Well said, Ingy.

I was a bit curious, and took the "other side of this equation"
off my ignore list for a minute.

... but that was a mistake, which I have now corrected.

I've had comments denied, and not a single one of them has attacked you or your family. Obviously you are known for your censoring and have a reputation for it. If any of the comments will hurt you getting a credit card sign up through one of your affiliate links you won't approve it.

It is your decision to post about Costco, however as a Costco shareholder having a direct interest in the profitability of the company, I have a right to complain about your post which encourages cheating Costco out of merchant fees. You ARE taking money out of my pocket.


And you haven't answered my question yet:


so you feel that reporting the costco scam is a constructive addition to your blog? but yet you say this crossed the line?

I answered your question when I responded I'll put on my blog whatever I want to put on my blog. Using your line of thinking posting about the Mint is an assault on the entire nation. I posted it as did many others. Did i take money out of your pocket then? Did you participate in that one? Did you take money out of peoples pockets? I could care less if you did or not and I won't judge your answer either, just as I won't judge if people hit Costco on this idea. That is a personal decision.

But back to my question, what are you going to contribute to the FF community? Why not start a blog to share your infinite wisdom and experience? In the mean time after reading your comments on this thread and the AA/Verizon/Catera thread, it is obvious to me you have nothing constructive you want to add. I have never ignored anyone before. How is it done ?

It has slowed down considerably .. I was on the same run. Hopefully we will see some good offers in the Fall!

Fully agreed... Many a good things were killed when bloggers spread tips to the general public instead of just on travel forums. Once they get so large they get killed so the thoughts often expressed about just sharing being good isn't so.

Once its spread so widely it gets killed so nobody benefits - except the bloggers bank account from the add banners and other benefits they get from affiliate links.

If it were kept to the forums here less people would be using them and they would last a lot longer and the total benefit would be higher.

FTD.com with Spa Finder Gift Certificates is a good example in two respects. One on the UA 30 miles / $ + 1500 miles per order (killed within 2 days of a repeat blog post) and now FTD has pulled Spa Finder Certificates within two days of a post too. That worked for 4 years wonderfully until it was reposted on a blog. Then it died. A shame..... After UA 30m+1500 died I used the CO OnePass Mall that doubled the miles from 25 to 50 miles per dollar. So the Spa Finder Gift cards were practically free when the value of the miles were accounted for.

There are many of items that I hesitate to share now because bloggers will see them and then broadcast it across the general public (and now USA Today??) and get them killed off so nobody can benefit.

TravelGuy1965
 

I agree with your concern about bloggers to some extent. But the numbers just don't warrant us not pointing out deals. The pageviews/viewers on flyertalk, fatwallet and slickdeals are considerably larger than any bloggers stats I know of.

And I think bloggers have a much more targeted, informed audience than the general public that hits FT, FW and SD who are more likely to blow the whistle on a good deal.

I see you are a long time member, 2004, that probably wants the good old days just like I do. I'm afraid congeniality and the spirit of helping one another without unneeded criticism is over and done with.

Nor have I, until I recently had to invoke this option
due to "his" constant outrageous "stuff" on AA e-shopping thread.
And I have seen a lot of "stuff".

The ignore function is pretty easy:
Just click on the name of the person you want to ignore,
and look around from there....@:-)

How about the bloggers got short term gains on the traffic, the click through, the page views, which I am sure would help them to get the Ad deals with more lucrative rebates arrangement. It feeds for itself.

Ingy, You have a good point on SD & FW being broader forums but some how you and the other travel bloggers, who I respect a lot, do get more attention on the travel stuff :)

That is why I don't have any hard/bad feelings about it. Most bloggers have been long time contributors to the travel community and weren't just searching for an extra buck or two. It was a natural progression and can be a lot of fun.

Darn - I just wish the FTD+Spa Finder still worked... That was a nice 2M+ Mile gig... My last order was a week or so before One Pass announced they would stop the double miles. There was still a working OnePass link for 25/$ even though it didn't show up on the One Pass page. I ordered two Baccarat Vases as the last hoorah for the double OnePass Miles.... That was ~$2.5k for over 130k miles... plus some very nice gifts people were amazed with. And I can't blame the one pass double miles ending on any blogger :) Just the FTD Spa Finder Part so it shows things do change, bloggers or not.

