I've been a longtime and avid reader of D*S - as a consumer and hopefully one day a seller, so I really appreciate the advice. It makes complete sense and I'm embarassed for the people who sent those rude emails to you. Hopefully they learn from your post!

Great advice Grace! Thanks for stating #3 (free listing services). Many emails to me have started with 'you need to post this'. Hmmm...you need to learn how to approach people!

thanks again!

This is the first time I have read anything of yours that left a very bad impression about you personally, I'm sorry to say.

I was with you on your point about making sure your product is relevant to the site, but then you lost me.

You used to work in a design PR firm which was getting lots of money to promote products. I seriously doubt that most of the people who contact you for your blog have the power of such a firm behind them - but you certainly seem to think they should act as if they are one.

Faux friendly? How do you know? Because being very friendly just isn't done.

And a lot of these businesses are struggling for their very existence, I can imagine some feeling the pressure and it coming across as demanding.

These people may have read somewhere that the best way to get something published is to write up a blurb about it, or know how overwhelmed you are from following your site and just want to help out a bit.

Then you go on to complain about the way in which people provide you information about their product - again probably many of them not really having PR experience and who have a lot riding on their new work.

See, I thought that you were all about good design. I imagined that regardless if someone was pushy, or overly friendly, or too helpful or too exhuberant about their work - that if it was good it would get published. That in the end, it was all about design*sponge getting the best and the most interesting out to us, your faithful readers.

Instead I now know that if your I-used-to-work-in-PR expectations are unmet then you won't be publishing good design, no you'll turn up your nose instead - because you used to work at a PR firm and you know how it's supposed to be done.

"No one likes to be called dumb," you say - but if you didn't just do that yourself then I don't know what this post was about.

This is a most disappointing post and it is unfortunate that you have been selected to write a column on running a small business.

You didn't just "used to work in PR"... you still do. Your website is nothing more than a listing service for your friends and former clients.

We've done our research on you and your former employer and the majority of your posts continue to shill for a few select designers and small retailers.

You don't run small business. You don't know anything about inventory, accounting controls or, for that matter, technology. It's unfortunate that Slate has chosen to pick a 25-year old newbie to represent small business -- especially one that is so naive to the way real small business owners have to struggle.

This post just showed your utter ignorance.

If Slate chooses to censor this comment, it will truly reflect a lack of insight as to how this medium is supposed to work.

Grace,
Such a great and oh so relevant post. Sometimes folks need a reminder (or lesson) to use their common sense! Thank you!

I have to agree with the last comment.

I've never felt more talked-down to by an author who is supposed to be helping grow a business.

I also didn't realize Grace Bonney worked in PR before design*sponge. That certainly does damage her credibility with me.

We're not dumb, Grace, just desperately trying to get real businesses off the ground.

knick name is misspelled. It's NICK

Ignore the jealous people, Grace. The bigger you get the more people want to hate.

Karen :)

Karen just sent me to this post- all the people who are angry have GOT to be kidding. Someone says what we're all thinking and you get pissed? Get a life, really.

Also, how does "George" know anything? Are you Grace's accountant? I doubt it. People always seem so pissed at the idea that anyone would make money doing what they love. Grace lives off of a product blog- if that makes you mad DON'T READ IT.

I'm with you, Grace. Ignore the angry people who wish they were doing what they love.

Jill :)

Some very concerned readers alerted me to the comment section and thought I should address the angry people (well, mostly they thought I should stick it to George). If George things he is the first person to lob those claims at me he's sorely mistaken. I'm become numb to hearing:

-I'm a total hack because I worked at a PR firm.
-I'm too sugary/sweet/gushy
-I must get paid to post things because it's a product blog.

