Comments on: More on Review Copy Disclosures

By: Rick Bradford

Rick Bradford — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:39:18 +0000

Hm, that does seem a bit odd. Kids, maybe?

By: Hsifeng

Hsifeng — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:14:36 +0000

Rick Bradford Says: "Personally, I always assume the item being reviewed was a freebie unless the reviewer states otherwise. I thought everybody did that." Unfortunately, not everyone does. Some people read a review and react as though the reviewer made the item being reviewed instead of getting it as a freebie or buying it. There are a few examples here, here, and here, and I bet it happens to other reviewers too.

By: Rick Bradford

Rick Bradford — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:20:57 +0000

Personally, I always assume the item being reviewed was a freebie unless the reviewer states otherwise. I thought everybody did that.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:38:28 +0000

Thank you. I’m glad I could be of service. :)

By: goodfellow puck

goodfellow puck — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:15:23 +0000

I have to say that I’m glad to see at least one blogger not pissing and moaning, and acting all arrogant over this FTC thing. I’m sooo sick and tired of bloggers whining, “But the ‘REAL media’ doesn’t have to do this! Besides, you guys should just KNOW I get comp copies. I don’t want to make you jealous or anything…”

Yeah. Howabout you guys just get over yourselves and do something that HELPS those readers you claim to care so much about, hmm?

Glad to see one blog on my list today that didn’t give me “rage face” and an “unsubscribe.” :P

By: Journalista – the news weblog of The Comics Journal » Blog Archive » Oct. 7, 2009: Full disclosure

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:20:03 +0000

[...] Hogan and Johanna Draper Carlson offer further commentary on the FTC’s announced intention to regulate bloggers’ [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:56:09 +0000

Once you’re accepting review copies, I think you’re more of a small business/ journalistic outlet, so I don’t have an issue with advertising regulations being applied. (Especially since I’m in favor of more disclosure.) That’s why I don’t see it as a free speech issue as much. This isn’t a law about “you can’t say that”, it’s a law about “you can’t hide relevant facts from your readers”.

By: John Mundt, Esq.

John Mundt, Esq. — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:53:45 +0000

I guess I can see the kernal of reasoning behind this whole thing, especially when one imagines that political groups may be hiring bloggers to spread skewed opinions (which are not “products,” per se, but…well, you know what I’m saying), but it really does seem to fly in the face of “Freedom of Speech,” don’t ya think? Imagine that the Interweb is a soapbox in a public square and the concept becomes clearer. And I’ve actually seen soapbox speakers IN REAL LIFE, and they are always received with (sometimes begrudging) respect for the speaker’s right to say whatever they want, as well as healthy amounts of skepticism about their motivations and qualifications to say it. That’s also how I view anything I read on-line, as I assumed we all did. I think, speaking as the pessimist I am, that to require bloggers – so specifically bloggers – to disclose that they have been compensated for reviewing a product (no matter how reasonable it may seem to us now) may someday be used as legal precedent to somehow further infringe upon the rights afforded to “the future media.”

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:08:35 +0000

Disney: a week later this month, all four parks, staying at Coronado Springs. While I anticipate enjoying a number of rides, my favorite thing to do is going to be going to some of the restaurants, especially the Pub and the California Grill. Thanks for asking!

By: Hsifeng

Hsifeng — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:31:54 +0000

Now I'm just wondering, where does the FTC draw the line between blogs and non-blogs? I mean, blog is just short for web log which just applies to any web page that displays its updates in reverse chronological order (everything from Comics Worth Reading to the BBC News's Magazine's Paper Monitor to I Can Has Cheezburger? to my Facebook wall...).

By: Greg McElhatton

Greg McElhatton — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:00:54 +0000

Let’s get down to the REALLY important stuff, though. When are you going to Disney? Are you staying on the property and where? How many days? What’s your must-see attraction?

(I’m going there in January for some races… and visiting the parks!)

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:17:22 +0000

How is regulating advertising unconstitutional, Joshua?

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:00:07 +0000

It was reported that Consumers Union watchdogged various blogs, and reported those who were “hand puppets” for various corporations.

If CU is smart, they will create an Internet division which monitors various sites and blogs, and bestows certification upon worthwhile sites. (Remember the early days of the Internet, when sites would plaster their homepages with various awards and acclimations? We might see that again.)

I do expect to see boilerplate disclaimers soon. I’m sure Google/Blogger will react soon, if they have not done so already.

By: Joshua Macy

Joshua Macy — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:54:59 +0000

Not only is it not necessary, it’s unconstitutional. I predict it’ll get struck down as over-broad and vague the moment they go after somebody with deep enough pockets to fight it.

By: david brothers

david brothers — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:35:59 +0000

I just read and loved Inio Asano’s Solanin (and had the obligatory mid 20s crisis that goes along with it), so I’m extremely psyched for What A Wonderful World.

What’s interesting is that Amazon says volumes one and two of What A Wonderful World come out on the same day, which is also the release date for 20th Century Boys volume 5. Viz gets all my money lately.