Bloggers posting wrong and misleading advice
 

Nothing makes my blood boil more then when a blog posts incorrect info - and then refuses to correct or retract it (likely bc it may affect the credit card push)

I was reading the buzz today, and came across this comment about today's Travel Challenge on FTG.com

"Another Travel Challenge, another batch of factually wrong information given by FTG and his staff

- It costs 90K miles with Skypass miles to get from LAX to PPT, not 60K
- Since Hawaiian only flies once a week in each direction on Saturday, you can’t possibly have a 5 night stay
- I haven’t looked it up, but I’m guessing it would be hard to get the positioning flights at HNL in at least one of the directions without another overnight there

Will the newbies that FTG Staff is “helping out” be told that they’d still be 60K Skypass and 100K IHG points short of the award before or after they open up those 9 credit cards and spend 23K on it?

Good thing the quality of the blog is dependent on how many people click the site from google, and not factual correctness…"

Something similar was also posted on FTG.com - and these mistakes were acknowledged in comments by both the blog founder and editor - though no one decided to fix the post!

On FT a spade is called a spade. You can't post incorrect info and get away with it. Posts like this do not help anyone (except those profiting from the links and wrong info).

Wow - the post just "disappeared"... Magic!

To bad it was over 6+ hours after the mistakes were acknowledged

Yes, promoting an inferior (or incorrect) deal because the worse deal makes the blogger money is THE cardinal sin of points and miles blogging.

Thanks for calling this one out!

They could've at least owned up to the mistake, taken the time to re-post it correctly later rather than pretend it never happened. It's really impossible to justify such obvious errors by a site holding itself out as being written by experts, and geared toward newbies. Glad you called this one out.

An entertainingly awful post from Delta Points just now, trying to scare people into thinking they won't earn points on the "mistake" fares from Thursday. :rolleyes:

ETA: At least he can handle the feedback well. :rolleyes:

http://static.ow.ly/photos/original/492Sf.jpg

Proudly censored by DP! You're such a rabble-rouser Seth.

No fireside chat for you!

Exactly. It takes a lot of ego to ban readers who point out corrections to flawed posts on that 'blog'.

But you'd think BoardingArea would take some steps to address the blogger's refusal to be corrected as well as the typos in the copy and awkward layout. It does not reflect well on BA or the other bloggers. But perhaps clicks are king?

It must be all about the clicks I guess. BA doesn't seem to have any real standards for correctness, or grammar/typos (grammar and typos being prevalent issues in many of their blogs, even the big-name ones).

I'd also think Delta would not want the DP blog using their name with such poor, incorrect content and defensive responses to commentors who provide corrections or feedback. But maybe there isn't anything they can do about it, I don't know. Or maybe it's below their level of caring.

That happens on the DL blog as well as FT too. It's their kingdom - just we can all recognize their pettiness. Censorship and banning are the refuge of the fearful and small-minded i.e. the BA and DL apologists and corporate stooges. These people need to be shown Edward Snowden's Christmas message :D

I was told that BA is thinking about, or is in the process of, hiring an Editor in Chief who will go through ever post. Not sure if this is purely for typos / grammar or also to act as a fact checker.

That is quite different from what I've heard.

Correcting grammar AND factual info on the DP blog? Yikes, talk about a full time job...

BA operates as a rented space and each blogger pays for his page, that is my understanding. $$$ is the bottom line and as long as each blogger meets a specified performance, things can be overlooked. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Personally I don't mind the censoring of vulgar or vile personal attacks.

But I find it very unprofessional to edit someones reply or even block a more accurate opinion. DP does both and that is the reason I never visit that site. And I advise friends to skip it altogether.

I asked one of the bloggers a while back and was told "featured bloggers" get top billing (new posts show up in the big squares at the top) and a bigger % of ad revenue. There is no set formula on how featured bloggers are chosen, basically up to the powers that be. This may have changed but you really have to scratch your head over some of the inclusions and exclusions.

You are, AFAIK, mistaken.

As for whether it is "paid" access or not, I suppose that's mostly semantics. I've never written a check to Boarding Area for anything but they keep part of the revenue generated from ads which show up when someone reads one of my posts. They also provide a lot of the infrastructure associated with running a site so there is some value in that split. Of course, the specific value of that split is a personal decision.

Almost every time I have a discussion with a DL executive and we discuss FlyerTalk they ask about DP and his 'blog'; oh they know it, but they can't do anything about it and express frustration at the misinformation and confusion it causes other customers.

You said it right, I stand corrected. Not sure who explained how the model worked a few weeks ago, think it was Travel Summary, but not sure.

