I noticed that the other day someone came to this site via a Google search for the words number 1 snowboard blog (no quote marks). This site came up #15, which I suppose isn’t bad.
By the way, you can always use our list of blog sites (see the right-hand column) if you’re looking for other blogs about snowboarding.
Periodically I get an e-mail from someone who wants my take on the “write your own ticket” approach to travel, apparently in the belief that I have some connection with it. Sometimes the e-mail mentions either Tom White or Carl Meadows.
Is the person who wrote that blog entry or newspaper article on the take, and where’s the appropriate role for government to police the press? These and other questions are swirling around in recent days, as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced earlier this month that bloggers must disclose, under penalty of law, freebies they receive. The draft regulations haven’t yet gone into effect, and may not ever do so, but they are dangerous nonetheless.
Snowboarding is just one topic I write about. Usually I don’t bring that other stuff into the Grays on Trays site. But I’m including below an article, related to the FTC announcement, that I wrote for a small, specialized newspaper. I’ll have more comments after the block quote.
Making a federal case out of blogging
Saint Paul Legal Ledger Capitol Report
October 22, 2009John LaPlante
Freedom of speech and clear standards for law enforcement are two building blocks of constitutional government.
And yet, right now an overly zealous federal agency is threatening both, a state of affairs that could affect the hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who use Facebook and other social networking sites.
In early October, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) laid down the law on people who write blogs, Facebook updates, and Twitter “tweets,” by proposing disclosure statements. The rules state that anyone promoting a product or service must disclose any “material connections” with the seller of that product or service. Violators could face fines of as much as $11,000, and might even be subject to civil lawsuits.
According to a Harris poll survey conducted earlier this year, half of all Americans have an account on MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. That likely means that well over a million Minnesotans could be subject to FTC scrutiny if these disclosure statements become law.
Marketers and advertisers are unhappy, of course. The International Advertising Bureau has called for the FTC to withdraw its enforcement guidelines. Randal Rothenberg, president of the advertising association, said: “These revisions are punitive to the online world and unfairly distinguish between the same speech, based on the medium in which it is delivered.”
While the FTC is concerned that a blogger who receives a free package of Pampers from Proctor & Gamble may say something nice about the company, travel and fashion writers at the New York Times or Glamour are free (as far as the FTC is concerned) to accept free trips or clothing. So should bloggers and tweeters.
Another problem with the rules is that they are too subjective and open to manipulation. Several prominent legal bloggers have made this point, including Ann Althouse of the University of Wisconsin (http://althouse.blogspot.com/), who worries about selective enforcement.
Walter Olson, who writes at http://overlawyered.com/, says, after reviewing the FTC materials, “FTC enforcers will engage in their own fact-specific, and inevitably subjective, balancing before deciding whether to press for fines or other penalties: in other words, instead of knowing whether you’re legally vulnerable or not, you get to guess.”
Ambiguous law strikes at the heart of constitutional government. The more ambiguous a law is, the more government is a government of men, not laws. As the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said a few years ago in the case of a Los Angeles man cited for displaying a “for sale” sign in his vehicle, “Commercial speech is a form of speech individuals, as well as corporations, must be able to exercise without arbitrary restrictions.”
More generally, the FTC rule weakens respect for the First Amendment, which states, in part, “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” It’s true that commercial speech has long been regulated, to our loss, and the FTC rules would solidify that precedent.
The FTC says it has no plans (and no resources) to actively police the millions of blogs, Facebook accounts and Twitter feeds. In fact, it tells bloggers, in essence, “Don’t worry, be happy. We’re just going after the advertisers.” But as Jeff Bercovici asks at AOL Daily Finance, “Since when do we give government agencies broad new powers in the expectation that they’ll be used sparingly and judiciously?”
You might think that the guidelines were, as many new laws and regulations are, a panicked response to a recent crisis. You would be partly right. While some companies do engage in blogger payola, there is no sudden need to act.
One FTC staffer has denied the commission saw “a huge problem out there that was imperative to address.” Rather, the FTC is bureaucracy doing what a bureaucracy normally does—expanding its reach and scope until citizens push back.
The commission says that it’s merely updating existing rules to apply to new technologies, but it neglects how those new technologies work. In short, the Internet is a great place for ferreting out unscrupulous actors. As Gordon Crovitz wrote in a Wall Street Journal column, “The Web has its own self-regulatory mechanisms. Failing to disclose interests sullies one’s reputation online, and reputation harm travels faster and lasts longer than it did before the Web.”
