Tech Mentat

In a stunning display of assy-ness, this morning Jeremy Zawodny sold out Andy Beal by showing the world he has been spamming MyBlogLog. After a blistering race of commenting, Andy Beal wrote his response to Jeremy in which he states “Yes, I am pissed. I’m removing MyBlogLog from the site.” Threadwatch & WebProNews have picked up the fight and ShoeMoney (who is slowly becoming my preferred blogger) aids in Andy’s rebuttal.

Here’s What I Think
I think that Jeremy just created a piece of linkbait. I think that the post and the implications of Jeremy’s comments weren’t thought out very well. I think that I don’t remember ever reading such an inflammatory post on Zawodny’s site (could it be leftover bad feelings?). I do UNDERSTAND Zawodny’s underlining point but I think the tone of his post is overly condescending – he seems to be picking on a notable voice in the marketing community in order to rally everyone’s attention to the issue. Beal is breaking up with MyBlogLog, I am breaking up with Zawodny (on MyBlogLog) – it’s my silent protest.

Is It Really Spam?
Is promotion spam? Are gift give-aways a sign of “people misusing sites?” If a mom-and-pop rug dealer hangs a sign outside their shop stating that “every person that enters the store gets an ice cream” – is that spam? Or how about a new local grocery store that says if you sign up for their store card, you’ll get a free lemon pie? Is giving away something (promotionally) as a reward for a specific action (entering, joining, buying) really spam? Because if that is so Jeremy, then you should really tell your cohorts over at YSL to stop drilling me with emails and direct mailings for $30 off when I sign up for a new account. To me, that feels a whole hell-of-a-lot more like spam.

Bottom Line
Andy Beal didn’t spam – the most he can be blamed for is creating crappy advertising/promotion.

Jeremy, I get that you want to keep your community pure and we all want less spam/crap but I think this attack on Beal was poorly worded and not thoroughly thought out.

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