I’ve been chatting on some boards about what constitutes ethical behavior on this side of the rankspank. People are tense, emotions are running high, and it’s very easy to want to move the line of ethical behavior. I really, really want to caution us as bloggers to not make big changes in the way we run our blogs in this time of frustration. It’s very easy when we are scared and worried to do things that are edgy, iffy, not quite legit. Please hold firm. If you compromise your blogging values now, they win. No, not Google. The ones who accused us of being shills, of selling out, of being whores. I’ve said all along that I believe in what I am doing, and if that’s true than I have no choice but to continue to blog as I always have. I am what I am, and that must not change.

You know, in some respects, blogging is like real life, and that’s particularly true for those of us who earn money with our writing. It’s up to the blogger to build and maintain a credibility in the blogoshpere based on their own skills and experiences. We owe it to ourselves and our readers to be ourselves, and we can’t do that if we run like chickens with our heads cut off every time the wind blows from a contrary corner. If you had a medical problem, would you rather go to a doc who had his own diplomas on the wall, or diplomas that belonged to someone else? Do you like your ball players to use their own talents or enhance them with steroids? If Sam Elliot’s voice makes you quiver, will you deny it because your acquaintance thinks he blows?
*pause for consideration of Sam Elliot’s voice*
*ok, moving on*

My point is this: if you believe you are right, keep on keeping on. And if you think you were not right, why the heck were you doing it anyway? Having a reputation for keeping your end of the bargain, even when it hurts means something. Business may be business, but businesses are run by people, and people like to know they can count on the people they are working with. It’s my opinion that if I sell out and do what feels like cheating to me, if I change my blogging technique to overcome the rankspank, then I lose whatever value I had as a blogger. I’ve been accused of selling my soul for 18 months now, and I have denied it vehemently. I’m not about to start doing it now.

Technorati Tags: Sam Elliot, rankspank,

Not long after I published the post below this one, I decided to turn off the computer. So, I went more than 24 hours without the computer. I did other things: I took a long nap, I hung out with people I loved, I compiled the massive (5+page) to-do list. I watched tv and I knit. And when I signed on late last night, the internet was still here. It had survived without me.

I’m pretty sure this is going to become a regular thing, this turning off the computer and being IRL instead. It was…liberating to just turn the computer off. See, even gold chains are still chains, yk? I’ve let myself become a prisoner to the internet, and that is totally not cool. It’s supposed to be a tool, not a jailer. You know that saying about work expanding to fill the time you allot it? Yep, totally true. With the miracles of auto publishing, I can still meet any weekend posting commitments I have without actually being here. Ha, got to love the magic of the internets. The same things that keep you here enable you to escape.

Now, please excuse me. I need to check the laundry.

Being the cruel and heartless mother of a sweet young drama queen, I find myself saying this quite often. Life is not about cookies, yk? I also say it online, though I usually try to be nicer about it. In fact, I have said it several times over the past 2 weeks. And yet some people just can’t seem to do that. I’m referring to a whole different category of sucking up and dealing, though. I’m a tricky bitty, and I just wanted to remind you all of what I have already said about Google. Today’s topic is actually Mike Arrington, and his arrogant refusal to do proper research before he posts more vitriol about PayPerPost on his blog.

Mike has posted again this morning, calling those PPP bloggers who are concerned about lost income “pathetic”. It’s apparent that he has never had to worry about how he was going to feed his family, or put clothes on their backs. It’s apparent that Mike Arrington is a young punk chump who could use an education in the School of Hard Knocks. It’s apparent that he also has a bunch of fawning droolers who follow him around in a pack clapping and barking as he makes fun of those who can’t afford to burn money. And it’s also apparent, if you read the comments, that he is offending his regular readers with his constant and unwarranted attacks on PayPerPost.

See, back in the day, Arrington leveled the same accusations at PPP and back in the day, as much as it pains me to say it, he was right. But PPP has changed, and those accusations are no longer true, and yet Mike is still performing the same song and dance. He’s like the organ grinder’s monkey who only knows one trick. Mike is still waltzing while savvy bloggers are now doing the cha-cha-cha.

So! Get a new act, Mike. Most of us aren’t freaking out. Most of us have long ago learned the grown up attribute of Suck Up and Deal.

I just signed up at ChatterJam.com, ya’ll. It’s a website where you can sign up to have a first look at new products, and then give feedback on them. Hahahah, I wonder if they know what they are getting into, asking for an opinion from me!

The products are Christian based, so I thought it might be something some of you might like as well. Let me know what you think! I did have a little problem figuring out which 5 of the kids to admit to, since that’s all they’d let me list. *insert chuckle* It’s not the first time I’ve had more children than places to put them.

Not only do I have a dresser, but I can mostly see the top of it now. How exciting, huh?

Also, I told you I had to make a massive to-do list, and while I have not made the big one, I did make a commitment to listen to a talk a friend gave a few days ago, and I did that this afternoon. It was…enlightening. I don’t struggle with addictions the way she has, but she is a constant inspiration to me, even when she makes me feel uncomfortable. I’d never heard her story before, and it changed a whole lot of things for me, because even though I don’t struggle with alcohol or food like she did, I do struggle with life. I let myself get overwhelmed and short tempered, and I have avoidance issues. I check out. And I use the need to “work” to do that. I use busy-ness to feel important.

