But…I DID take a few pictures and posted them to Twitter and Facebook.
I was up in Northern Michigan over the weekend. My friend took me and my youngest son as her guest where we stayed at her time share in Boyne Mountain. It was lovely. But don’t be fooled, traveling with two young children and two Moms…NOT a vacation. An exhausting change of scenery is more like it.
We had fun though. We covered a lot of territory in two days…Petosky, Boyne, the lake, the pool and the grand finale…Mackinac Island.
Petosky…I LOVE its quaint charm and bustling activity.
But Mackinac? I adore it there. Even the overwhelming stench of horse crap is fine by me.
I wish I could go there, just my husband and moi, for a long weekend. No kids. Like…a real mini-vacation where we can have “alone” time. I have two problems though…money and babysitters. Mackinac is so incredibly expensive, all the charming hotels, inns and B & B’s, that it’s ridiculous. Maybe one of the little, lesser known Inns or B & B’s want to work a little something something out with a Michigan Mommy Blogger? Or, I can stay in one of the less expensive Mackinaw City hotels but spend all day on the island. Yes, much better than having to pimp and ho myself for a hotel room.
So…while I was out. I had a lovely little troll wreaking havoc on my comments. It’s for reasons like that ass that I ALWAYS keep the comment moderator on. And boy, was it pissing off this troll, who was calling me a c &*t and a b&%$h because of it. This person left 18 insane, psychotic sounding comments. WTF? Seriously, nothing better to do much?
OK. This next thing is probably going to offend some but…my blog, my random thoughts, right?
I’m tired of reading about FREE stuff on blogs and on twitter. Giveaways, trips, cars, coffee makers…
OVER IT.
And, I must disclose…I’m getting a car in August from Ford. They are giving me a Lincoln MKT to test drive for a week. But dudes…it’s NOT free. I’m getting the car. I still have to feed the thing gasoline and I am still going to tweet and perhaps Whrrl about it. THAT…is NOT free. I’m free advertisement for Ford. I don’t mind though. I’m sick of driving my old car so, for a week, I get a mini-vacation from it.
But…the original offer, prior to this one, was to drive a lovely Ford Flex (which, I’m DYING to have one of my very own) from Detroit to New York. Sounds awesome? Except Ford wasn’t going to cover anything except gas and airfare for one to come home.
What about hotel? What about food? Who is supposed to pay for that?
It ended up sounding like a very expensive proposition.
I’m glad that, in the end, I wasn’t one of the bloggers chosen to do that drive because I would have turned it down.
Borrowing a car, where all I have to do is drive it around town, where my starting and ending points are the same…my driveway, is much gentler on the wallet whoring of myself. I don’t have to pay for lodging…except for my mortgage. I don’t have to pay for food…assuming my pantry and fridge are well stocked. Although, I could take the loaner car to the market.
I just did a major digression though.
Back to the free stuff and blogging.
I’m tired of reading about free stuff and what blogging has put in pockets, driveways, purses, etc. That’s not exciting or well written content. It’s just disclosure blogging. But it seems like every single blog these days is all about what they’ve received to test out and the pro/cons of it all.
UGH.
I get it, kinda. I do. I mean, who doesn’t love free stuff? But, it’s just getting…redundant and epidemic.
Blogging to blog. Blogging for the love of writing. Blogging to capture baby’s first steps. Blogging to tell a story, any story. I’m even willing to read about what was in your baby’s diaper, as long as the diapers weren’t free to test out, blog and tweet about.
Give me names of blogs people. Ones that are actual blogs, not paid advertisements. Please.
Also, am I alone in feeling this way? That blogging has become nothing more than “what can you give me”? Or am I just crabby today from a busy weekend, thryoid meds not working and over-exhaustion?
I get it. I have two products right now that I need to review and I don’t want to. Not that I don’t like the products or anything, I just don’t want to HAVE to write about them and I’m wishing I had never signed up to in the first place.
Jennifer´s last blog post ..What was he thinking
you go, girl …
the planet of janet´s last blog post ..Oh- my baby
Everything can be overdone. I have a couple of blogs I subscribe to that I never read, because one look at the subject line tells me all I want to know. I’ve done an occasional product review, I do book reviews. I think if you mix those into an interesting blog, that’s not a problem. If you overwhelm us with product reviews and try to make them sound interesting, and don’t write about much else… well, you may just find yourself losing the readers who got you to the place where people were asking you to do product reviews.
Joni Golden´s last blog post ..Wordless Wednesday- Kimberly Kassner of EmpowerMind – October 2009
The only offers I’ve received were from Hershey, and since I really don’t do reviews, I turned it down.
Your vacation still sounded lovely. Sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery.
