Ethical Blogging: What Are The Monkeys Afraid Of?

It's a shame I have to make this post, and although it may seem petty to some - I believe it needs to be made. Scared Monkeys, Steve Huff, The Political Teen and I all wound up going down the same road together with our web logging of the Natalee Holloway story.

Unfortunately, one of that groups appears to have decided to try and set itself apart in a most unethical manner - Scared Monkeys.

For non-web loggers, Site meter is a standard in measurement of web log traffic. It registers a tick when a visitor comes to view the page. It is also linked to advertising revenue for web logs who run ads - which I do not. Clicks can come from comments, as well as people coming to read your web log.

Two weeks or so ago, Tom at Scared Monkeys sent around an email slamming Ian at The Political Teen for practicing, in his opinion, unethical blogging. This resulted from Ian posting a story possibly emailed to both, but perhaps first posted at Scared Monkeys.

Here is that email to Ian CCing all named above:

Guy, we have worked long and hard the last month to get into a pissing match, but this has got to stop immediately. We are all working hard, giving information back and forth, helping each other out. But when you copy a post off of another persons site without a link or attribution, and then say you got it from someone else on it, that is crossing every line that bloggers hold over the mainstream medias head.

We did a post at 11:13 today: At 12:19 you guy put up this post. Thanks to arubagirl for bringing this information: (she translated it into English)

So we called Aruba Girl on the carpet, asking why she translated something we found and gave it to Ian. She said she did not and got her feelings hurt and created an awkward situation for us all. We came to find out that the post was taken from our site and no attribution was given.

Guys, this is the lowest breach of protocol that we can do in the blog world. I do not want to get into a battle, the cause is not about that, we are all trying to help Natalee. But you can not lift posts from another site. That is not cool. Please remove the post, or at least have the common courtesy to give attribution. It is my understanding that Aruba Girl emailed Ian and asked what happened and he responded that he figured she emailed it to him. Be that as it may, mistake do happen, but as of 10:35 tonight, there is still no attribution. We are bloggers , not the MSM… Tom

I want to be clear here. I have never entered Scared Monkey's chat area. Because their traffic was spiking so dramatically I thought I would take a look, only to find out I have been banned from there without ever even having entered. Perhaps the Monkeys were afraid I would figure out those silly Shango posts, who knows. Above left is a screen cap of that notice - click to open. Three emails for clarification have gone unanswered. My last email from them was asking for a link to their Miller interview - which I did link to, as did Ian.

Now I have been informed that they are misleading people with their readership numbers. They have placed a site meter counter within their chat room. See image at right . This makes it appear as though their work is being read by tens of thousands everyday and matches the readership numbers they have at TLB - a web log ranking system where they appear to be the 14th highest read web log at present. That's a sham.

Here is their actual web log readership statistics - less than 25% of what they would have people believe. Every time someone makes a comment in an area where there is relatively nothing to read written by the web log authors, they take credit for a new reader of their work. Given their previous heavy handed treatment of Ian, for what amounted to perhaps a slip in protocol - from a solid blogger while he was on vacation with limited access to email, I have no choice but to call them on this unethical behavior. They are taking advantage of a terrible tragedy through unethical practices designed to make them appear as something they are not - good web loggers. At least not in my opinion given the facts. Chat host? Maybe. And there's nothing wrong with that. But what they are doing is simply misleading.

I would never advocate boycotting Aruba, frankly - but I am advocating boycotting their chat room as a result of this discovery. And, please, I do not want any more traffic on my web log from commenters. I have more than enough already. Please consider using the chat features at Blogs For Natalee - hosted by Ian in the future if you value genuinely honest, ethical and collegial behavior in web logging.

I apologize for this post. But, as I said, I felt it needed to be made.

In terms of full disclosure - I currently am averaging from 1000 to 1500 comments a day and that should be taken into account as regards my own site meter numbers currently averaging about 45,000 visitors a day.