I blogged just a fingernail scraping of the edge of this yesterday. Yesterday was a bad day for me, a very bad day to end a string of bad days. And I cannot tell you the difference in my house in less than 24 hours since I let go of all that needing to this, this, and this. I don’t have substantially less to do because I am still wearing 48bazilllion hats, but I no longer feel so overwhelmed. I don’t have to be going 100 miles an hour to live. Sometimes the best possible thing to be is still.

Just because they don’t have an anonymous group for it yet doesn’t mean it’s not capable of destroying your life. I’m blathering. Perhaps I need to KISS. Hi, my name is Cass and I have avoidance issues and I need to slow down.

Yes, I do realize I have yet to blog about Ang. or about the fifth day of Vegas. Yes, a fifth day. With pictures. No, I am not going to do it right now, but I am working on a list of stuff I need to do, and that is on it. Right this minute, I want you to go read the post on the Google Gangbang at Odd Time Signatures. Karoli has done a great job of putting faces to some of the bloggers Google felt so threatened by, including Yours Truly.

Woohoo, for me, I did get a phone today, but only because I went and bought one. I told dh to refuse the one that’s coming Friday. Sigh and whine. Because I live here in the land that time forgot, I have had to go with VirginMobile anyway. My other options were TracFone which I have heard bad things about, and some company I have never heard of. Whatever. I got the phone I wanted, and I have put a couple of numbers in it, and I can text, and email, and here’s the really important part post to my blogs. I set up Utterz to send updates to Mothering Many, and that’s where you can tune in to find out what’s going on, because this trip? it’s all about the kids, man.

my true love gave to me …more new friends, and a really rocking par-ah-ar-ty!

Oh, dudes and dudettes, Saturday was POSTIECON07. I am almost vibrating just sitting here remembering the excitement of being there. It was incredible. Seriously. It was like….breathing on helium all day. It was delightful, it was delovely, it was ……………better than sex. The gasping shortness of breath, the tingling skin, the anticipation, when you are still skating around the idea and haven’t committed yet, it was like that, only…bigger, better, more…everything. And it was like that all. day. long.

So we got there and had a few minutes to meet and greet again, and then we took out seats. I sat in the front row, because I am short, and I wanted to see! First up was David Ponce, who runs Oh! Gizmo. He talked to us about ad placement, and building a blog that has value to advertisers, so that you can eventually attract larger advertisers. Believe it or not, the way to build a blog that works for advertisers is to make sure your readers have a good experience. I knew this, but it was nice to have it confirmed. Interestingly enough, David has a badge in his sidebar for PPP, but still retains some page rank. I wonder how Arrington feels about that, considering he ran an article saying that Google slammed bloggers for being part of the PPP network?

Also interesting Arrington purports to support net neutrality quoting John Edwards

If he supports net neutrality, how can he rail so much against PPP bloggers? Surely TechCrunch could be considered a corporate voice, and we are grassroots and small entrepreneurs. Sorry Mike, your actions are screaming so loudly that I can no longer hear what you are saying. Also, John Edwards, he’s well known here, but not terribly well respected. His actions are as loud as Mike’s.

Back to PostieCon07, and please forgive my digression. I try to stay on topic. Really, I do. Things just happen, yk?

Next up, Michelle Madhok, who spoke about using your passion to build a better blog that would in turn earn money. Michelle runs the sleek and useful SheFinds.com. It’s a shopping blog that finds the beauty and practicality in one place. Again, I had thought about the topic she presented, but it was awesome to hear her lay out in detail concepts that were still fuzzy for me.

After Michelle’s presentation, we had a Fab Four panel with some of the top PPP earners letting us know how they got their blog on. Ted, I’ve almost forgiven you for overlooking me. And by that I mean I will quit sticking pins in the voodoo doll when you call and apologize. Just kidding! It was great to listen to Colleen, Mr. Fab, Karen and Drew talk about their experiences and theories of blogging.

And then there was lunch, and a cake plow. Yes, I tried to play in the cakeplow, but was so obviously out of my league among the icing encrusted faces of my friends. Blame Ted, I told him not to start with me because I had no idea what I was doing, but he did not listen.

Then there was an advertisers panel, moderated by Dan, and that was very informative for us. I really came away with a better understanding of what advertisers want. I was surprised and pleased to find out that most of them aren’t looking for PR, but traffic.

We wrapped up with a fly by presentation of Argus/SocialSpark, which I have already covered. A quick tear down/ clean up and it was off to get ready for the TAO. And ya’ll when Ted says party like a rockstar, he means party like a rockstar. It was fantabulously incredible, and electric, and the energy was … just intense. I could go on and on, but I’ll just say Randy dances wonderfully, and I am sorry Pete didn’t and it was fun petting Ted, and call it done.

Here are my friends with me, ready to go to the TAO:
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A shot of the red-back-lit bar from the balcony above, just because it’s a cool picture:

And finally, the Izea team that was present, excepting Travis who was video-ing for posterity.

Some ambience:

And will someone please explain how I managed to not get a single decent picture of any of the members of the Izea team?

Technorati Tags: David Ponce, Oh! Gizmo, TechCrunch, PostieCon07, Michelle Madhok, SheFinds.com, Fab Four, cakeplow, SocialSpark, Izea