Tara R.´s last blog post ..Let them eat… pake-
I agree with you 100%. A big part of the reason I quit twitter was that I was getting tired of how spammy it was getting. I know a lot of bloggers get some great free stuff and they probably enjoy writing about it (at least enough to keep doing it) but nothing gets me clicking away faster than feeling like I’m being sold to.
Jen´s last blog post ..The one with the hot boys
Nope. You’re not alone. The minute a blog I’m reading turns into an infomercial, I stop reading. The occasional post? I’ll tolerate. But when it’s every. stinking. day? I’m not interested. I’ve never done one on my blog. Not one.
Which is probably why no one offers to give me anything. Not even a week long test drive. Which I would accept as fast as I could type the words (hear that, FORD?).
I would love to visit Mackinac, but yeah, what you said. When I win the lottery we’ll go. Of course, I’d have to actually PLAY the lottery . . . .
I’ll be posting this week about my 30th high-school reunion. No giveaways, no money. ANd it’s a pretty good story. Hopefully I can tell it well.
I don’t have a single ad on my site, I’ve never done a single review, I don’t do giveaways. That’s not what it’s about for me. I prefer the good old days of just writing. If I come across someone’s site and the first thing I see is a review or even a giveaway, I’m going to click away. It’s just not my thing. Which isn’t to say that I’d turn down a free car if someone were to give it to me.
C @ Kid Things´s last blog post ..Wash Your Mouth
You are not alone. I agree 100 percent. My blog is not about that, as you know. There are other wonderful ones out there, too. I tried to give up my blog, but I just can’t. I’ll never be a star in the blogosphere but that’s OK. Keep on doing what you are doing.
MomZombie´s last blog post ..Dancing in my bones
I blog to blog. Today’s is an especially honest one.
I have recently jumped into the fray of reviews or whatever. I’ve received a couple of trips from the Indiana Dept of Tourism to travel around my great state on quickie overnight trips with my family. But it isn’t just for my blog. It’s for my entire social network experience. And I don’t do anything any differently than I did before- I just maybe pay more attention to how I label it.
Eternal Lizdom´s last blog post ..Parenthood It Can Kinda Suck
I agree with you. A lot of really good bloggers have been caught up in the product placements and somehow the storytelling and personal sharing has been lost. Those folks are in my reader and I scan through the commercial posts and skip them like ads on DVR’d TV programs. If that’s how they want to spend their time and use their space, who am I to tell them they can’t? However, I don’t need to read it either. That said, I set up a separate review blog and, due to time and my desire to refocus on why I started blogging in the first place, only respond to PR pitches that genuinely fit with my everyday life. I figure that if folks want to know what I think, they’ll click on the link and go look.
I agree with you. As if we’re not bombarded enough already with advertisements? While it is nice that many people are often honest if they actually don’t like a product, it just gets so tedious. Product testing is not what my life is a bout, thus neither is my blog.
Lianne´s last blog post ..One More Step
I agree with you. I don’t mind an occasional review or giveaway, especially if it is something the blogger is genuinely passionate about and uses anyhow. But the random coffee makers and the things that are completely unrelated really get to me.
Also, hi! I just found your blog yesterday and I subscribed BECAUSE there isn’t reviews all over the place.
You know where to find me:) Lord knows nobody is paying me….I refuse to fucking sensor. I tell it like it is in my head….some ppl find my head offensive…those ppl are douchers 😉
Great post! I totally agree mama
singlemama_cc´s last blog post ..Friends to Follow on this fuckitfriday
Hi Melissa – I’m a new blogger so mine is all about writing, which I am totally LOVING. I haven’t been ‘contacted’ but have to admit it would make me feel cool to be asked to do something. But if I do, it won’t be a lot and it will really only be relevant to my life and my blog. Soooooo…if you get a minute come check me out http://www.secondchancemoon.com And we’re neighbors, well not really but I live in Royal Oak, so we’re close. 🙂
I have some blogs for you.
http://unexpectedsmiles.wordpress.com – I started this because I’m sick of negativity and I wanted to find ways to show there are smiles all around.
http://thenursingmama.blogspot.com – I started this because I wanted to share my advice on nursing.
I’ve fallen behind on both because I have writer’s block, but they are my passion.
Agreed! I don’t mind reading product reviews with a small disclosure, but (a) they should be intermixed with entries that match the purpose of the blog — stories, tips, etc., and (b) you are so on the money that blogging about blogging is tiresome. I hate finding one great entry on a blog, subscribing, and then realizing that the tip-filled post or the fantastically interesting story was the exception to the rule of talking-about-stuff-and-talking-about-blogging.
