Full monty on the facts here; I'm new to blogging.  Only been at it for about four months.  So it would be fair to say that I'm too stupid to understand the blogging system fully.  And it would not be incorrect to assume that I'm too new (stupid won't hurt my feelings either) to know how to cheat the system.

So imagine my surprise when I read in our local newspaper today about being paid to blog.  For a company.  You test the product and then write a review.  A positive one.  One that says all the things said company wants to hear you say (write).

Hmm.

Now I was a journalist in high school, college and the Marine Corps.  And I didn't uncover Watergate but, uh, that seems kinda - grey.  Being paid to be a journalist is fine.  Being paid to be an editor is fine.  But being paid to review a product and write about the product with a paycheck in mind is... is not fine.

I'm providing a link to an article that was in the Orlando Sentinal today here.  In it you will see about a company here in Orlando that pays people to blog.  Okay, fair enough (and since I'm new to this I'm a little envious).  But then I read this on another blog.  And now it's not so "fair enough".

So I do a little research and sure enough, the company mentioned in the Sentinel PayPerPost is becoming - grey.  And I don't mean in the distinguished kind of grey.  They even drew the ire of the FTC, not something anyone wants on their resume'.  There is a write-up about their less than ethical activity here.

I guess I've lost my blogging innocence.