Comments

[Jane]

I'm glad Dan decided to address this. It's ridiculous to ban him from there. He probably has no idea of the content of the bash Dan posts over there. He's had more important things to do. They whip themselves into emotional frenzies over nothing!

[gallowaygirl aka mojo]

Sounds to me that the first person to get "petty" here was the SM guy who obviously expends a good deal of his time and energy worrying about 'attribution'. Good grief...most of the NH information is rehashed, regurgitated, translated, untranslated, 'anal'yzed & scrutinized, so many different ways in so many different places, it is impossible to give out proper credit to the proper party. And more importantly, who cares??? Scared Monkeys is not MSM, Pulitzers are not at stake, so get over it.

[007Scarlett]

Personally, I don't read SM as much as I used to, partly because of their seemingly Aruban bias, and partly because their site has become hard to navigate and I don't have time to hunt for info. I know the Aruban people are not to blame in this, but if this whole debacle was happening in the U.S. to a foreign student, the whole world would be condemning us. They condemn us anyway. I think a lot of us just want the facts we can't get from the MSM in a clear-cut, straight forward manner. Some of us are too lazy to look for it. Dan has allowed me to speak my mind,no matter how much my extremely conservative, "eye for an eye" views may offend some of the flamers on the board. I appreciate that. Maybe taking the high road here would serve as an example for all of us (in a variety of ways).

007Scarlett/Bama Mom (Pam)

[sleuth]

Gosh Dan, I almost thought I was at the zoo with all the monkey doodoo all over your blog. What, did you get a monkey whistle?

Dan, I checked out their place when I first found yours, and it was not as friendly and not as well run, and it seemed to be down alot. And when the regulars bombarded this blog one day when they were down, my goodness! Such a racket they made. So rude.

You just keep doing whatever you feel is right, and I for one trust you to do what's best.

See how they run!

[HopinItWillBAboutNatalee]

Dan
I am sorry, but you are making an ass out of yourself. This thing was great 7 weeks ago. A great source for info. I just read all comments regarding SM and oopsie, Natalee's name is no where to be found. Shit or get off the pot.

[K.]

This is ridiculous. It is not appropiate to post a private email and you are only coming off as childish. Your site is very informative and I visit everyday for updates but you are indeed losing your credibility by getting your panties in a (public) twist over something so trivial as numbers.

[Cindi in PA]

You just keep doing whatever you feel is right, and I for one trust you to do what's best.

See how they run!

Posted by: sleuth | July 27, 2005 01:03 AM

Yes sleuth, thats what sets Dan aside from SM.

[Amanda]

Dan keep up the good work!

[Cindi in PA]

Notice how all the negitave comments are not from people we recognize?

[Kay]

Dan you have a wonderful Blog don't let these people get you down!

[007Scarlett]

Oh heck, I do have a life of my own. Maybe I'll just quit blogging. The hate mail from immature liberals is annoying, and some people just don't get that everyone's info is shared, speculated, stolen, etc. I think those same people look for love & friendship online, too, and expect that no one ever lies on the Internet. Geez...maybe the prudent thing to do would be to just live my life until I wake up one morning and hear on CNN that Natalee was found.

By the way, in case this is my last post...I really think that if they had castrated just one of the little thugs, preferably the ugly one (Deepak?), the other two would have sang like canaries, and this would be over. I'm just saying....

Time to watch Springer and laugh at the trailer trash....lol

[HopinItWillBAboutNatalee]

Nope. Don't notice that. Some may have changed their identity for this blog. The other names may be used only in a "find Natalee" blog!

[justiceforNatalee]

"Please don't ruin it with this petty fight."

I agree!

[Cindi in PA]

Nope. Don't notice that. Some may have changed their identity for this blog. The other names may be used only in a "find Natalee" blog!

Posted by: HopinItWillBAboutNatalee | July 27, 2005 01:18 AM

Shame on them then, if you don't have the balls to post with the same name, you souldn't even bother.

