Is it right to ask your own child to be your ghost writer?
I’ve been having my suspicions about this kid ever since he started blogging about “making money”. I mean, he’s only 13 right? How can he talk about moneymaking like it’s a piece of cake? Where are all his insights coming from? When I was 13, I was just entering puberty, throwing away all my toys and thinking of only one thing (hmm..) And honestly, I wouldn’t have had enough smarts to talk about making money, let alone any remotely interesting topic that’s bloggable. Then again, there was no such thing as a blog that time, but I digress.
Noemi pointed out that we are all spectators to this modern-day emperor’s new clothes. And she’s right. We see something that’s so blatantly wrong but have no guts to acknowledge it. But I guess that can be attributed to the fact that this grand scheme of deception involves a minor, a teenager, a boy who’s basically just coming to grips with himself. When and if his cover is blown by the blogosphere and, God forbid, the media, only he will end up as the major casualty. How can he protect himself? How can he handle all the negative press? When all the damage is done, how can he move on? Those questions are among the reasons why I held back in exposing this story a long time ago. So I let the status quo continue. But Noemi’s right. If we do continue to keep our silence we become a part of the conspiracy.
I can only imagine how much pressure is put on him by his dad. Thankfully, my father pressured me into pursuing what I love doing, that is, web development (blogging is just a perk of web dev *wink*). But he let me enjoy my youth to the fullest, sans the stuff adults usually worry about. How this kid is being raised is really none of my business. But when he’s being pushed around like that, that’s a different story. This blog post was not written out of spite, but out of concern. I can only hope the kid can go back to being a kid unscathed.
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And I really thought I would be alone in this when I blog about it. I wanted to make a stand just so it won’t happen again. As to what that blog’s future, only they can tell .
Hmm, I agree. That does sound suspicious, even from the beginning. I don’t know what the truth is behind that blog, but I do know that when I was just 13 years old I didn’t know squat about money-making, and I was never interested in it. Playing was all I could think of! But that was me. 😀
I know that it’s not impossible that the kid is really the one doing the writing. Not impossible but highly improbable.
The biggest backyard marketing ploy I’ve ever seen in recent history.
if he were not only a kid–the blogosphere would have reacted with mighty vengeance pronto. how could this person have taken many people for a ride–in fact, many intelligent people. from the very beginning noemi and i aired our suspicions to each other, but we remained quiet. we gave the kid the benefit of a doubt, even though it was highly improbable. noemi has her piece, meaning it is out in the open now–it is not gossip. it is an observation. but let not the father think that noemi and i are a bunch of morons, who bit hook, bait and sinker to his scheme.
somebody has to protect this kid from the lashing tongues his father alone has caused to wag. spare the kid, the father should be fully responsible.
and andrew, do not call the kid the “ghost writer” of his father. the kid as “ghost writer” means the kid is the one writing. NO, the writing style of the technical writing posts are not of a 13 or 14 year old kid, they are writings of an adult, except perhaps for those very few posts where grammatical errors are evident.
In that niche (if you can call “money-making online” a niche that is), the ploy is actually very subtle, comparatively. Iam inclined to pass this one off as an immature spin.
I mean if the guy really meant to sacrifice his values for traffic, he looks very capable to do those other things.
This particular space is littered with practices that are much much worse and with people who are willing to do them.
That doesn’t make it right, of course. But taken within the context of this particular market he is operating in and this market’s prevailing practices, I’d say he’s just a guy who wants to spin things a little (and little more) without actually dipping his hands on that proverbial cookie jar of scam and near-scam techniques that actually hurt a lot of people.
It is so sad that people would do anything just for the sake of money.
The kid really doesn’t stand a chance with the negative publicity. His name will be tarnished, even if the one at fault is his dad. No matter how hard we try to move the attention from the kid to his father, the kid would still suffer.
I wonder how their party would react to this issue.
When I was 13 I was still playing with my Barbie dolls! Hehe. Miguel’s 13 and he definitely doesn’t write that way. Oh well, I hope we can just let the kids enjoy being what they truly are… kids. It’d be interesting to hear what the Dad has to say though.
I really have been suspicious even before, his emphasis on the 13-year old is what got me… too bad for the kid, his name is already tarnished even before he could really prove what he’s worth.
Poor kid. Now he’s suffering from the embarrassment his father placed upon him. My suspicious were confirmed when I read his father’s blog. Which has a very identical style of writing than that of Carlo.