After you hear something so many times all you feel is sorry that someone is so upset about something as relatively trivial as a product blog. Thanks to everyone who felt upset enough to email me about the comments but it's really just par for the course.

xo,
D*S

I am so thankful that these posts are being allowed through now. I was beginning to worry that I was the only one who felt anything other than complete adoration and praise for these posts. I do not feel inspired or encouraged or helped in any way. Honestly, as a small business owner (not a blogger) I felt as if Slate - by have Grace Bonney claim to be a "small business owner" - is telling me that what I have done, and am currently doing, is... well, a complete waste of time. Apparently, I shouldn't have spent all that time working within another business, learning about invoicing and ordering and customer service. I shouldn't have spent all that time rehashing a business plan and creating solid and lasting relationships with my clients. Because as Slate is representing to me, and Grace is telling me flat-out, I should have let any success simply fall into my lap and just chock it up to a love for what I'm doing and a lot of coincidence and luck. Not inspiring and not even close to realistic. It's unprofessional of both Slate and Grace Bonney to have ventured in to this feature mis-labeling everything: Calling design*sponge a business... presenting these posts as something that will help other small businesses... I implore everyone reading Ms. Bonney's posts to redirect their attention to Mr. Kruse's posts - where you will be inspired... and you may actually learn something.

Grace,

As a longtime reader of yours, I just felt the need to respond and say that I thought this article was well thought out and informative. I am utterly appalled that any reader out there would take offense to this type of advice, or use your previous experience as a strike against you. It makes me assume these are the same people who are guilty of the unprofessional behavior you mentioned above.

I am an attorney, and although that is quite different than the design business, the tips you mentioned for submissions only ask for the same courtesy as any employer would want from a job applicant, ie: no long attachments, no rude cover letters, no applications from people without the qualifications asked for by the employer (I'm referring to the non-relevant product submissions), and so on.

To all those who submitted the negative comments, no matter what your business, be it design or carpet cleaners, a little professionalism goes a long way. That's just life.

Professionalism must go both ways. Making shot-in-the-dark claims or accusations against someone is indeed unprofessional. On the other side of the matter, however, Grace should realize that some people reading this series of articles on Slate are new to d*s and to her past situations. They are ignorant of what she has gone through, and have not heard her rebuttals in the past.

It is an unwelcome but necessary obligation for her to be professional and not ignore the comments, but rather to point people to the information they seek, or to restate positions she might have made clear two years ago. In Internet time, two years is an age. If you are going to be a web-persona, you must be diligent about maintaining your image, and sometimes that means answering the same questions over and over again.

Also, if you are allowed to take a "product blog" seriously as a businesswoman, expect people, admirers and detractors, to take it seriously as well.

Above, Grace said "After you hear something so many times all you feel is sorry that someone is so upset about something as relatively trivial as a product blog."

She inadvertantly said her business was trivial, and I believe she did not mean that. Otherwise there would be no point in doint it, and there would certainly be no point in claiming it was a legitimate business.

However, if you say it, people will think you mean it.

I appreciated the post and found the information helpful. Grace does not claim to be an expert but rather shares thoughts on running her site (which makes money, thus a "business", to the nay-sayers) from her personal perspective.

When is an income generating activity considered a small business? Perhaps “small business owner” is the wrong classification for Grace, and the appropriate is “entrepreneur”? I don’t know the answer to this, but what people here say is that unless you have a business plan, an inventory, accounting controls, and technology, you aren’t a business. An activity which provides a service but no tangible product won’t have inventory. The only accounting control Grace needs is a properly filed 1040. And whether or not she knows about technology, well…?? Since when was that a requirement to be considered a small business?? Grace produces content which generates a readership which generates ad sales which generates interest in her expertise all of which generates income. She knows how to attract and retain an audience. She is considered by many in the field to be an expert. She provides trend snapshots, presents profiles of designers, in short, she offers services. You might equate her to a consultancy. There are tons of print magazines which would love to capitalize on her expertise and do the same for themselves. That knowledge has a price. Is McKinsey less of a business because they only sell you ideas and analysis? What about an attorney who sells you a legal opinion? If Grace were a print magazine, you’d consider her a small business owner, but because her product is virtual, she isn’t? I’ll skip over the fact that another part of design*sponge is a shop with physical inventory and accounting controls (i.e. income and expenditure), because it seems as though George’s research stopped short of this. Maybe Grace should have a business plan. But that’s a reason why her presence is valuable, not why it’s not valuable. You can still learn from this.

