I am the most opinionated person I know, yet when I write that is not what comes out.
It may be my head saying…don’t split your audience!
It may just be that things that I am emotional about are harder to write.
Either way, this place {my writing home} has turned into a non-controversial haven.
Every silly story has a happy ending!
*insert smiley face here*
A year or so ago I wrote a melancholy piece about what it means to be a mom blogger. That resulted in my email inbox being filled with concerned friends that I might be losing it.
I wasn’t.
Perkiness is a staple around here and that is good.
So, before I launch into a few thoughts that will NOT end with a happy point, I want to assure you…dear reader…that I am fine and just venting.
*deep breath*
I hate the IRS.
I hate the FTC.
I hate Google.
There. I said it.
If I go missing tomorrow, please check those three places first.
My hatred of these three staples of modern American online life have ONE root cause – they punish those who play by the rules.
I am a rule follower. I can’t help it. If I broke a rule, it was completely unintentional. Really, my goody-two-shoes is so ingrained it annoys even me.
A few weeks ago, I got a letter from the IRS.
*cringe*
There is no good that can come from a letter from that source.
According to the Government of the United States as enforced by the Internal Revenue Service, I was delinquent in my blog taxes in SUCH AN EXTREME that they were fining me $3,510.00.
Yes, they were FINING me $3,510.00.
That wasn’t what I owed for back taxes. That was a FINE for my egregious law breaking.
That was the FINE on my company that paid $495 in taxes in 2010 {because of it’s overwhelming success}.
Yes, the fine was 7.0909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090… TIMES what I paid in taxes last year on this little blog enterprise.
OUCH.
Did I file late?
Nope.
Did I file an incomplete return?
Nope.
Did I do it myself and just not fill it out correctly?
Nope.
My accountant filed the tax report on time, but simply on the wrong form.
The IRS is spending its time and resources to come after a mom who used an accountant to file her little blog business’ taxes.
I feel like Google is turning into the IRS.
We didn’t vote anyone in that has control over Google, but there they sit, making “laws”.
Yes, they make laws.
And quite honestly, their punishment is worse than the IRS fine.
If you get caught breaking Google law, then your site gets banned.
What brought on this rant?
Google’s idiotic penalizing of its own Chrome. {That is NOT a no-follow link and I was NOT paid to put it there}.
They aren’t penalizing Chrome. They are penalizing all bloggers.
What this means is that Google can go after a company that has {follow} links coming from blogs…even if they didn’t ASK for those links.
Even though they have NO control over whether those links exist or whether they are no-follow.
This diminishes the ability for a blogger to make a living online.
Not that it was easy before this ruling.
I have had the same issue with the FTC. They penalize companies who sponsor posts, but the bloggers don’t disclose the relationship. Again, the company can send 1000 emails asking for a disclosure to be added to a post, but that doesn’t make it magically appear. They are being penalized for something out of their control which makes everyone wary of playing on this field.
I don’t talk about it much here, but I run blogger campaigns for companies through Business 2 Blogger. {again that is a no-follow link, but I do draw a paycheck from the company so I probably am jeopardizing my entire online existence}.
No matter how much I beg or remind another blogger to add a disclosure or make a link no-follow, I am powerless to actually have it happen on behalf of my client.
The bottom line with both the FTC and Google’s policy is that not only are they punishing the rule-followers, they are punishing people who have no power to follow the rules.
The guy that scrapes my site each day isn’t going to change his ways.
The link farms that spam my inbox with enticing offers for $$$ to create a link won’t change their ways.
The one page site that parks on a space one character off of a popular URL won’t change their ways.
The only one that gets caught is me.
And the other rule followers.
It all falls in line with my minivan theory.
I drove a grey minivan for 5 years. You know, the one that parks next to three identical grey minivans in ANY school or Target parking lot.
The grey minivan has an invisibility cloak over it – who pays attention to yet ANOTHER mom in a grey minivan?
It is invisible to everyone EXCEPT law enforcement.
I was pulled over for speeding more times in my grey minivan than ANY other car I have owned including the bright red one I drive now.
Was I just a wild speeder testing out the power of the minivan?
No.
I think that it was an EASY stop for police.
It was unlikely I was carrying a gun {I do live in Texas, y’all}.
