Scoble’s Link Blog

http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20050401/1649/

Weblog: Things That … Make You Go Hmm
Source: Disclosing conflicts, business interests and copyright
Link: http://www.makeyougohmm.com/20050401/1649/

Scoble was quiet for a few days in preparation it seems to go on an overnight blogging frenzy. He even “fell off the linkblog wagon” and added 122 items there (2 of which were from this blog, thanks Robert!). I was wondering when or if he’d be pointing to the recent controversy surrounding Google’s #1 Matt and sure enough he did. He had these brief words to add about disclosure:

To all bloggers and journalists, though, here’s the rule: disclose your conflicts or we’ll disclose them for you in a messy way.

This got me thinking. I write about a lot of different things on this blog and some people might be wondering what my conflicts of interest at this blog might be, if any, so I thought I’d specifically spell out my business interests with this blog. Also, the copyright (see footer of each page) for being able to use the content from MakeYouGoHmm. Yes, there are business interests, please don’t be surprised. If you don’t really care what the financial interests are for this blog then you might want to stop reading here.

Microsoft (MSFT) - I’m a user and sometimes developer of Visual Studio projects. This is explained on the bio page that has been linked on this blog since the day it was created/started. As of this writing I do not currently own any Microsoft stock, but I’m thinking about buying some. Sometimes I’m invited up to Redmond to do beta testing and in return for that time I’m awarded a piece of software for each two hour session of beta testing. They do 1099 those who receive more than $599 worth of software in a calendar year in accordance with IRS tax laws.

Google (GOOG) - I use Google search every day, many times a day. I use Gmail every day, many times a day. As of this writing I don’t work for them currently and have never worked for them as an employee, contract worker, etc, however as of last Sunday 3/27/2005 we started using Google Adsense on the permalink pages of this blog, and we are paid for clickthrus on these advertisements. We’ve been in the Google Adsense program for over a year and used them on another of our websites. I also own some Google stock. None of this means I won’t be extremely critical of Google if I don’t like something they are doing as readers have seen time and time again. Naturally, with the addition of the Google Adsense last Sunday, we have some new guidelines we must follow according to their Terms of Service and we will comply with these guidelines to the best of our ability.

Yahoo (YHOO) - I own some Yahoo stock but I’m not currently and have never been a Yahoo contract employee. I’m a user of some of their services.

Ask Jeeves (ASJK) - I own some Ask Jeeves stock but I’m not currently and have never been a Ask Jeeves contract employee. I’m a user of some of their services.

Note: I’m not going to list my entire investment portfolio, resume or current jobs as I don’t think that would be in the interest of disclosure, but an invasion. Also, these things change as I buy and sell stock, take on new contract projects, etc, so it would be a PITA to keep updating the blog. I will try to indicate — when I am able to by contract — and when I think it’s specifically important where I’m working for somebody or on something and/or have a direct or indirect finanical interest. I must be allowed by contract to disclose this type information. I will not break any Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for any reason except judicial order So if I’m doing work for somebody and it’s not supposed to be disclosed — it won’t be, period. That’s not only because of an NDA requirement, it’s because that’s the ethical, honorable way to conduct business.

The banners that run on many MakeYouGoHmm pages are either static or randomly rotated. Many of these ads are online educational programs or business opportunities and almost all of these banner ads are money-making advertisements for the site. When people clickthru and sign up for these offers, KMR Enterprises (that’s our business) makes money. There are also some affiliate text links just above the fold of entries on the category and archives web pages. Again, money-making links. We may add affiliate text links like these above, below, to the sides, wrapped around and/or even inside some blog entries (but only where relevant inside entries).

The official MakeYouGoHmm Internet Explorer toolbar is distributed and operated by Effective Brand (effectivebrand.com). With the exception of customizing features of this toolbar KMR Enterprises is not responsible for the code produced. I use this toolbar personally and I have not discovered any spyware or any other deceptive tactics [EB privacy policy]. Please, if anybody using the toolbar notices any unethical activity with this toolbar than please contact me immediately. The MakeYouGoHmm toolbar is FREE and can be downloaded here. There is an option inside Effective Brand where some searches can result in revenue via Search Feed. We have not yet signed up for this affiliate service, but we likely will do so at some point in the future. I like this toolbar service a lot and think it brings great value to both me and readers as long as they don’t do any sneaky stuff, so please anybody who uses this if you notice anything sneaky then contact me ASAP.

