Corrupting the Blogosphere

Credibility is a tough concept.

You have to earn it every day, and you can piss it all away in one day. Ask Larry Craig.

We all have the opportunity to piss away our credibility. If you’re a blogger, you can do it by simply clicking over to PayPerPost.Com.

This scam has gotten $13 million in VC money with the aim of Astroturfing the blogosphere on behalf of various advertisers.

The scam is that you register your blog, you look at what their clients are selling, you write about it, and you get paid.

Trouble is, you’re not really "writing" about what you’re passionate about it. You’re doing advertising copy. For pennies.

Thank God bloggers are smarter than, say, TV or newspaper people, who whore-it-up like this all day long. Thank God we care more about our credibility than the computer magazine business, which lost everything because it had none.

I know this by paging to what this site calls its "top producers," who
have each "earned" about $500 or less shilling. There’s this scam artist, and this scam artist, and this one. The middle guy probably thinks he’s an Honest John, because his review of the McDonald’s Mexican restaurant Chipotle was negative.

But how can I trust anything he says — about anything?

If you’re going to take advertising — I’d love some — that’s one
thing. If you’re going to be a corporate shill, admit it. Don’t do
corporate shilling while pretending to be an honest reporter. You give
everyone else a bad name.