Article, or Infomercial

Originally posted by jmhpsu93

Just wandered into the "featured" article here on BT.  It's written by someone I never heard of (who just registered yesterday) that promotes a cross-fit style training program on another web site, where all the valuable content is behind a pay wall.

Seriously, that's an article that a beginner triathlete should read?  The debatable merits of that type of training aside, isn't that obviously advertising and not an article with the intention of helping a beginner triathlete?

Originally posted by AdventureBear BT is actively seeking people to write articles for the site. Maybe you could help recruit good content, since BT users are clearly the best source. Remember what a hard time people gave Gary Hall when he posted his first article here? He got roasted. But the users of BT gave him feedback and he responded.

Originally posted by Meulen BT doesn't pay for content. So it's only fair that writers get something in return. If you don't agree with the content, leave some feedback. I've written for BT and was actually surprised no one gave any feedback. This is two way street though. It will be hard to get good content if members don't like a little 'advertising" along with it, and members don't give any feedback or show any interest.

Originally posted by jmhpsu93

I'm just saying there's a big difference between how you subtly placed your web site for coaching services in an article with good advice for beginners vs. the one that screams "I've found the secret to better performance in less time!  Come see on my web site!".

I've always thought there was value to the articles -  I usually read through most of them though some may not be relevant to me (especially some of the medical ones).  The one current leading just rubbed me the wrong way as just a sales pitch, and a thinly veiled one at that.