TheMommyBlog

Tuesday, August 11, 2009 Me, Me, Me, Other people who write, Bad Mood Dude, BlogHer, Giveaways, News

The Momversation blog had a post that really hit home with me today, partially because although I’ve dropped off the BlogHer and Other Major Social Groups RADAR in the last few years due to overwhelm, I’m constantly inundated with PR requests, and partially because I am really starting to get irritated with the state of things.

Too many people are getting into blogging as if it were some sort of Amway. It’s not something to jump into while it’s hot so you can collect freebies and get paid to parrot. Blogging is something else entirely. What some people are doing now is the online equivalent of infomercials, hundreds of thousands of mini-Roncos. If all those products truly worked miracles, don’t you think we’d be able to get them at Target? The source becomes distrusted, worthless. And the rest of us are dragged down by association.

I’m thrilled about the Blog With Integrity movement and was on it in a hot second, but in truth I’m a little sad that we need it. I hate that people ask what I rake in (nearly nothing) and what PR folks send to me (you just would not believe it) and wonder how they can get in on it. I want to say, “Plastics” and go refill my drink.

Here’s the gist of the post and my response:

The “mommy blogger” backlash hit the front page of CNN.com today, as the PR Blackout Challenge and Blog With Integrity campaigns hit the mainstream media.  If you’re not aware, some mommy bloggers are under fire for taking money and/or free merchandise for recommending products and services.  It’s causing some people to question the ethics and truthfulness of the moms who are blogging today.  But according to the CNN article, some mom bloggers might just be overwhelmed with offers…

I just love how they slapped a screenshot of my site on the front page. Just hope people associate me with the Integrity group, not the Gimme group. I’ve worked too hard for too long to let anything external affect the moral stand I take on reviews. I will not take money, period, and if you send me something, there is no guarantee I will get past the note in the box. It’s so much work just looking at it, and the small percentage of items I do mention only make it here if those things have become part of my daily life.

In fairness, when there is something really cool offered as a giveaway, I’m on it. I don’t endorse anything, just report and reward. I have some great gift cards on my desk I’ve got to give away, and even that is making me hesitate because of all the hoopla. I’m not compromising integrity when I give things away, but it is still doing something I wouldn’t have spontaneously done on my own, and that is the crux of the biscuit. It’s my acid test. Even the legit stuff makes me jumpy. Too many people are doing things for the wrong reason (and calling their sites every possible variation on “The Mommy Blog” but that is a whole other rant). We’re all being spattered with the mud. It’s not a nice feeling.

Anyway. My comment:

I totally didn’t connect the blackout with all the PR requests in my inbox, that’s how scattered and overwhelmed I am. Nice! Now I’m just glad there’s a reason I can ignore them for a week.

I have literally stacks of things, mostly books, next to my desk that have been sent to me, and they are jamming up my life like you wouldn’t believe. Have to state a bit more strongly that I do not guarantee anything in the least, and the only stuff that gets mentioned is the stuff that thrills me and then only in the context of my life, writing as I normally do.

I’m sorry we’ve become saturated with gimme bloggers, and I get too many requests for help “getting started” or “succeeding” to hope that it will die down soon. Those of us who have been doing this forever with no anticipation of readership much less free stuff sort of feel like the guys who made it to Cooperstown before everyone started using steroids. The measurements are all off and the wacky surges have made the old numbers meaningless.

Then again I could be full of shit.

That last bit is what we should all keep in mind—that there is the distinct possibility that we are talking out of our nether regions. But at least I will be totally up front about it.