In case you missed it, The Points Guy had an “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit. For those of you not familiar with Reddit, an AMA is pretty much what it says: anybody who wants to can chime in with any question they want.
There was a fair amount of hostility. Here’s the top-voted question:
Note that not only were hostile questions being voted to the top but also that TPG’s responses were being downvoted. As for the CSP issue (not to mention Amex, Citi, etc) my response would be that most people don’t have the interest or inclination to get the most value out of their points and would be better off with a simple cashback card. But, that doesn’t make for good copy.
I was glad to see this topic get aired:
TPG’s position about Bankrate having zero editorial control over the site is a bunch of crap. Bankrate literally owns his site, they have total control. Which is not to say they’re meddling or anything, I don’t think TPG has changed much since Brian sold out. Their financial interests are well-aligned.
You know who else has some control over the content? Banks. Affiliate commissions are most likely the big moneymaker for the website, and those are only given out if the banks like you. Barclaycard pulled my links after a certain blogger ratted me out for writing this post which was deemed contrary to the brand interests of Barclaycard. Which, fortunately, was no big deal since I was making almost zero money from affiliate commissions.
But the point is: yes, there are other interests than those of the reader at play with the credit card affiliate business model, and a lot of people who don’t pay attention to this stuff don’t realize that.
This was pretty funny:
A diplomatic answer here:
I thought this question was kind of lame:
The implication here is that one goal precludes the other, which is silly. His website promotes a certain lifestyle, and say what you will about other stuff, you can’t fault him for buying an expensive flight. Selling that kind of stuff is what his site is about.
Finally, some scolding from a mod:
There are a bunch more questions of a serious bent as you go further down in the thread, so go check it out if you’re curious.
I would call him out for one thing…and that his content has been watered down to generic lifestyle articles of interest only to complete newbs who have no interest in playing the game seriously. Whereas 3-4 years ago he used to write interesting in-depth tutorials about maximizing airline award charts, etc…
The blog is now nearly worthless to anyone who wants to seriously learn something interesting about travel hacking, nor is it useful to veterans. It’s just a machine for pushing CC signups.
These businesses THRIVE on customers like that HUGE fan who is just not educated enough to realize how many more points she could have. And with banks tightening, these businessmen must expand the market. Enter….TEDTalk, TPGTV, now this….anything to attract eyeballs and cc clicks.
I’d like to call him out for two things.
1. Ignoring that many links (especially amex prg and plat) are always available higher than his links
and
2. Everything about his sense of fashion.
As far as the mod scolding, if he was being honest with himself and has halfway paid attention to what’s going on, what did he expect?
I agree that MOST bloggers who are actively pursuing a good income from their affiliate links post information of use nearly or completely useless to anyone not very new to travel hacking.
OTOH, I would prefer it that way. The biggest blogs are NOT the ones where we want to find detail; it’s a big enough challenge to keep any gig going, without a bowtie or the like blowing it up within hours by sharing it, with circles and arrows, with his readers.
Wonky analysis, sure. I’m all for it. That’s why I don’t read many blogs outside of these on Saverocity. But expecting a blog to have anything useful to veterans is to hope for the demise of that useful thing.
Well done on the sale to Bankrate.
While it doesn’t sound like anyone asked him what the consideration was, from quitting his job as a recruiter at Morgan Stanley three or so years ago to selling a de novo business is pretty impressive.
While lots of folks complain about deals coming and going, this guy at let made some coin from the hobby.
It doesn’t excuse his hopeless flogging of CSP, but it is nice to see a business success (even if in the back of the less educated).
I think like with any other subject a subset of readers will just outgrow a blog and how basic it is. I’ll be honest, back in the day I started on the likes of him, mms, and ftg, but over time as you learn more about the game you outgrow it and move on. Don’t knock them for growing their brands and trying to make extra dough that way, but do agree it is kind of unethical to blog about travel and points and only pushing the same cards at lower rates.
I do find it a little bit funny about how he refers to “leaving wall street.” Dude was in HR at a bank.