The Blogger Blacklist

An art-i-fied cropped image from this blog post from 2014.  

The tetter-totter discussions about the roles and rights of bloggers has been going on for a decade.  Whether you are a blogger or a creators --- and for the few of us that are both, there is no perfect answer. 

Creators complain about bloggers not blogging the goods sent out; bloggers complain about lack of information, timetables, quotas and the like.  Both sides have valid arguments.  This often revisited theme is once again in the spotlight as BlogOtex (a popular web-based  service) introduces the "Collective Blacklist" feature.   

I left BlogOtex years ago because of a mandatory agreement bloggers were asked to sign. Since I actually READ all those Terms of Use, Privacy Policy and the like contracts it was an easy decision for me. Sadly that meant leaving behind some brands that I had been featuring -- some for a decade.  Hence, this is not a first person account of the recent move, but a notice that there will be a discussion on September 19th.  See the forum announcement here.  

 I have only one comment to the questions asked on the impressive graphic announcement for that meeting.   Why do folks "grab and dash ?" -- that is take the items to blog and then not blog them.   

When I took part in BlogOtex I was a VIP blogger, meaning that I didn't have a quota and as a long time blogger for the brands was allowed to take what I wanted to feature and then report the blog post. Even so, and despite my best efforts there were times when I took goods and didn't feature the products.  

WHY?  

Well, most shoppers know that those lovely vendor photos don't always tell the whole truth. An item could have faulty LODs, bad rigging, sloppy  texturing etc. -- all things that most buyers want to avoid.  So a well-meaning blogger COULD take an item thinking it was lovely and just their style only to find out on inspection that it wasn't up to the standards of their blog.  

Another issue that happened from time to time was that creators would fail to include a vendor photo of the product.    Oh my!   Thus leaving the blogger to guess if they might want to feature the new item. Sometimes it would be worthy -- sometimes not. 

In those type of situations is it fair to punish the blogger?  Probably not.  But, on the other side of the coin there are bloggers who take and take and seldom advertise for the people who are supposedly their "sponsors".   

As one of the oldest bloggers still typing away, I am happy doing things they way they used to be done;  retrieving items from blogger group notices or opening boxes passed along  by the hand of the creator.  It is simply more personal.   That doesn't make my preferences "right" or even in the majority, it is simply what I am most comfortable with.