Nailed to a Credit Card for Admitting I’m Not a Regular Reader of @OneMileAtATime

Last week I decided to write about what other blogs I regularly read and what I’m not interested in reading. In the post, I didn’t actually list the blogs that I’m not reading anymore because – while I like to stir up controversy every once in a while – that wasn’t what I was trying to do with this post. While I listed the blogs that I enjoy reading regularly, there are tons more that I read on occasion or when I see an interesting topic posted. After all, I have a full-time job – outside the travel world – and don’t have time to read every single blog, every single day. I assume that I, like my readers, have to choose what to read based on interests and time.

So I was very surprised when I was crucified in the comments on that blog post for admitting that I don’t read One Mile At A Time on a regular basis. It all started when one reader asked if I meant to leave Lucky’s blog off the list.

I thought I left a pretty reasonable response to DeltaATLFlyer. I admitted that I don’t follow Lucky’s blog. Though that doesn’t mean I never read it. And commented that I was glad the reader enjoyed his blog and found this trip reports useful.

Who knew this could create such controversy! At first, I decided not to publish all of the ridiculous comments I was getting about admitting that I don’t read Lucky’s blog regularly. It just didn’t seem necessary. But then, after some twitter comments on the topic I decided – what the heck, I’ll publish all the insane comments I got. Yes, that’s right, I’m calling some of the comments insane (I’m sure this will stir up more controversy!) You can read all the comments here, but I’ve pulled out a few of the, well, what should we call them – most extreme?

I love that reader Ryan thinks that being a “real” blogger is tied to reading one blog

Kelly thinks that I could learn a thing or two from Lucky and that he’s the best blogger. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion as to “best blogger”

Then you had these two posts – Kevin thinks I’m insane and should get a life. Mark thinks I should be “shot” for calling Lucky arrogant – which for the record, I did not.

Honestly, people have lot of time on their hands! There were a lot of blogs that I left off that list that I do read. I read Rapid Travel Chi and none of his readers lashed out. I have actually started reading Million Mile Secrets more frequently and none of his readers commented because he wasn’t listed as a blog I read regularly. Interesting that Lucky’s followers take things so personally!

So let’s set the record straight.

I read One Mile At A Time on occasion – in fact, I actually read two of his blog posts this weekend about Starwood. I don’t know Lucky, but I’m sure he’s a lovely young man. I mean – anyone who puts a seatbelt on Elmo must be nice- right? I also quite enjoy Lucky’s banter with the AA social media team.

Why don’t I read his blog regularly? Today’s post about his problems with the showers in the W and Grand Hyatt is a good example of why I don’t read his blog more often. I feel extremely blessed to be able to stay in the W, St Regis, Waldorf and other 5 star hotels and understand that not everyone has the same opportunity. The fact that shower doesn’t work the way you like is a first world problem and one that I don’t really care about. I often disagree with his opinions and that’s okay! We are allowed to disagree. I’m sure 15 years ago my tastes might have been more similar to his or perhaps I would have shared more of his interests. But I find that I like different things. It’s just personal preference – I read other blogs more regularly.

There are something like 38 blogs on Boarding Area alone and everyone offers their own perspective and insights. I don’t read all 38 blogs and there’s nothing wrong with that in my opinion. I read what I’m interested in and what I have time for. I’m thrilled that Lucky has such a great following and such a popular blog. More power to him. While my blog post did say that I’m tired of reading arrogant bloggers in no way did I associate that comment with Lucky or any other specific blogger. And even if I had called out someone for being arrogant does that really call for someone to comment that I should be shot?

What do you think? Did people take it too far or did create the controversy by purposefully leaving Lucky off my most read list?

35 Comments on "Nailed to a Credit Card for Admitting I’m Not a Regular Reader of @OneMileAtATime"

  1. @PointsandTravel – thanks!

  2. It’s your choice what you read and no one can shove a blog down your throat (for a lack of better word) just because they enjoy it. It’s not a one-blog-fits-all solution and comments such as “Yoyre not a real blogger if you don’t read Lucky’s blog” are just…..meh.

  3. mommypoints | August 26, 2012 at 5:53 pm |

    Read who you like and skip the rest. No big deal one way or the other. Blogger or not, no one has time to read everything, so it makes sense to concentrate on the posts that are most helpful for you and your travel style/goals. That is the beauty of having so many site available!

  4. It’s the Internet. Some will love you, some will hate you, most won’t care. In general, I find all of the boarding area blogs to be at least occasionally useful. One thing that I applaud all of you on is your prolificness. I have notebooks full of travel info that I keep meaning to post but never get around to. The only advice I’d offer is to stick to travel/points information. When bloggers wax philosophical, engage in speculation, get into excessive editorializing or start arguing with one another, it turns the reader off (well, at least this reader).