[Cindi in PA]

Time to watch Springer and laugh at the trailer trash....lol

Posted by: 007Scarlett | July 27, 2005 01:18 AM

Scarlet, don't go............

[Hera]

I wish that Dan did not bring up this subject at such a critical time in the investigation. It does seem a bit petty. Why can't we all get along!

P.S. Dan's site is clearly the winner in my opinion but as a lurker on SM, I have learned much about this case.

[Brick]

I love Aruba
I love Jug
I love Beth
I love Natalee
I love beach
I love resort
I love Dan
I love blog
I love carpet
I love lamp
I love lamp!!

I LOVE LAMP!!!!!!!

-Brick Jr.

[V]

Get over yourself. This isn't about YOU - this is about Natalee.

Take this rant down and keep what's left of your integrity to report on the matter. There's a lot happening in Aruba now and THAT should be at the top of this web log (as it always has been), not an constant update on some petty fight.

[wreck]

No one is upset but the simians. Go back to your own blog - no one is forcing you to read here!

[k.jeanne]

OY! Such a do...Dan, Dan, YOU are a most ethical man. Non illigitamus carborundum!

[Synonymous with Anonymous]

Ian of Political Teen is a Chickenhawk Yellow Republican who won't join the military to support his president. So, 007Scarlett, where in the Bill of Rights does it advocate castration to coerce confession. Yes, I know they are in Aruba, but they still have a presumption of innocence as we do in the US. It is quite refreshing to peruse the commentary of a mature Conservative such as yourself. No, this does not make me a Liberal, but it does illustrate my disgust at the torture-now, ask-questions-later, Constitution-shredding, anti-American, borrow-and-spend, job-outsourcing decimation of the Republican party.

[letsbefair]

"Island Hopper" shure thought up a lot of different names for this article!

[letsbefair]

Scared Monkeys is afraid of the truth.

P.S. Shango wasn't that hard to figure out...

[Cindi in PA]

"Island Hopper" shure thought up a lot of different names for this article!

Posted by: letsbefair | July 27, 2005 01:40 AM

Bingo, a bitch with no life

[Selena]

Tonight when you go to sleep remember that tomorrow may bring closure to Natalee's mother, father, stepfather, siblings, extended family and friends.
Please keep them in your thoughts.

[Cindi in PA]

Constitution-shredding, anti-American, borrow-and-spend, job-outsourcing decimation of the Republican party.

Posted by: Synonymous with Anonymous | July 27, 2005 01:33 AM

Stop your crying...........

[SherriM122]

Please please please, let's stay focused on finding Natalee. This is my first post to either SM or RW, and I have so enjoyed reading both...just a lurker, really... but being a middle kid, this brought out the mediator in me! I can't speak for everyone else, but I read the posts for more information than I'm getting from MSM. I don't care who gets more hits. I've been following this story since the beginning, and really was hooked from reading ArubaGirl's posts. She always seems to have good info.

But, please, this isn't a competition, right?

[Cindi in PA]

and really was hooked from reading ArubaGirl's posts. She always seems to have good info.

But, please, this isn't a competition, right?

Posted by: SherriM122 | July 27, 2005 01:56 AM

Sherri, Thanks for you post, no it is not competition.

[007Scarlett]

Does Aruba have an American Bill of Rights, or any reasonable, logical, legal or judicial system at all? Their presumption of innocence ends when people are arrested based upon a "suspicion of murder, rape, etc", as the two very innocent security guards were in May, who were the victims of the Kalpoes "eyewitness accounts". Well, there are supposedly two new witnesses, with "eyewitness accounts", who have blown yet another hole in the stories of the "3 Amigos", and yet the Kalpoes walk the streets freely at this very hour. That is at the least, racism, and absolutely a miscarriage of justice. "No body, no crime" sounds suspicious, too. That is "suspicion of corroboration of a crime". Shouldn't that be punishable as well? Why isn't Paulus Van Der Sloot (whose whereabouts on the night of Natalee's disappearance are suspect as well) in jail, too? Your argument is baseless, "Synonomous with Idiocy". You have only substantiated the flaw of all liberal arguments...weak, erroneous, thoughtless, and transparent. Expecting justice to be served, especially for an American anywhere in this world, is not demonstrative of any "torture-now, ask-questions-later, Constitution-shredding, anti-American, borrow-and-spend, job-outsourcing decimation of the Republican party." It is a basic human right.