Well when I saw Malta Points I figured that BA is really changing. No offense to that blog but seriously how many people find Malta Points relevant?

I agree. At first I found it bizarre, but then I remembered how quickly blogs with themes change from their roots.

Remember when mommypoints was about "getting the kid a free trip to grandmas"? Now she's off the Maldives and category 7 spg resorts in The Caribbean.

And Canadian kilometers spends an oddly high amount of time pushing US credit cards considering neither him or his supposed target audience lives in the US.

Give that blog a few months until it gets it's affiliate links - and we will soon them promoting the chase ink card

I'd much rather have different topics than more of the same stuff rehashed.

agreed, but (with some exceptions) don't most blogs on BA start with that premise, but end up just rehasing the same stuff?

Though this has got me thinking.... maybe i should start AndorraPoints.com and apply for BA. i could get some CC links and i'd be living the good life...

Even granddaddy blogs like VFTW eschewed pumping cards at first, focusing on getting and doing aspirational travel.

But ultimately there really is only one way to get the register ringing...and it's not hard to figure out what that is. ;)

Not sure if Tom from Malta Points reads this thread or not. However, he has run that blog for a while purely as a labour of love, covering - obviously - a very small market.

The nature of Malta, with BA and Lufty being big carriers, means that the Avios and Miles & More stuff he covers will have broader relevance.

Moving to BA means he wipes out his hosting costs, keeps his local readership and picks up some ad revenue from US readers who pop in. Pretty sure there won't be much in the way of card links appearing.

This is the way forward for BA. The crossover between Malta Points current readership and BA is close to nil, I assume, so there is decent synergy for Randy as well.

It just highlights the nonsense that only "featured bloggers" on BA bubble to the top. Let people decide what they want to bubble up. Personally I would love a way to "ignore" certain blogs on BA. I know I can get a reader, etc. but I would love to be able to vote down blogs which IMHO do not deserve "featured" status.

That would be a good idea, especially given certain ones that are featured now based on BA management's (questionable) judgment.

And there are so many blogs on there now, and so many rehashing the same "news" each day. I haven't read Malta Points yet but hopefully it will bring something a bit different to the table.

Didn't Randy say he wants a total of 75 to 80 bloggers in two years in BA? Well, at this pace, he better pick it up!

I also agree that the "featured bloggers" choices just does not make any sense.

With so many blogs lately it is understandable the amount of wrong and misleading advice will go up too. I would be grateful if a reader alerted me of such info in my blog!

Ah, continuing the SHAMEFUL non linking practice even outside the blog. Here is the link to what you are talking about!

Talkin to you gpapadop

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/5e/5e6a...14a2fe8436.jpg

Kind of interesting to find this snippet from Randy in the interview:

He may want to hire some QC folks to keep an eye on the bloggers in that case...

WhatTF... dude!!!!

75 or 80 bloggers!? What's the point of having individual blogs at that point...just open a 'blogger IBB.'

When FlyerTalk started there were less than that many posters...and the quality of information was just as high. ^ :)

Hmm I am sure they will have to feed that many bloggers. What CC are they going to use to cater such event? :cool:

edit.

Perhaps freeloader is referring to the barclay ad at the bottom of every one of your posts and to the top right of your posts. It doesn't appear to be a boardingarea ad.

Yeah, that is actually pretty damn insane. I have rarely seen so many ads on any blog. I think I counted 14 banner ads for the same card till I gave up counting.

and don't forget you can 'support' this blogger using links to several hotels and portals.

I've seen much worse as far as ads, but yeah, if you have an animated GIF promoting the same card in every post I would say it qualifies as pushing a card. Off to the right in text isn't so bad. At least Arrival is a decent card. Personally I'd prefer links for any CC go to a page with the application link, a discussion of the card, pros and cons, the blogger's opinion of whether or not they recommend it, and full disclosure if they are being compensated, but that's just me.

Plus the list of "Credit Cards by Category (USA)" that shows up beside each post along with Canadian cards.

Bloggers posting wrong and misleading advice
 

Personally I have no issues if a blogger provides informative and unique perspectives. Lucky for example , tests F cabins and provides good reviews, FM works his MS and VFTW provides, sometimes, very knowledgable advice.
They have earned the links on their site.

I just can't stand the ones that steal info from FT and post it as their own research. Or the ones that write totally misleading information and then censor anybody who tries to correct them.

A few days ago he pointed out to sign up for the M&M Jetfriends programme even if you are adult. Very wrong and misleading. :td: