Comments on: Bloggers should communicate their personal opinions

By: blah

blah — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 15:14:50 +0000

I have alway been interested in the web sites that cover being frugal on an individual level. After the crash in 2008, I realized I needed to really study the macrocosmic economy in order to do well and not get swept under by the same mistakes everyone else was making. What I learned to my horror is that even PF bloggers mostly made (and still do make) those same mistakes. Jacob is the exception and so that is why this is the only PF blog I read anymore. I know there are others out there not making the same mstakes the masses are, but they are far and few between and have found most of them in the forums here.
My big pet peeve with PF bloggers, especially the ones that claim frugal as their brand, is that they still do what everyone else does, ie go into massive debt for a house and car. They get away with that by calling it good debt.
I think good debt is a lie and at the microcosmic level, it reaches such a critical mass in this country that is caused this depression we are currently in right now. Everyone wants to blam politicians and bankers, but not only did this depression start from the grass roots ground up, rather than trikle down, but people also shouldn’t be surprised when politicians and bankers are making these same dangerous policy decisions and greedy mistakes as they themselves are, because afterall, politicians and bankers are people too. Thus, the politicians and bankers are merely part of the larger critical mass of greedy people who blelieve in good credit because of greed impatience and a lack of self discipline, or because they simply have been brainwashed by their current society and so just simply never thought to do anything differently.
So, most politicians and bankers run their day job decisions through the same brains they use at home to make the same decisions most Americans make which has really put this society in a huge hole!
It is refreshing to read Jacob’s blog because the last thing I want to do is try to learn from someone who hasn’t even gotten these two basics down, because I know they won’t be thinking outside the societal box enough to be more than an echo of all who are those truly responsible for this great depression.

By: excited

excited — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:18:15 +0000

This is one of the best blogs I have found and is really incomparable to most others. I also finished the book a few days ago. LOVED IT!!! Thank you Jacob!

By: Juan

Juan — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 20:01:44 +0000

It is rather sad, especially considering the reality that almost nothing is “objective” in the most strict sense. I mean even the corporate blogs present a heavy bias in those objective details that they choose to admit. So asking a blogger to be “objective” is really just like asking for a specific type of ignorance.

By: anne bentham @ mobile condo

anne bentham @ mobile condo — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 23:24:22 +0000

I’ve toned down my blog over the past year or so. Maybe I’m too sensitive, but all the troll attacks were wearing me down. When I start my next blog, I want to be more open and honest but I think I’ll disable comments. I guess I’m not cut out for making blog money, but hopefully I’ll make some friends who like me for who I really am.

We might disagree about a few things, but I like this blog/book and frequently recommend them.

By: Yakezie Roundup

Yakezie Roundup — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 21:17:13 +0000

[...] Bloggers should communicate their personal opinions @ [...]

By: Retired Syd

Retired Syd — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 14:56:57 +0000

This is funny. I don’t think I write anything that’s very controversial and yet I seem to be offending the same reader over and over again (and yet she, too, comes back over and over again.) She comments under various names, so I guess it’s really her alter ego that comes back.

By: Buck Inspire

Buck Inspire — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:44:17 +0000

Great point and good reminder for bloggers to keep it real and not water ourselves down because of ad revenue. Kudos!

By: Surio

Surio — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:21:09 +0000

Jacob,
In this connection I want to remind readers: Great post, I agree !

By: Kyle

Kyle — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 03:22:58 +0000

I disagree. As anybody who makes money online can tell you, the monetary value of regular readers is very low (if not zero). Regular readers don’t click on ads and rarely buy products through affiliate links. Thus, alienating them really doesn’t have too much of an impact on income, since over 90% of an average blog’s revenue comes from search traffic and they won’t stick around, anyway. I think the urge to play it safe comes from a genuine desire to be liked by people.

By: Concojones

Concojones — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:06:30 +0000

@Jacob: no wonder people don’t unsubscribe here (out of disagreement with your posts). After all, this is a noncomformist blog, and ventilating unusual ideas is not exactly how you get rid of a noncomformist, rather the opposite.

By: CB

CB — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 03:30:48 +0000

Hi Jacob,

I live on the other side of the “pond” from you in Silly Valley.

I don’t subscribe to blogs, but check you every other day or so to see if there is a new posting because you are indeed an original person…as in Thomas Edison or John Muir.

Most bloggers come from the same mold.

Keep writing!

