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Mommy Blogger Turns Hate Mail Into Gold

by Terrence O'Brien on September 19, 2009 at 04:45 PM

Mommy Blogger Turns Hate Mail into Gold
We have to hand it to mommy blogger Heather Armstrong, of Dooce fame. She beat us to the punch. We've been tossing around the idea of rounding up our favorite hate-ments on Switched for some time now, but have never actually acted on it. Armstrong, who recently made it to number 26 on Forbes's list of the most influential women in media, decided to assemble the piles of hateful, nasty comments that are inevitable when writing a popular blog, post them to a single page, load it up with ads, and call it 'Monetizing the Hate.'

Opinions of the move, as with opinions of Armstrong herself, seem to exist only at the extremes of the spectrum. Either it's genius (We're firmly in that camp.), or a shameless exploitation of her readership and a plea for pity. The hate mail has apparently been pouring in at an even higher rate since the Salt Lake City mom took on MayTag via Twitter over poor customer service when her brand new washing machine broke down a week after being delivered. Armstrong was called a bully and a spoiled, whiny brat. This latest incident is apparently what prompted her to launch Monetizing the Hate.

Here's just a sampling of some of the vitriolic things her more mean-spirited (and likely jealous) readers have had to say:
"You're collecting that ad money so jon can finally have his sex change operation... i mean he's pretty much a giant vagina right now, cow towing to your every word and command. lol.
best wishes for your recovery, jon! now dooce can become a power lesbian like suzie orman. and she can feel less self conscious about being a giant fat ass after the birth of marlo. you did see her on the bonnie hunt show right? she looked like a size 28 compared to the kardashians."

"I have hope that someday Heather will function as a normal human being, rather than the entitled, annoying, disgusting pig that she is today."

"Do you think she dresses her kid like a homeless gypsy Etsy refugee just for pics- laughing that she's making her minions dress their kids like that trying to copy her "style"?"

"Anyone else notice that Heather's face looks like she had fetal alcohol syndrome? Or maybe inbreeding? It is Utah..."

"YOU ARE ONE F___ING SPOILED PERSON
We hope that Mrs. Armstrong's haters make her millions. And don't think that, just because she got her page o' hate off the ground first, you readers who call us "ass-bags" and hope we "slip and fall in a puddle of AIDS" are off the hook. To the contrary, you just might find yourselves the stars of a regular feature. [From: Jezebel and Dooce]

Tags: blogger, bloggers, dooce, hate mail, HateMail, heather armstrong, HeatherArmstrong, monetizing the hate, MonetizingTheHate, parents, top

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