Etiquette

I have been blogging for a while now. Coming up on 2 years this summer. I am by no means a big time blogger, nor do I necessarily want to be. I would love to get tons and tons of comments on every single post, but if that were to happen, there's no way I would have the time to respond to everyone. If I can't interact with commenters, than what's the point?

Even though I don't want to be a superstar blogger, it is nice to get my name out there. Doing guest posts and being featured on other's blogs is a great way to do this.

I've only been featured on someone else's blog a few times, but each time the process was relatively the same. Whether I added myself to a waiting list, such as with SITS, or a friend gave me the honors, the author always sent me an email. This email told me when my day would be and asked for something in return. It might have been a few links to posts or they might have asked me to write a new post they would publish on their blog.

Recently, I was featured on another blog. The process was completely different and quite frankly I wasn't happy about it. I won't list who featured me. As far as I can tell, no one was being deceitful and nothing was infringed upon. It's more being mad and not wanting to cause unnecessary drama. But I still want to get this off my chest.

I received an email that my day was coming up, but the button for the host's blog was not on my blog. It was an oversight on my part and I added it. I emailed this person to let them know and I was told my blog would be put back into the shuffle.

That was the last I heard. I assumed I would receive another email saying when my day was and maybe even asking for a post or links. Perhaps I was naive. Last week, when scrolling through my list of to-reads, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was my day. Immediately I clicked over to see the post about me.

Credit was given to me with a link back to my blog, but as I continued to read, the angrier I became. The post was the very first post I wrote. Not all of it, maybe 3/4 of it. This is not the post I would have chosen. It says nothing about who I am or what my blog is about. But what really got me were the names used in that post. They are not the names I use now in that blog. If the host actually read my blog, this fact would have been known.


Before you even ask, no I have not said anything yet to the author. I was extremely upset with this, but I have learned the it is better for me to step away and calm down before I open my mouth. I might think I get my point across, but it ends up reflecting poorly on me.

Now that I have calmed down, I'm concerned that if I do contact this person, I will sound like an ungrateful bitch.

For those of you have had guest posters, or even if you haven't, was this incident kosher? Not much attention was drawn to this post (to my knowledge). Should I say something, or just let it go?



8 comments:

Oka said...

Personally, if it upsets you, it's not kosher. I'm not the right person to give advice though.

I feel there should of been been an explanation on how this host planned to deal with it so that you had a clue. You may have agreed to be a guest poster, but you should have some say in what is being posted. Then if the two can't agree, the whole idea should be mutually scrapped.

Kmama said...

Oh wow. I'm sorry that happened. I don't know what site you're talking about, but nothing about it sounds right. The author gets to pick which post to feature? That's odd.

I would probably say something.

BNM said...

I think you should say something! A guest post is just that, a guest post you should have been able to choose!

MommaKiss said...

I would ABSOLUTELY say something. Do it in an e-mail - and be all 'professional' if you wish - but she didn't do you any favors by posting info that you didn't give her. Also - the button thing? Odd. A lot of people don't even have buttons. I only like to write for, share words with, people I know and read consistently - so that I know the readership, etc.  It's more based on a friendship - and friends don't do that to each other. Good luck dealing with it.

Unknown said...

I agree with everyone else who has commented so far. I think you have every right to speak your peace to the person in charge of this other blog. Maybe they've got NO clue that what they've done goes against basic blogger ethics. In the long run, guest posts are supposed to be equally beneficial, and it sounds like this didn't do much for you.

Anonymous said...

Geez. Ive never heard of anything like that happening before... Im going to guess this other blogger isnt a newbie.. I would email them and find out just what the heck they were thinking!

Helene said...

Wow, I would've been blown away. I think you have every right to be upset and if it were me I'd probably send an e-mail thanking this person for the opportunity but also expressing my disappointment.

Guest posts should be fun and give you extra exposure...not stress you out!

Sorry this happened!!

Jayme said...

I've never heard of a guest post where you don't dictate what you want to post about- that makes no sense that they'd chose something random like that without asking you want you want to say!