Over on Twitter, René of DeltaPoints has urged his followers to vote for him for the Frequent Business Traveler awards. Here’s what that looked like:
And here’s a close-up:
Do you notice anything missing? Here’s a screenshot from the Frequent Business Traveler website:
See what’s missing in the upper right hand corner there? That’s right, René scrubbed out our pal Travel Blogger Buzz from his graphic. Why do you think he would do that? I have two guesses, maybe you can think of more:
- He’s worried that TBB will defeat him to win what apparently is an extremely prestigious award.
- He’s trying to get under TBB’s skin.
This isn’t exactly a hard-and-fast scientific rule, but one way to tell which side you want to be on in a dispute is who’s laughing the best. TBB has been known to needle other bloggers for not doing their jobs very well or for being thinly-veiled shills for the credit card company, and he always seems to have a great time doing so, as do his readers. Some folks accept the criticism well, others not so much.
But so far, nobody’s had anything funny to say about TBB. Humor is an effective way to speak truth to power, deliver criticism and win people to your side: people are very good at ignoring rational arguments, but they damn sure don’t like being laughed at. If George started a serious academic journal called “Travel Blogger Quarterly” and made careful arguments about why the current system of selling credit cards via bloggers produces suboptimal results, nobody would read it and nobody would care.
But instead, he publishes a blog and consistently points out that the emperor has no clothes while having a good laugh about it. And that, my friends, is why DeltaPoints is doing odd things like what you see above.
I don’t read DeltaPoints too frequently so I can’t evaluate George’s criticisms too well. When I have read it, it’s struck me as a typical boardingarea.com blog, and I don’t mean that as a criticism. There are a few blogs so bad I won’t even mention them by name, and DeltaPoints certainly doesn’t fall into that category, not by a longshot.
But based what we’re seeing, I’d say George has struck a nerve.
I’m pretty sure he wiped out saverocity.com/bighabitat too… unconscionable (< plus I can't believe I spelled that right on the first try with no red squiggles!). And an open offer to DeltaPoints to trade the same for United points any time… in fact I dare him! And if he can use them to go to Bali in the summer time I'd be more impressed (can we all agree that all Delta's Asian partners block out the ENTIRE SUMMER!)
I remember a few years back I pointed out a few mistakes on DeltaPoints when he posted a OM deal, and I asked him to please do his homework before misleading his readers. His response in a nutshell: “This is my blog and I do what I want”. Needless to say, I stopped reading.
Rene is just as big a “Tool” as Angry Ingy is – he was the guy editing the FT wiki claiming TBB “censored” while “proudly” admitting he censored. Why anyone would read that DBs site is beyond me. And what sort of moron would ever choose DP as a top site for anything other than perhaps the biggest pimp site?
Rene has long stuck me as having something to prove. His work is weak. Iirc, Chase terminated their relationship with him.
This is a fever swamp you don’t want to wade into. The dramatis personae – who’s the villain and who’s the jester – has long been written, and no one’s learning or deviating from their roles.
Probably good advice, well said.
I still have not had a single arrow on my site. The reason is because I don’t know how to make one!
Imagine all the time to alter the image could have been used to get a scoop on a Delta policy to benefit the readers! Excuse me now while I hurry to go get me a Sun Trust debit card 😉
DP is our Delta Champion while you are our resident anti-Delta. I’ll be honest neither of you make sense to me. I go where the miles flow the easiest. Right now its Delta. Who am I to fight the tide? I go where the opportunities take me.
DP’s had a recent post about Alaska status matching with Delta being a “shot across the bow” in Alaska / Delta battle… I commented that this has been the case for years, and that it therefore couldn’t be considered as having anything to do with the recent drama. I also pointed out that Alaska would only match to MVP Gold level (but not MVP 75k.)
Guess what? Censored 🙁
You’re all so wrong about Rene. He’s just a humble servant of a higher power.
He didn’t do it for himself. Oh, no!
He did it for Delta.
Delta is brilliant. Everyone who knows Delta Points knows that.
TBB doesn’t get it, hence the scrub.
You don’t argue with logic.
“But so far, nobody’s had anything funny to say about TBB.”
I not only disagree with that statement; but also George has an incredibly good sense of humor and absolutely knows how to take a joke, as shown by clicking on the link below which will take you to an article mocking a typical entry at travelbloggerbuzz.com:
http://first2board.com/whatsyourpoint/2013/06/15/june-15-2013-travelbloggerbuzz-rodent-droppings-rio-de-janeiro-toll-bridge-north-korea-more/
Ha! That’s awesome, hadn’t seen that. I stand corrected.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Delta and Skypesos! I am honest as I usually don’t make much sense to me either. Enjoy the Skymiles, yes they are extremely easy to earn. Last time I attempted to use them I could get 4 seats to Mexico City in ungodly hours 🙂
I can’t believe ST has not been taken over yet by the FDIC!