Keep up what you’re doing! 🙂
well howdy there! I think the occasional post about a product you really love and use is fine but I can tell when it just becomes another item to push… the excitement is lost. I would whore myself out to Ford or GM or anyone for a roadtrip, because heaven to me is to be on the road permanently. I have FIVE blogs and I have never been asked to promote anything… probably because I only write when the subject moves me, or the hands of time part and allow me a few moments of creativity.
Two of my blogs are business related, one of them is sadly neglected but still gets a lot of traffic. And two are my personal blogs to write on when I am moved to do so, you can tell me what you think… The Sticky Floor and Real Home Sense
Pat Williams´s last blog post ..Babies -amp Friendships Born at the Beach
Want some blogs that aren’t all about reviews/give-aways – check out the ones I follow. I think out of all of them only one or two may do a review/give-away every once in a while. While no one has ever contacted me to do anything – I think I would have to think long and hard about it if they ever did. I just don’t think my blog and my thoughts are geared that way. Occasionally, I will do a book review – but those are never sponsored; the books are just really great and I feel the need to share. But even those are few and far between.
Gigi´s last blog post ..Caught
I live on Mackinac Island year-round, and you can do the island on a budget – you just have to plan ahead and know where to go. My friend, Trish, owns Bogan Lane Inn, a B&B with really reasonable rates. She only has 4 ooms so they book up very quickly – best to call for a weekend reservation in January or February.
Also – I’m a blogger who hasn’t been paid to sell anything. If I posted about a a place or product I love, it is because I really do and just want to share. I have done two giveaways, but I just had extra stuff that I wanted to share – none of that “subscribe for an extra entry” stuff…
Liz´s last blog post ..East
Hey stranger friend…… I love reading your blogs…..you encouranged me to start my blog but I just haven’t had time. However, reading your heartfelt words makes me want to do it and make the time to do it.
Talk or email soon
Joanie
I do occasional reviews and only on products that I’ve tried and liked, BUT I put them on a different page that says REVIEWS. People can go there or not. Some of them come with giveaways (because if I try something, I like it when my readers can try it, too). I do post them on Twitter, but again people can choose to go there from my Twitter account. I don’t think it gets in the way of the other content I write.
Glad you had fun on your vaca! :o)
WritRams (Jackie)´s last blog post ..It’s not a hat- brooch or pterodactyl- but…
my hubbie proposed to me on Mackinaw Island – that place will always be special to me!
I blog to blog on my BLOG and I review to review on my review blog – I enjoy both! BUT – BUT – I lost a TON – a TON of readers when I opted to do both. sadly, I don’t get why b/c I have the blogs completely separated.
Tiaras´s last blog post ..Ouch- My Uterus hurts-
Okay, so I’m late to the ball here, but I really meant to come back and reply. So here it is…late, but here.
The short answer to your question, IMO, is, yes.
I’m all for capitalism. I have no problem at all with anyone making money from their blog. Does a newspaper lose integrity because it has ads? What’s the difference if there is an ad off to the side of your blog? If someone offers you compensation to review a product, then why not have a “commercial”? Heck, government-supported public broadcasting has its programs sponsored by corporations, with a nice little tag added about how great the company is (and, of course, how much the company loves public broadcasting). Talk radio personalities take money to promote a product on their show. So, really, why not bloggers?
That said…when all the blog becomes is a commercial, a shlepping for corporate sponsorship, one promotion after another, and you can’t find the blog posts for all the advertising clutter on the page–and you are NOT a giveaway blog–then I’m not interested. And, yes, sadly, I think more and more blogs are becoming that way. But, thank goodness, not all are.
I recommend The Mother’s Handbook for a great “content” blog. Just be warned–she’s very, very outspoken, opinionated, but also incredibly funny. And educated.
Michele – The Professional Family Manager´s last blog post ..Blog Relationships–Not Awards–Are What Matter
I agree, I find it really hard sometimes to wade through the reviews and giveaways and contests and…ugh. A few here or there is one thing, but it’s become this behemoth that drives me crazy. I like reading blogs that is…reading. I like connecting with people. I like personality so much more than product placement.
I’m all for folks making money on their blogs–but freebies aren’t making money, and actually, the end up costing you money (if you’re doing it legit) in most cases. Sell ads, sell sponsorships, do the occasional paid post (occasional!!), but don’t sell your soul for a free broom or coupon for $10 off.
Ginger´s last blog post ..Wonderful Wednesdays
So far I’ve done one giveaway (for my blogiversary) and that is it. I’m not really into the whole review thing. So I’ll probably never get any free stuff. But I don’t mind. And any advertising that’s not actually worth it for the income – I’ve recently got rid of. What’s the point? I’m happy to display advertising if it pays a decent amount based on my pageviews. But if it’s not – well, it’s just noise.
Zoey @ Good Goog´s last blog post ..43-365 Cake- Anyone