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After months of mulling over this moral dilemma in my head, I have decided to give PayPerPost a chance.
In my early experiences reading PPP blogs, I was turned off pretty fast. Some of these writers wrote more paid posts than non-paid ones, and it was obvious they were taking every opportunity they qualified for, regardless of whether they had any real, personal experience with the product being advertised. My desire to continue reading those blogs dropped like lemmings off a bridge. And then I saw more and more people denouncing PPP as "evil", because unlike traditional blog advertising which usually sits in a sidebar separate from the actual content (and is often ignored or even blocked by readers), this was encouraging bloggers to disguise advertising as actual content, thereby tricking the readers into reading ads and thinking they were sincere product recommendations. And to a certain extent, I agreed.
PayPerPost has attempted to combat this attitude by requiring bloggers to disclose that they accept payment for some of their content, which I think is a good thing. And now, one of my friends has joined PPP - a friend who I know to be honest and most definitely not evil. And two bloggers for whom I have great respect (Jay at The Zero Boss and Steven at WinExtra), while not inclined to join themselves, have both written about why they don't think PPP is the giant evil monster some would have us believe it is.
And so, I started to think maybe this is something I could do, and keep it honest and un-evil. I'm giving it a try, on a trial basis, with the following rules:
- I will post only about products, companies, or web sites I've had the opportunity to personally experience. No "Hey, this looks like it might be cool - go check it out!" posts. It might be something I decide to try specifically because of a PayPerPost opportunity, or even better, it might be something I've already tried and would have reviewed anyway.
- I will write thoughtful and honest reviews, citing both the good and the bad. Similarly to #1, no one-line "This is cool - check it out!" posts. I will not allow the fact that I'm being paid skew my opinions. You'll always get my full and honest opinion here, just as you always have.
- I will not write for advertisers who require a positive review (PPP allows advertisers to specify whether they will pay for either a good or bad review, or only a good one).
You can find my disclosure policy linked on the bottom of the sidebar on your right. Although the policy states that paid content may not always be specifically identified, I expect that most of the time it will be. However, there are some advertisers who request that paid posts not be individually identified, and if one of those meets my criteria above and I decide to write about it, then I want to respect their wishes. Rest assured that even those posts that are not individually identified will be completely honest reviews that I might have written even if I wasn't being paid. If I say I love it, I really do love it. And if I say I hate it, well I'm obviously telling the truth. (No, PayPerPost does not allow advertisers to pay for bad reviews of their competitors - at least as far as I can tell - and I wouldn't accept such an opportunity anyway.)
I'm counting on all of you to help me stay honest. If you think I'm breaking one of my rules, or that PayPerPost is hurting the quality of my writing, then call me on it. But be nice about it - if you can't be nice, your comments will be deleted and I will not take your opinion into consideration. Mean people deserve no attention even if they are right.
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