On a practical level, the rules have some problems as well. The most common form of advertising, at least in terms of number of sites if not dollars spent, is Google AdSense. Google serves up ads, from third parties, based on words on various web site, including one that I use to write about snowboarding. When readers of that blog click on an ad, Google puts a few pennies in my account and charges the advertiser a few more. Every so often, it sends me a check for $100.
While I can exclude certain advertisers from the ads, I can’t determine whose ads will appear. Should bloggers like me start monitoring such ads and then disclaiming them? That requirement lessens rather than increases the amount of speech, which is not good for democratic self-government.
Finally, there’s a cultural reason why the FTC action is also bad : It treats adults as children by trying to protect them from somehow being harmed by a ‘tainted’ blog entry. Remember the rule “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”
A little discernment would go a long ways.
There used to be an old saying: “Don’t make a federal case out of it.”
With the latest FTC action, however, every casual blathering online might become just that.
I didn’t mean to pick on the New York Times, and used them simply since they’re so well known. It’s ironic, perhaps that shortly after I wrote this article, I read that some very-big-media writers (think NYT and Washington Post) were charged with violating company guidelines for accepting freebies (swag).
As that incident suggests, publishers have a self-interest in having a clean reputation. I’d rather have that logic at work than getting the FTC into the business of regulating blogs, for the reasons I mentioned above.
For an example of how the discipline of reputation works, I’ve often looked for Shayboarder for insight into snowboards. While she endorses the FTC rules, she doesn’t need to, as she has, over time, gained the respect of thousands of readers for her work.
With the world of publishing in turmoil, having a clean reputation will be more important than ever.
For my own part, I have gotten a few trips at a reduced cost, and I hope the context of what I’ve written about them makes that clear.
One challenge in being a middle-aged snowboarder is finding reading materials that are written more like the New Yorker–or even USA Today–and less like … well, I’m not going to go there. A few years ago I wrote a review of snowboarding magazines, and didn’t much like what I saw.
In particular, I had harsh words for TransWorld Snowboarding. One reason is that it is the industry standard and has (I believe) the largest circulation of snowboarding magazines. Another is that it takes the unsatisfactory qualities of the genre–vulgar language, an unreadable graphic design, and an attitude that plays to the stereotype of snowboarders–to a higher level.
Sometime after writing those reviews I received an e-mail from one of the editors of TWS, saying that the magazine was changing. (Unfortunately it got lost in my e-mail box and I didn’t see it for quite a while.) I haven’t had much contact with the publication since.
Thanks to Twitter, I found out today that TWS gives GraysOnTrays.com, and older riders, some recognition in the November, 2009 edition, which contains a letter from KJ Riley, entitled “Old Dog”:
Since your mag is the only widely distributed snowboarding periodical I can find, I get it regularly and enjoy the pics of snow-covered hills, dreaming of that time I will be retired with enough money to ride all those places. But, being 59 and a crazy ol’ man boarder, I sure would like to see some other seniors represented once in a while (maybe I’m one of the very few around … who knows!). Even if we see a lot of good snow riding pics (I don’t do rails or pipes, and I’m waiting until I slim down by 50 pounds to do any jumps) especially on double blacks like Kirkwood’s Wall, Sugar Bowl’s Palisades, or Mammoth’s runs from the top of the gondola, I could get down with that …. otherwise, keep up the good pics and articles like you’ve had last year about resort areas.
The editors responded:
Hey, KJ, We’ll keep stoking you out with epic shots and resort features, but we don’t want you to feel like you’re alone out there, so we’re hooking you up with a Web site to check out: graysontrays.com. It’s for “grown-up” riders. The site itself is whatever (yeah, we read that review of TransWorld … dis!), but they’ve got active discussion boards that are broken down into regions and even one for the ladies. Everyone knows it’s more fun to shred with a crew.
Thanks, TWS, for helping out a rider by referring him to a site that he might find helpful, even if it did give you a “dis” review. Now that’s customer service. Thanks also for the kind words about the discussion boards. I have found them helpful and I know that others have, too.
By the way, another letter in the same issue comes from “a mom of three boys that all snowboard.” She asks “is there any hope of learning to snowboard at 40?”
Absolutely! The TWS staff gave a good reply: “Hey, you can and you will learn this winter–just take some lessons, use the right equipment, and try not to fall on your wrists.”
We’ve finally joined the new media world. The Grays on Trays site now has a Facebook page, a Facebook group, and a Twitter feed. There’s also the original bulletin board.
Mind if I celebrate a bit?
