Newsocopia 

Crash the party like it's 1999 

Get a real job 

Which is why I settle for less 

Delayed in Dulles 

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Just wanted to say I agree 100%. Funny thing is I would think it would be pretty easy for companies like Google to do this. Anybody who has a Google account could register what brands (Sony, Canon, etc.) and what goods and services they're interested in (cars, homes, electronics, cameras, etc.). This could then influence at least a portion of the adsense ads presented and the advertising and product information could also be made available through some type of special search or portal page. Ideally, the user information would not be shared with advertisers except on a consolidated basis. The idea would be precisely to put the viewer in control.

I have often found it funny that companies spend so much time trying to read my mind when they could at least start by asking what I'm interested in.

The sad thing is that I believe the majority of big companies don't want to establish a "conversation". They want to brainwash us into buying their products. They believe that their endlessly repeating, carefully crafted "messages" will enter into our subconscious and result in increased sales. The scary thing is that I believe that the tactic may work, at least at a consolidated mass-consumer level. After reading the book "Blink" and seeing the statistics on the number of overweight Americans, I am even more convinced.

What makes me even more concerned is the vicious circle of retailers who are charging more to be able to advertise more to the point where a good portion of what you are paying for was the effort of convincing you to buy it. I have informally tried to compare paid services to ad-supported "free" services and the implications are alarming of how much purchasing the advertiser is expecting to receive for the investment in advertising.

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I wish I understood why this concept has been received so badly. I can see it if a blog is nothing but sponsored posts, amounting to one big fat infomercial, but what if it wasn't? What if the blogger truly believed in what they were blogging about? What if the blogger would blog on it whether or not they were paid?

There are a lot of SAHM moms who can't go out and get a "real job". There are bloggers like me who really like trying new things and talking about them. If you go back to my archives in the review sections you'll discover lots of reviews done just because I liked sharing stuff I thought was cool with folks reading or happening across my blog.

Now if I get to pick what I write about and how I write about it and whether I write about it at all, AND what I write about is something I probably would've written about anyway, why am I suddenly scum for getting 5 or 10 bucks to write it?

I write about stuff I believe in, whether it's health insurance boondoggles, music, movies, web tools or the scummy Scientologists. Each of those topics is chosen by me. The same is true of the PPP posts.

The funniest part of this whole controversy is that I might be more neutral about the issue if I weren't constantly feeling slammed for trying something new, different and a little innovative. But reading posts that suggest I should get a "real job" (LOL, I have two) push me into defensive writing mode, so PPP has gotten more free words from me than just about anyone else I've written about.

Hope your travel home is safe.

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I'm sitting here, mulling over Google's AdSense program. Often, I see ads that just don't fit in with the content (such as the first time I ran them, I got ads for CDs. I don't talk about music CDs -- most music sucks). I'm being paid to show people these, and trying to get them to click on it, and yet it's irrelevant to me and my day to day life.

Comparing it to when I was talking about hookahs, of which I do own one, and enjoy smoking from time to time, or when I tried out List'd Express (since I was looking to sell off games, and found I liked the service), I guess I may be blind to the logic of others when it comes to their view of this.

Either way, I'd be interested in a more in-depth explanation from you about why you feel this way.

(also, your permalinks are busted for this entry - they point two days back. odd blogging platform, too.)

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I'll post the longer answer later today. Right now I need to fix a car and get on conference calls.

And thanks for pointing out the permalink problem. Just fixed it.

Also, right: this is on an odd blogging platform. But for now, at least, I'm stuck with it.

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Second, I think there are lots of ways bloggers like you (SAHMs, both with and without jobs) can make money because of blogging, rather than just with blogging. I've written a lot about this, and will certainly write more. Jeez, you are so good, at so many things (photography, writing about all kinds of SAHM-related stuff, to name two among many subjects), that you shouldn't have much trouble getting monetary benefits far beyond the occasional sheckels from the likes of PayPerPost — without the potential sacrifices you're exposed to by paritipating in the SEO mill.

As for getting paid for what you'd write about anyway, the difference is who you're doing it for, and why, and where. You've got a blog, not a TV station. And even if you were a TV station, there's a reason broadcasters put up the same "chinese wall" between editorial and advertising that print journalists put up earlier. In the 50s, John Cameron Swayze used to shill for advertisers in the midst of the evening news. When Walter Cronkite replaced Swayze, the practice was dropped. Which is the better model -- the guy remembered as the Voice of Timex, or the most respected anchor of all time? (Never mind that the same Chinese wall is all but gone from today's evening news.)

I understand that attacks on PayPerPost have put you on the defensive. But please understand that those opposed to PayPerPost are defending something too. We're defending the blogosphere from those who would corrupt its founding and persistent virtues, and the integrity of good bloggers who may not realize what they're selling for a few pieces of silver.

I just wrote a long piece that I hope will clear things up for you, Xial and others who think I'm being too harsh.

Best,

Doc

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