Comments on: Let’s give bloggers a reason to keep the lights on

By: Clarissa Nassar

Clarissa Nassar — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:19:03 +0000

Great post, Laura!

I’m glad to work with 360 and I can back the fact that you are very respectful when providing opportunities and never rush or put on the pressure–it is always very professional. More PR firms need to work with moms as well as you do!

By: Mom101

Mom101 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 02:42:51 +0000

“we were the first ones to point out that blogs had gone a great deal towards commercialization.”

Um…what? Did I just actually read that?

By: Laura Tomasetti

Laura Tomasetti — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 17:02:48 +0000

Wow, clearly lots of interest in this one! Stunt was probably not a fair word – sorry for the PR lingo Trisha, and sorry for the fallout. It sounds like we’ve just created more work for the over-worked. Honestly, I think that’s one thing bloggers and PR people have in common – we’re all logging too many hours. Whatever happened to summer vacation?

I do think (and hope) that the other common ground is trying to provide good, reliable information for busy moms. I spent a TON of time on blogs last week prepping for my 5yo’s birthday party (which was a hit, thank you to the broader mom blogging community

I’m under water this week myself between email, twitter, reading blogs and getting ready for Blogher. It’s good to be busy, but it makes you think about the need for more selectivity and filtering in all of our communications…with bloggers, journalists, co-workers, and friends. On that note, I should’ve kept this comment briefer!

By: Laura Tomasetti

Laura Tomasetti — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:19:33 +0000

Thanks for the comment Trish. You’ve made PR people everywhere think twice before hitting send – not such a bad thing. I think we’re all trying to do too much these days. Enjoy your week “off,” though my guess is as a mom and a blogger you’ll still be plenty busy!

By: Shan @Last Shreds Of Sanity

Shan @Last Shreds Of Sanity — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:42:34 +0000

As a member of the MomDot community and a contributing author for the site, I would like to thank you for a pretty fair and balanced post. Most of the posts/articles out there did not care to do any homework or fact checking on this issue.

It has now devolved into a High School hate fest where vile things are being twittered about Trisha’s child, husband, family and intelligence level. This was not a stunt. It was not for traffic or to be whiny. It was in response to some of us in the forum and on the Blog Talk Radio show about 10 days ago talking about having bloggy burnout and how we felt like PR wasn’t helping, but rather taking over our blogs with giveaways, reviews, etc.. And the pressure we felt from trying to please everyone, for fear of losing relationships with PR, our readers, etc.

Unfortunately, no matter what we say, it will be picked apart, analyzed then misconstrued & misquoted.

Truly, this whole thing has quashed any faith I had that women as a whole would one day dispel the belief that we are just whiny, gossipy, backstabbing, hate filled b@^%& who would throw anybody under the bus if it benefited them that day.

But, again, thank you for this post.

By: Trish

Trish — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:36:20 +0000

Thank you for such a good article! We are not trying to shun PR or anything like that. We just want a small break. I love working with PR, and most of the ones I have talked with are in support of us taking a short break. Thank you for understanding our point!

By: Mommy Niri

Mommy Niri — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:06:37 +0000

I think making a decision to take a week break is temporary one and will not solve the issue at hand of learning to say NO. Just like any person sorting out your “inbox” is important but I have found the current cry to act in a certain way tantamount to bullying. The reason I left the corporate world and am in the blogging world is so I control my own site (be it a mess or not, it is what I call mine).

As the blogging has grown, so has the competition but sadly the mutual respect has decreased.

By: Gena Morris

Gena Morris — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:03:40 +0000

This is a very well written article that is not only FAIR but it was not catty. It was worth reading and very enlightening.

By: Kim @ What's That Smell?

Kim @ What's That Smell? — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:58:51 +0000

Thank you for seeing this for what it was intended. It most definitely was not a stunt – it was pretty spontaneous, a reaction to a discussion on “bloggy burnout”.

If we can gain control over our lives and our blogs we will ultimately, I believe, experience better relationships overall with brands and PR. A focused blogger who knows themselves and really has a handle on what their goals are is a better advocate and is more than just a regurgitated commercial.

We put a name on it, and are doing it together as a community (some are, some aren’t, that’s ok) because that’s what Momdot is all about – supporting each other.

By: Mom101

Mom101 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:58:05 +0000

I’ll vouch for you any time as one of the firms that get it. No winks required. And no blackout from where I’m sitting. Things are bright as day around here.