The other points here that people seem bunged up about is that Grace used to be in PR, you think her post was crummy, she happens to have made friends with some of the people whose products she puts on her website. To this I’d say that she was smart enough to use prior work experience to make this current work experience work for her. Most people do that. In fact, most people are hired in jobs based on applicable knowledge and skills learned in previous jobs. Even the front page case study on Lightning Labels says “I hired someone from the bankrupt company to show me the ropes”. Grace works with magazine editors. Magazine editors respect what Grace writes. She’s telling you what she has learned. You may not like that things are that way, and of course it’s just her opinion, but there you go. I guess again, I don’t see the problem. As far as the “friends” thing welcome to the real world. That’s the case everywhere. A good deal of success is who you know, but it’s also what you know. Grace doesn’t know everyone she posts on her site, but some of the people she does know. I met her through her site. That’s what happens when you stay in one field for a while. That’s one of the things that makes the world go round-- Relationships. (Small business owners struggling I am sure appreciate being able to call on suppliers with whom they've established a good relationship to have more favorable payment terms, or whatever, right??)

So, I guess I think that if someone doesn’t like design*sponge or don’t like Grace for personal reasons, that’s something she can’t do anything about. You win some, you lose some. But if there are real reasons that “disqualify” her from being able to talk about small business, or the aspects of the work that she does which could be of wider interest to other business owners, I’d be interested in seeing them articulated in a more compelling and coherent manner.

Please don't miscontrue this as a personal post, because it's not. I just don't see how any of these critical posts actually contributed to learning about small business or approaching an aspect of small business.

thanks from a 25-year old pr girl. people are just so sensitive.

Kristina, current guest-blogger at design*sponge, wrote:

"If Grace were a print magazine, you’d consider her a small business owner, but because her product is virtual, she isn’t?"

Not quite... but in a way, yes. In order to produce a regular print magazine, one must deal with designing all the pages, choosing cover stories, ad-sales, production, distribution, subscription, marketing, management, logistics, storage, etc. A company producing a magazine typically has a rather sizeable staff that the owner must pay, figure out benefits for, and deal with on a day-to-day basis. Copyright issues, materials, proofing, delivery, accounting, packaging... and the list goes on... all of these things make a business.

Sure, not every business has to deal with all of these issues, but if you compare this to a website, hosted freely, that admittedly has put no time, effort, or money into marketing, that admittedly has no true direction or plan, well, Garce is taking on more of a "freelance endeavor than a business.

Make no mistake, what Grace does on design*sponge IS a valid thing, but being a freelance writer is NOT being a small business owner.

As for being an entrepreneur, the literal definition of an entrepreneur is "a person who owns or operates a business, taking on greater than normal financial risks to do so." Indeed, there is a risk/reward relationship to entrepreneurship, and that is definitely not what is happening as d*s. Entrepreneurs take advantage of their success to make larger moves, take bigger risks, and seek greater rewards. Also, I would wager that any true entrepreneur would never make a move without a business plan. Ever.

I am a freelance graphic designer who deals with marketing, has deadlines outside of my own desires, has to deal with clients, printers, web hosting companies, etc. I provide a service that results in both virtual and real-world results. I work for myself, I operate an income-generating online store, and I deal with multiple editors and contributors on my website (which I update multiple times, daily), but I would not say that I "own a small business." There is a distinct difference, to me, between owning and operating a business and making money.

All things considered, I'm way more interested in the discourse generated by the BizBox comment board than by the actual post above. I think it's interesting that people are more interested in discussing whether or not Grace Bonney is qualified to talk about business than they are in discussing the actual content she's writing about.

Peoples' opinions on business vary wildly, and in the end, I suppose it's up to Slate to decide what the BizBox is about, and to explain to its readers why their guest bloggers are qualified to speak on small business practice.

I hope that I articulated my opinions in a compelling and coherent manner for you.

Hi JW,

Thanks for promoting my guestblog on design*sponge!

I think the post and the comments are useful. Some small businesses may not be able to afford to pay someone for marketing and may want to take a shot at it themselves. Particularly in the design sphere but also external relations in general, I think Grace's post gives insight into what mentality the 'pitcher' will be facing.

As for the comments, I agree with you, I had hoped they would generate something more germane. Perhaps the definition of Small Business would be useful? Maybe it's in the number of employees?? I admittedly don't know what criteria BizBox uses to select its contributors, nor do I know what SBA says.