  5. You are spot on. I actually commented on his post today, because I found them to be extremely unhelpful, and rather ARROGANT.

  6. Good for you! 🙂 there is no one perfect blog. And for the idiots that “attacked” you for not reading any given blog, I’d like to see them create the product/brand that you have with Very Good Points! 🙂 . Maybe their parents weren’t home and they snuck onto the internet…..

  7. @LufthansaFlyer – thanks! You’re too kind. And very funny too! See you in Singapore?

  8. As an avid reader of the diverse platform of bloggers that Boarding Area hosts, I have always found tremendous value in the diversity. I’ll read some bloggers for a week, maybe a month, and then switch to another one just to see what is new from their point of view. I do have a handful that are my staples where I ready every post as they best serve my personal preference for content. In the end, blogs are about personal choice. Find what you like and go from there.

    PS…if you feel the need for personal violence or to shoot someone, please seek medical attention at your earliest before you hurt someone. Enough lives have been already lost to gun violence.

  9. @John – first of all, did you spell your name wrong 🙂
    Second, thank you! Amen to diversity and freedom of choice.

    And yes, I think the idea of mentioning shooting someone given all the violence these days is absurd.

  10. To each his own, but personally I find Lucky’s posts on hotel showers quite valuable. This post…not so much.

  11. Yep, a little typo on the name…

  12. Some people need to get a life. Who cares if you don’t read someone’s blog. I read his blog often but it shouldn’t be a big deal if you don’t. Anyone can not read his blog and still get great info from
    Other bloggers.

  13. My favorite thing about Boarding Area is that I can quickly preview the days articles and decide what I want to read. Lucky’s style of travel is a lot more luxurious than mine, and I often avoid his trip reports because I find his complaints trivial or I just don’t have an interest in that part of the world right now. On the other hand, I have really enjoyed many of Lucky’s how-to articles for Travelsort.

    It amazes me that the internet brings out so many extremists. Why can’t we agree to disagree without calling other people names?

  14. @Heather – I totally agree! We can all agree to disagree and be civil!

  15. @Daniel
    If you’re wondering why your comment has not been published, it’s because I’m not willing to endorse or publish hateful comments about someone else.
    The point of this post was that everyone is entitled to their own opinions and there’s no need to attack anyone. Even Lucky!

  16. As someone who claims to “fly 300k miles a year and spend 100+ nights in hotels”, Lucky doesn’t represent the majority of the blog audience, so who cares! He obviously has paid travel account for the majority of his trips, since there’s absolutely no way to accumulate that many miles and hotel points just from CC signups while using them up so quickly.

    If anything, bloggers like Lucky should probably not be read by average travelers, since it creates a distorted expectation of what they can achieve with only points. I’d much rather read Frequent Miler or MileValue, or even TPG blogs, since they present advice more useful to the majority of us.

  17. Who’s Lucky???

    Bahahahahaha!!!

  18. It’s okay to critique poor design in a budget hotel, but not a luxury property?

    You can’t improve without critique. Just because a hotel is very nice, doesn’t mean it should stop improving.

    #FirstWorldProblems is used far too liberally. It’s pompous and insincere when it’s used as a bullish tool to degrade the commentary of others. Especially when the commentary is entirely reasonable.

    For a “point person” who maintains Platinum status with Starwood and Accor, it could just as easily be used on you.

  19. Keep doing what you are doing, Stacey – I think what you’ve written here is right on the money – you read/follow someone because of the value it brings to you – and whoever that includes is the right mix – for you.

    Nicely said…

  20. DeltaATLFlyer | August 26, 2012 at 9:19 pm |

    As the culprit who started this fiasco about Lucky’s blog, I didn’t expect a “pile on” to occur. I wasn’t calling Stacey out or trying to portray her as someone who is crazy. People, especially through the internet, find it easy to post on websites (be it news, blogs, or other media) and share comments that, while it may be their opinion, don’t foster anything good.

    Stacey isn’t as interested in Lucky’s style of travel as others are and that’s okay. No one here knows Lucky’s methods of acquiring points or paying for trips. He is under no obligation to share that information. There are numerous ways to accumulate points or generate revenue in the travel world. If he was being paid by the airlines or big companies, he sure isn’t living up to the ideals of solid marketing. Lucky will often write a glowing paragraph and follow it up with a small critique and in some cases a big one that calls out a company for a service it should be delivering with quality, yet isn’t. Any reasonable person can expect to get what they paid for, especially when staying with top hotels or flying in Business or First Class. I highly doubt Lucky is directly paid to write what he does, and if he is, any reasonable person can see he’s being true to himself.

