Disney has a secret army...

[Flamingeaux]

We are Disney's secret army. I bet most of us have in some way increased Dinsey's bottom line beyond our own trips. We have a network of people where I work that talk about Disney all the time. It is almost a competition. Many other co-workers hear us and have taken trips. We all spread the Word of Disney whenever we get a chance.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Forget Disney apologists, now we have to deal with Disney lobbyists!

This stuff has taken over all forms of social media. When you read reviews of anything you have to consider affiliations and sponsors. When I read a book review, I only read middle of the road reviews. I totally discount 5 star reviews - just don't trust them. Same applies to product reviews on sites like Amazon. And forget product reviews on the seller's website. Ever read a really bad review on a seller's website?

This stuff only impacts the gullible. Most savvy researchers are looking for data, not opinions. You never get reliable data from someone who is in love with someone/something about that someone/something.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

We are Disney's secret army. I bet most of us have in some way increased Dinsey's bottom line beyond our own trips. We have a network of people where I work that talk about Disney all the time. It is almost a competition. Many other co-workers hear us and have taken trips. We all spread the Word of Disney whenever we get a chance.

Maybe, but I have never suggested to anyone that they should visit WDW. I know too many people who have hated their trips to WDW to try to influence someone in this manner. These trips are too expensive, and what I love someone else might hate.

 

[momof2n2]

But if someone is so pro-Disney they can't utter a single negative about the product, they no longer can contribute meaningfully to discussion forums.
I love ice cream, but I can acknowledge that people with milk allergies and lactose intolerance can't enjoy it like I do. Or sensitivity to cold. Or. Or.
Disney "lobbyists" (love that) just keep trying to shove square pegs into round holes because to admit it isn't for everyone could risk them losing out on compensation.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

But if someone is so pro-Disney they can't utter a single negative about the product, they no longer can contribute meaningfully to discussion forums.
I love ice cream, but I can acknowledge that people with milk allergies and lactose intolerance can't enjoy it like I do. Or sensitivity to cold. Or. Or.
Disney "lobbyists" (love that) just keep trying to shove square pegs into round holes because to admit it isn't for everyone could risk them losing out on compensation.

And I have never seen anyone post in this extreme here, that I don't come close to reading every post.

 

[Flamingeaux]

Maybe, but I have never suggested to anyone that they should visit WDW. I know too many people who have hated their trips to WDW to try to influence someone in this manner. These trips are too expensive, and what I love someone else might hate.

I agree. I have never recommended someone go to Disney but I have had a lot of people ask me about it. It is because of the DIS that I know all that I do and I share that with others. This knowledge has helped a lot of people enjoy trips they may not have otherwise. I bet if you asked a WDW official if the DIS has had a positive impact on Disney they may not answer the question but I bet they would have a little smile on their face.

 

[SmithSmith]

I'm so tired of the insinuations of a "PR team" here on the boards. To suggest such a thing is rude & dismissive.

Apparently some here don't understand the difference between a blogger (like the article describes) and a Disboarder.

A serious blogger devotes a ton of time and energy to creating and maintaining their blog. Not to mention, the added time and energy needed to promote their blogs via YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. It's seriously a full time job. These people are not going to waste their time on a discussion board like the Dis since they can't actively promote themselves or their blog here. So what else would be the point? Just so they can have their anonymous comments buried in a thread, a thread that will be history in just a couple of days....

Yeah... I highly doubt it.

 

[JimmyV]

Apparently some here don't understand the difference between a blogger (like the article describes) and a Disboarder.

A serious blogger devotes a ton of time and energy to creating and maintaining their blog. Not to mention, the added time and energy needed to promote their blogs via YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. It's seriously a full time job. These people are not going to waste their time on a discussion board like the Dis since they can't actively promote themselves or their blog here.

Really? You mean posts like this...(one of over 3,000 by the Board Member)?

DHS Fairfax Fare Dinner Review & pics...
What is your opinion of this place?