Most of the things you list that make an activity a business are things that Grace does do: She pays a coder to design the pages and a designer for the artwork, she chooses the content ("cover stories"), she does the ad-sales, she produces it, she chose blogger as her distribution channel, she does marketing, she manages it all, and now with the store (which nobody here seems to want to acknowledge, but Grace did market it and get it into the NYT and the Washington Post) she handles logistics and storage as well. She has to deal with copyright issues, proofing, delivery, accounting, and packaging...in short, she is a business according to your own definition.

Without getting into the minutiae of what a "true" entrepreneur is or what constitutes "normal financial risks", and again, without referring to the design*sponge shop which fits your criteria of "Entrepreneurs take advantage of their success to make larger moves, take bigger risks, and seek greater rewards," I can say that the most useful input here so far has been Grace's post.

blogger is a template-driven website, so if you're paying someone to design the pages, I'd say you're getting ripped off. buying a book on CSS and spending a few hours with it would teach you all you need to know to take advantage of blogger.com's template to make a great design. i read design*sponge daily and enjoy it, but i would hate to think that someone is getting paid to layout the images- pasting images together? resizing them?

as for jw's comments, i think what he was saying was that real world production is way more involved than single-page website production, and for some that makes a big difference. saying that grace chooses 'cover stories' is very silly, kristina. her entire website is one big cover that scrolls chronologically. print publications obviously have a deeper hierarchy, and something that is debated over at most publications. what foot does this magazine want to put forward this month? grace doesn't have to think about that, her posts run down the list depending on when she posts them. big difference.

from what grace has said, it is implied that she just falls into opportunities rather than creating them. she glosses over being 'mentioned' in the nytimes. well, if she actually did something to promote herself to get in there, we'd like to know about it! because the way i understand it from her words, it just happened because she knew somebody, and that's all there was.

that's the whole reason people are taking issue with her posts and her claim (or slate's) to be a small business- she's constantly trivializing her business, and nothing on this site so far has said anything about hard work, planning, or pushing your business forward. grace tells us that people just started calling her one day, that she doesn't make enough money to pay the rent, that she has a busy schedule of blogging and petting cats, and that people shouldn't really think too much about what she's doing. that doesn't sound like the business owners i know.

as for taking risks and the design*sponge shop, an acquaintence of mine has product in the shop right now, and i know that 100% of the money made at the shop goes to the artists and designers, and none of it goes to design*sponge. once again, all she's making money off of is ad sales. that's not at all risky, that's not at all forward-thinking for a business, and it's just plain counter-intuitive in terms of profit. she's throwing away the strength of her name or brand by not capitalizing on it.

maybe the trick is to learn what not to do in business here?

tanya p - thank you for that succint and to-the-point post... brilliant. thank you for saying all of what I was thinking and more.

Now that Tanya has resolved the many questions we all had and has set the record straight on Grace Bonney and the intricate behind the scenes working of design*sponge, could someone who is a successful business owner or who actually knows something about running a business please depersonalize this discussion and weigh in on the perils of not having a business plan? People who disagree with the post on getting visbility for your product maybe you could share a successful approach to marketing/promoting your own products that you've found which works?

Anon,

Sarcasm noted, but I agree regardless; let's move on to a real discussion about business.

A start: I've found that John Janstch's "Ask The Expert" column here on the BizBox is AWESEOME and informative, and is doing exactly what we are unsuccessfully doing on the comment board- it gets to the heart of the matter of business operation and good advice. Here are a few clips:

Fort Collins, Colo.: Do you think Small Business Marketing is going to be more important in the future or is it going to be blended with no differentiation with large companies marketing becouse of the low cost in new digital ad and marketing tools ?

John Janstch: Ft Collins - (by the way I have two daughters at CSU! Go Rams)

I hesitate to say more important because I think marketing has always been one of the most important activties a small business can engage in - in fact, small bussinesses are really marketing bussinesses.

The definition of marketing for me is gettting someone who has a need to know, like and trust you. The small business, usually can't afford to buy know, like and trust and so has always had the need to be more creative, more focused and more resourceful to build trust.

Small businesses can use the new technology you refer to as an advantage in that game.

and:

Anonymous: I would like to open a specialty retailer. The biggest challenge to me is finding out how I will get my products and what they will cost. Distributors and jobbers won't even talk to you about this unless you already have an existing business, or so it seems. What is the best way to approach these vendors?