There are two rarely used categories at MakeYouGoHmm called adfeed-products and adfeed-services (which aren’t even linked up in the category area as of this writing). These two categories are specifically and entirely used for advertising. The sole intention and purpose of these categories is advertorial interest and expectation. We will put products/services in these categories that I have likely not personally or professionally tried / used / purchased. We may use banners, buttons, links, etc in these categories that are generated by the affiliate programs for these products and/or services (adfeed-products is for products and adfeed-services is for services). The sole purpose of these two categories is making money. The category that any item is placed in is clearly marked next to the byline on the MakeYouGoHmm.com website. If/when we choose to use either or both of these two categories, please understand that we are trying to encourage readers to buy something and thus we make a small amount of affiliate revenue. Again, we have rarely used this in the 1600+ blog entries, so it’s not something readers will likely see very often, especially now that we’ve added the Google Adsense.

Some links in other categorized posts may sometimes lead to affiliate programs like Vonage. However, we’ve been signed up with the Vonage for a long time and have never been paid a penny from their program (not an affiliate program I’d recommend signing up for, BTW). From time to time, there might be a piece of software I’ve used and liked that also has an affiliate program and I might link to that inside a category that isn’t adfeed-products or adfeed-services. Remember, the key distinction is: haven’t tried / used / purchased. The vast majority of the editorial inside the blog, except as otherwise noted, contains no money-making links. We do not disclose which links are money-making links on an entry-by-entry basis except as noted by the category above.

I would classify MakeYouGoHmm as a business blog, not a personal blog. Since, this is a business, we do expect to turn a profit. If this concept upsets anybody reading and they think we’re out of line with any of the disclosure and practices being utilyzed above then you have a clear choice: unsubscribe. Lots of other blogs run Google Adsense and include affiliate links in some (or all) blog entries.

Now what kinds of things do I write about? Something of interest to me. Am I swayed by money when writing? With the exception of the adfeed-products and the adfeed-services category: no. I do not specifically write entries to target specific adsense keywords or do any other type of engineered postings. I write about what’s of interest to me and if along with that these postings have advertising appeal, then I include those links. That’s the way I do it here at MakeYouGoHmm.

All blog entries and content at MakeYouGoHmm, unless otherwise noted, are copyright KMR Enterprises and makeyougohmm.com. Bloggers are welcome and encouraged to use small quotes and/or snippets from MakeYouGoHmm.com in accordance with Fair Use guidelines. Bloggers and any other business or individual may NOT use entire blog entries without express written permission from KMR Enterprises. Does this mean people can’t aggregate headlines on their blogs? Of course not! You are welcome and encouraged to do that, just don’t pull in the full text RSS feed into your blog and wrap ads around it (readers can get confused about who actually produced content). That’s not cool and we will contact you and/or your hosting company to have that content removed. We do not mind what you do with the feeds for personal use as long as it doesn’t mean the content being republished or resyndicated elsewhere in any medium: text, audio, etc.

Again, MakeYouGoHmm is not content in the public domain or Creative Commons licensed. We’ve granted republishing rights to a few people like Scoble with his linkblog, and some web-based RSS aggregators, but please ask first if you intend to be using more than a snippet of any MakeYouGoHmm blog entry. The copyright is clearly shown on the footer of each page on this blog and included in the RSS feeds. The MakeYouGoHmm full text RSS feeds are not intended to be repackaged and displayed on other websites.

In some cases we might choose pay other bloggers to write entries on this weblog and though we haven’t done that yet, someday that might happen, and if that happens that disclosure will be made clear as well as “paid contributer” or something to that effect will be added to the contributer’s piece. Sometimes, I use “we” to indicate to other writers/contributers to this blog, as we have had a half dozen or so contributers over the years, none of which yet has ever been paid specifically to write anything on this blog. I am, of course paid, by the Google Adsense revenue and income from other affiliate links.

KMR Enterprises is the company I am co-owner with my wife (she’s the “KMR”). Our business is based out of Puyallup, Washington and we run a number of commercial and personal websites.

My long term plan is to clean this entry up and put it on its own separate DISCLAIMER PAGE and link it from every page, probably down near the copyright notice.

CONTACTING KMR ENTERPRISES (and me, TDavid)
Have a question, concern or specific issue with anything described here and/or on MakeYouGoHmm.com? Would you like to become a contributer to MakeYouGoHmm? You have several options to contact us:

1) Write a comment on this blog entry — or write one on your blog and trackback to the relevant blog entry. I do read all comments personally.
2) Call. Our business number is prominently displayed on our primary business website: (253) 321-7367 (via Vonage, BTW!).
3) Skype me - my SKype name is TDavid. Feel free to add me to your Skype list if it’s for business/networking reasons. I have very limited time to just “chat” so please keep that in mind when contacting me.
4) IRC. We have our own IRC server that is professionally managed. I hang out in the channel sometimes: irc.scriptschool.com #scriptschool — please be aware that on Fridays from 2-4pm PST this is the official chatroom for the live Script School Radio show.
5) Email. This our the least preferred method of contact and actually, due to the volume of email received daily, doesn’t reliably guarantee a response. If it’s important then I would suggest using one of the other four methods. With this in mind, my email address is listed on our business contact page.

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