You’re Not The Boss Of Me, Now..
There was an interesting debate/mild catfight going on in the comments of a John Chow Dot Com post the other day. John had written about whether doing off-topic posts was a good idea or not. He said he often received complaints when he did a restaurant review or some such, but “I personally get a nice chuckle out of those emails because it’s clear the reader doesn’t understand this blog started as a personal blog to post about whatever was on my mind.”
Some of the comments below his post were of the “You go, evil John! Wheee, here I am and click my link now!” caliber, but Blogging Experiment didn’t concur. He wrote: “John, you market this site as a blog about Making Money Online. You use it in your title tag, you use it throughout the site, and in all sorts of campaigns and schemes. However, you only deliver information on how to make money online a fraction of the time. That’s where the issue is. You promise one thing and deliver another.”
The JC Fan Club were unimpressed with this. He should write about what he wants, it’s his personal blog! they cried. Poor Blogging Experiment got a little bit flamed but stuck in there through to the end of the 95+ comments.
The dialogue raises the interesting question of blog ownership vs customer service. If someone comments on your blog every day, they probably feel a sense of community and ownership, and get disgruntled when they feel the blog isn’t reaching its full potential. On the other hand, the blog is run and owned by the blogger. They are not employed by anyone and can theoretically do whatever they want with it.
What do you think? Does the reader have the right to criticize a service they don’t pay for? Do you like to read personal posts on blogs that are mainly about a certain topic? As a blogger, how much do you take reader feedback into consideration?
Personally, I subscribe to John’s blog because he often has fresh ideas, and I skip the posts about restaurants or cars. The titles usually tell me if it’ll be something I want to read or not. Ultimately, if you don’t like something you vote with your mouse clicks.
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Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
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I don’t think whether I’m a paying customer or not has anything to do with whether or not I feel I can criticise. As a reader of a blog I’m entitled to an opinion, and I’m also entitled to voice said opinions.
When I’ve watched amateur football games, the spectators didn’t ease up on shouting criticism at the players just because they were amateurs.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:57 pmInteresting.
I generally blog about what I want, but I know not everybody approves or reads everything I say.
It’s just a matter of striking a balance between each of your topics to keep everybody happy. I have no problem with JC talking about food or cars (I quite like cars), but chances are I won’t comment.
Would be interesting for somebody to post a comparison between all posts, which posts generate the most interest in terms of comments.
September 11th, 2007 at 9:07 pmInteresting question. I read JC for his making money stuff and that’s it. I don’t like cars and I don’t live in Vancouver so restaurant reviews don’t do much for me either.
Bloggers can write what they want but a blog without readers is pretty pointless so keeping them happy has to fit into the plan somewhere.
September 11th, 2007 at 10:36 pmI believe that if you are going to allow readers to comment on your blog, you must be prepared to receive good and bad feedback. Bad feedback is often better than praise if you use it as an opportunity to grow.
I bet JC could write about cars and restaurants for an entire month and still earn 5 figures. His money making machine is well primed, so he doesn’t have to work as hard as the rest of us.
September 12th, 2007 at 12:01 amI really enjoy reading John’s blog - and I read it all. The restaurant reviews, photos of the food, the cars, the money making aspects… all of it. I love the variety. If you’re keen on one part or another, you have every right to skip it or delete the blog from your feed reader - you have the power. It’s ultimately his blog to write what he wants on it.
And we have the control on whether or not we read it.
What’s the big deal? LOL.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:40 amOh, I’ve had the Malcolm In The Middle Theme in my head all day, and it’s all your fault.
September 12th, 2007 at 4:59 amI’m with Rhys on the Malcolm in the Middle song…
Anyway, I don’t mind a little flaming now and then and in fact I’ve been told I’m a bit of an instigator. That being said, I do believe that you should deliver on your marketing promises. If you market your site as a site about TV shows, at least a majority of the time your posts should be about TV shows. I do “vote with my feet” so to speak and skip the posts that bore me and I suspect John’s stats would show that a lot of people do. However, we don’t really get that kind of info from John because it doesn’t play into the image he’s crafted. I don’t mind that so much but it frustrates me that all the people that emulate his blog will be learning a bad habit that John gets away with because of the popularity of his site.
September 12th, 2007 at 5:25 am“…and you’re not so big…” Sorry
Ben @ Blogging Experiment, how much traffic did you receive from that comment thread?
September 12th, 2007 at 7:43 amI feel like I should chime in here and somewhat disagree about the occasional flames. I hate flames since the Internet began. While I listen to every comment that is posted I do not publish every comment however. I moderate everything. Once someone said on my blog about Venice, Italy that the country was beautiful but not the people. Now I ask you how does this comment help anyone. Since I firmly disagree with that statement it did not get published. That is my choice since it is my blog.
I do agree that John Chow can and should write about what ever he so pleases. It is his blog. Although he hardly ever writes about making money online he still has the right to write about whatever he wants. His blog is really not that useful or relevant anymore since he stopped writing about his main subject matter. I only occasionally check in on what he has written because he lost me as a subscriber sinec he keeps deviating from his subject. But this is my choice I can choose to listen to him or not and I choose not to.
It is called free will. Use it at your own discretion. Or not.
September 12th, 2007 at 8:19 amThe Blogging Experiment article made me so angry I clicked on everyone of his AdSense ads. Take that Ben!
Seriously, I kind of like a personal anecdote now and then, as long as it doesn’t go too far.
September 12th, 2007 at 9:22 am@ richminx, from that specific thread it looks like about 30 or so. So far this month I’ve gotten around 80 visits from his blog by commenting.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:21 amA blogger’s got the right to write about whatever they want, and a reader’s got a right to comment if they aren’t digging it. Free speach and all…..
It’s not as if a reader is required to view the blog for work or a school assignment. They can choose to discontinue if they feel they’re not getting out of the experience what they’d anticipated.
My blog is titled “Happiegrrrl Climbing,” and so people rightly assume it will be about the climbing lifestyle. The tagline goes “Where I’ve Been and What Happened While I Was There.” I would hope that most people understand there will be “lifestyle” posts that don’t include climbing.
However, those lifestyle posts DO relate to the climbing scene. I include camp cooking recipes, tips on nature photography and my dog Teddy, who accompanies me on the road.
However, I would feel at odds with posting on something that has no tangential relationship. At one point, I made the decision to draw the line at what relates/does not relate, however loosely I may feel that aplies at any given time….
But…that’s just me.
So far, no complaints. I’ll take it as a sign of success when I start to get them!
September 13th, 2007 at 2:15 pm