John Janstch: Anonymous: Without a little more information the best advice I can give you is to find an association or trade show that represents the industry you are trying to tackle and invest in going to a show or joining an association. This is one of the best ways to start making contact with manufactures, distributors and even friendly competitors.

It's also a great way to find the newest products.

and a final example:

Clearwater, Florida: I have a small professional service firm that provides self employed indivuduals with Solo 401k and Roth Solo 401k retirement plans via http://www.solo-k.com.

I'm trying to increase my traffic volumes. Would press releases about particular retirement oriented events help? Or do I need to provide more substantial information products such as white papers or ebooks? Or should I do both??

John Janstch: Clearwater: I think you answered your own question. Do both. Provide press releases and submit articles to article directories and print publications. Also, create a simple white paper - something like - The 10 most misunderstood facts about Roth IRAs. Start a blog too - I guess you get the theme.

The front page of BizBox has a link to this, or you can go here: http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/05/bizbox_slate.htm

I think this sort of information is really the kind of thing I was expecting from the BizBoxBlogs, only coupled with some information more specific to the small business owner that is blogging, instead of as a straight-up advice post. I don't have a problem with the general recommendations that have already been presented by Grace on BizBox, and I'd say only a handful of ornery people would actually be able to find a reason to argue with the tips she gives in her posts. It's more a "where is this coming from" reaction, I believe... is she a blogger or a business owner? Should it matter? Will she step up and talk about her feelings on that issue?

It's only been a month, it's hard to tell what the shape of a series will take. But, as always, I find the whole thing interesting.

JW

Sounds like someone's pissed that they weren't picked to post for Slate. Nice try proving that YOU can discuss a different type of business within the comment section. We're all very impressed with your personal rant as well when you tell call Slate: "You fucking sacks of shit". Classy, man.

jw (and various anons above)

i'm commenting on a few things here. a lot of these comments have taken a personal spin and when that happens clearly i'm not going to engage in that sort of discussion. i will however chat about a few of the comments above.

after much reading and discussing with other people it seems the core complaint here is: why on earth are you qualified to comment on business? (feel free to rant and yell at this point. or perhaps jw could just call slate "fucking sacks of shit" again)

as long as i've had my blog i've tried to downplay anything businessy or professional about my site. i've tried to keep thinking of it as a hobby and not as something that is my real job. in truth, it is. i've downplayed it in part because until recently i've still considered myself a "kid" because the thought of running something and taking it seriously seemed scary. perhaps some of you remember the first moment you realized you were doing something that was real and was actually a job? it can be a weird and almost terrifying feeling. but in the last 6 months and certainly since i've launched my shop, i've started to respect the hard work i've done and the business i've created. it took a lot of work to get where i am and whether or not i started with a formal business plan, what i've created is, by any definition (even the dictionary version) a business.

i don't disclose my personal finances but i actually make more than enough money to live off of my blog if i chose to. that said, i choose to reinvest that money in the site (development, expansion, the shop, etc.) but, if we're talking about the blog alone, i believe that the sale of goods (advertising in my case) for a profit (which i make) is the definition of business. it's certainly not a conventional business or maybe not even a business some people feel deems a place on this site. however, slate felt that i had something unique to say and i feel strongly that i do. at a relatively young age i've taken a hobby and turned it into a full-time job that i run entirely by myself. i've created a shop, an ad campaign, a consulting service and what is very realistically a brand on my own terms. i think that what i've learned is worth hearing for a lot of people who are trying to do the same thing.

i'm part of a new type of business that isn't big. it isn't formal. it may not have been planned out or have been the result of months of meetings with a financial planner. it grew naturally from hobby to full-time job and i there is nothing wrong with that. there are legions of small business owners that started a hobby and now live off of it and i'm merely one of them. if that upsets you please feel free to read another site.

however, i also run a shop. a real, honest-to-goodness shop with goods being sold (i even deal with inventory, jw!) and hours spent packaging things on the floor and waiting in line to ship them at the post office. i have several posts coming up this week and next about my shop but before i could even get to the posts it seems people raged into a mob about the unfairness of me being here (and that it took until the next morning for comments to show up). if the shop posts and notes on running an online shop still aren't "businessy" enough then i'm afraid i'll never please all of you. but that's ok with me. i can't possibly make everyone happy on a site this large.

