Blog:: Craig Pringle

James Andrews - who use to work at Gen-i and is now contracting in the UK - left a lengthy comment offering some feedback on my decision to keep the Ferrari and my blog in general.  I don't agree with all of it so I'm going to re-post it here and add my commnets.  James' coment is in blue - my comments are in black.  I have not edited Jame's post save adding a link to the other post he refers to and interspersing his original text with my comments in black.

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Bit disappointed in this to be honest...

Sorry to hear that.

No offense Craig, but seems to me that Joel has a point when it comes to blogs like this one. I Have read your stuff on and off for a while now and while I do find it very informative and a good source of tablet and mobility goss I also notice you do tend to litter your posts with comments about free trips here and there, free kit you have had "donated" etc. And whether you keep stuff or not is often not clear.

I'm not offended - in fact I agree.  In reviewing some of my old posts recently I drew the same conclusion.  I have been learning as I go and have not always been as clear as would be now.  Most stuff is either sent to me to review and return or is passing though my hands for work so I review it while I have it.

Most of the tech you talk about and review already reads like you have been lead there by a 3rd party and taking such high value gifts does nothing for the credibility of your site. The Acer Laptop is not even anything that special, its not a tablet so it wont even really appeal to your demographic, in fact from what I have read it is almost counter to your entire ethos! Sure it has Vista on it, but your site appears very much dedicated to the tablet aspects of Vista.

My blog is a product of my experience.  If a company sends me something to review, thereby creating the opporunity for me to experince it and blog about it then that is fine by me.  I don't promise to only say nice things about it.  If I slam something and it means that I never get anything else from that company, so be it.  I may not get anything from HP again after this review of the TC4400. :)

I might be totally wrong but your blog sometimes reads like so many others dedicated to the cause of maintaining MVP status and garnering junkets and toys from the vendors. If this is the case then fair play, I suggest you make that clear. Otherwise I think your position on accepting such "generous" freebies is morally wrong and a poisoned chalice for tech blogs.

As a simple example, the companies most IT pro's work for (mine does and I know yours does) have strict policies of not accepting junkets and freebies from vendors to prevent an "overt" bias being shown in product selection and tender processes. My opinion is that tech. blogs and other publications should follow the same rules otherwise they aren't worth the paper (or electrons) they are printed on. You will end up turning yourself into a low information content web based infomercial, rather than a trusted adviser.

An overly simple example.  While some bloggers do earn their crust from their blog the vast majority (mine included) are labours of love by people who are passionalte about a topic.  The majority of bloggers by far are not paid a salary to write content as authors in "legitimate publications" are.  Journalists and IT Pros are compensated financially for not being able to accept gifts.  You can't apply the same rules to blogs.  The things that make blogs valuable is not that they are always 100% unbiased - they are not.  The thing that makes them valuable is that they are written by people who really know and are truley passionate about a topic - even though that passion will certainly introduce some degree of bias.  My advice to people reading my blog and any other information you are reading for free on the internet is to apply a great big BS filter to everything you read and make up your own mind. 

And that is Joel's point. Its an easy beat for people wanting to influence the output of blogs and tech publications if all they have to do is woo them with "beads and blankets" and it brings down the credibility of the whole medium.

Except that it is not.  Blogs are extremely self regulating.  A BS post will get slammed by other bloggers.  If someone searching for information they may find the BS post in the results but if they are applying the aforementioned BS filter and doing a thourough search they will find the posts bagging it as well.  There are also comments.  I don't delete any comments except ones that are clearly comment spam (gambling sites and Russian brides) so if anyone disagree's with something in a post they can comment here or - even better - start their own blog and bitch about me there (Where did your blog go James?)

While there is no harm in using resources provided for free by whatever party, when you are in a position of power or influence (and you may argue you are not) there is a duty of ethics and responsibility when accepting "gifts" in the course of wielding your "influence" (just ask Juan Samaranch!). Whether you like it or not, putting up a public blog that attracts hits comes with some influence and therefore responsibility.

I disagree.  I do try to be fair and balanced and to keep an open mind, but even with the best intentions I am still biased towards that which I have more experince with.  You would be a mug to expect blogs to hold the same ethical standards as legitimate press just because it is public.  There is no disclaimer on the Internet that everything posted here must be unbiased.  Nor should there be.  I don't try to mislead, nor do I pertend to be right all the time.  That is why I don't delete comments.  The burden of validating data still lies with the reader. 

What's with this assumption that because journalists are forbidden to accept gifts that their content is somehow more valuable?  If I got a dollar for every tima a misguided member of the legitmate press wrote something along the lines of "I played with a Tablet PC for 10 minutes and didn't get it therefore they won't work for anyone and it is a dying platform" I'd be a rich man. 

Journalist or no, you put a stuff in the public domain for a reason. And that reason is probably why you got offered the laptop in the first place. But you must decide how you conduct yourself in that public domain and be prepared to be judged by your actions. I commend you for stating your position, but I think you are wrong. You should review the laptop and give it away... Otherwise you set a bad precedent.

I blog because I love mobile tech.  The more I blog the more passionate I get about mobility.  I have decided how I will conduct myself and I am comfortable with it.

I think you should take the MS employee's advice and give the Laptop away on your blog once you have reviewed it. To be honest that is a much better way to serve MS and further their Vista marketing campaign.

Firstly, you're assuming that I got the same email - which I didn't.  Some of the Acers were allocate directly to MVPs.  Mine was one of those and the communications were different.  However I don't post emails as they are private communications - this is another thing I learned after getting it wrong.

Secondly, I don't mind serving Microsoft's marketing campaign, but it is not a priority.  I'd rather serve my community.

Thirdly, If I were to give it away it would not be via my blog.   Most of my readership is overseas and I would not want to do a contest that excluded them.  However shipping costs and legal issues means that giving away a big ticket item via my blog is just too hard.

Lastly, my community is tablet focused - had they given me a free tablet with the same conditions I would have felt more complled to give it away.

I hope you take this criticism in the constructive manner it was intended!

Hope you had a good Xmas and New Year!

James

I appreciate you taking the time to post such a lengthy comment, even though I don't agree with all of it.  I will certainly try to be clearer about what given or loaned as I think that is an area I could improve upon.  Have a good 2007.