“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters” ― Albert Einstein
The other night I was inworld, listening to my own playlist on iTunes and posing for some pictures – just for the fun of it. It relaxes me. In the right of my screen was one of the many group chats going on and every now and then I read what it was all about.
At some point the discussion – as far as I followed it – was about blogging and then someone said, and I am paraphrasing ‘I wished I could blog in all honestly, but that would get me banned from a lot of places‘.
Let this sink in for a minute.
The responses were..well nihil, as if this is a common thing.
I am aware reviews are subjective and, for instance in my case, one can choose to only blog positive reviews. I do that. If I don’t like a location or artwork, I will simply not blog about it. This doesn’t mean my blog isn’t honest. It is. But when it comes to reviewing items, clothing or whatnot – because one is an ‘official blogger’ for a brand, how far will you go? Write positive reviews only, never pointing out flaws or giving less favourable feedback, out of fear to get banned from a store, place or not getting review items or early access to events?
It is a tricky topic. I am an independent blogger, I never apply to blog for a specific brand or event . The only exception being the Fantasy Faire – for which I do photo work of the builds, and in the past I have blogged about a sim I didn’t really understand and said so in my post.
Also, I have spoken to the organisation a few times and apologised for not taking pics of some locations, because it simply didn’t do it for me. I do not receive free items as part of a deal. Yes, sometimes creators/designers send me releases, but never on my request and I only use them when it suits my work.
Do I wish I could blog honestly?
I do that already, by being independent. I choose to only blog positive, because it suits me better – and not out of fear of getting banned.
I wonder how often I may have read blog posts that were, in the end, truly dishonest – and only written to please the creator who send items to said blogger or gave other incentives in turn for a nice review.
Blogging honestly does not mean one has to be nasty and negative. You can write reviews with feedback other than ‘you need this in your life’. It is about wording and..being honest. Not blogging about it, is honesty as well. But don’t make up stuff. Do not lie. Just don’t.
Credits:
The random photos I used in this blogpost are shot in the office space of Huckleberry Hax’s Nancy Redgrave Building.
Which is, in all honesty..a supercool building with lots of spaces for photo-shoots, if you are into the 70’s :)
The lingerie is from Luxuria and I purchased it at the current Nerds ‘n Geeks event.
Cait's World 
What you wrote here is really very useful for a beginner like me.. I’ll think about it. Honesty is something I look for, but as you said we have to better define what it really means. Thanks.
Never lend your name out to others… you don’t know in what condition you’ll get it back.
Like you I only blog what I like, however I do have stores that I blog officially for. There was one occasion when I blogged something that , although I liked a lot- didn’t fit well. Before posting about it I contacted the designer, and in my post I talked about the importance of trying demos and explained how I found a better fit. Considering this is one post over 5 years when I have had to post something negative, it’s a pretty good track record – mostly due to blogging what I would wear whether it is sent as a review or purchased myself .
I don’t use my blog to be a critique of designers, after all I have the building skill to create a box and not much more, but I do aim to be consistent and honest, therefore I mention if windlights have affected colors and I don’t do a lot of editing to my photos so people can see things as they look in-world.
This is an interesting post I never really thought about where I fit in as a blogger I just kinda do what I want and well when I want …. Your blog has been an inspiration along the way of blog play.
I love this post, Caity. It’s something I’ve often thought about and a big part of the reason I mostly avoid fashion blogs and bloggers. It’s no different than “influencers” on social media that get paid thousands to be seen drinking the latest brand of fizzy water or hair vitamins or whatever. It’s a paid ad and looks forced and fake and doesn’t inspire me to buy anything, though I suppose enough people love the Kardashians to make it worth it.
These bloggers are getting paid in product to make said product look good. It doesn’t really cost the designers anything and people see their stuff.
I wonder, though, what the ROI is? With the proliferation of fashion blogs and the very limited sphere of SL users, what are the actual page views they’re getting? I can’t imagine, though I may well be completely wrong, that it’s very many outside a couple of the more well known bloggers like Berry. And since she’s stepped back recently and is really only posting videos of her unboxing things, her views are diminishing, at least for me. I much preferred when she was doing tutorials and memes but I understand that her RL takes precedence.
I wonder if the designers wouldn’t get just as much bang for their buck if they stopped using bloggers and depended on their own social media brand? I follow the designers I like on Flickr so I can see their new work and I don’t think I miss much by not checking out the bloggers.
And I would love, love, love to see an actual, honest fashion blogger who pays for her own stuff and gives honest opinions. THAT is a blog i would read.
I hear you. I stopped blogging about fashion,because even though I was and am independent… it became a world that I no longer felt creative in, nor comfortable.. I didn’t do for the clothes, I wanted people to have a better experience in virtual, know what was out there, but it never seems to work that way.. you can do it, but there are simply too many egos out there. Even covering entertainment and lifestyles..can be tricky
Like anything else. do something because you love it, enjoy it, and it creates “good feelings” with others, only then.. are you doing it right.
We should talk over some wine <3
Thank you everyone for the comments and thoughts, I didn’t expect this much! I do want to be clear: I have nothing against promoting items in blogpost that were send to a blogger – be it fashion or decor or what have you. I do understand the deals made, between bloggers and creators/designers. It just saddened me to read : “I wish I could blog honest” as it makes it painfully clear that apparently there are people who feel the need to blog and praise items which they do not really appreciate? That can’t be right? Anyway, hopefully this is not the majority and I would like to think bloggers blog for their own enjoyment too!