In her book Outdoors Online: An Internet Guide to Everything Wild & Green (Mountaineer Books, 2007), Erika Dillmam had some favorable things to say about Grays on Trays:
“You don’t have to miss out on the fun just because you don’t like loud, jargon-filled snowboarding sites produced by twenty-year-olds. Leave the logos and beer bongs behind, and pull up a seat at the adult table. Grays on Trays is one of the best introductions to snowboarding on the web–regardless of your age. Created by “a middle-aged guy from the Midwest,” it’s humorous, well-written, and inspiring (not in a corny way, but in a “get off your bum and try something new” sort of way). You’ll need to learn a few basic terms so you can communicate with other boarders, but many, such as “face plant,” “butt plant,” and “boot” are fairly self-explanatory.”
Thanks!
I started this site a few years ago precisely because there didn’t seem to be any place for a grown-up discussion of snowboarding. It’s not that snowboarding is serious stuff (like the complexities of family life, death, the mysteries of faith, or whatnot). Still, adult readers deserve an introduction to snowboarding that doesn’t require them to feel like they’re sitting in their kid’s high school classroom. It’s gratifying to know that my work has been recognized as useful, not only by participants on the discussion board, but in a guide to online resources.
By the way, Grays on Trays has three components: This blog, the discussion board, and the main site itself.
GraysOnTrays.com is all about spreading the joy of snowboarding to adults. And now we’ve got t-shirts to prove it! The shirts come in gray (naturally!) and feature a colorful emblem.
These shirts are long-sleeve cotton tees. You can get further information (including a close-up of the stylized graphic) and order shirts at the Grays on Trays t-shirt page.
Grays on Trays.com has entered Myspace.com. Yes, the web site that makes it safe for the parents of young snowboarders to take up snowboarding themselves has entered the web site dominated by youngsters.
Why?
I’m still working on that one.
Actually, there are several reasons. Not everyone on MySpace is 16 years old; at least if the profiles are to believed. In addition, even those who are a mere 16 might know people over 30–their parents, perhaps–who could be interested in snowboarding.
MySpace has an odd assortment of pages. Some are from individuals–the typical 17-year old wanting to talk about her favorite movies or bands. Others are tribute pages to individuals clearly dead. A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal noted that several candidates for Congress made use of the web site. And I’ve noticed some organizations as well.
MySpace is all about collecting “friends,” or members linking to each other. We’re not all about all that; it smells a lot like a high school popularity contest. That being said, if you are over 30, have a MySpace profile, and are a shredder, feel free to send a friend request to the Grays on Trays profile. You never know how these networking things play out, but it might mean that a solitary “old” snowboarder finds a lift buddy.
By the way, some ski areas have MySpace profiles. These include Afton Alps (Minnesota); Aspen Snowmass (Colorado); Sunday River (Maine) Swiss Valley (Michigan), and Mountain Creek (New York).
Some ski areas have not created a profile, so they have fallen victim to “black” profiles. These putative profiles are meant to disparage the ski area in question. One example is Spring Mountain (Pennsylvania). Its profile reads, in part, “I have no potential. my snow will put black tar on the bottom of your board.”
PBS has pledge weeks. ESPN has commercials. Grays on trays.com has … a modest revenue stream.
If you need some snowboarding gear, check out the GOT store at Amazon.com. Referral fees help increase the outreach of Grays on Trays to existing and prospective adult snowboarders.
Right now, there are no snowboards listed there. I’ve set it up so that the categories are as clean (that is, having no extraneous material) as I can in a reasonable amount of time. Setting up other categories, such as the boards themselves, may take more time.
(Bumped to the top and updated with a new URL.)
The story of snowboarding adults has made its way to Competitor magazine. A story that I wrote about adult snowboarders appears in the November issue (now online).
Competitor bills itself as “the trusted monthly guide for active, affluent sports participants across the country.”
According to the magazine’s media kit (PDF), Competitor has a circulation of 100,000 and a readership of 285,000. Distribution is through Rubios, a chain of upmarket fast-food Mexican restaurants, sporting goods stores, and LA Fitness (with 160 locations, including some far from California), 24 Hour Fitness, Jamba Juice, some sporting goods stores, and other locations.
The average household income of the magazine’s readers is $74,000, and over one-third claim an income of over $100,000.
The mountains, equipment, and gear sellers who want to follow the money would do well to look into this publication–and the market of adults who ride snowboards.
Update: Apparently this publishing company is bigger than I thought. The article has made it over to Florida Sports Magazine. It’s the same magazine, repackaged and with some editorial modifications. Stated circulation is 75,000 with readership of 225,000. According to the media kit (PDF), 14 percent of readers are downhill skiers, but only 7 percent are snowboarders. Still, with an average age of 41, the number of Floridians who are grays on trays could exceed 15,000.
Update: The word is spreading! See Texas City Sports. Circulation: 80,000; Readership, 240,000.
