Blog Bling
The feds want to regulate blogs. Because some folks give bloggers free stuff and then bloggers may say nice things about their products. Sounds kinda silly. I guess some folks could say that they’ll give you free stuff on the condition that you say nice things. But I’ve never experienced that. I’ve written reviews on various products and books and things. And never felt swayed to lie or anything like that.
Disclosure: Obviously, I’ve gotten stuff for free due to this blog (training with Todd Jarrett, some Blackhawk stuff, books, etc.). But not a single company who’s given me stuff has said that it’s free as long as I write nice things about it. It’s always been understood that I would probably write about it but never once demanded. And I’ve always written about the stuff truthfully. It’s not hard to understand that if a gun nut gets gun things he’s probably going to like the gun things.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Maybe we need a standard gov’t overcorrection?
So… Will Springfield, Wilson Combat, FNH, Cobb, Magpul, Thunder Ranch, and Smith and Wesson please send a bunch of stuff to my blog so I can write terrible scathing reviews? That way, we can show the .gov we’re self-correcting (a la AIG) and they’ll give us TARP money, which will likely require the use of wheelbarrows.
Thanks.
May 22nd, 2009 at 9:41 am
Joe,
I like the way you think!
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:24 am
Actually, you didn’t get the training with Todd because of the blog. You won that as part of a contest. And, even if you were entered into the contest because of the blog, you could have won it without a blog since one random voter also attended. (That the reader just happened to have a blog was just amusing.) But these proposed regulations could have screwed with that. You only got stuff because of the contest, but the contest was primarily open to bloggers. I see this as being a problem with any contest if the winner of a product just happens to write a blog.
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
The only free stuff I’ve gotten has been through the kindness of my readers.
That said, I can be bought. And pretty cheaply, too…
Just sayin’…
May 22nd, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Eww, if you take TARP money you will have Obama as your boss.
May 24th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Is it just me, or does it seem to anyone else that this legislation is driven by luddism as much as it is by a fear of free speech?
Imagine the outcry if someone proposed such legislation to affect the Old Media!