alone uses one of their affiliate links.

I can't stomach reading this entire thread, but I see in the wiki that it says View From the Wing does not censor. I don't think that's entirely correct. In response to one of Gary's frequent credit card pitches, in which he listed his favorite cards, I commented that I thought Frequent Miler did a more comprehensive summary and I linked to it.

http://boardingarea.com/frequentmile...ign-up-offers/

This post was deleted.

Whether a blogger "should" delete posts that might reduce credit card commissions is a debatable question. After all, these blogs are businesses. Like on slickdeals, the moderators take a very hands off approach, but they do remove references to other cashback sites (which would save their readers money, but cost the blog owner commission). But to say View From the Wing does not "censor" is not correct, at least from my experience.

EDIT: Gary privately responded that he did not intentionally delete my post. He believes that his spam filter automatically removed it. Sounds like a reasonable explanation to me. So I guess he still belongs in the masochistic camp of non-deleters. :)

It was very easy to call it hypocritical. If Georgie boy wasn't so over the top with his condemnation of censoring, I would gladly give him a pass.

I've got to agree on this one.

And the elephant in the room is George's entire blog is built on mocking the money making going on in the business, yet it's clear he has his eye on the prize. Labor of love and all that b/s but every single post goes on about how hard it is and how someday gonna have to monetize.

Anyway I am not a fan of casting stones from glass houses. Criticism is fine, but not when you do the same thing. On the censoring thing while I think George made a mistake, it is crazy for someone like DeltaPoints to come here all full of themselves when their censorship is so bad and where they PROUDLY screw their readers out of benefits in order to do nothing but line their own pockets with money.

Agree - how much?
 

I just want to get the "rules" straight as I think I can adjust my blog to not censor under TBB rules.

TBB has now publicly admitted that he will CENSOR:

Anything that shows his name
Anything that shows his other blog
Any inserted links in a comment he does not like (calls them spam ;) )
He may EDIT (not remove) comments he feels he has to
More?

How many different kinds of censorship will be allowed before the "Army of Angry's" also feels: OK that step is just too much censorship?

Well in fairness I thought it was already one step too much... but I am not sure if I am part of the Army of Anrgies or not :)

There are no rules, you can censor or not censor as much as you like. Personally, I think as bloggers we should censor and think George should censor more, I said as much to him.

One thing I don't understand is why you are avoiding the matter at hand though, that you know there is a difference between censoring in order to protect your own financial gain and censoring to protect readers from spam, or keep your personal information personal.

I actually don't mind if people censor to hide the truth from their readers that they are intentionally deleting comments that would alert them to the inferior offers being sold to them, it is a business and it is yours to run as you see fit.

But I would have more respect for the people who do this if they had the gumption to stand up and say it rather than try to play games like this one, trying to set a trap for TBB and hide their intentions.

Frankly, I ignored the TBB posts about FTG and your site, along with others he doesn't like as irrelevant to me, but seeing the way in which you and Ingy are trying to discredit him and divert attention from this has made me think less of both of you.

I'd recommend moving on and ignoring it, there is no real harm being done to DP or FTG from TBB, but every time that one of you actually bites at it and does something to 'get even' it shows you in a worse light than his blog ever could.

Just my 2 cents.

Why not ask George what his motivating for censoring was? I can almost with 100% confidence George was not just censoring to protect personal information. I'm suggesting in fact George censored for fear of financial loss. Seems a bit of a double standard again to go after people for trying to achieve financial gain, but ok to censor to prevent financial loss? Again if George wasn't so over the top with his constant criticism, most would give him a pass. But when the truth finally comes to light, you'll see why I can, have and will continue to call him hypocritical to the max. Read between the lines people.

Agree that that is one of the Cardinal Sins of blogging, going hand-in-hand with a blogger who posts deals where better deals exist and they know it, but they get paid for the less-good deal so promote the less-good deal instead.

FWIW, I like TBB and the cheeky way it takes on the points and miles blog-o-sphere.

And it doesn't surprise me in the least that folks are going after him personally for it. He should take it as a compliment. It means he's being effective!

You are really making a unfair comparison but I suppose that it is not surprising coming from you...

He criticizes bloggers who think about their own pockets before their readers' interests. If he was providing bogus financial advice for his clients for personal gain, you would have every right to call him whatever you want, but I don't think that is the case here.

Anywho, I think you are just a troll that should be ignored. You are just an "angry" because he bashes the blog that you don't own anymore for good reasons while praising others such as FM or DD.

I find this thread extremely amusing:

1) for what ever reason, ingy is OBSESSED with trying to publish George's full name. Its odd actually. Interestingly, there doesn't seem to be an issue with DP's full name not public. a bit hypocritical.

2) both ingy and DP seem REALLY angry and bitter about TBB. Yet, they love calling everyone else angry?

3) the two blogs who proudly sensored the most, often to prevent their readers from getting the best deal, are suddenly the censor police?

IDK, its odd. but hey, angries will be angries i suppose

Exactly. That's why the Holier than Thou attitude from some of the biggest affiliate pimps around. They've had such an easy run for so many years, that they can't believe that someone has the audacity to call them to the carpet about their sleazy blogs and self-serving excuses.

All Hail TBB!

Based on what information pray tell? Do tell us. Don't just use innuendo. Be the stand up guy you like to think you are and prove what you spew.


And when you "almost" have 100% confidence, what does that mean? Is it "almost" like how you profess no interest in your former blog that you sold yet kept posting and kept using the same name? And continue to defend it despite it being little more than a sorry excuse to pimp affiliate cards nonstop?

Just checking in...

Don't feed the trolls.

I love everyone.

Georgie/TabloidBuzz/Bozo/Sheriff ___(forgot)/angry/hypocritical/etc

I certainly have slightly more than 4 readers. Sadly, none of them are my family, they just don't care... :(

Your site is monetized, so it doesn't count :)

Somehow I'm be reminded of Single White Female.

I don't understand people who go into business as a blogger, which by its nature involves putting thoughts out there for people to publicly comment on. Then get miffed when there are negative comments, or when people discuss better deals/offers than what they have available.

A business that sometimes has to say, look, I just can't beat the other guy's deal on this one, will cause me to go back to them in the future and give them a chance again. And in fact I've done that on occasion with brick & mortar establishments. I appreciate being respected as a customer. But a business that pretends they have the best deal when we can all see it's not the case, I likely won't return to.

If a blogger wants to prove critics wrong, my free advice is to show it by actions and how you run your business. Not by following around critics and hassling them personally - name calling and such. That, I can't respect. Just my two cents.