By: Jayadeep Purushothaman

Jayadeep Purushothaman — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:00:08 +0000

Yes, the corporate blogs or the business oriented ones are indeed boring and many times it is difficult to strike a rapport with the blogger. I am looking for personal opinions and surely it would vary with people and I pick the ones to my liking. It is like any other relationship I guess – once there is an alignment, small difference of opinions are ok.

By: guinness416

guinness416 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:03:31 +0000

I dunno. I think people feel like they have a relationship with Trent and other bloggers (even if he doesn’t think it) that allows them to be a bit bolshy, in a way they wouldn’t bother with on the Toronto Star website or something.

In this specific case I was a bit surprised at the response, he just put his big foot in his mouth again. I like TSD but the guy’s tone comes across as so arrogant at times, which I think sets people off. But most of those comments seem okay to me. Some are a bit hysterical and oversharey but they’re not abusive or anything.

I have unsubscribed from many blogs with an eyeroll, but I don’t think I ever posted about it first! Like yourself, I’ve also dropped blogs that have turned into boring portals of Expert Opinion. Tough row to hoe!

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:18:07 +0000

One thing I have learned from my years on the internet is that those who loudly proclaim they are leaving will always be back. They either trying to get their point heard or just seeking attention. Those who will actually leave and stay gone, you will never hear from them again. They just quietly disappear.

It doesn’t matter if it is a blog subscription, a forum you frequent, or even an online game like world of warcraft. Those who announce they are leaving will always come back (and often announce they are leaving on a regular basis).

By: Tyler Karaszewski

Tyler Karaszewski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:10:16 +0000

Unfortunately, as I’m coming to realize, people are making decent money on these larger blogs. They’ve ceased to be a personal forum, and have turned into a business. As such, they’ve become focused on business-like goals: maximizing revenue. Risking alienating readers rarely helps with this.

Once you’ve got a readership of tens of thousands, you seem to be able to hold on to that readership with “safe” writing, no need to risk your reader base, and therefore your income, by posting controversial material, or even material that strays a bit from the beaten path, which is why you’ll see the same material run day after day on so many larger blogs. They’re like sitcoms. Every episode is basically the same, because they know they can sell them.

By: open minded

open minded — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:46:36 +0000

I unsubscribed from the simple dollar finance blog lately because the author was dismissive and rude about people who did not want to have children. I thought he was very narrow minded.

By: Lulu

Lulu — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:51:49 +0000

I write what I feel on my blog and although mine is small like ERE I did get a few ‘offended’ readers.

In my case some of them just sent emails saying they did not agree with what I wrote or they did not like the topics I was choosing and so they would unsubscribe….but a few months later I would get another angry email so I guess they still come back to read even though they unsubscribe.

By: tlblack

tlblack — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:46:16 +0000

Jacob, I like reading blogs with an opinionated author as well–obviously, if the person’s opinion infuriates me, I don’t read it. . . so I read blogs I agree with more or less. It’s rare for a blog to ‘offend’ me once I like it’s general premise (I don’t have to agree with everything, obviously).

That said, something I find really annoying on blogs is the comments section fighting that sometimes happens. I checked the link to the ‘Simple Dollar’ and, although I disagree with the author’s view, was not ‘offended.’ However, I find that the weird defensiveness in the blog comments is off-putting. That will sometimes make me stop reading a blog–especially if the author starts into the fray. Yuck. It’s like online Jerry Springer or one of those let’s-all-yell-at-each-other news programs.

I’ve noticed the comments on this blog are usually 1.relevant, articulate and interesting and 2. polite–even amongst people who have opposing views.

I’ve been curious for a while, are you just lucky in your readers or do you somehow weed out the grouchy ones? Or perhaps it’s that you are an opinionated blogger, which means that there’s an automatic selection made among potential readers (and that we all agree on at least some key ideas or we wouldn’t read this blog).

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:34:46 +0000

I tend to agree with you unless the opinion expressed is truly racist, sexist, etc. I think a lot of those people who “say” they are unsubscribing are just trying to get attention. Since they are doing it on a large blog, like TSD, the attention is increased over say a blog like ERE. (I think Trent’s attitude towards criticism brings out some of these folks as well.)

By: andrew

andrew — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:56:55 +0000

I rarely see an ‘unbiased’ real journalist. Bloggers at least seem to be trying, while many professional journalists have just given up and try to push their own opinion subtly.