that said, the result my second post on this blog is a 75 person meet-up taking place next week at dwr with female business owners in the nyc area. if nothing else, this event (full of people without formal business plans yet somehow running a business and living off of it) and the business connections that will come from it will have been worth whatever upset has been expressed in this comment section. if i get yelled at for a month on slate but get to help women running businesses connect than that's a-ok with me.

the truth is, i've worked very hard to create the business i run. i'd assumed that it would obvious that someone doesn't create what is for all intents and purposes a successful brand without hard work, a plan and some business sense. every month i sit down and plan the site's next venture, how to expand and how to create something that is both useful for the community and will generate enough profit to support myself. i do that through the shop, advertising, consulting work and writing. all of which are part of the d*s umbrella. it's a small business for sure, but it's one that i've put a lot of time, effort, planning and heart into. my plans may be small and informal but they're real and have had a big effect on my life and others in this industry. hopefully that will become more apparent as i post and if not, i'm sure mr. kruse would be thrilled to have you on his half of the site ;)

d*s

This is the key statement in Grace Bonney's post above:

"i'm part of a new type of business..."

...and that is why her presence here is entirely valid. It's a new business model, she's a success, and there are many more following in her wake.

A self-employed artist myself, I stumbled upon her blog when she first started it a few years ago - and became hooked because the content was so interesting. Aside from enjoying the content, it's been fascinating to watch her blog evolve - you could see her becoming a self-made sensation - perhaps without her even realizing it! Blogging has become an incredible medium for communication, and I think Grace Bonney is on the forefront of this new medium.

i completely agree with anon (above) that d*s and other non-traditional businesses are best described as "a new type of business". many small businesses start unconventionally, and sometimes, that is what makes them successful and what makes their product or service interesting their customers.

you also have to remember that d*s is a creative-based business, and the people, brands, and other businesses she promotes are creatively based as well. which means those small businesses, by nature, don't always follow the same rules and logic as other types of companies (even if some still do).

i think jw should give himself more credit, sounds like a small business to me you got there..

I'm surprised Grace you have yet to respond to any of my comments.

You have so many complaints about how people (people who are struggling to make it in business and do not have your PR background) approach you about their design 'too friendly, too helpful, blah blah blah'

Your post could have been relevant and professional, instead you chose to talk down to people who are merely approaching you with their life's work.

Frankly, if I were in your position, I would be helpful, helpful, helpful (your website doesn't even have information on it about how to submit work!) rather than talk down to those who make the site successful.

That's right - the designers make your site successful, you should be grateful they seek you out to share their work with.

You're taking advantage of a blogger free account and a Flickr free account to serve your images (which, btw violates Flickr's TOS) - yet you're happy to demean people you don't feel are professional enough for your tastes.

Help us out here, but don't talk down to us.

olh

i didn't address your comment because i stand by my post and the content within.

i also stand by my record of helping people and helping artists and if you feel otherwise than i suggest you speak with the artists i've featured. and yes, there is a guideline for submitting work, both on my site and the shop site. and well, that's what this entire post was about. along with with NOT to do i included what TO do.

if someone is trying to send their life's work out to be feature on any site and in any magazine it is actually helpful to tell them about targeting their work. if you read the next post you'll see that not only writers but shop owners also feel strongly that targeting your work is the best thing you can do. i think it's helpful, not rude, to let artists know the do's and don'ts of submitting your work.

i'm sorry if you feel that this slights people or is rude. i feel quite the opposite and think that my record with helping people is well documented.

d*s

Grace's topic was "How to get your work online" and I think has done a good job of addressing the topic. As a magazine editor, like Grace, I receive many approaches from people hoping to have their product featured in the magazine, and her advice is sound. What she is doing is essentially offering people advice on how to improve their PR, and that always goes a long way for a small business.

It doesn't matter how great your product is, if you aren't targeting your marketing, you're wasting your time. I'm constantly sent emails that start with the line, "I have a great story for your magazine..." followed by information on something entirely irrelevant to us. Even if it's a great product for someone else, I don't have time to advise people who they should be approaching instead of me.