Do you know there are Conservative Democrats, too, especially in the South? Did you check to see if I was one before you blasted the GOP? I never said I was Republican.

P.S. Did I say that I expected the castration of Deepak to be legal, or even ethical? It could be done at the hands of one of the other inmates for all I care. Did you read what I wrote at all? Can you read what anyone writes, without spontaneously combusting at what you ASSume to be an opposing opinion to your own? You make me laugh.

Go back to the Primates. I'm looking for some duct tape and a butcher knife. The castrations may need to start right here...LOLOL!!!

[Scratch]

Dan, your self-righteous, egoistic, and petty outbursts are a joy to read - keep up the good work!

007Scarlett and Cindi in PA, I love you girls. Let's do a trilateral tryst and hate ourselves in the morning.

[Pee in S.E.Asia]

Cindy a rather poignant observation i must say. It seems persons cant coem straight n say what they have to say using their names.

Dan, i think u have done what u thought was right in bringing this issue forward. I think the guys at SM did u bad this tie around.

Keep doin what ur doin... but i will give u ur fire when i think ur goin overbaord. This time around, im on ur side ;)

[007Scarlett]

Scratch,

To even consider that, negatively or otherwise, you need to provide me with a recent income statement, tax returns for the previous two years, credit report, psychological profile, blood and urine tests. If those are satisfactory to me, and I doubt they will be, it still depends on how cute Cindi is, and how drunk I can get in the meantime. So you are probably SOL.
It's morning here, and I already hate you. Was it as good for you as it was for me? HEHE

[Dan]

This isn't about competition. I realized many wouldn't get it when I wrote it ... but what the hell. I don't back off a word of it. SM is providing a valuable service to a portion of Internet readers who want a place to chat, discuss the case, whatever. That is a good thing.
And I too started some discussion threads at the request of some readers.

But a web log is not a chat room, or a message board. There is room for both and both are valuable. But they are not the same thing. Frankly, I don't care what people think. The editorial coverage at SM has been weak, at best.

People gather there more to chat than read their work. Nothing wrong with that until you start playing with numbers against 5,000 other writers who are not chat rooms or message boards. It demeans the entire process. Some of those commenting should ask themselves why wouldn't they simply have registereed the correct sitemeter with TLB and also registered a message board.

The way they did it was a deliberate approach to make a site with an average of 12,000 readers look like a site with 60 - 80,000. I wouldn't accept that from any newspaper, or magazine.

If some out of blind loyalty can't comprehend the concept, as well as the significance of it for ALL web loggers - too bad. You want the truth?? Sorry you can't handle the truth.

[Mulder]

Lets have a pool. How long do you think Dan will keep the pouty post up?

I say 3 days. Anyone else?

[Dan]

You lose moulder I reset the timer to tonight before you posted. LMAO Ha

[mulder]

The timer for the pouty post?

[mulder]

The timer to the pouty post?

[Kate]

This battle over how many hits people get was the only thing that made me post after reading this blog for over a month to get information and coverage of Natalee case. I have learned a lot. I don't usually blog nor do I have one of my own. This battle over how many people go to a site is interesting, as I had never heard about this kind of thing before. I think it's good that these things are pointed out, so we can make our choices of what we think. I would prefer to think of bloggers as not having to care how many people visit their site. But I can see how honesty as to how many people actually do is ethical. It's not fun to read arguments, especially when people go on and on being rude or just attention hungry. That being said, I will be going now, back to friendly anonymity.
Thanks to all.