With all due respect - I'm sure you know some nice nuggets you don't share so some of us are bummed out when ours get out too.

I'm actually excluded from many of the private groups because I write a blog, so I miss out many of the secret deals early in their existence.

My personal philosophy has always been if you tell me to keep something quiet and off the blog I will until it is outed somewhere else, then it is fair game for all.

But they always come out. It is just a matter of time. The only thing we can do is be somewhat discreet. Personally not as tight as the trick it forum, but there is nothing wrong with making a rookie work for it a little bit.

Lol - trick it thread; that is one I never read as I thought anything good would be posted on a bloggers forum that I regularly read :D

Even on this one I just saw the title 'is it over' from the main forum page and it peaked my interest.

Being discrete, upon request, is one reason I've always kepy my respect for every blogger who came from FT... A truely wonderful group of people.

I just wish it wouldn't be fair game until its dead.

I think in response to the OP, yes the game is over. You can all go back to your previous hobbies before you discovered FT (SD/FW maybe?). Nothing to see here; move along. ;)

To answer the OP, its not over, go after hotel cards if you wish, many are ripe for the picking. Perhaps you should just wait it out and let your score strengthen for upcoming offers. With regards to the blogs, I have to say that I read Rick's and Brian's blog everyday and appreciate all that they do. I don't see eye to eye on all their postings (Rick's recent Costco and Kiva), but I will otherwise continue to support these blogs because they both have good intentions and more often than not have resourceful info. As with many of you...patiently waiting and reloading for another round.

What does this have to do with the US Mint and my participation in these forums?


-OP starts a thread about his belief that the credit card offers are on the way down.

-I posted that I believe they are declining and one of the causes of that are because of bloggers like yourself encouraging scamming the system

-You state that the reason for putting that on your blog is that you just "report what I hear and get"

-I asked you to clarify why you posted the costco scam even though you "will not be using this technique. everybody has their line." but yet you will "edit comments that I personally feel are not a constructive addition to the blog."

-You attack me and ask that I don't question your moral compass and not to complain and to start my own blog

-I reply that as a shareholder of Costco I don't appreciate you encouraging others to scam Costco out of merchant fees

-You bring up the US Mint and my participation in these forums


Deflect much?


I understand why you're reacting the way you do. You make money by people signing up for credit cards. It's the reason your blog is littered with links. But encouraging people to scam Costco? Come on man. I won't even bring up your post on Kiva.


My point is: one of the reasons the offers are dying down are bloggers like yourself - those that encourage abusing the system. In the end it only hurts everyone. Yea, you may get a few extra signups...but in the end you're ultimately "biting the hand that feeds you".

That's a silly statement. Plenty of underground deals never see the light of day. Many deals work for years if used in a reasonable manner. If you stay under the radar anything is possible.

IMHO the Costco blog post is not appropriate.

*nod*

Seems to me they'll keep offering the big awards - the bigger concern is the inevitable devaluations which have already begun.

I think there's a big difference between credit card sign up bonuses, which are basically all "above board" and travel hacking, which is finding out loopholes or ways to maximize rewards in ways companies didn't intend.

There's nothing wrong with advertising credit card sign up bonuses, since businesses want to get customers to sign up with these terms.

The kind of middle gray area is advertising things like the citi AA 75k cards or the AMEX "bump the bonus" tricks. It was never really clear whether or not these offers were completely sanctioned by their parent companies. Or at least it seems plausible that the company leadership might have been unawares as to the scale of what was being given away to savvy customers.

Now it seems the flood of people bumping bonuses on AMEX cards has caused AMEX to stop giving out courtesy bumps entirely. A classic example of how the Internet changes the ball game. Twenty years ago a few people would have thought of the idea and called in to talk to a CSR asking for a favor and gotten it, and maybe some of their friends and family would have repeated the trick and gotten in on the deal. Now though, a few forum and blog posts and suddenly AMEX is $10 million in the whole in terms of rewards points.

Whether or not this is a good thing is hard to judge, but it seems to be a fact that deals once publicized get shut down pretty quickly. (Although the Citi AA cards are still going....)

