What's new in the bloggy world of giveaways? Rant - opinions wanted

You knew I'd get to it when I could, right?  The new trends and ridiculousness cropping up in the blog world.  Especially in terms of reviews and giveaways.  Hehe-  yeah, I know doing these posts are why we're so (NOT) popular.  We're cool with that, we'd rather be known as the divas with integrity who tell it like it is than the ass kissers who are in it for the swag.

Paranoid much-  yes, we had to switch to using the stupid Captcha codes due to idiots spamming all to heck and back, I forgive us and hope you do too.  But seriously what the heck is up with having not only a word verification but then having to manually approve each comment as well.  Get real, peeps, one or the other is fine.

Lazy much-  okay, yeah, we're guilty of this (laziness), esp when I am low blood and iron, but for crying out loud, now bloggers are wanting you to put your email address in each comment.  Yes, we all want to shout from the rooftops, spam the hell out of me  I don't have anything better to do than read your idiotic emails wanting me to enlarge my nonexistent penis, launder your money in my bank account because your foreign leaders are morons and you want to avoid paying taxes so I should send you my account info, my non existent Blizzard/WOW account has been compromised, my ship has come in and my long lost shady relative left me a bundle, etc....  Oh wait, no we do NOT want this.

Why-  sorry, but esp with blogger accounts, or in WP where I sign in with an email-  why oh why do I have to include it in my posts.  Seriously, I can see no reason other than laziness.  And yes, I did read your defense that it is almost a full  time job doing the giveaways and to that I say-  honey, you made a choice, and if it is too much for you-  well, figure it out.  The 5 seconds to click on the profile and get the email link (assuming author made it public) is no longer than cutting and pasting from the comment form, especially if they did it in a not easy to harvest way such as discriminating_diva at yahoo dot com where you have to go in and change the @ and the . so really-  what the heck is that all about? 

Don't say I don't get it, that's why we choose not to do more giveaways than we do, because we know and admit we're busy and / or lazy.

I don't know what annoys me more-  sponsors who only look at stats, bloggers who are out for what they can get, mindless idiots who agree with anyone who is popular no matter how nasty, stupid or clueless they are or everyone, including myself.

There are some extremely popular bloggers (who I have no beef with, personally, honestly, good for you for being able to make a living at this and get tons of perks) that seem to get sponsored for many many things -  I'm sure they are great at schmoozing-  who have no basic concept of grammar and would not be able to pass a middle school English class. 

Here's just one example that I see ALL the time...  Instead of ... Company X has kindly offered one of our readers they say ... the fab folks at Company X is going to ....  are people, are is how you word it as folks = plural.  There are so very very many extremely basic examples.  And I don't claim to be perfect, but it's annoying to see in EVERY single giveaway.  Spell check and grammar check are your friends. 

(Disclaimer-  yes, the grammar nazi does come in to make sure we get it right-  usually-  and we miss typos etc all the time-  again, mistakes are human, constant misuse is annoying.  Unless it is deliberate like our making up our own words.  Then, it's adorable. ;) )

Or you will only post positive reviews.  Sure, great, but-  we don't really believe what you say.  Nobody likes everything and if they say they do-  we think they are lying.  Your blog is not the one I'm running to to look up reviews when I am spending my hard earned money on something I want or need.

Or the reviews are-  We received Product Q and my family really liked it-  here's what the sponsor has to say about it:  and the whole rest of the review is taken from the site.  Why did you like it-  what were your favorite features?  What could be improved?  etc...  I don't want the sponsors opinion, I want someone who actually used it and can tell me in their own words why I should... or shouldn't...  get it.

I'll enter your giveaways, but I won't read your posts that have nothing in them for me, and I won't think much of your sponsors.  Others I've talked to feel the same.   The sad thing is, you have the followers so get the bigger sponsors and trips and contacts and prizes to give away, but honestly, who the hell cares we just want what's in it for us-  and for the really great prizes, that are things we want and / or need,  we'll go the extra mile and vote for you etc...  but we don't mean it.  Vicious cycle.

When you don't make it clear if you have a product to give away or more than one blog has one product and the combined entries from all of them are put in a pool and the winner chosen from them.  Some things are worth my time for all the effort for the max number of entries and some are not.  It's sneaky, in my not so humble opinion to have one prize but numerous entry points if you aren't going to be up front about it.  Sure, you may get more entries that way, but again, it's an integrity thing.

When you want me to blog about the giveaway for an extra entry.  Well- I have no problem with that per se, sure you and the sponsor want as much publicity and as many links as you can get, but when you put in that I need to do a separate post and can't use your words and have to have it sooooooooooooo long...  well, I'm doing your dang job and I should be getting a sample product and one to give to my readers if I'm doing dang near as much work as you are.

When you want me to jump through all kinds of hoops for those entries-  I appreciate the chance to get the extra entries on the things I really want, and usually offer them myself, but when you use WP and have to wait a minute between each comment and every single thing I do you want me to leave 10 separate comments-  I mean simple basic things like each tweet or following you or whatever-  sure I can see getting more entries for say adding a button to your valuable real estate than following or subbing to a reader, but some are really out of hand and while they look good to sponsors -  the blogger can honestly say I get thousands and thousands of entries-  a lot of times I and many others will pass them by and I wish sponsors would realize they are artificially inflated stats.

You review every product offered-  sorry, but really when you have no children, aren't pregnant and have no way to form an intelligent opinion, you review maternity clothes why?   Crunchy green hippy wannabes, you're reviewing snacks full of preservatives and tremendous amounts of packaging why?  We're supposed to care why?   See what I mean?  There are so many companies and products out there-  if you are not a coffee drinker, let the java junkies do the reviews and giveaways-  it'll mean more to those of us reading and we'll be able to make an informed opinion if someone who actually uses the stuff shares what they like and don't about it. 

Sponsors and PR reps-  could you please look at a dang blog before you ask them to host the reviews and giveaways and put your products on the appropriate ones?  I can say this with some authority because we get pitches all the time on things that are not only not appropriate for the loonyverse, but things that we are actively against.  I know your job is to get the word out about your product but be a little selective.

You pretend to be an authority / expert and they pretend to believe you.   Gawd you have a child or two under 5 and you are an expert on parenting - and you call yourself that not only on your own blog, but you bill yourself that way on other sites as well-  I think not.  Please.  Raise your kid(s) and you will realize -  no two children are alike, no one is a damn expert, no one has all the answers, no one answer is right in all situations, you are very very very fortunate if your kids turn out to be healthy, happy productive members of society.  And that's just the very very very tip of the iceberg. 

I could go on and on, but I won't as I actually have a life away from the computer, but I really hope you'll weigh in on what you think about these issues, as well as others I haven't brought up.  If we don't voice our thoughts and opinions, things won't change.

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