tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706374459042869519.post1509076651014691655..comments2023-10-06T09:08:06.583-06:00Comments on No Gluten, No Problem: Takin' Care of Businesspeterbronskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17048848527195520324noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706374459042869519.post-34748753524431184312009-07-13T17:11:34.487-06:002009-07-13T17:11:34.487-06:00Hey, Pete--I appreciate your long and thoughtful r...Hey, Pete--I appreciate your long and thoughtful reply. First, to be clear, in no way am I implying that you or others have the issues I do with reviews. I'm just a bit of a softie. ;-) And, second, I do greatly appreciate your reviews and the reviews of others, for myself personally, and to share with members of our support group. I agree that all of us who blog gluten free provide support in different areas, and I actually love that. I go to different blogs when I am looking for different information ... sometimes reviews, sometimes recipes, sometimes health alerts, sometimes product reviews, and so on. Finally, I agree that most of us are in this for altruistic reasons, trying to share what we've learned with others and trying to help others avoid negative experiences we've encountered (whether they are related to health, products, etc.).<br /><br />Keep on sharing the variety of posts you've shared all along! That's why I come here. And, I supposed I will be doing my first review of sorts very soon, as I am offering up a book as a giveaway thanks to the authors. I wouldn't be doing that if I didn't think it was a good book and I will be doing a brief write-up on it. In this case, that's something I feel comfortable in doing.<br /><br />Congrats on being chosen one of the top 13 gf blogs by Tiffany of the Denver Examiner--<b>awesome</b>!<br /><br />Best,<br />Shirleygfe--gluten free easilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08182613995248482102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706374459042869519.post-71600530321048943652009-07-13T14:30:21.103-06:002009-07-13T14:30:21.103-06:00Hi Shirley... Thanks for adding to the discussion....Hi Shirley... Thanks for adding to the discussion. You bring up a number of good points.<br /><br />I think that some bloggers (and reviewers in general) may be subconsciously affected by complimentary product samples that are submitted for review. I feel pretty strongly that I'm not one of those people. I've always been a straight shooter who tells it like it is, and any companies that submit products for review on NGNP know that we can be tough critics (in fact, more than one company has submitted to us precisely for that reason, because they both value our opinion and believe we've built a strong trust with our readers).<br /><br />It's a fairly common practice for publications to accept complimentary products to review, and then return those products to the company or donate them to charity after the review. This happens with everything from cars to outdoor gear to perfume. Because they don't retain the product, they derive no benefit, thus making the review "legit." This practice obviously isn't possible when we're talking about food. Once you've reviewed it's...umm...eaten. As long as a reviewer is only accepting products to review, and not accepting additional perks (i.e. coupons, gifts, money), then in my eyes, things are in the clear.<br /><br />With the example you share, I think there's also a risk in witholding negative reviews, for whatever reason. This doesn't apply to you, because you're not reviewing products (yet, as you say). But for other bloggers, if they post only positive reviews, but withold negative reviews for fear of offending the reviewee, then they've introduced bias into their reviews by error of omission. Readers only see positive reviews, and are never aware of the negative ones. It's like a movie critic who only writes about the movies he or she loves. For me, there's no reservation about praising a company for certain attributes (donations to support groups, environmental ethic, whatever) and criticizing other attributes (the foods they make). It's all part of the package, good and bad.<br /><br />In the end, it all comes down to transparency. If a blog is open and honest with it readers, those readers can determine for themselves if they're concerned about bias, intentional or unintentional. It's when relationships between blogger and product reviewee are hidden, obscured or otherwise witheld that the waters get murky.<br /><br />Of course, the other solution is to accept no advertising and to write no reviews, and blog solely for blogging's sake. Some GF bloggers do just that. Everyone has their niche and their angle on the GF lifestyle, and each contributes to the community and the discussion. That's a good thing. And for the time being, I think that the relatively small (but growing) size of the GF community, coupled with the fact that we're all overcoming a shared health challenge, has meant that mosts GF bloggers are motivated by some element of altruism (which has kept GF blogging largely on the up and up). As the GF market expands, though, money will surely figure more prominently in the discussion, and that's when we'll have to be more careful and transparent than ever.<br /><br />Cheers, Petepeterbronskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17048848527195520324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4706374459042869519.post-42662006994601445922009-07-11T08:49:23.572-06:002009-07-11T08:49:23.572-06:00This is a good post, Pete. I've been following...This is a good post, Pete. I've been following the discussion myself. I haven't done any reviews or published any recipes that include comped products <b><i>yet</i></b>. But, as I've mentioned to you, I've received some products. I've never solicited any of those complimentary items and I'm clear that <i>if</i> I write a review, I'll write an honest review like you guys have been. However, here's my concern from my own perspective. How much are we subconsciously affected by freebies? For example, I was given several products by one commercial vendor recently for my support group meeting. I was curious, so I sampled a few before our meeting. I thought they were all totally awful. I told my support group so before I served them, but they all loved the products. Plus, I know the maker of these products is a great family organization that is well respected and appreciated in the gf community. They were very kind in their emails and extremely generous with the amount they sent. (And, incidentally, you have reviewed this company's products and given them pretty good reviews.) What will I do? I'll just stay clear of publishing any reviews of their products. On the one hand, if I publish a review I feel like I'd be almost unfairly slamming them after they were so generous. And, the products they sent me were for the support group's use, not for a blog review. On the other hand, would it be helpful to others to share my true assessment? The answer for me I think is that I've stated before that I don't intend to do product reviews and I'll stick with that. But, for others, I think the waters are murkier than we'd like to think. Yes, we can all share that the products were complimentary, but to what degree (even a tiny bit) are we affected by other factors?<br /><br />Shirleygfe--gluten free easilyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08182613995248482102noreply@blogger.com