It was unlikely I was going to throw a fit in front of a car load of offspring.
It was unlikely I was going to show up for court to fight the ticket scheduled during carline.
I was easy.
Stopping dangerous criminals is hard.
So go ahead IRS, FTC and Google…pull over the grey minivan.
The world will be much safer tomorrow because of it.
***The perky Holly will return tomorrow and everyone will be relieved to find out that after extensive cajoling and a few tears, the IRS waived the fine.***It is funny.
I am the most opinionated person I know, yet when I write that is not what comes out.
It may be my head saying…don’t split your audience!
It may just be that things that I am emotional about are harder to write.
Either way, this place {my writing home} has turned into a non-controversial haven.
Every silly story has a happy ending!
*insert smiley face here*
A year or so ago I wrote a melancholy piece about what it means to be a mom blogger. That resulted in my email inbox being filled with concerned friends that I might be losing it.
I wasn’t.
Perkiness is a staple around here and that is good.
So, before I launch into a few thoughts that will NOT end with a happy point, I want to assure you…dear reader…that I am fine and just venting.
*deep breath*
I hate the IRS.
I hate the FTC.
I hate Google.
There. I said it.
If I go missing tomorrow, please check those three places first.
My hatred of these three staples of modern American online life have ONE root cause – they punish those who play by the rules.
I am a rule follower. I can’t help it. If I broke a rule, it was completely unintentional. Really, my goody-two-shoes is so ingrained it annoys even me.
A few weeks ago, I got a letter from the IRS.
*cringe*
There is no good that can come from a letter from that source.
According to the Government of the United States as enforced by the Internal Revenue Service, I was delinquent in my blog taxes in SUCH AN EXTREME that they were fining me $3,510.00.
Yes, they were FINING me $3,510.00.
That wasn’t what I owed for back taxes. That was a FINE for my egregious law breaking.
That was the FINE on my company that paid $495 in taxes in 2010 {because of it’s overwhelming success}.
Yes, the fine was 7.0909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090… TIMES what I paid in taxes last year on this little blog enterprise.
OUCH.
Did I file late?
Nope.
Did I file an incomplete return?
Nope.
Did I do it myself and just not fill it out correctly?
Nope.
My accountant filed the tax report on time, but simply on the wrong form.
The IRS is spending its time and resources to come after a mom who used an accountant to file her little blog business’ taxes.
I feel like Google is turning into the IRS.
We didn’t vote anyone in that has control over Google, but there they sit, making “laws”.
Yes, they make laws.
And quite honestly, their punishment is worse than the IRS fine.
If you get caught breaking Google law, then your site gets banned.
What brought on this rant?
Google’s idiotic penalizing of its own Chrome. {That is NOT a no-follow link and I was NOT paid to put it there}.
They aren’t penalizing Chrome. They are penalizing all bloggers.
What this means is that Google can go after a company that has {follow} links coming from blogs…even if they didn’t ASK for those links.
Even though they have NO control over whether those links exist or whether they are no-follow.
This diminishes the ability for a blogger to make a living online.
Not that it was easy before this ruling.
I have had the same issue with the FTC. They penalize companies who sponsor posts, but the bloggers don’t disclose the relationship. Again, the company can send 1000 emails asking for a disclosure to be added to a post, but that doesn’t make it magically appear. They are being penalized for something out of their control which makes everyone wary of playing on this field.
I don’t talk about it much here, but I run blogger campaigns for companies through Business 2 Blogger. {again that is a no-follow link, but I do draw a paycheck from the company so I probably am jeopardizing my entire online existence}.
No matter how much I beg or remind another blogger to add a disclosure or make a link no-follow, I am powerless to actually have it happen on behalf of my client.
The bottom line with both the FTC and Google’s policy is that not only are they punishing the rule-followers, they are punishing people who have no power to follow the rules.
The guy that scrapes my site each day isn’t going to change his ways.
The link farms that spam my inbox with enticing offers for $$$ to create a link won’t change their ways.
The one page site that parks on a space one character off of a popular URL won’t change their ways.
The only one that gets caught is me.
And the other rule followers.
It all falls in line with my minivan theory.
