I’m curious – will you be using full disclosure on your model? Would you consider placing text in large bold letters beside each news story that was ‘placed’ by one of your paid digg’ers that says “one of our contractors was paid to vote for this link”?

If you did mark each of the links or articles that ‘your people’ placed or bookmarked to meet their quota… it would reduce the credibility of the site dramatically. Especially considering it is an “authority site”…

Most of the PPP bloggers that I have had opportunity to visit openly talk about their association with PayPerPost. While they may not disclose each individual post as sponsored, some they do – and the rest should be worked in seamlessly. Of course, I’m not the PPP Police, and neither are you…

What I post on my own blog, I have no qualms about – whether it be through PPP, an affiliate program, or other JV or 3rd party association. I’m sure you’re cool with what you’re doing at Netscape as well – which I have no qualms about either, outside of this silly debate.

More than anything, I am curious what your personal interests are in regards to PayPerPost. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are gaining something through your incessant rants about them…

Best,
Lynn Terry

In fact, even delicious copied the first wave of bookmarketing sites from the 90′s… they made it better by adding tags and social software to it.

best, jason

a) find cool stories an put them in the system–any cool stories they like.
b) kill any spam in the system
c) teach people how to use social news sites (most folks are very new to this)

We did not pay them to blog or post about Netscape, and we were always 100% up front about their role in the site.

The problem with PayPerPost is that they let folks COVERTLY market products and services. Now, some of the PAyPerPost bloggers are upfront about the fact that they are paid, but many are not. Also, the advertisers on PayPerPost can tell you that they will only pay for good reviews! hello?!

So, my issue with PPP is the covert marketing. If people are up front about it I don’t really care.

No one likes to be covertly marketed to–do you?

I find it amusing how anonymity makes people like yourself so brave. At least Lynn has the gonads to stand by her opinions by using her real name, not an alias linked to a nonexistant page.

Lynn,

The IP address is part of a block allocated to the Herndon, VA area and the abuse email address listed is abuse at rr dot com. That info, combined with your server logs should help pull back the curtain and expose the wizard.

Oooooooooh, look, an IP address!!!!!! Now THAT is wild. You go girl.

Toodles,
Frana-banana

Name: fran | E-mail: fran@gmail.com | URI: http://none | IP: 66.108.32.162 |

Your response is so biased that its hard to respond to. I could easily turn that around and say:

“If you cant see the difference between deceptively voting a news story or article into popularity on an authority site and posting text links and honest opinions that are sponsored… then there is no point in taking *your* views seriously”

Sorry to disappoint you, “Fran”, but you didnt leave me squirming. You just made yourself look like a desperate A-Lister that is hiding behind a womans name to make a weak point.

The purpose of this post was not to argue PayPerPost, it was to argue “integrity” and reveal a hypocritical point of view.

As for your ending comment about how PPP defines the Tone that is set for each opportunity – I dont get your point about it being “wild”. A blogger reviews the opportunities, chooses the ones that apply to their blog and to them personally, and posts or passes based on the criteria required.

Many advertisers select ‘neutral’, meaning that you have complete editorial control over the slant of your blog post – which is how it should be. The ones that are required to be ‘positive’ are only taken by those that actually have something positive to say about that particular site/topic/product. The ‘negative’ opps are so rare that I dont think I’ve even run across one yet.

If you knew anything at all about PPP, you’d already know that though…

Best,
Lynn Terry

Why is no else pointing this out??

Oh, before I leave you squirming for an inadequate response, here’s some “integrity” directly from the PayPerPost website in their instructions to bloggers:

“Tone – as determined by the advertiser, may be positive (speaking highly of something), neutral (more factual, not overly praising or harsh), or negative (critical, unfavorable, fault-finding).”

Wild, huh?