I started doing my web dev (basic html) when I was 13 but I never thought of having interest in making money online. I published contents about Anime, Carton and Manga but the idea of posting strategies on making money online, never.
I agree with kuya abe, yeah…it’s the biggest backyard marketing ploy. Not to mention that it was successful.
Kuya drew, yet another controversial post? Should I nominate you for the evil blog awards?
Who did the writing? The dad or the son?
If the dad is the ghostwriter, does this mean the PLR market is not that profitable?
(The kid’s name will be tarnished, perhaps mainly from the point of view of those who don’t know the complete story. The dad’s name will be tarnished, probably from the point of view of those who know at least the bare outlines of this story.)
I seriously had my doubts when he first came out. He was too good to be true. Turns out he is.
@ManuelV, no one exactly knows. They say the dad did the writing, and the son served as the front man.
I agree with Manuel Viloria. Now that the word is out, there’s no escape for both the father and the son.
if you notice, the writing style shows a bit of the boy’s lingo now. Archives show the dad’s writing style. This change started right after that Aug 1 meet.
Good thing I’m a skeptical little bastard.
I pity the kidblogger…he is suffering because of what happened. The blog could’ve been an outlet for father and son bonding moments with problogging but it came out bad in the end.
Hmm it’s quite weird also that the blog has so many posts in spite of busy school schedules a 14-year old would have! I’m 20 and busy with my academics…I mean it’s hard to budget blogging and studies. tsk, tsk. I hope everything will be explained by their party. This has also become a bad image for the blogosphere…:(
@Karlo.PinoyBlogero – Just to clarify my comment: Their (father and son) reputations will appear tarnished in the eyes of those who do not know the complete story.
Thank you for the “know one exactly knows” and the “they say.”
what a coincidence… karlo.pinoyblogero and i were talking about this issue a few weeks ago! and i thought i was the only one who has this suspicion.
all i can say is, i was not thinking about making money when i was 13… whatever money earned by a child is considered child labor… just my opinion!
Hey, I think you are jumping to conclusions. Is it proven already? I think you’re reactions are based on pure speculation. From my observation, you are just connecting the dots. Why can’t we all just live in harmony and mind our own businesses? I think we shouldn’t criticized on others’ blogs because anyway each one is entitled to their own. Peace.
I am fascinated by this discussion. It’s hard to blame the kid for his money making activities. It’s even harder to accept that a 13 year old makes more money than most of us. I do agree that using the kid is unethical. But you have to admire this strategy (if such is true). A kid blogging about money is a rarity. But people complaining because they do not earn as much is a common thing. The kid never killed anyone to earn. What’s the point of laying smack on someone who is better that most of you guy.
@Richard: We’re all entitled to our opinions right? If we didn’t then why do we have blogs? I am concerned about the kid. That’s it. You can take that as a positive or negative.
@Ronaldo: I’m fascinated that you’re using the same IP address as Richard. How smart. Look, if they got you or your evil twin Richard into this, it’d be better if the affected parties responded to me directly. And it’s funny to note that all you “make money online” people talk and think the same way. Sometimes I think it’s become a religion that mistook a checkbook for a bible.
Hey, Ronaldo is my officemate. I’m not Ronaldo promise. You can check it for yourself if you want. Anyway I understand where you’re coming from. Peace.
@Mike: Meh. Richard and Ronaldo have the same IP address as your flamer.
Andrew, the guy who left the comment under my name wasn’t me. Just want that to go on record.
Even here in the comments we have misrepresentation? Tsk, tsk, tsk.
haha, another expose. and just when I was being lax on the blogosphere, this comes up. I knew it, now let’s see how the drama unfolds.
@Mikey: Thanks for clarifying! Comment deleted.
@Eugene: Yeah, kahit sa comments may ghost writers 😀
@Aaron: Where’ve you been all this time? 🙂
@ sir andrew: I’ve been going emo for college. I lost track of the blogosphere lately.
Panget mo andrew! Mukha kang pwet ng baboy na may buhok!
I’m jealous of Drew, I wish I had haters 🙁
Its not that great to exploit kids to make money, but I do think that its good to teach our kids how to make money online (if we know how to do it that is), because if they use some wasted time (doing stuff online that is a waste of time), then they could make some good pocket money.
Encouraging kids to develop their entrepreneurial flair is good, but exploiting kids is horrendous!
Linden