I have decided to pull down the previous post due to the reactions that I received from the community. Frankly I am surprised that I did this as several people did some very nasty things in the interim, such as clickbomb this site and other negative things, both in the comments and elsewhere such as Twitter and Facebook.
That alone would normally make me keep the site up as it just pisses me off no end to see petty people act like that. I did very nearly keep everything up just out of spite to the double standards I saw from these people. For those of you who acted like that, all it will do is make me do more. I don’t take well to attempts at bullying in any shape or form. However, one reader who commented against the post was polite for the most part and explained his perspective in a positive manner which I can respect.
For that reason, the post is removed. For those of you that require assistance on the aspects of it, I am happy to help via email in private channels.
I have a large number of other deals that I have been told in confidence and I don’t share on this site because of that confidence. The things I do share have been for the most part developed by myself, with some trawling though data to reproduce. The reason I made an exception for this post is that despite not being told this in confidence, the person who corresponded with me about it was able to convey the importance of the efforts of himself and the community sufficiently for me to respect that and not risk hurting them, which was never my intention.
Very cool. I hope my comments fell in between. I was polite, but I didn’t explain myself. Thanks for listening!
You were polite, and that is appreciated.
It never stops cracking me up seeing how folks treat this hobby as a damn country club. I wonder how many of the critics had actually known about this method before you, and how many learned it FROM you getting mad that the buck didn’t stop with them.
Good call. I have know about this trick for quite some time, but have never taken advantage of it myself. I think taking it down was the right thing to do. It would have died within days. You don’t want to be another MMS.
anyone want to share it with me? pretty please! with sugar on top
tjs198
Matt,
You run an excellent site with trailblazing content. Don’t sacrifice your character for any keyboard commandos who would never take any action remotely close to what you’re describing in face to face. Keep up the good work!
Thanks De, I appreciate the vote of confidence. Also, I’m not worried about what they would do in person, or online. I changed my mind about the post because there was a solid person who made an intelligent, polite and genuine argument against keeping the post up.
Keep up the hard work, your blog keeps it original. looks like certain things will have to stay in a private group as some people are just nasty.
Thanks Michael, I think you are correct.
Matt,
The whole episode was enlightening for me. I have been part of this community for barely a year – it was right after Thanksgiving 2012 that I began applying for multiple cards and dipping my toes into manufactured spending. I have already seen multiple instances where bloggers are called out for spilling the beans on a deal (and I don’t mean of the vanilla variety) whether they are long-time folks like Mr. Pickles or younger ones like Jeff from Canada.
What was striking to me was not the folks who attacked you or the few who stood up for you, but the assumptions that the attackers made, that is; that you were only doing it to get affiliate clicks, and that those who are glad to get in on the deal are takers who do nothing to contribute to the community. Indeed in the comments of the deleted post, I was accused of this by one of the commenters and it got me thinking.
As a newbie, it is true that I have not discovered fabulous new ways to manufacture spend or as-yet-unknown fuel dumps. And truth be told, I will probably never do so. But that does not mean I am a simply a taker. When folks in this community visited my home town, I was hospitable to all of them, arranging meet-ups and contacting people I thought would be interested in attending, considering venues, offering to tour them around, suggesting things they might enjoy on their own, and the like. I contribute to FT, both asking questions and sharing my own growing knowledge and expertise. I shared info both on blogs and FT when my Chase banker told me about better offers available at the bricks-and-mortar bank and I did so before The Miles Professor blogged about her experiences with this. No hat tips for me but I did not object as she clearly came upon it on her own, as I did. I certainly did not send her flaming emails or post nasty comments when she blogged about it. When bloggers post topics of interest to me, I comment, and I share my own experience if that might enlighten others.
As for your motives, obviously I can’t know for sure, but you have been among the most generous to me. After we exchanged a few emails back when you were doing a survey, you were extremely helpful as I booked my first complicated award tickets, suggesting ways to make the most of my miles and checking on sites I had no access to, to see if space was available. Frankly I was amazed at the time you devoted to helping me and hoped that it was something you enjoyed doing. As a result, when I apply for cards, if you have a link to an offer that is the best, I am happy to click it. But at the time I did not even know much about how affiliate links work and you never suggested I click your links. In subsequent communications, in your blog and in private emails, you always point me to the best links, whether they are yours or available elsewhere. Indeed you even posted about grey links, I think you called them, explaining the pros and cons of links with no landing pages. That is something I wish the person who first introduced me to this hobby had told me!
The bottom line is that, as the critics of the deleted post pointed out, this is a community. But communities are always composed of people who have different abilities, different interests, and different time constraints. Some will contribute more and some less; some will be the innovators and some the followers. Ideally everyone will contribute in some way. And yes, there will be the takers and folks who are there for purely selfish reasons. But it is not helpful when commenters, blog owners, and posters on FT assume the worst and announce in derogatory ways that the motives of others are selfish when in most cases they have no way to know that for sure.
I am sorry that you were attacked as you were, and your site click-bombed. I hope you will not stop sharing, even if you choose to do it via email or some other way. And I also want to acknowledge and thank the person who reached out to me privately on twitter – another new friend I have made in this community who saw the comment addressed to me – to make sure I wasn’t taking it too personally. Keep up the good work, Matt. You may have your detractors, but you also have your fans.
Sorry that the separate paragraphs I had seem to have run together and that the above is harder to read! I guess the program that posts the comments ignores the extra spacing I did key in!
Elaine, that was a lovely comment, thank you very much for taking the time. I am sorry that my silly software bunched it all together. I am working on a new look for the site and wondering about swapping back to Disqus since I think that looks better.
Not to worry – I have noticed this before on many sites. What matters to me was that I was able to post my sentiments after yesterday’s events and I did so, paragraphs or no paragraphs. I do like the fact that unlike Disqus one need not sign in.
No worries!
Did you manage to book anything on that Norwegian site? I did not try but I did think once again that I must get more spontaneous to truly take advantage of the deals that surface suddenly.
I’m glad the comments make things accessible, as for the deal, no I didn’t book we have a few too many things happening right now to add it in.
I’m wondering though, how many people knew of this site before it was announced today as a ‘mistake fare’, from what I have learned since my post yesterday I think this is just a repeat of what I did, but not taken negatively since the people in the know are a lot smaller than the people who were upset yesterday.
Matt,
The day you posted this deal, real life Interfered with me entering the password and learning about the deal for which the angries attacked you. From comments on TBB, I think I learned it relates to biz class on an airlines that is currently running 100% bonus match. There is at least more than one, so the angries shouldn’t take offense at this comment. Can you share the deal via pm and also any other lessons you took away from your experience above?
Hi Matt,
Would you be willing to share the info from the deleted post via email? I have done a ton of digging myself and still have a few nuggets of info I’m trying to piece together. Thanks for your help.
Hi Matt – same request as above – would you be willing to share the info from the deleted post via email?
Sam