Freedom of speech doesn't mean no one can ask you to change what you say, or that you never change your words to please anyone.<p>It's a very specific concept from the United States Constitution that relates to the government <i>forcing</i> you to refrain from saying things that you want to say. Freedom of speech is the kind of thing that comes up when a government agency puts warning labels on record albums, news media are prevented from reporting on government activities, or butthurt lawyers (<i>cough</i> <i>cough</i> Charles Carreon) try to use the courts to prevent people from criticizing their clients.<p>The blogger in question felt that the word "badassity" was an essential element of his brand, and that to change his header would dilute his brand in some way. He made a calculated decision that appeasing Chase would negatively affect his brand, perhaps even resulting in a reduction to his overall income in the long run, either directly or indirectly. A post like this one reinforces his brand as a blog with "integrity," and an attitude, and is sure to help offset whatever immediate loss he sees from Chase withdrawing their support.<p>While he's clearly a skilled and savvy blogger, I really don't see this as a free speech issue. A more accurate title would be "I Just Gave Up $4000 Per Month to Preserve My Brand Integrity."
It's certainly an interesting attitude.<p>But what if he had decided to change the banner, and give the money away to a charity instead?<p>Money is a tool you can use for good. If you are blessed with the kind of extra money he was suddenly given, you can use it to do good with.<p>Obviously it's all his choice, but making a big show of "freedom of speech" feels a little disingenuous. No government is trying to censor him; nobody is taking away his freedom; this is just a business negotiation. At no point was his freedom of speech ever threatened in the slightest.
Great to see MMM on HN. If you haven't read at least his first 5 articles, you might enjoy doing that before finalizing your opinion on this recent one. Most of the naysaying comments here seem due to a lack of context.<p>MMM is semi-retired. Reaching and keeping that situation takes commitment, diligent work and cooperation. His site exists to share his methods for succeeding. That includes using existing financial tools to meet individual financial goals.<p>Credit cards are a great utility for many people, a life-saver for some during brief periods of need, and an enabler of long-term bad decision making habits for many others. MMM is squarely in the first cohort. Furthermore he advocates for and educates people in the prudent selection and use of credit cards. His list of offers was ranked by his review of the credit cards, not their referral deals. There is nothing untoward about that.
Uhm, he kept the links on a "recommends" page. And when Chase pulled the referrals, he removed them from that page which "After stripping out all the Chase stuff, my credit cards page is looking a little bare these days".<p>What does it tell us about his impenetrable integrity when his recommendations are predicated on the recommended product paying him? Surely Chase can't keep him from recommending the card - that would indeed be a free speech issue.<p>And no, it's not a principled stand against Chase: "We’ll see if we can find a less fearful company (or Chase rep) to step back up to the plate eventually."
Well, I am happy that $4000 is so inconsequential to Mr. Money Mustache that he can just say 'fuck you' to it. Not everyone is so lucky. I am sure there are plenty of families or individuals who would sacrificed their 'integrity' or 'freedom of speech' on their blog for that kind money to feed their families, pay for their home or get a medical procedure done. It doesn't sound like any of these issues are a concern to him as he can just whimsically reject that kind of money.<p>Also, is this really an issue of freedom of speech? Seems a little melodramatic to me.
Not being familiar with this guy's work, what's so honest about getting in bed with credit card companies and feeding them more signups? Selling lead generation for credit cards seems a little dishonest to begin with.
Site seems to be really slow, here is the cached version: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/c94nnmy" rel="nofollow">http://tinyurl.com/c94nnmy</a><p>Long url: <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&biw=1391&bih=756&sclient=psy-ab&q=cache%3Awww.mrmoneymustache.com%2F2012%2F06%2F21%2Fi-just-gave-up-4000-per-month-to-keep-my-freedom-of-speech%2F&oq=cache%3Awww.mrmoneymustache.com%2F2012%2F06%2F21%2Fi-just-gave-up-4000-per-month-to-keep-my-freedom-of-speech%2F&aq=f&aqi=g4&aql=&gs_l=serp.3..0l4.2268.10390.0.10661.14.14.0.0.0.0.230.975.0j4j1.5.0...0.9.DtDCzXh6tCc&pbx=1" rel="nofollow">http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?hl=en&biw=1...</a>
Oh come on! Calling yourself a financial hacker! A real financial hacker would:<p>a) Figure out the IP ranges that the chase hoodlums use.
b) Setup an alternate banner (without the word badassity in there) to show for those IP ranges.
c) Rinse and repeat for any other unreasonable demands.<p>PROFIT! :D
The server is starting to be a little too slow for me.<p>Coralized link:<p><a href="http://www.mrmoneymustache.com.nyud.net/2012/06/21/i-just-gave-up-4000-per-month-to-keep-my-freedom-of-speech/" rel="nofollow">http://www.mrmoneymustache.com.nyud.net/2012/06/21/i-just-ga...</a>
Calling this a free speech issue is like saying that Reddit inhibits free speech by preventing you from posting personal information online. Not every act of asking you to change or not say something is a violation of free speech.
Since when did $4,000 a month become "FU Money." Is that serious? If you make $4K a month after taxes, I'd say you have a pretty small salary to just be honest with you. The article, I suppose, was about more than this but much of it spent so much time talking about how much money this is.<p>I don't want any of the younger HNers around here to get the wrong idea, as I didn't really know when I was younger, this is not, in any sense, "FU money."
Instinctively I know I must have misread or misunderstood something, but...<p>"$4000 a month is about twice the amount it takes to pay for my entire family’s living expenses. It’s also enough to pay the mortgage on a $900,000 house, "<p>How does $48000pa pay for a $900,000 mortgage? Old skool was 3x your income. Pre-crash, 5x was possible. This is 20x (ish).<p>What blindingly obvious point have I missed?
What are peoples' experiences with flexoffers? I have a tech related blog with 500 uniques per day. I've been looking to improve on the pittance I'm getting from adsense.
Awesome article. Kudos for sticking to your guns, and I hope your revenues skyrocket, even though credit cards are the worst financial decision anyone could <i>ever</i> make. I'd rather YOU make money on their bad decisions than Chase or Citi.
Better option: Change the banner, give the dough to charity, if you don't need it so much.<p>There are greater and lesser evils, sometimes it's Ok to suck up a lesser evil to combat a greater one.