    Lucky is young, with out the obligation of family (a spouse and kids), and has the ability to jet set across the globe at a moment’s notice. We all get the chance to vicariously live through him from our offices, work trips, homes, and moments playing online during a break. It’s refreshing to see someone enjoy what they do for a living as much as Lucky does. While we all may not be traveling in first on Cathay or Singapore Airlines, we can take tips from Lucky’s travels and personal insights and plan for the “aspirational” trip ever year or two.

    Stacey, I’m sorry you were the brunt of the “pile on.” Keep up the great work writing about what you enjoy and want to share. We live in a time where sharing one’s opinions, be they not always in line with someone else’s, results in vitriol and just simply being mean.

    Reasonable debates are for reasonable people. We could all aspire to such a goal. Myself included.

  21. @DeltaATLFlyer – I don’t see you as the culprit – just the opening comment in a story that became bizarre. Your comment was fair and respectful.

    Thank you for your comments, very much appreciated.

  22. Honestly, the fewer people that read Lucky’s blog…the better for me. Award space is finite, and he’s giving away too much information as it is…there’s a reason certain blogs like TPG and MMS report news and offers days or weeks later than Lucky or Gary Leff.

  23. That is indeed crazy what happened.
    I also like the overview page of Boarding Area to decide which posts of which bloggers I might want to take a look at.
    Funnily, I happen to read most posts of both, you and Lucky … but not all. It’s up to one’s own what to read.
    Keep up your good work, I (usually) enjoy your writing (and Lucky’s writing, too).

  24. Everyone is entailed to their own opinions, but respect goes a long way. There is no need to insinuate violence. Read what you want to read and leave it at that.

  25. The blogs that I decide to read change based on my current interests and travels. I would never get anything done if I read every blog that I enjoy. So, yes, some people overreacted by calling you out on Lucky’s blog. Keep up the work you are doing. I enjoy your blog.

  26. But seriously, this is funny, right? The idea that Lucky has such a “spirited” following…

  27. Seems to me like an example of “if you wouldn’t say it in real life, you shouldn’t hide behind the anonymity of the Internet to say it, either.”

    There’s way too much content out there for any one person to consume.

    Most interesting to me in this comment thread is the insinuation that some bloggers are receiving points from companies. A common and permitted practice. But if you recieve something from a company and mention the company on your blog and don’t disclose that you received something, you could be in violation of the law. Even if you post a negative or critical review! Bloggers beware . . .

  28. I completely agree that you are free to read whoever’s blogs you eish. However, I think you are being naieve when you say you didn’t expect your post to be controversial. His blog is widely considered to be one of the best on boardingarea if not the best, in addition to view from the wing. The fact that you dont regularly read his blog makes it hard to take u seriously as a result. Comparing not reading lucky’s blog to not reading rapid travel chai is like comparing a mom and pop business to a fortune 500 company, not a fair comparison. Gary has posted before about how his and lucky’s are the most widely trafficked on boardingarea by a wide margin, so its safe to assume that most people would disagree with you. Both Gary amd Lucky NEVER censor comments, and the fact that you admit to censoring comments makes it harder to view your blog as nonbiased IMHO. Nevertheless, appreciate your honesty and openness regarding this. For the record, I am not a regular reader of your blog, and linked to this article from lucky’s twitter account. Hope this post does not get censored….

  29. Meant to say wish*, not “eish”…

    @ David comment 24, have to disagree there, and have noticed just the opposite, I dont see gary or lucky posting about amazpn payments or MO’s with the suntrust debit card, in fact it was MMS’s post on the MO’s/Suntrust card that very likely single handedly killed that deal, and his posting on AP that potentially led Amazon to limit multiple accounts. IMHO, the readers of MMS and TPG are a much higher concentration of newer readers, who are much more likely to kill deals after not knowing how to use them properly witbout drawing attention to themselves….

  30. @Jeff – I censor comments that promote violence or are hate speech. In fact, I didn’t publish one from last night that was incredibly derogatory towards Ben(Lucky). Those are the only comments I ever censor. Thank you for sharing your opinion – and thanks for reading this post.

  31. Thanks for clarifying, seems reasonable to me based on your explanation, no reason commenters can not at least be civil IMO. Completely agree with your original post that view from the wing is a great blog as well!!

  32. @Jeff, as long as comments are civil, like yours, I’ll publish them. That’s why I published the original comment from DeltaATLFlyer asking if I left luckly off the list. It was a reasonable comment. I can even take people telling me to get a life 🙂 Just decided to start censoring when people use phrases like “you should be shot” that’s extreme

  33. You certainly don’t need to defend why you don’t read anything and I’m surprised you bothered at all. Let the ranters rant!

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