I tell you what: you wonder why the site isn't up and why I'm always "making excuses" for why I haven't gotten more done, and this is why:
Every day I wake up to some fresh hell over which I have absolutely no control. I spend the largest portion of my time trying to deal with problems caused by other factors - everyday. Every day.
Yesterday (actually since the 4th, but I was unaware of it until yesterday), it was Blogger not publishing through FTP. For like 3 days (again, I didn't know it until yesterday and spent all day trying to republish blogs and so forth). Nothing I could do about it and Blogger didn't bother to fix it until like Midnight.
Since Halloween, the site has been attracting spam on an unprecedented level. I mean across the site - e-mail spam (as much as 200-300 spam e-mails PER DAY!), blog spam (I deleted over 300 spam Comments on The OddBlog alone between Halloween and like Monday - that may have been the issue with Blogger's not publishing through FTP, actually) - just everywhere. So I had to spend all day Monday setting up e-mail filters, adding code across the site, removing e-mail links, and the like. I didn't actually get anything new up or anything really obvious done, but just about every page on the site has been (or is being) changed.
For the last 2 weeks or so, it's been a particular sponsor - our favorite, actually (which really breaks my heart). They are apparently training new employees on how to approve posts and the new employees have apparently been told, "If in doubt, reject it!" It has amounted to this particular sponsor nitpicking every, little thing across the blogs; they've basically taken over!
"This banner needs to be on the left, move that one to the right. The post before it needs to have at least # original sentences [referring specifically to press releases]. We don't like your disclosure policy. The preceding post has a link, so that makes it sponsored..."
I finally blew my top earlier. I sincerely hope they change their ways because I really can't afford to lose this sponsor, but damn! This is my blog and I said that to begin with; I have stated, over and over, that I am not going to be controlled by advertisers! I write what I want, when I want, as I want, and I specifically take sponsors that understand that.
You may have heard me mention before as to how I will not accept ads for Caribbean-based travel, lodgings, and so forth. I will not accept them on behalf of the many American vacationers (overwhelmingly young and attractive) who have "disappeared" in the area and on the islands, including (but not even closely limited to) Natalie Holloway. I am proud of that and not just from some kind of moral superiority - not by any means - but I have turned down somewhere in the neighborhood of $100+ over the past couple of holiday seasons because of this.
I have also turned away sponsors and sponsored programs that would not allow me to inform you that the post was sponsored or "paid for." I mention this specifically in the Disclosure Policy - which one program now claims is not "proper" or valid. And it damned well is - hell, it better be: I made it through their site!
And I know that there are many opponents of sponsored posting who are sitting there, clucking their tongues, their fingers poised at the keyboard to type, "I told you so." And, to be fair, many did - and still do. In particular, one guy (who is a complete asshole on his best day, regardless) specifically said that all of us who were "happily extolling the virtues of paid posting" would be bitching and moaning in a year, when "those same sites start rejecting your posts left and right."
But I stand by what I've said time and again: I dig sponsored posting because it allows me to spend time blogging and doing the things I love... like blogging. And I am going to review and talk about a lot of these things, anyway, so why not get paid to do it? Sponsored posting has allowed me to finally set up my own website and also make some much-needed extra cash, and I'm good at it!
But I will not have the content and design of my site and blogs dictated by advertisers. I will gladly compromise on many, many fronts, but there is an obvious line which shouldn't need to be drawn, but since some apparently need to see it...
--------------------
Every day I wake up to some fresh hell over which I have absolutely no control. I spend the largest portion of my time trying to deal with problems caused by other factors - everyday. Every day.
Yesterday (actually since the 4th, but I was unaware of it until yesterday), it was Blogger not publishing through FTP. For like 3 days (again, I didn't know it until yesterday and spent all day trying to republish blogs and so forth). Nothing I could do about it and Blogger didn't bother to fix it until like Midnight.
Since Halloween, the site has been attracting spam on an unprecedented level. I mean across the site - e-mail spam (as much as 200-300 spam e-mails PER DAY!), blog spam (I deleted over 300 spam Comments on The OddBlog alone between Halloween and like Monday - that may have been the issue with Blogger's not publishing through FTP, actually) - just everywhere. So I had to spend all day Monday setting up e-mail filters, adding code across the site, removing e-mail links, and the like. I didn't actually get anything new up or anything really obvious done, but just about every page on the site has been (or is being) changed.
For the last 2 weeks or so, it's been a particular sponsor - our favorite, actually (which really breaks my heart). They are apparently training new employees on how to approve posts and the new employees have apparently been told, "If in doubt, reject it!" It has amounted to this particular sponsor nitpicking every, little thing across the blogs; they've basically taken over!
"This banner needs to be on the left, move that one to the right. The post before it needs to have at least # original sentences [referring specifically to press releases]. We don't like your disclosure policy. The preceding post has a link, so that makes it sponsored..."
I finally blew my top earlier. I sincerely hope they change their ways because I really can't afford to lose this sponsor, but damn! This is my blog and I said that to begin with; I have stated, over and over, that I am not going to be controlled by advertisers! I write what I want, when I want, as I want, and I specifically take sponsors that understand that.
You may have heard me mention before as to how I will not accept ads for Caribbean-based travel, lodgings, and so forth. I will not accept them on behalf of the many American vacationers (overwhelmingly young and attractive) who have "disappeared" in the area and on the islands, including (but not even closely limited to) Natalie Holloway. I am proud of that and not just from some kind of moral superiority - not by any means - but I have turned down somewhere in the neighborhood of $100+ over the past couple of holiday seasons because of this.
I have also turned away sponsors and sponsored programs that would not allow me to inform you that the post was sponsored or "paid for." I mention this specifically in the Disclosure Policy - which one program now claims is not "proper" or valid. And it damned well is - hell, it better be: I made it through their site!
And I know that there are many opponents of sponsored posting who are sitting there, clucking their tongues, their fingers poised at the keyboard to type, "I told you so." And, to be fair, many did - and still do. In particular, one guy (who is a complete asshole on his best day, regardless) specifically said that all of us who were "happily extolling the virtues of paid posting" would be bitching and moaning in a year, when "those same sites start rejecting your posts left and right."
But I stand by what I've said time and again: I dig sponsored posting because it allows me to spend time blogging and doing the things I love... like blogging. And I am going to review and talk about a lot of these things, anyway, so why not get paid to do it? Sponsored posting has allowed me to finally set up my own website and also make some much-needed extra cash, and I'm good at it!
But I will not have the content and design of my site and blogs dictated by advertisers. I will gladly compromise on many, many fronts, but there is an obvious line which shouldn't need to be drawn, but since some apparently need to see it...
--------------------
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