Suck Up and Deal
There was a post made over on TechCrunch today concerning the recent drops in Google PR and it’s relation to PPP and how posties are freaking out about it, blah blah blah. (see: PayPerPost Users Freaking Out Over Google PageRank Nuke)
I’m kindof on the wall between the good and evil of this post.
For starters, this post has got posties with panties now in a twist. But that doesn’t bother me as much as the fact that they’re complaining about Arrington and how evil he is evil and how he’s using posties as an example, but yet do we take a moment to think that we the posties are the ones fueling his fire. There’s not many threads in the General Discussion area of the PPP boards that can’t be turned into blog fodder, and actually 90% could be combined because they’re all the same thing. He can only say what he’s saying because in general all that happens on the PPP boards is bitching a moaning. Rarely are we jumping for joy on those forums, they’re (read: the forums) a depressing piece of work.
Nothing has been done since the drops in PR except bitching and moaning, crying, complaining, and oh woe is me. PR is what it is, it’s Google’s beast and since none of us are Google what happens happens. We can sit and bitch and moan about how PR is affecting what we do or don’t make (read: $$$) or we can “suck up and deal” (thanks Cass) and go on with our normal lives writing on our blogs. Our blogs weren’t born for money they were born for us, for us to write, for us to express opinions, for us to share. If that’s not the case, then we are no different than what Arrington is making us out to be.
In fact, we are what he’s making us out to be, we are the “shills” he’s calling us. How many times are we writing about products because of the cash and not because it’s something we’ve used or would ever use. It happens on all of our blogs. You can’t get pissed off at him because he’s speaking the truth, he’s just speaking it in an unfavorable light. He’s just speaking the “bad” truth instead of the “good” truth (if that’s even the proper thing to say).
I will point out that he didn’t directly call anyone “pathetic” so much as he pointed out that our comments are “pathetic” which I will agree with him on. What we as bloggers are experiencing with PPP is no different than what we’d be experiencing out there with a (so-called) real job. Things change, they always have, they always will, jobs are threatened daily and there is no such thing as job security. The question becomes, do you stay at the job no matter how much or how little you make because you love it or do you leave for a “better” job which pays higher and has better benefits.
And just because I’m on a roll, I need to throw in a couple words about RealRank…posties have done nothing but complain about that since it came into place, oh my RR is zero (well do you have traffic), oh my RR changes daily (yeah, that’s the realness of it), well there’s this problem and that problem, blah blah blah…Are we going to continue being his fodder or are we as workers for IZEA going to start spreading the good that this company is doing instead of painting it in a bad light. Because that’s what we’re doing on a daily basis.
Instead of proving Arrington right, we need to prove him wrong, and the only way to do that is to stop bitching and moaning, to not worry about our so called impending death because of PR, to roll with the punches as they come, and continue what we do best, blog.
:::Claps:::
Beautiful.
Amen! I am pretty new on the PPP boards, but it’s such a negative place and people are so over sensitive there - I guess I just joined at the wrong time and it hasn’t always been like that. I have been affected by this whole thing also, it sucks, but we DO just have to suck it up and deal with it. Aside from that dude from Techcrunch having a superior attitude, when really he’s no better, I don’t see anything wrong in what he wrote.
The negativity is pretty much why I don’t post there. It seems like no matter what I post I get a few people who consistently offer negativity or corrections when none are warranted. I stopped altogether.I pretty much post only if I have a contest or something that I want to let people know about. I don’t have time to grouse on a forum, I’d rather spend my time improving my blog. I am in the same camp as you Courtney. There is a giant chicken little syndrome that happens there (the forums) with every little bump in the road. My philosophy is “Shut up and Blog.”
Well written, thank you!
I have to agree. I started my blog to carve a niche into the really underdone sports world as far as blogs go. Most of them that are out there are pure, unadulterated crap, and after my wife encouraged me, I started mine five months ago. Doing paid stuff was the furthest from my mind, as I merely wanted to get the voice of someone who knows about sports out there.
Now I do PPP, though not a ton, only things that fit in the parameters of what I write normally. I have stated in the forum that people should quit being jellyfish and ride out the waves, because PR is going to be rendered useless by RR. I may not be universally liked for that stance, but I will stand by it.
I haven’t been to the boards in a long time, but - complaining is kind of the nature of the beast.
There’s never a reason to rush to the boards and say, “Nothing’s wrong! Everything running smoothly. I don’t need any help from a fellow postie or from Izea. I just had to let you know. That is all.”
The boards are the place to come with problems. That’s like complaining about all the sick people at the hospital. If you’re not sick, you don’t got there. Can the hospital be depressing because of all the sick and dying people? Sure. Does that mean I’m not going to go there if I break my leg? Not at all.
I do agree that the whole PR Tookt hour joooooooooooooooobbsszz!” fiasco is really getting old. I lost PR too, and I took it as the opportunity to make changes that a potential loss of pagerank was holding me back from.
RealRank has to have time to prove itself. I like the idea, I trust the people behind it (Izea). But I still have a wait and see philosophy about it.
In the end, you are right. Let’s just blog and let the metrics fall where they may. I’m not saying don’t try to get your blog noticed or gain readers. I’m just saying blog to blog.
Live to Blog - Blog to Live. Harley Davidson 2.0
Rock on, peeps.
Great post! Very well written. I have to admit that, at first, I did my share of whining, bitching, and moaning. But since then, I have come to the realizations that you posted here.
I will second everything you said. Great post!