I drove a grey minivan for 5 years. You know, the one that parks next to three identical grey minivans in ANY school or Target parking lot.
The grey minivan has an invisibility cloak over it – who pays attention to yet ANOTHER mom in a grey minivan?
It is invisible to everyone EXCEPT law enforcement.
I was pulled over for speeding more times in my grey minivan than ANY other car I have owned including the bright red one I drive now.
Was I just a wild speeder testing out the power of the minivan?
No.
I think that it was an EASY stop for police.
It was unlikely I was carrying a gun {I do live in Texas, y’all}.
It was unlikely I was going to throw a fit in front of a car load of offspring.
It was unlikely I was going to show up for court to fight the ticket scheduled during carline.
I was easy.
Stopping dangerous criminals is hard.
So go ahead IRS, FTC and Google…pull over the grey minivan.
The world will be much safer tomorrow because of it.
***The perky Holly will return tomorrow and everyone will be relieved to find out that after extensive cajoling and a few tears, the IRS waived the fine.***
I am the most opinionated person I know, yet when I write that is not what comes out.
It may be my head saying…don’t split your audience!
It may just be that things that I am emotional about are harder to write.
Either way, this place {my writing home} has turned into a non-controversial haven.
Every silly story has a happy ending!
*insert smiley face here*
A year or so ago I wrote a melancholy piece about what it means to be a mom blogger. That resulted in my email inbox being filled with concerned friends that I might be losing it.
I wasn’t.
Perkiness is a staple around here and that is good.
So, before I launch into a few thoughts that will NOT end with a happy point, I want to assure you…dear reader…that I am fine and just venting.
*deep breath*
I hate the IRS.
I hate the FTC.
I hate Google.
There. I said it.
If I go missing tomorrow, please check those three places first.
My hatred of these three staples of modern American online life have ONE root cause – they punish those who play by the rules.
I am a rule follower. I can’t help it. If I broke a rule, it was completely unintentional. Really, my goody-two-shoes is so ingrained it annoys even me.
A few weeks ago, I got a letter from the IRS.
*cringe*
There is no good that can come from a letter from that source.
According to the Government of the United States as enforced by the Internal Revenue Service, I was delinquent in my blog taxes in SUCH AN EXTREME that they were fining me $3,510.00.
Yes, they were FINING me $3,510.00.
That wasn’t what I owed for back taxes. That was a FINE for my egregious law breaking.
That was the FINE on my company that paid $495 in taxes in 2010 {because of it’s overwhelming success}.
Yes, the fine was 7.0909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090909090… TIMES what I paid in taxes last year on this little blog enterprise.
OUCH.
Did I file late?
Nope.
Did I file an incomplete return?
Nope.
Did I do it myself and just not fill it out correctly?
Nope.
My accountant filed the tax report on time, but simply on the wrong form.
The IRS is spending its time and resources to come after a mom who used an accountant to file her little blog business’ taxes.
I feel like Google is turning into the IRS.
We didn’t vote anyone in that has control over Google, but there they sit, making “laws”.
Yes, they make laws.
And quite honestly, their punishment is worse than the IRS fine.
If you get caught breaking Google law, then your site gets banned.
What brought on this rant?
Google’s idiotic penalizing of its own Chrome. {That is NOT a no-follow link and I was NOT paid to put it there}.
They aren’t penalizing Chrome. They are penalizing all bloggers.
What this means is that Google can go after a company that has {follow} links coming from blogs…even if they didn’t ASK for those links.
Even though they have NO control over whether those links exist or whether they are no-follow.
This diminishes the ability for a blogger to make a living online.
Not that it was easy before this ruling.
I have had the same issue with the FTC. They penalize companies who sponsor posts, but the bloggers don’t disclose the relationship. Again, the company can send 1000 emails asking for a disclosure to be added to a post, but that doesn’t make it magically appear. They are being penalized for something out of their control which makes everyone wary of playing on this field.
I don’t talk about it much here, but I run blogger campaigns for companies through Business 2 Blogger. {again that is a no-follow link, but I do draw a paycheck from the company so I probably am jeopardizing my entire online existence}.
No matter how much I beg or remind another blogger to add a disclosure or make a link no-follow, I am powerless to actually have it happen on behalf of my client.
