yerffej201

I'd like to know this as well. AFAIK I think TPG and lucky are. Is there anyone else?

I don't know how to make a wiki page, can anyone help me?

kokonutz

Go to the 'thread tools' drop down in the upper right hand corner of the OP and 'create a Wikipost' is the bottom option. @:-)^

Raffles

"Full time" is a bit of catch-all, though.

Rather like Frequent Miler, I don't have another job at the moment but I certainly don't consider Head for Points anything like a full-time occupation!

I would guess that Ben, having just graduated, realised the money was more than he would get from a real job and so didn't see the need. Gary, on the other hand (and this is continued guessing) already has a good job he likes and sticks with it, even if he doesn't need to (he is also older and probably has a better grasp of how easily the card bonuses etc could disappear).

MSPeconomist

Isn't Scottrick finished with graduate school and full time now?

romsdeals3

I'm part-time blogger because points and miles is a hobby to me and not a job to me. However, big props to full-time bloggers, it's definitely not that easy. I like to enjoy my weekends with family and friends .

sbm12

Why? Does it change the quality/value of the content they produce?

yerffej201

Because I stalk people. :P

kokonutz

I do think it is interesting to know who is trying to make a career of it and who is doing it for side-income.

Doesn't change the quality/value of the content (or even the content itself since so much cross-posting goes on), but it does give an insight into the perspective of the blog.

sbm12

And I think it is treading dangerously over the line of separating a discussion of the content and the resources versus discussing the people.

What if I asked about the race or sexual orientation of bloggers? Someone might find that interesting and it might even skew their content, but it is hardly relevant.

kokonutz

Hm. Maybe. But it is just: is X blog a full-time profession or a part-time job?

It's not like we are asking what blogs make over $100k a year and which do not (although I AM still curious about that! ).

And certainly not 'if it is a part time job, what other jobs do the blog owners have?'

But I do understand your concern about shifting the focus from the blog to the blogger.

yerffej201

That's true, and it might be interesting. But it's unlikely to skew content. But whether a blogger is full-time or not is useful because one will definitely ask where does s/he get revenue from operating the blog. Pushing credit cards? Award booking services? Amazon links?

Any of the services above can affect content.

FlyFasterFlyFarther

Or, maybe read the content and judge whether it's any good or not?

There's a whole lot more fascination here, it seems, with what bloggers do with their time and how much they make (jealousy?) than with which ones are any good.

Frankly there are a lot of not very good blogs out there. I don't care what they make. I find them completely uninteresting.

And there are a few really good blogs that are worth their weight in gold to me and I'm very happy I don't have to pay for (ok, maybe I'd only actually pay to subscribe to Lucky's).

No doubt that there are hypothetical newbies who could be misled by skewed content, those newbies aren't likely to be guided well by discussions here and in any case that brings us back to the discussion of which blogs do a reasonable job of disclosing conflicts of interest, potential conflicts of interest, and perceived conflicts of interest.

Lucky has taken free trips, he discloses it, his content is great IMHO.

On the front page of this forum are posts about the blog business model, which blogs censor comments, which blogs are full-time, why blog affiliate links are bad, are bloggers getting paid to fly?, why is one blogger linking to another for credit card (affiliate links), and really onlly one topic ostensibly about what blogs are actually any good and that's the locked thread talking mostly about the aforementioned things... anything but which are good, plus a whole assortment of nastiness.

Lots of personalizing, lots of animosity, lots of jealousies, and if that's all this forum is then it'll be a failure. It's what I expected to happen, but not what I hoped would happen.

Is anyone interested in a topic of which ones are any good? who does the best job covering things in a timelly manner? who gives the best advice and analysis? who covers the industry the best? whose trip reports are worth reading? Actual discussions about the substance. I haven't been inspired to start those topics, admittedly.

yerffej201

"judging" is very subjective.

kokonutz

I would argue that all of the bolded subjects above go directly to the quality as well as the integrity of blogs.

One of the stated goals of this forum is to create a 'BetterBloggerBureau,' where best and worst practices are identified and blogs are called out on them and either cheered or jeered; the idea being that such publicity will help push blogs toward best practices and away from worst practices.

And I see as many (or at least nearly as many) compliments for blogs in these threads as I do criticisms.

In short, I think you are seeing what you want to see, not what is actually being discussed. But, maybe I am doing that too.

As we say, YMMV!

I will say this: no one is being compensated for posting here so no conflict of interest or financial disclosures are necessary! All I ask for is a thank you and a hug once in a while. ^

oliver2002

Time to start then...^ The Waldorf and Statler act tends to get stale after a while...