Comments on: Sure, I’d love a free Ferrari, but…

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:09:22 +0000

Thanks for that comment, Andru — I wasn’t aware of the Vanishing Point connection.

And Dominic, I would agree that free $2,000 laptops would probably strike most people as over the top. And just to clarify, I meant that your position was “pure” in a good way, not “puritanical.” :-)

By: Dominic Jones

Dominic Jones — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 06:58:23 +0000

I wouldn’t say I’m puritanical. I did qualify my position as being based on “expensive” gifts. Obviously, that’s a relative term, but I think you have to try to see it from your reader’s perspective. Do they live in worlds where people send them $2300 laptops on an ordinary day, or will they view a free lunch as unethical?

People don’t have the same opinions on these things. The trick, I suppose, is for bloggers and journalists to figure out what is reasonable.

Free laptops, most people (including Microsoft now) agree, is over the top. The bloggers who got the laptops and see nothing wrong with keeping them seem to me to hold the minority view.

By: Andru Edwards

Andru Edwards — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 20:04:09 +0000

We also have received a fully loaded Media Center PC from Microsoft as part of this campaign. People need to stop complaining - in reality, it really seems that those complaining are those who weren't chosen. It is COMMON PRACTICE from companies to get their products into the hands of those who review said products, prior to a launch. How else are you supposed to review them before they are available to the general public? This isn't just for the tech industry - Ebert and Roeper see movies - for free - before they are available to the public. Any problem there? Probably not. Plus this is a part of something bigger that Microsoft is doing - the Vanishing Point game, where Loki is the one "planning" these giveaways. We will give the computer away when we are done reviewing it - and I think that anyone who lumps all bloggers together and says that they won't ever be able to write an unbiased review is seriously overgeneralizing things.

By: DisclosurePolicy.org > Is Mea Culpa the Default DP

DisclosurePolicy.org > Is Mea Culpa the Default DP — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 17:25:25 +0000

DisclosurePolicy.org > Is Mea Culpa the Default DP…

Amit over at Digital Inspiration had a nice wrap-up post on the elite bloggers who took Microsoft Ferrari Laptops pre-loaded with Vista. Disclosure of the $2000 blogola (er, review machine) wasn’t required: Some disclosed, some didn’t. Some think it…

By: Mathew Ingram

Mathew Ingram — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:27:30 +0000

I can appreciate the purity of your position, Dominic, and I think most traditional media organizations would agree that it is never OK to receive a gift, regardless of whether you disclose it (although even that is a grey area — is lunch a gift?).

But Ed and others have made the point that bloggers often find it difficult to make a living, and so the gift of an occasional laptop or hosting services might come in handy. If that is disclosed, then everyone gets to decide for themselves whether they think the blogger has been compromised or not.