Someone complained that it sounded like Grace was saying great product will get ignored without decent PR and to a certain degree that's true - because there is a lot of great product out there. I find though, that often the people with the attention to detail to make sure their product is clearly photographed, their information is relevant and their approach is polite but not pushy, are the ones smart enough to make the best products in the first place. Go figure.

Grace,

You clearly didn't read my post, I think you're operating in a rather reactive mode right now because of the criticism you've received.

But I stated up front I appreciated the part of your post that touched on the need for a targeted approach - yet your response to my post acts as if I had a problem with that and you know people who agree with you about that and if I don't well, too bad...

Seriously.

I run a design site, successful - and make a living from the proceeds. I hear from all types of designers who ask me in all sorts of ways about featuring their work - and I thank every single one of them for their contact and none should worry that if they don't follow the the-way-PR-should-be-done it will have any affect on my decision to feature them or not.

Those that present work that doesn't fit my site, are happily referred to other sites where I think their work would be a great asset.

I don't 'bang my head over their stupidity for approaching me about something that clearly doesn't fit' - no, I am happy to help.

That's my issue with your post. Your attitude. You're in the design world and it's filled with all types - the best part of it is that they're all hoping and dreaming and wishing and doing.

I'm happy to be amongst those people, happy to be their and give back what I can.

It sounds like your ears are closed to my feedback here, you're happier to vilify me and others who took you to task for the attitude you displayed.

If anything, it demonstrates that you're still fresh in this industry. One wouldn't expect such a baldly forward piece from a pro.

olh

you assume that because i complained above that i don't give help to people who email me. the purpose of the post above was to give best practices for online submissions. not to insult those who don't follow them. this information is actually helpful and will save those people running small businesses time and money. if you don't see that then i'm afraid i'll never convince you.

you also ssume that i ignore emails that don't fit my ideal pr guidelines. i'm not sure why but i never said that and i most certainly don't. i respond to every single email i get, most within the first few hours i get them. even the ones that aren't targeted to my site. i also suggest links to sites that might be more appropriate. it's interesting that a pro would assume that i do that...

d*s

Note: No one's comments were ever censored on this blog. People have made comments about being "censored" and it's entirely untrue.

Much like every other large website, Slate moderates their comments to weed out spam and profanity. Also much like every other large site, comments are moderated by a real person who goes home at the end of the day. If your comments are placed after they go home, they won't be posted until they come back to work in the morning. This is true of many, many websites. So instead of assuming that you're being censored (and yelling at the person who runs the site via email) look at the clock and the site to see if any other new comments have been posted. If not, Slate's employees have probably gone home for the night. It's merely a work hour situation, not "censorship."

d*s

"the purpose of the post above was to give best practices for online submissions. not to insult those who don't follow them."

Thank you for that clarification, that helps. Because I think there were people - myself included - who felt insulted by the post.

to Anonymous (above) who began their comment with "Sounds like someone's pissed... What I'm most impressed by is your ability to misquote something from someone else's site while, at the same time, infringing upon the rules and regulations of the site you are commenting on. You inordinately misquoted JW and used additional profanity in your comment. Now that's classy.

Well, if JW can't be mature enough not to curse on his own site then why should anonymous commenters be held to the same standards? He set the bar pretty low.

Well, see, on my site, the area for people to write rants encourages the use of swearing, because the Tirades are meant to be exaggerated, hot-headed bias remarks for entertainment purposes.

Not only did "Anonymous" post swearing on this site, which Slate says will removed under the "Post a Comment" guidelines: "(Comments that include profanity, personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed.)", but Grace mis-quoted the profane statement from my personal website as well! Awesome.

I'll be checking on those two profane comments, one posted by the blog author herself, to see if they are removed by Slate, as their rules clearly suggest.

I say or do things on my own website that I would not do on another one, that's why I have it. Also, I sign my name and my URL to comments I leave on sites- full disclosure. That seems a bit more mature than writing anonymous posts.

Anyone wishing to write mean things and profanity are welcome to visit my website, as it's much more of a venue for that sort of thing. However, if you wish to discuss business or the legitmacy of BizBox posts, you should continue posting here.

Done.