Read for mine & my pics...

http://yohoyohobloggerslifeforme.blogspot.com/2013/08/fairfax-fare-dinner-review-at-disneys.html

I am in no way associating sephorachick with the "PR" accusation. I just use this as the first example that came to mind of a prolific blogger who is also a prolific poster.

 

[JimmyV]

dupe post

 

[SmithSmith]

Really? You mean posts like this...(one of over 3,000 by the Board Member)?

I am in no way associating sephorachick with the "PR" accusation. I just use this as the first example that came to mind of a prolific blogger who is also a prolific poster.

You're kinda proving my point. Sephorachick is no longer a Disboarder. It was my understanding that the Dis is no longer allowing people to advertise their own sites. Case in point, the poster previously known as FuzzyLogic, is now Mr. infinity.

 

[JimmyV]

You're kinda proving my point.

To the contrary. There is a big difference between "bloggers not wasting their time posting on this Board" and "this Board not allowing bloggers to post." Your point was the former, and her 3,000+ posts over 5 years disproves it. Now, it appears that the moderators on this Board are taking a harder look at their gatekeeping, and that is their prerogative. But the fact that they removed her account does not discount the fact that she posted here at will for 5 years. And FuzzyLogic simply had to change his user name. As did sephorachick.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

And I have never seen anyone post in this extreme here, that I don't come close to reading every post.

I can think of three names that come instantly to mind just because they're so over-the-top pro Disney on everything. I can appreciate having rose colored glasses on when it comes to vacation, but I can't fathom living in a world where someone truly thinks there is not one moment that could be improved upon during a vacation.

 

[SmithSmith]

To the contrary. There is a big difference between "bloggers not wasting their time posting on this Board" and "this Board not allowing bloggers to post." Your point was the former, and her 3,000+ posts over 5 years disproves it. Now, it appears that the moderators on this Board are taking a harder look at their gatekeeping, and that is their prerogative. But the fact that they removed her account does not discount the fact that she posted here at will for 5 years. And FuzzyLogic simply had to change his user name. As did sephorachick.

I was also referring to "serious bloggers" in my OP because I don't think a GIANT company like Disney is going to waste their time with anything else.
In my book, a blogger (like the one you cited) who has only had just over 200,000 page views in not a serious blogger.

 

[JimmyV]

In my book, a blogger (like the one you cited) who has only had just over 200,000 page views in not a serious blogger.

I will confess that I don't have a definition of a "serious blogger". To me, that means the effort put into the work product, and not the number of viewers it has. Number of viewers is too fuzzy and depends on things like "topic content". There could be a serious blogger writing about some esoteric mosquito-born illness that only 100 people read. That doesn't make their life's work any less serious. And there could be a blogger who posts about coupon usage at grocery stores who gets 200,000 views a week. I'm not about to start making value judgments about who is and who is not the "serious blogger". Sort of like movies. The "indy" film that wins the Oscar could net $5,000,000 at the box office while Porky's XII nets $200,000,000. Which is the "serious movie"? By any measure, sephorachick's work product is significant, time consuming, and well received.

 

[TheDisGuy]

I'm so tired of the insinuations of a "PR team" here on the boards. To suggest such a thing is rude & dismissive.

Apparently some here don't understand the difference between a blogger (like the article describes) and a Disboarder.

A serious blogger devotes a ton of time and energy to creating and maintaining their blog. Not to mention, the added time and energy needed to promote their blogs via YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. It's seriously a full time job. These people are not going to waste their time on a discussion board like the Dis since they can't actively promote themselves or their blog here. So what else would be the point? Just so they can have their anonymous comments buried in a thread, a thread that will be history in just a couple of days....

Yeah... I highly doubt it.

I actually know someone who is a full time mom/disney blogger and is quite active on these boards, and has never said a negative word about WDW.

I think the "insinuations" of a PR team here which I have recently been introduced to are in reference to people like you find in all walks of life, in all types of fans. People who will defend Disney to the last, even for some of their more stupid moves.

