Deal blogs are a regular part of my life. Since I hate to spend money on um, anything, I use them to find the best deals in town without having to do all the work. For that, I am thankful they exist.
On the other hand, they’re starting to drive me bat shit crazy. There are some deal blogs that everyone knows the name of. They’re popular. People send them bad ass late night emails with sweet insider tips. They’re great blogs to follow to get all the good information. There are other deal blogs that want to be that cool. They aren’t. They just repost everything the other blogs write with a little “thanks link” at the end. Ugh. Do you really think Big Momma Deal Blogger of the Year needs your link love bullshit from your no-name blog so you can copy her posts instead of thinking them up yourself?
Hint: The answer is no.
I don’t even mind posts that link to a bunch of sweet deal posts. Like, “Hey friends, here’s a list of links from this week to stuff other people are doing/finding that I think are cool. Enjoy.” That, I can handle. Reposting every deal or idea or sweet sale from someone else in a post of its own so you can clog my reader with bullshit I don’t need to read because I read the original six frickin’ hours ago is starting to bug the shit out of me. Have an original thought, please, or add a bunch of great links to your sidebar blog roll to give people the what’s up or post one link post, but stop flooding my reader with plagiarism and creativity-less repetition.
Now, you may have a good question in mind here … like, why are these bloggers still in my reader if they’re driving me crazy? A good point. I’m considering just deleting all of them to decrease the annoyance factor, but they have redeeming qualities I still like reading about. Some are local to me, and as such have the low down on local deals that big names won’t cover. Others have additional features I want to read that are unrelated to deal finding. If we could all just play nice and stop with the incessant reposting of other peoples’ shit, this would be much easier.
But with click counts and traffic tickers and SEOs and a gazillion ads and everyone thinking they’re the next great Crystal Paine, I don’t think it’ll happen. To which I say, boo.
<3
Em.
8 comments
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April 21, 2010 at 19:05
Wendy (The Local Cook)
preach it sister!
April 21, 2010 at 19:18
Cheryl@SomewhatCrunchy
LOLOLOL Amen sista! WHAT is that all the copying about?
April 22, 2010 at 01:31
jesuisem
It drives me frickin’ crazy. I won’t name names (yet … unless they keep annoying me), but my reader is on fire with a handful of people copying each other constantly and then putting a little, “Thanks to so and so” link at the bottom. Ugh. Stop it. Write something original, please.
I wrote about a deal on a message board last night … today, it magically appears everywhere. Agh. Complete nonsense.
April 22, 2010 at 13:30
Karen
A few other perspectives:
1) Link backs to the “big” bloggers help their SEO and traffic. It is also polite to site your source, as opposed to some bloggers that “see” information and do not site a source.
2) Redundancy is Everywhere on the web, not just deal blogs.
3) Link backs help my site and give my readers additional resources, as I cannot post everything. I also choose not to post everything. I post what I think is useful to ME and my readers.
4) I created my website for my friends and family. I have a circle that does not read every other deal blog. They come to me for the information. I’m sure every blog has their own unique visitors that don’t know who Crystal Paine is.
5) I do believe it’s important for a blog to offer additional information and posts that make them unique.
April 23, 2010 at 03:14
jesuisem
Hi, Karen. Thanks for stopping by.
Re: #1, I agree that credit should be given where credit is due. Stealing other people’s stuff and not citing it is an unthinkable offense in this girl’s world (mostly because she spends far too much time in academia … and really should stop referring to herself in the third person). I don’t necessarily think making 387 reposts of stuff other people are posting is really that awesome, though, regardless of whose SEO goes up. One post with all those links would do the same thing.
Re: #2, Well, yea, probably, but on this particular day only deal blogs were annoying me. Gripe about crap I don’t like this minute … that’s what I’m all about.
Re: #3, Right. True. I get that, honestly, but what really kills me is seeing eleventy hundred (a term I am stealing from Karla and calling my own from now on … thanks, love) of the same post because a mediocre deal hit some big blog and everyone and their mother thinks they need to repost it. I mean, really? Sometimes, on incredible awesome once in your life time it’s raining gold deals? Sure. Every once in awhile? No problem. Every frickin’ day?! Ugh. You’re killing me. (that’s an editorial you, ps, not you specifically)
Re: #4, I get that to some degree, but I really think those situations are better served with blog rolls (so one could learn who the big bloggers you love or frequently draw from are) or conglomeration posts on a daily or every other or weekly or whatever basis. At the end of the day, it’s still your little corner of the web, and really, you’re free to do whatever you want (I encourage it!). If the bloggers I’m thinking of specifically have readership that loves what they’re doing, rock ‘n roll, keep on keeping on. This does not make me like it or stop me from complaining about it. *shrug*
Re: #5, Amen! That’s mostly my point. This isn’t a new situation. It’s just gotten ridiculous in my personal reader lately … enough to draw my attention away from unique content and toward the ongoing repetition of a copy/paste world where not only are we (again, editorial) straight jacking post content with nothing more than a nod (read: link) at the end, but doing it every.single.time.we.post.anything.
The long and the short of it … I’m just annoyed. I get everything you’re saying. I can appreciate where you’re coming from. It’s just a (ridiculously) common occurrence that is beginning to nag at my insides, ergo I wrote about it. I’m not immune from linking to things I think are sweet (link love rocks). I just think it needs context and content and an original spin rather than 8,298 posts/day that teeter carefully on the edge of plagiarism (if the internet really cared about such things …).
Again, thanks for stopping by and disagreeing. I don’t mind. Keep on hanging out if I haven’t buggered you away yet.
April 23, 2010 at 21:35
Amy
Thank you for finally saying something out loud!! Like you, I have a few that I follow for those great deals, but some I have finally deleted and don’t even go check in on them.
But making a video about doing the math on how many cereals you should buy this week and everyone out there, saying the same thing over and over and the fact that there were only 4 or 5 varieties of cereal offered in that promo, was what made me say ENOUGH!! That was a lot of promoting for a few boxes of cereal.
I love posting coupons that I think are high value because who doesn’t love a good deal? Or even showing you how to use that coupon, but I don’t have time in my day to find match ups for processed food.
And besides there are plenty of ways to save money that aren’t just with food coupons.
April 23, 2010 at 21:52
jesuisem
You’re very welcome, Amy.
I don’t even really care if people want to post matchups everyday .. ok, cool, if that’s your deal. I think, though, if people are soooooooooo concerned about their traffic and SEO and blah de blah, they must be trying to run their blog as a business. If that’s the case, modern business practices should be understood … like knowing your market and checking out the competition to see where there’s a niche for you to fill. I promise reposting today’s 45c/1 coupon for some shit no one uses (like, literally, no one) or some freebie that’s terrible doesn’t fit that bill. To those whose niche that is to fill, I say they’re doing a great job. My beef isn’t with the people who post deals. It’s with the people that repost other people’s content.
I’m not above tipping you off to a special I see or some rad link or whatever, but I really don’t need to hash other peoples’ shit so “my audience” (all … um, 4 of you?) can see what I’m seeing in my reader. I should tell you to follow whomever it is that’s so badass if I’m reposting their crap all the time.
April 29, 2010 at 04:41
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