TehTarik Answers to Disgruntled Blogger

Let it be noted that in majority of the case, I would not be one to go around and bash another person's blog. I am a supporter of freedom of speech and to me as long as it is used responsibly, there is no harm for someone to exercise that right. HOWEVER do note that if the right has been exercised irresponsibly or abused, I take the absolute pleasure of simply "arguing back".

[ Alleged blogpost ]

Recently I have been told that there has been a blog post circulating around town of someone writing their displeasure on how Nuffnang handles their bloggers under their name and detailed their reason of not being associated with the company anymore (hereinafter known as The Disgruntled).  On their post they mentioned how the bloggers are treated with disrespect the minute they associated themselves with Nuffnang, they mentioned how Nuffnang discriminate bloggers to the sense that only the same bloggers get treated better and the rest are abandoned, and they mentioned how BLOGGERS ARE ASSUMED BY NUFFNANG AS IGNORANT AND TEENAGERS (coincidentally they associate the two that way). So to respond to this I believe the best way to answer is to respond to each of the points given by The Disgruntled in their post. 

"1. Nuffnang inherently disrespects the blogging community. By attempting to run competitions instead of campaigns - pitting one blogger against another and by attempting to ban bloggers from dealing with other social media advertisers, Nuffnang is ignoring the media's inherent value. The truth is Nuffnang would not exist without bloggers whereas we'd happily go on blogging without them.. They need to learn their place."

If this is the argument that The Disgruntled uses for the basis of their argument, wouldn't that go against the nature of each and every competition out there? As far as how the competition goes with Nuffnang, each bloggers are given the CHOICE to either participate or not with the competition. By not being actively involved in competitions with Nuff does not mean that they lose their membership with Nuffnang and it certainly does not put them in a place where they are any lesser than the members that chose to compete. On the basis of "banning" bloggers with other social media advertisers, once again I reitarate that it is the CHOICE OF BLOGGERS to be associated with Nuffnang's community and to do so, obviously there are rules that members would have to adhere to, similarly to the rules of EVERY OTHER ORGANISATION out there.

"3. Nuffnang dangles events as prizes and payment. Media events are money-making for the organisers and provide the sponsor with publicity. Dangling it as a prize or payment is like awarding work for work. How ridiculous is that? If I win the event as a prize I should not have to blog about it. Instead they are making money both ways. They run competitions and get paid, award an event they are presumably PAID to organise as a prize, and then reap the benefits of bloggers blogging about the event. Also, competitions pay them better than campaigns as not all participants are compensated."

Obviously The Disgruntled has no idea on how events and competitions work with Nuffnang. I am sure for all my readers out there who are familiar with the runs of events with the company, NONE OF US ARE FORCED TO WRITE about the events that we participate and we do it out of our free will. Examples can be seen from events like the recent Vaseline party, LG Cookie Monster party and the DiGi Villains party, never once does Nuffnang FORCE the people attending the party to write a blog post about it, we do it willingly to generate interest in our blogs. Get your facts straight.

"4. Nuffnang assumes all Malaysian bloggers are ignorant and teenagers. Not only by the practices listed above but the promotional ideas they forward. For example, the Vaseline "Are You Moist Enough?" blogger competition which had bloggers writing "the best post" answering if they were "moist enough". Who thought this up? A bunch of horny teenagers? Not to mention the ridiculous prize - the Vaseline Are You Moist Enough Party (after which, Nuffnang tweeted that "all ther staffs are moist" [sic]). Frankly, it's the job of professional media to attend these things and we're paid to do so - it certainly isn't doled out as a "prize"."

By far the dumbest thing I have ever heard from a bunch of raving starks claiming to have "personal experience as a  professional journalist". Are you saying that this is the first time you have encountered an "impact statement" for a marketing strategy? Perhaps The Disgruntled assumes that all of us are dumb enough to think that if we fly Thai Airways we would be "Smooth as Silk", or if we wear Adidas apparel we can become bulletproof because "Impossible is Nothing". Obviously Nuffnang bloggers have the common sense to know the difference between a statement and a catchphrase of an event of company rather than maintain a shrewd mentality to equate everything to sex. Unless of course you yourself are implying we are that stupid.

