I am aware there are numerous people who have, for various reasons, become disgruntled with blogging host Today.com.
Some time ago, the company laid off a rather large section of its most popular and active writers, leading to numerous speculations over their ultimate motives. Well, I am here, at the risk of being lambasted or even losing my Today.com account, to put the record straight and say to these people — in the nicest possible way — what the heck did you expect?
Now, I am quite fortunate (?!) to have been screwed over in the past by certain web hosts by virtue of neglecting to read the small print, blundering blindly forward without a care in the world, and am not one of the said bloggers laid off by Today. At least not yet. I’d like to think, however, that my (bad) experiences have given me a little bit of insight about how the business works – you scratch my back, I scratch yours; you get nothing for nothing and any other such cliche you could care to mention.
When you sign up to Today.com, you enter into an agreement that basically means you represent Today.com by the very fact your blog is hosted under their name on their server. If you violate the Terms of Service, you can expect to be notified and perhaps even warned, just like in the real life workplace.
In the same way, don’t expect to be rewarded if you’re doing nothing to earn it. Today.com is a business and has to first of all stay afloat in order to continue providing the service it offers, all the while catering for the interests of its bloggers (or ‘workers’, if you like).
Now, I will concede the aesthetic side of the business — variety of blog skins etc. — has been largely and unfortunately neglected. We all know we’re going through a tough economic period and smaller, more independent businesses are having to accommodate for this so as not to go out of business. Today.com is no exception.
Whilst I am not obligated to do so, I feel I have to stand by the company whilst I still can and do my part in helping the company as long as I can. Today, in my opinion, is a noble and honest organisation that deserves at least some credit for its efforts. Who knows, maybe tomorrow things will change and I will be forced to move to another host, re-establish Retro Yakking right here at Illarterate or perhaps set up a whole new website.
But I would not have any ill feelings towards Today should this happen. I would not feel ripped off or screwed over because of the experience I have gained from many months of blogging with a competent and honest company. Even if it turns out they have taken me for a ride, I wouldn’t really care that much because it’s been so much fun. And I think that’s the most important thing.
Hi there! An award is waiting for you on my blog: http://digivic.blogspot.com/ Congrats! ?
I thought about doing a site with Today (you’re supposed to get paid based on number of visits or something, right?) but I opted out because the site seemed too cheap.