I do see your point of view even though I do not agree with it also. I enjoyed the exchange that did not result in us having to call each other names to make our points.

I would still hope you would strife to make people trust you, which in the end would make your site far more valuable, I think, but I see you point of view, even if I don’t agree with it.

That said, please accept my apologies.

I can say that a lot of us feel like we have been personally attacked from people who do not agree with PPP. We have been compared to drug dealers, scum of the earth, etc. When you drag our kids into it, well that’s war and that’s why I came across as angry. Since you have been trolling in our forums, you should have noticed that we have created a nice community separate from PPP over there.

If you come across my site from a search engine, well wouldn’t you take it with a grain of salt anyway. You don’t know me. I know when I go to Amazon.com or any sites like that I read the reviews of the product I am looking for. Actually, I have a perfect example. I am looking for a tray for my mom for Xmas. My sister has one and loves it. We found it on Target’s website. The review for it was bad. However, who am I going to believe – my sister or some stranger? I guess it is all about an informed decision. To be honest, I don’t care if you trust me. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. Anything that I would see on your blog I would take with a grain of salt too.

I have never said I own something I don’t. I just say to check this out and do what you want with it. I was doing that long before PPP and not getting paid for it.

As regular readers of mine have told me, they can tell what is PPP. I have not had one complaint. Heck, I’ve actually had emails thanking me for directing them to a cool site. One I did for PPP and the other wasn’t PPP.

I did sign up for Review Me and have yet to hear anything from them. Sorry that my reply is so long. I hope I answered all your points.

I think it is fair to say though that a lot of Posties are not the most technical people. In a way, I almost see PPP using folks in your situation to make a buck and forcing you into unethical behavior. If I were you, I would look into ReviewMe, as at least they have a disclosure rule and don’t influence your review.

That doesn’t change my mind thatPPP is an unethical business in my , but it explains why you want to use it and it is your good right to use it – nobody can prevent you from doing that.

As for the Florida Real Estate post, it seemed like a PPP post to me. I wouldn’t have recognized it as any different from the Cisco routers post, with its three links to the same company etc. Maybe indeed I am not smart enough to figure this out.

But whenever you write something – and it is not disclosed as PPP, I don’t know if I can fully trust you or not. That, to me, is the most troubling aspect of using PPP. You lose all your credibility and as a blogger, that’s all you got.

Your readers, by the way, would probably find you through a search engine and go to a specific post, so they wouldn’t know the context of your site, and they probably wouldn’t see the small little link to a disclosure policy at the bottom of the sidebar under the heading “Links.”

Now you are smart enough to figure out which of my posts are PPP (and the Florida Real Estate company isn’t). Why do you not expect the same of my readers?

You are entitled to your opinion such I am mine. However, I do not go around calling you names.

Walk a mile in my shoes. I do PPP because I have thousands of dollars in medical bills to pay (yes, I have health insurance and half way decent insurance too). If you wouldn’t mind paying these for me, I’ll quit PPP just for you.

I do not find this to be an ethical dilemna for me. I do not want bill collectors at my door. I live in a world that you do what you have to do to make ends meet (as long as it is legal).

And while I am on a role, at least my “Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings” are mine, and not written because I am sponsored by a Florida Real Estate company, or sombeody hawking used Cisco routers, or a producer of flashlights.

These conversations were taken from a forum chat. This is not the only forum I am a member of. This is a conversation I have held elsewhere regarding other parenting topics. It took place in a general forum too. What is so wrong about an exchange of ideas?

I see your point, but I also see who wordpress doesn’t want its users to be involved in these programs. If I agree with Colleen about one thing, it is to be in control of your own content. On your own domain (and I am not refering to you here, as you have your own domain), you can do as you like.

I wonder if Wordpress really doesn’t enforce its own rules across the board. I know Scoble hosts with them, but has the VIP package and pays. Are there other examples I am not aware of?

The question for me is how little guys trying to make a few bucks are not allowed any commercial activity, whereas the “private” blog of a corporate startup is allowed to feed as much traffic and pagerank to their place of business as they like.

The same rules should apply to all users of Wordpress.com, and if it is impossible to enforce, they should either change the rules, or not allow external linking.

And given that you just started the vox blog, I would guess that one doesn’t qualify for PPP or similar schemes yet. Give it a month or two and then lets see what goes on there.