"5. Nuffnang treats foreign bloggers with more respect. If you read online, they treat Australian bloggers with considerably more respect than local ones which, when you consider that Nuffnang is Malaysian, is a crying shame."

Really now? When majority of the events and activities of the company focuses for bloggers here in Malaysia and the amount of community exposure that is given to Malaysian bloggers is a sign of disrespect? Perhaps I implore that The Disgruntled uses the same effort they use to complain to get to know Nuffnang bloggers in person before assuming how we are treated here in Malaysia.

"6. Nuffnang is advertorial heavy. Advertorials are really not what blogs are about. Being paid to say something is good undermines the value of blogs as word-of-mouth opinion. If So Loverly ever accepted money to say a product was good, when we didn't think so, would you ever trust us again? So Loverly has never accepted money, products or services to voice an opinion we didn't believe. Giving us a free product or service to try merely gives us the chance to try something we might not have otherwise and will usually guarantee an HONEST review. (Edited from "Nuffnang wants us to lie to you" as I felt that was more sensationalist than fair. I don't think advertorials are ethically wrong if disclosed. I do feel they are a strategic mistake however)."

Once again, we bloggers under Nuffnang are mature and logical enough to know that IF YOU DONT BELIEVE IN THE PRODUCT, JUST DON'T ACCEPT. No one would hold grudges on you if you chose to do so and in the end, it is still up to the bloggers to decide whether to write up about a product or not, rather than Nuffnang. To respond on Nuffnang is advertorial heavy, are you saying Advertlets are not?

Finally, one statement I take offence personally then the rest. (save the best for last).

"2. Nuffnang attempts to monopolise bloggers. Recently, Nuffnang created their "Glitterati Plus" group. To belong to it bloggers must, among other things, attend about 50% of all Nuffnang events and attend and post exclusively on Nuffnang events and advertisers. This is ridiculously deluded. The onus is on Nuffnang to create events and campaigns so compelling that bloggers WANT to be at their events. This is how the media is supposed to work. Please don't let them continue with this delusion."

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when you get a blogger who didn't even take the effort to get to know the subject matter, base their opinions on what they hear from people and make assumptions. As the President of the GPlusMY I refuse to let ignorant fools to take an initiative created to give voice for bloggers and decerate it in this manner. The GPlusMY initiative is to recognise active members ALL THIS TIME and give them further benefit to DECIDE ON OUR OWN ACTIVITY that they choose. An exclusive club that gives bloggers the right to have a say on a Nuffnang sactioned activity. 

I speak on behalf of the council members that we bloggers benefit more than Nuffnang does because even without GPlusMY, BLOGGERS WHO QUALIFY FOR GPLUSMY ARE ALREADY NUFFNANG LOYALIST to begin with.The ruling that are put is just to give a standard to differenciate between bloggers who are active and those who are not within the Nuffnang community. Nothing else.

In conclusion, this is what you get when you get bloggers, whose only initiative in blogging is money, makes a defaming statement without researching what they talk about. As much as they mention that the entire time they never cared about the money, most of you can see that the people supporting The Disgruntled are those who complain Nuffnang does not give them enough money, as if that Nuffnang has that responsibility to them just because they joined the community (referring back to the bloggers I mentioned in my previous post).

I would be one to say to The Disgruntled that if you choose to leave Nuffnang for whatever reasons you want to, do so with some form of dignity rather than "name bashing" people for your own sake. Your comments on our community was unnecessary as we have done nothing to instigate this statements. If you would want your freedom of speech to be respected, do so with a level of professionalism and respect. I'm sure a person of your stature would be able to appreciate that.

I would want to hear from my readers on this matter and I will respond to any arguments that you may have on this matter. However if you choose to do so, have some cajones to tell us who you are rather than to remain annonymous. We don't have room for those who demand a voice but too scared to show face for it in this society.

Nang this post if you like it guys. Thanks!

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