[Scully]

Well, does anyone here read this site, or the other one, purely because of the number of "hits"? That sounds sophmoric. I don't read RWV because the "in-crowd" reads it. I read it for the info. Is anyone's journalistic integrity marred (and yes, you think you have it, or you wouldn't be here) because one blogger is padding his numbers (or not)?
I guess it's late, or I don't get it, or I am too turned on by Scratch's invitation...AS IF...but please don't let the pouty post block any good info that I can't get on CNN. LOL!

007Scarlett

[Dan]

Moulder - see, here's why you haven't a leg to stand on with your complaints. I'm not deleting your comments, banning you, or anything else.

COntrast that with SM who banned me before I ever even went to their site. Geesh, I can't even comprehend that it is so pathetic. And I have no idea why they wuld do that other than to protect the fact that eighter they are developing info there, which I couldn't us eanyway as I rarely use non-verified Internet posts. Or, people are reporting my content there for something to read.

I have no idea. But you want to defnd someone who would ban an individual before they even visited? lol Good luck. There is no defense for their actions in anything resembling a free atmosphere, as is supposed to be presented by this "new" media.

Your damn right it ticks me off as a legitimate member of it.

[scratch]

007Scarlett,

It's so cute that you're playing hard to get. I love that! By the way, it will never be as good for me as it is for you, but I'm okay with that.

[RstJ]

Jesus, the irony of you whinging about being banned...priceless.

RstJ

[RstJ]

Jesus, the irony of you whinging about being banned...priceless.

RstJ

[Mulder]

Dan,

If this is the "new" media as you suggest. Should we name it the "pouty" media?

Maybe you should rename your site "Real Pouty View"

[bethany]

I don't know how they could ban you before you ever went to their site. Access to your IP would have been required and I'm not sure how they would have gotten that if you had never been there. There are several other posters with variaitons of "Dan." It's possible that when you tried to log in it flagged you as one of them? I'm just guessing.

[publius]

it is sad when the issue becomes some blog doing another blog bad. We have lying murdering thugs like joran, deepdik, and shurshit along with paulus and anita van der slut and the other miscreant family that gave birth to the kalpoe trash.
I am shocked that you people grave dance on natalee's memory for your own blog or attentions sake. god forgive you.
In regards to god, the van der slut and kalpoe parents already belong to hell. Both have the prime distinction of being adults that gave birth to the worst form of trailer trash, lying, murdering, satanic waste.
It is my hope anita and paulus can be chained to the sumatran pig kalpoe ( alpo?) devils' parents and drug slowly across the coral sands.
Somehow I think that is a more noble ending than they provided natalee.
Satan owns their souls.Their earthly lives belong to natalee. God forgive them, we cant.

[Jane]

I'm a little surprised to read they are padding the numbers, but not that surprised. I watched the downward spiral of personal integrity for several weeks. I had a feeling Dan wasn't even reading there because he continued to praise them despite some very disparaging comments against him on the message board.

Yes. Ian should have given the attribution. It was okay for Tom to ask that it be given. But, get real. Is that any way to ask? Why call Aruba girl on the carpet? There was no reason for that at all. Maybe she is okay with that, but I don't think it's right and shows me the continuing pattern of disrespect toward good sources of accurate information. There's no professional courtesy or a benefit of the doubt. Like I said before, it's all asses and elbows over there, and I watched people get banned even for disagreeing nicely. It's absurd. It's all group think. Think like the majority, or you'll be gone.

[Isanah]

Keep the faith Dan! I have really appreciated your blog! Always check into your blog prior to any other! Don't dwell on this too much. It isn't worth it!

[letsbefair]

Exactly Jane. They should call it Jonestown. Everybody drink the coolaid. Think for yourself and you get banned.

[~R~I~P~~O~F~F]

RED FROM SCARED MONKEYS IS TAKING PAYPAL DONATIONS FROM POSTERS TO PAY FOR HIS TRIP TO ARUBA.

****CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS BULLSHIT!!!!!****

They are exploiting this case for their own personal use.