Let me try answering for him: (clears throat) "I needed content, but I couldn't come up with anything good on my own, so when this landed in my inbox, I jumped on it. Then I realized it might upset people, so I tagged on a two-bit rationalization I thought would make me look like less of a jerk. At the end of the day, though, I don't owe anyone anything -- I have a right to make myself feel important by any means."

I agree. It doesn't seem right for Ingy to be blamed because the material he posts could be misused by others. His post cautioned people to use it sparingly; I don't intend to use the Costco or Kiva techniques, but censoring such things isn't helpful either.

"If men were angels, no government would be necessary"

I strongly disagree with posting the idea to purchase Costco gift with the intent to return them for cash. I also disagreed with the related system of purchasing diamond rings with the intent to return for cash.

Costco provides amazing customer service, and should not be taken advantage for it. The disappointing part is that because of the abuse of the Costco return policy there will likely be some non-abusing Costco customers that receive a lower level of service.

In general, yeah it's over for airline cards for a while. You can still get in on the Citi cards for a few more weeks and amex if you're really lucky.

I find it a nice respite; I've been spending far too many hours on the phone with credit card companies arguing for the past 4 months. Will be nice to have some peace.

Plus I've been concentrating on hotel cards and "general bonus" cards vs airline cards, and I've finally started to put in place my long-term ongoing credit card strategy (which involves Delta Reserve cards, Captial One cash cards, and the Citi Exec MC).

I welcome the change of pace; but that might be because I live in china and calling CSR is a major PITA.

Try taking care of yourself rookie and I'll ask you the same question I asked the other guy: what have YOU personally contributed to the forums? we certainly have developed a ton of people on this forum, mostly newbies it seems, that like to throw stones without much of a contribution. Maybe that's because that's all they have to offer: criticism of others? Huh

BTW this example is exactly the same as the Mint deal. Buying something and returning it for the free points. One I chose to do. The other I didn't.

And the next time you try to speak for someone else don't bother. It makes you look foolish.

"Never get in a fight with an ________. They just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"

As my positive contribution to this thread, I can assure you there is at least one more promo coming.

good post/point

All good things will eventually come to an end.
And some of the comments are worries about deals being shut down quickly.
Well, I rather have bloggers spread the words about new deals for everyone to participate rather than a few inner circles benefiting for a long time.

Thank you for bringing this up.

I just applied for the card and look forward to 6 months of high dollar spend and then using it for "3% cashback" travel spend after that 6 month 5% period is over.

I assume there is no cap on the eligible spend?

Oh PLEASE.

It's not like you run your website to make a contribution to the frequent flier community.

You run your website TO GENERATE AFFILIATE COMMISSIONS FOR YOURSELF, not for the good of the general public.

Yes the end is at hand!!! But....repent of your frequent flyer sins and gift all of your miles to 84fiero and you will be saved!!!:D

While it's fun to conjecture, I don't think any of us here can answer that question with 100% certainty (unless someone works for a bank's CC marketing department perhaps!)

Maybe there will be an avalanche of new big offers, maybe nothing more will pop up. I don't worry about it. Heck, none of us really knows for sure what tomorrow itself will bring for life in general. Just be flexible and a bit creative, to maximize the benefit from whatever does come about.

Perhaps in 10 or 20 years it won't be CC bonuses but something else entirely that we focus on to feed our wanderlust.

I'm so glad I took you off my ignore list for a minute to answer and question you once again. My guess is we have another insecure young caucasian male, that has no purpose or direction in life trying to puff himself up by criticizing and questioning others instead of looking at what contributions he can add to the community.

I spent 3 plus years writing my blog helping others before an affilate link ever was even available to me. I answer 50 to 75 emails each and every day from readers interested in learning or sharing the information they have with others in the community. Myself and dozens of others put on the Chicago Seminars to help spread the word and to help this community. And you; what have you done?

What have you done to help this community other than help breed the negativity and contempt now becoming so troublesome in a community of truly giving and happy people?

My Daddy once told me: "Winners laugh and tell jokes, while losers Pi$$ and moan"

And Mom: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"

And my Bride told me: "Don't feed the seagulls"

They were right. Back on my ignore list you go. The first and only one to make it there in my 10+ years of this board.

I've closed this thread, because like many threads it's been ruined by a few people who insist on personally attacking each other.