#WTFNaina : We Love Bloggers

Email received :

Hi Naina,

My name is <redacted> and I am the co-founder of <redacted>. <redacted> is a fashion QnA platform that helps bloggers as well.

For our upcoming launch next week, we’re giving free early and exclusive access to bloggers. You can learn more about it here – <link>.

Would be great if you could share this with the blogger community.

Thanks! Would be great if you could sign up as well 🙂

Regards,

<redacted>
Co-Founder, <redacted>

I don’t recall what my actual written response to this email was but my first response in my head was, “HAUN?!”

Arrey bhai/behen, who are you? Just because my email id is easily available, I’m what, your best blogger friend now? Why so shy to say that you want me to promote your platform for free? And you succeed in misrepresenting what your platform actually does? ( I only found out after I clicked on the link – out of professional curiosity of course. ) “We are like Quora + Instagram.” That’s a direct line from their website.

Nothing on your platform “helps bloggers”. And none of the bloggers need “early, free OR exclusive” access to your platform. Instead, your platform needs bloggers to sign up on it and create content for it ( for free ) and promote it ( for free ) so that you can tell your investors how them giving you their money will make them more money.

It will not be GREAT if I share this with the “blogger community”. I don’t imagine you have a clue what “blogger community” your email refers to? There’s no one email I could send to one id that would magically reach the entire “blogger community”. Even if I was in possession of such an email id, can you imagine how much money I would charge to send these people a promotional message? You have no concept of the kind of invoice you’d receive. And these bloggers might actually charge to be put on such a list in the first place. Can’t wrap your head around that can you?

Stop wasting your parents’ money and my time.

More anecdotes and stories in the #WTFNaina series. ( These are all inspired by true stories. Some written emails, some from face-to-face meetings. They have all been piling up for years now and I’ve decided to put them to use! )

Photo by Uditha Wickramanayaka. License via Flickr.