Why we need a good blog war, and don’t be a tart about it

Earlier this month I tried to engage fellow travel blogger Mr Travel Summary in a ‘Blog War’ where we rope off a circular area of the internet and use our vast knowledge of a certain subject matter to find who is the bestest of them all.  I failed to engage this young man in that attempt, and sadly got to see a bunch of internet losers get all defensive about things in their support of arguments.

A ‘blog war’ or any sort of of challenge to an article is an excellent thing for everyone.  The readers get to see how we approach a subject, we get to learn more about why we are wrong, and if we are competitive people we go above and beyond to learn even more about a topic to share the reasons why ‘we are right’.  The winners here are clearly the readers and the bloggers because it elevates the level of what are producing, and a certain amount of sass is also fun for everyone.

Interestingly, the point that Travel Summary and I attempted to fight over (as in I tried and he was far too nonchalant about the whole thing) was within the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.  His perspective was it was generally speaking, great value, mine was, generally speaking it was terrible value.

So, who was right?  I was of course!  When booking hotels (I never pay for flights with cash/travel portals) the Ultimate Reward Travel Portal is a rip off, it gives you a boost in spending, but then shifts the prices up way above market rates to kill the value.  You can check out my post on the subject right here: The Truck System

But wait…. Travel Summary said I was wrong, and he linked to a post that showed me excellent value from flights – guess what? He was right.  Here is his post: Travel Summary – sometimes its better not to transfer your Ultimate Rewards

So what I would like to suggest, is that despite my attempts to reel him into a good squabble, we have still got a lot of evidence that:

• Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal is generally good for certain domestic flight options
• Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal is generally poor value for hotels.

Both of our incomplete theories are improved through the conflict of ‘who is right’, we all win.  Even in a case where someone is completely off base in their attempts at a war, they often create an opportunity for the other half to express their concept in a different manner, it’s a great thing for everyone.

Blog wars aren’t about who is the ultimate expert on a matter, there are so many people out there that write great stuff that by challenging each other we can improve the quality of our own work, and share a greater understanding all around.  Oh and as for the tarts out there – you are the people who just jump in on the conversation to support one side or the other based on who you like or dislike, get over it and enjoy the conversation.