Blog hard for the money
Posted: April 30th, 2003 | Author: Bea | Filed under: Thoughts, Web | 12 Comments »I just visited Brandy’s blog and found a very interesting entry about something I’ve been thinking of quite a while, but I didn’t find the guts to actually express my thoughts here. While some bloggers are all for Freedom of Speech when it comes to their own blogs, the epidemic of trolls these days is just incredible. But here I go…
People asking for money on their websites. What do you think about it?
Let’s start with the tools for blogging: I donated to Blogrolling because of the webring I was going to start and thought it would be nice to send something to Jason. But other than that, heck… I could be updating my website with other tools that don’t require donations or use the free versions. People have choices and some are nice enough to donate because they like these tools and feel grateful. It’s perfectly ok if you like a service and you pay for it to help the developers.
Then there are the bloggers: Many people are hosted all around and own I don’t know how many domains and then they ask for money? Money for vacation funds or car parts or whatever… Wrong, very wrong, in MY opinion. I think they need to get real, seriously. Start a fund for starving kids or people without a place to live and then I will donate, other than that… If you’re online it’s because you can pay an internet connection and/or a telephone line every month, you do the math. The blogging community is like any other; I’m sure they wouldn’t go in the streets asking for money, but oh! the internet… magic. Remember that Save Karyn site people criticized so much, or how Wil Wheaton was attacked for asking for money to buy a gift for his wife? Well, you get my point, it goes both ways. Life has other priorities.
I don’t mean to offend anyone, but the truth is that after reading Brandy’s post and some of the comments I found that I’m not alone with my thoughts and that people get annoyed. I even de-linked my Amazon Wishlist from my site because I feel bad asking “buy me something! buy me something!”; I use it as a reference for me, I list stuff I want and then I remember I want it, go get it and delete the item.
And if I have financial problems, I try to solve them quietly. In Colombia we say “the dirty clothes are washed at home”. Call me silly, this time, I’m ready to take all kinds of opinions and criticism. Who knows, one day I’ll need money and the idea of asking for it online will cross my mind, but I won’t do it. Personally I don’t think it’s right.
I don’t know, Bea. To me, that’s like watching TV. I don’t exactly go running to the telephone every time I see Sally Struthers asking for help or when I see televangelists trying to reserve a seat for you in heaven – for a fee, of course. Rather than picking a fight with the blogger or getting offended over it, if eveyone ignores it, it’ll go away. And if the blogger makes a big deal about it, feel free to give it to him/her with both barrels.
In the end – just like TV – you can always choose to “turn to a different station.”
Oh yes, definitely people have choices. It still doesn’t keep me from thinking the way I do :-) It is not that I’m going to stop reading a blog because they are asking for money, that would be silly.
It’s not about “turning to another station“. It’s about people using their online status to get money or making others pay for stuff that is their responsibility, which personally I think is wrong.
While it’s always good to help others, most of the time I just find tip-jars and funds for stuff people don’t really need or stuff others shouldn’t be paying for. That is what strikes me, it’s nothing personal, just my own standards for life.
“It’s about people using their online status to get money or making others pay for stuff that is their responsibility . . .” (Emphasis added).
Here’s what I don’t get, Bea: how are they “making” others pay for stuff? That’s the beauty of choice. I somewhat agree with you in that I think it’s tacky, but so what? It’s their choice whether to ask and it’s your choice whether to give. No skin off my back (or $$$ off my wallet) either way. If others want to give them some “Blog Money” that’s their problem.
And on that note, we can agree to disagree.
I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.
I totally agree with you, Bea!
Ooh, touchy subject.
Basically, I agree with you.
I don’t want to say more and suffer from foot-in-mouth disease.
My thinking is that for the folks that offer something like a commenting system, blogrolling…. uh oh w.blogger (that is a great program)… these things are worthy of a donation, but good thing of them, they all offer choice.
The people looking for $$ for surgery, car, education, uh… whatever… get the heck outta here, get a job, go about your community… whatever, but not here on the web asking for money.
I’m pretty much with Roberto on this one – I wouldn’t personally feel comfortable asking for money (or offering the option of a donation) if I weren’t providing a “real” service (i.e. BlogRolling vs. my tutorials) but I don’t hold it against anyone for doing so.
I do think it’s a perfectly legitimate arena for requesting help with something. I have no problem when people ask for my opinion on something – money, while certainly a touchier subject – is very similar. I don’t think less of them for asking for one thing they need as opposed to another simply because I am less likely to give it. I also don’t really see a difference between asking around the community here and asking areound your local community.
Also: a lot of the time people are eager to help friends if they know they need it – just because I may not want to [help in that way] doesn’t mean I don’t think people should have the opportunity to.
Oh, sure Daph… You can go asking people around you to give you money to pay for a vacation or a new computer? I can’t. If it’s for some kind of REAL problem I’m more than glad to help, but not to buy stuff. People act differently online and offline.
What I’m talking about here is not money for help when we have a problem. I’m talking about money to buy things.
Wonderful post. No matter what my financial situation, I can’t see myself asking those that visit my site for money. Like you, I felt uncomfortable about the Amazon wishlist, but a friend told me that it’s more of a way for others to see what people are interested in reading, rather than a request for someone to purchase something.
I love the Colombian saying of “the dirty clothes are washed at home”. :)
Which journalist blogger was it that did the fundraising campaign to raise money for himself last year? I think it may have been Andrew Sullivan – and he raised something like $80,000! Insane. I won’t give to things like that. When Robyn did the Boobiethon last fall, I linked to it and send a photo for it, but did not donate until the very end when my funds went to the Breast Cancer society. That was where I wanted my money to go. I almost always donate to services I use and like (MT, Blogrolling, Blogshares), and I pay for advertisement on sites like MetaFilter for Blogomania, but also as my way of supporting their services. I’ve seen good bloggers complain about losing jobs and how they were going to shut down because they couldn’t afford to pay for hosting, and donated hosting to them to keep them online. I’ve mainly used wishlists to figure out people’s reads and interests, but I have sent the occasional gift as thanks for helping me with things. But I won’t give to things like “send me to Gnomedex” or “help me pay off my credit cards” or “buy me fake boobs” because … if people really want those things, they should save for them. I won’t stop visiting someone’s site over them, but it leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth when I see it on their sites.
I agree with you Beatriz! When someone provides an excellent service to the public and then it becomes really popular but they can’t afford to keep it going without a little help … then I feel that it’s acceptable to get donations. But, some people ask for money to buy a leather jacket or some such thing. Unbelievable! I haven’t had a telephone or internet access at home for seven months now (I do have a pre-pay cell phone however, for emergencies), and in order to post to my site I have to use a public computer, but I wouldn’t dream of asking for donations. I also use my wishlist for my own use, although I keep a link on my site for my Mom and for easy access. Life can be really tough sometimes, but it’s up to me to get out of my financial trouble. Having to use a public computer really sucks and knowing that I haven’t been able to pay my rent for several months now is terrifying, but I’m a survivor, and the idea of asking strangers to assist me seems really tacky! Kyra and I are healthy and otherwise fine, and I’ll get us through this. As someone once said … “What doesn’t kill us, only makes us stronger!”