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Old Dec 19, 2013 | 4:21 pm
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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 cant possibly have a 5 night stay
- I havent looked it up, but Im 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 theyd 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).
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Old Dec 19, 2013 | 4:31 pm
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Wow - the post just "disappeared"... Magic!

To bad it was over 6+ hours after the mistakes were acknowledged
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Old Dec 19, 2013 | 6:48 pm
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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!
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Old Dec 23, 2013 | 9:43 pm
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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.
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Old Dec 27, 2013 | 7:00 pm
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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.

ETA: At least he can handle the feedback well.


Last edited by sbm12; Dec 27, 2013 at 7:49 pm
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Old Dec 27, 2013 | 7:58 pm
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Originally Posted by sbm12
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.

ETA: At least he can handle the feedback well.

Proudly censored by DP! You're such a rabble-rouser Seth.
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Old Dec 27, 2013 | 11:54 pm
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 11:03 am
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Originally Posted by sbm12
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.

ETA: At least he can handle the feedback well.

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?
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 12:44 pm
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Originally Posted by itsaboutthejourney
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.
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 1:13 pm
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Originally Posted by itsaboutthejourney
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?
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
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 2:25 pm
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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.
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 2:42 pm
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Originally Posted by Raffles
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.
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Old Dec 29, 2013 | 6:21 pm
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Originally Posted by Raffles
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.
Correcting grammar AND factual info on the DP blog? Yikes, talk about a full time job...
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Old Dec 30, 2013 | 12:24 am
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Originally Posted by Raffles
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.
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.
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Old Dec 30, 2013 | 12:39 am
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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.
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