It isn't often that you see someone admit that they chose to change the content they've published because they were given a comp'd product to try. I suppose we should be thankful he admitted it. At the same time, however, it is unfortunate to see such sponsorship driving editorial decisions. That raises lots of red flags to me.

http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2013/...vice-comp.html

Anyone have other examples of bloggers admitting that they took a comp and let it color their content??

What's the point of FTG's post if he doesn't give the details? So there's one company out that there is worse than Uber? Is that what we can conclude? Hmmm, I probably could have guessed that. @:-)

Seth, one of these days you should learn to try citing facts. I never changed the content of the post. it ran exactly as I wrote it. I made the decision to not name the lesser than company. and another fact, there was no sponsorship involved

many of us realize your life is fulfilled by attempting to stir up controversy. I would hope at some point you'll grow out of that.

but for now, Yawn

Hobo, the point of the post is Uber still gets my business

I'm confused by the OP. When you say change content are you referring that FTG has been a blogger that normally turns down comp'd products, and the "change" is that he decided to take one? Or, are you saying that FTG changed the actual post?

FTG actually take the time to come on and reply, defend, or have a conversation about the opinions expressed about his blog. So if this is going to be a thread about bloggers taking com'd trips, accept money/points, given handouts, or products to giveaway... that is a great topic!

I'm just not sure if you are talking about changing one's system of now accepting comp's when they did not use to... or if we are talking about bloggers that are given free things or special treatment because of their blog... or if it is about going back to change a post to correctly reflect that something was comp'd.

Yeah, that's a pretty worthless post.

It would have been helpful if it helped me avoid an inferior service. But now I will never know which service was found inferior.

As written...waste of my 2 minutes to read it.

You stated in the post that you were going to name them if you thought that they were good and not if they weren't based on them comp'ing the service.

Based on what you've written here it sure sounds to me like you let them dictate that they would not be named.


Why not? Would that information not be useful to your readers?

You explicitly state that you were comp'd not one but two different rides with them.


The above are facts as written in your post. Which of them are incorrect??

My goal is to provide unbiased reviews of the services I've experienced, without letting sponsors or comps affect the content I produce. But excellent work dropping in a personal attack on me to try to deflect from the content you wrote.

I'm suggesting that he let the fact that it was a comp'd trip affect the product he published by withholding the name of the "bad" provider in exchange for the comp if the product wasn't sufficiently good.

Sortof. My goal for the thread is to point out where comp'd trips (or other things) are involved and show how they skew the produced content, usually in favor of the service provider. This was one example which I thought was a useful demonstration of that effect. If I take a trip and have a bad experience I think it would be useful for my readers to know who the provider of the bad service was, even if it is a freebie to me.

Bingo!

let it go children. the experience was not bad. the new company just doesn't have enough cars yet. as I have mentioned numerous times in the past, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all prevails here.

but �ber has enough drivers and comparable service.

both of you should try a new philosophy.

But if I fly on AA's new seats and they suck, I owe it to the FT community to report that fact/opinion. Thats what FlyerTalk and blogging are (supposed to be) all about: helping others find the best product and deal while avoiding bad products/deals. @:-)

Then start living by those words instead of preaching them. More words to live by.

If I was an FTG reader I would really appreciate to know the name of that company to avoid getting stuck waiting for their car! Because I would like to save some money paying top dollar to Uber because, you know, I am really frugal

It is easy to be frugal and ride with Uber: just make sure you've got that affiliate link out there as much as possible. You won't ever have to pay again so long as people keep clicking. Almost amazing how a post supposedly about a phantom 3rd party company includes two affiliate links for Uber instead, isn't it??

Ladies and Gentlemen,
this thread has created quite a bit of AMPs from both sides of the fence. I find it interesting that folks who are asking 'questions' that go pretty deep are surprised that the responses (if any) are aggressive. Where I come from, we have a saying that roughly translates into: 'if you step on a snake will it bite you'.

However, the laws of the jungle don't apply on FT, we have the much loved TOS for that instead. So please keep any personal attacks to yourself. Also note that we have mentioned in the guidelines of this forum that questioning the personal ethics of blogger is a no go.

Thread closed.

Regards Oliver2002
Mod EM&PR forum