Show me where I wrote anything like “the sentiment officers are disposable, or our lives lack inherent value because of our career path.”

The apt comparison is between a civilian and an officer, not an officer and an officer in a different scenario; AKA, the difference in danger between calls. The threat to an officer on a domestic violence call in comparison to other threats to officers in different situations is irrelevant to this article and my…

I sincerely appreciate anyone who puts their life on the line for someone else; there is no greater gift (or cost). However, to say a statement like “Isn’t the loss of an innocent or a victim the bigger tragedy?” is dismissive is to ignore the difference between a professional and a civilian. One is a victim, the…

This is obviously important enough to stay on your mind, so I will take the time to answer. My opinions on the matter of Tor and book publishing in general are informed by the experiences of published authors I know personally. These experiences may be anecdotal, but they are real examples of publisher-writer…

Are you in the Prescott area? We just moved to (the general) area from California. What do you think of the baby Verde Valley wine scene?

Imagine being proud of having contributed to the building of that razor wire monstrosity.

Yeah, unfortunately. Originally, draft horses had their tails docked to prevent accidents where they’d get caught up in the reins of a plow or carriage. Now it’s done mostly for aesthetic.

All horses do have tailbones, and this one looks like maybe it was docked. Docking is done pretty exclusively on draft horses (these are the larger breeds, like the Budweiser Clydesdales or the horse above in the photo), purportedly to prevent the tails from getting caught up in the reins while driving.

I love how your ignorance is presented with more confidence than my knowledge; hey, that must make it true.

Not really a win if that box is just inside of another box. If you order a 24 boxes of Franzia, how much space are you saving versus a traditonal bottle of wine?

This is all correct.

I will be completely honest: I would veto giving someone with 300 followers free product, forget money. The return on investment for the company is a net loss after shipping and coordination in the scenario you describe. By which I don’t mean to disagree with your decision, people should do whatever they feel is right…

I absolutely did, as someone else caught earlier to great applause (though it’s easy to miss these things with Kinja’s questionable nesting).

To be honest I don’t mean to criticize Hazel’s writing here. I’m more about reminding people who have a few thousand Instagram followers that they don’t deserve a check. I hate those DMs with a fiery passion.

That’s the opinion of Times’ writer, and surely some people will say anything for free stuff, but by and large in my professional experience that’s not how most people operate. Not because there’s some moral objection, but because it’s self-defeating for someone trying to build a following. Followers figure out that…

It’s funny to me that people assume any review of a product received for free is fake. First of all, they’re often not (because most people who review product non-anonymously care about the people who read their reviews) and second, there are many industries that run on reviews of complimentary product since way…

Sure, compensation on par with the labor. In the case of “nano influencers” (not in love with that term) comped product is more than fair.

I’m not paying for it. Neither should any other companies. The cost of the goods donated for review is perfectly adequate compensation for the average reviewer — aka a person with a hobby who has a couple thousand social media followers — or does free shit not matter anymore?

Haha yes, nice Freudian/spellcheck slip! (I can spell neither commensurate or commiserate on my own, turns out.)

As a person who sometimes helps coordinate social media campaigns, the idea that everyone deserves to be paid for the nano level product promotion makes me roll my eyes. People at the level of followers in the thousands aren’t advertising, that’s just consumer reviews. And while consumer reviews are a marketing…