Just like someone will tell you their Ford is way better than your Telsa or Porche or whatever, because they love Fords, or because they want to defend what they purchased. There is a lot of that here that I have seen, and yes, that includes people who do this re: disney.

Heck the other day on another thread we were told, once again that its only a handful of people here on the Dis that don't like FP+, that the Vast Majority of people love it, that its great and its great for disney. Even when it was pointed out that there is no basis of evidence to make such claims, that didn't seem to matter to the poster.

There are people on these boards who will admit no wrong on the part of disney, who go to great lengths to defend whatever disney does, maybe because they agree, but there are certainly also some who do it because they are fans of disney, and will defend almost everything disney does, period.

 

[SmithSmith]

I will confess that I don't have a definition of a "serious blogger". To me, that means the effort put into the work product, and not the number of viewers it has. Number of viewers is too fuzzy and depends on things like "topic content". There could be a serious blogger writing about some esoteric mosquito-born illness that only 100 people read. That doesn't make their life's work any less serious. And there could be a blogger who posts about coupon usage at grocery stores who gets 200,000 views a week. I'm not about to start making value judgments about who is and who is not the "serious blogger". Sort of like movies. The "indy" film that wins the Oscar could net $5,000,000 at the box office while Porky's XII nets $200,000,000. Which is the "serious movie"? By any measure, sephorachick's work product is significant, time consuming, and well received.

Jimmy, I don't know what the guidelines for a "serious blogger" are either. I'm just going off of what was in the article.

Either way, debating with you is not why I'm posting on this thread.
So it's probably better we stop here, given what happened last time we did this...

My motivation for posting on this specific thread, is a personal one. I've been relentlessly accused of being apart of a paid "PR Team" for months. Some posters actually believe I have an agenda to quiet any and all posters who complain about Disney. That notion is absurd.

 

[JimmyV]

That notion is absurd.

Agree. And we have the points to prove it!

 

[SmithSmith]

I actually know someone who is a full time mom/disney blogger and is quite active on these boards, and has never said a negative word about WDW.

I think the "insinuations" of a PR team here which I have recently been introduced to are in reference to people like you find in all walks of life, in all types of fans. People who will defend Disney to the last, even for some of their more stupid moves.

Just like someone will tell you their Ford is way better than your Telsa or Porche or whatever, because they love Fords, or because they want to defend what they purchased. There is a lot of that here that I have seen, and yes, that includes people who do this re: disney.

Heck the other day on another thread we were told, once again that its only a handful of people here on the Dis that don't like FP+, that the Vast Majority of people love it, that its great and its great for disney. Even when it was pointed out that there is no basis of evidence to make such claims, that didn't seem to matter to the poster.

There are people on these boards who will admit no wrong on the part of disney, who go to great lengths to defend whatever disney does, maybe because they agree, but there are certainly also some who do it because they are fans of disney, and will defend almost everything disney does, period.

Yes, there are definitely posters who only speak positively about Disney. Just like there are posters who only speak negatively about Disney. Do I go around accusing those posters of being paid Universal employees only here to bash Disney? No! Do I use that accusation as a way to dismiss their opinion? Absolutely not! But that's exactly what's happening to some on a regular basis.

 

[SmithSmith]

Agree. And we have the points to prove it!

Thank you for acknowledging that I've gotten points! Some people actually believe points only flow one way, when it is in fact, a two way street.

 

[vinotinto]

The funny thing is that the "perks" seem hardly worth it. It's a conference discount at YC. That's nothing special. We went last year to YC with a fantastic YC conference discount booked through a magical agency that included some type of conference ticket too (non-upgradable), and I didn't have to sit blogging away. nor spend my WDW time at some social media conference.

So, I doubt all these folks are doing this for the "perks." They are doing it for the same reason you and me are here on Disboards, because we love Disney. And Disney knows how to maintain its image. It's what companies these days have to do, in the era of crowd sourcing.