The bottom line with both the FTC and Google’s policy is that not only are they punishing the rule-followers, they are punishing people who have no power to follow the rules.
The guy that scrapes my site each day isn’t going to change his ways.
The link farms that spam my inbox with enticing offers for $$$ to create a link won’t change their ways.
The one page site that parks on a space one character off of a popular URL won’t change their ways.
The only one that gets caught is me.
And the other rule followers.
It all falls in line with my minivan theory.
I drove a grey minivan for 5 years. You know, the one that parks next to three identical grey minivans in ANY school or Target parking lot.
The grey minivan has an invisibility cloak over it – who pays attention to yet ANOTHER mom in a grey minivan?
It is invisible to everyone EXCEPT law enforcement.
I was pulled over for speeding more times in my grey minivan than ANY other car I have owned including the bright red one I drive now.
Was I just a wild speeder testing out the power of the minivan?
No.
I think that it was an EASY stop for police.
It was unlikely I was carrying a gun {I do live in Texas, y’all}.
It was unlikely I was going to throw a fit in front of a car load of offspring.
It was unlikely I was going to show up for court to fight the ticket scheduled during carline.
I was easy.
Stopping dangerous criminals is hard.
So go ahead IRS, FTC and Google…pull over the grey minivan.
The world will be much safer tomorrow because of it.
***The perky Holly will return tomorrow and everyone will be relieved to find out that after extensive cajoling and a few tears, the IRS waived the fine.***
I work for the IRS. You are so right. Collecting taxes is an immense proposition with immense problems. Most problems are too diificult to address, and the IRS decision-makers feel powerless. So, they concentrate on little problems in a big way, to appear as if we are doing something. But, we are not doing much in the way of collecting taxes. The amount of taxes, owed by American taxpayers would pay the deficit. But, the IRS cannot effectively collect. The problem is too big. Another example: In 2011, the IRS issued $11.2 BILLION in refunds based on fraudulent returns. You would think this would be addressed. Not! The IRS is dysfunctional as any thing that George Orwell could have imagined.
Ok I found your blog because Courtney pinned you and I saw it! Great post….people tell me to monetize all the time. This is one reason that I don’t…don’t want to deal with the legalities! Gonna check you out more… Keep up the good work and glad the years worked!
I really enjoyed your rant! I’ve never been here before (found a link on Pinterest) but I really enjoyed it. I feel the same way about SO many things in our society these days. It’s always the law abiding citizens who get penalized. My sister says the same thing about the TSA, whenever she flys with her kids she ALWAYS gets pulled out of line and searched because they are an easy target. Its almost as if they make SO many rules and laws that it is practically impossible for anyone to follow them all! Anyway, that is my rant. Off to go explore your site some more 🙂
Holly:
So nice to read your blog, so sorry to hear of your IRS escapades. I have discovered through personal experience, that anytime one has an issue with the IRS it is a smart idea to call the IRS problem resolution office. They are a kinder and gentler version of the IRS who have the power to waive interest, do nice things and offer kind advice that your run of the mill (read that evil troll) IRS agent will not tell you. They are a helpful lot.
Best of luck,
John
Thanks John! I will remember that. Thanks for the advice.
Oh my goodness! I’m freaking out! This is the first year I will be doing blog taxes and I don’t even know what the no follow rule is…(I’ll be researching that tomorrow.) Glad you made me aware of these things… thanks;)
So…just started driving a minivan about a year ago. Just got my first ticket while driving it. Totally agree with that theory, although I didn’t think of it until now. All of this is very interesting… and very scary to someone like me who has big dreams but is scared to act on them at times because there are so many rules! Actually, I’m even a little scared that now that I commented on your post, some google robot will come after me… but that’s probably just being paranoid! Good luck on your “fights” 🙂 and know that you have a ton of faithful followers who would do whatever they could to back you if you ever needed it!
The no follow rule confuses me- I just don’t get it or why it’s in place in the first place. I am trying to get more tech savvy but to be honest most of it goes over my head. :/ Very glad that that silly fine was waived by the way- I appreciate your candor here but completely get what you mean about feeling like you have to be positive all of the time, the times I have been a little glum I felt like a huge debbie downer…that’s not who I am either.