About this blog
The Low-Carb Curmudgeon is a blog written and maintained by Dana Seilhan. I (Dana) am not a medical professional of any kind, just an ordinary stay-at-home mom with a weight problem and a family history of type 2 diabetes who has chosen low-carb eating as a method of dealing with these issues. As of January 2012 I am the sole writer of this blog. That may or may not change in the future. I have no idea.
Compensation
Traditional paid advertisement
This section is about other businesses approaching and paying me to place their advertisement banners or text links on this blog, either in the general layout or in individual blog posts.
As of January 2012 I have been approached exactly once about accepting advertising in this blog. I ignored the request because it was meant to be for a health insurance provider, which is not relevant enough to the subject matter of this blog for me to feel that such advertising was appropriate.
I am open to accepting paid advertising spots in the future, but they must be relevant to the subject matter of this blog and they must be for products or services I can wholeheartedly support. At no point will my writing in this blog be influenced by my paid advertisers. So if you’re looking to buy me off, you will find our business relationship cut short rather abruptly.
Affiliate links
This section is about me approaching a business or an affiliate network in order to place their advertisement banners or text links on this blog, either in the general layout or in individual blog posts.
As of January 2012, I have three affiliate programs in place on this blog.
1. Most of the time when I write about a book and post a link to it, that is an Amazon affiliate link that will take you to the book’s listing on Amazon.com in case you are interested and want to purchase it. How can you tell it’s an affiliate link? It leads you to Amazon. If it doesn’t lead you to Amazon, it’s just an ordinary (non-paying) link. No reader will ever be expected or required to purchase a book from or through me. The Amazon link is only in place so that you can more conveniently purchase the book if you wish to do so, and to allow me to earn a little money to pay for the hosting and domain for this blog. (And hey, if I earn more than that, it sure won’t hurt my feelings.) In no sense does Amazon or any of these book authors ever attempt to control what I write in this blog. If they did, I’d laugh at them. A lot.
2. At some point I may place a Google AdSense ad in the sidebar. Often they’re text ads, but it’s possible a banner ad will show up at some point. I have attempted to tweak the subject matter of these ads from the dashboard in Adsense, but they only let you block so many ad topics. Basically, other than what I’ve blocked and what I might get around to approving or rejecting in the future, I don’t have much control over what Adsense offers up. In no sense does Google or any of its advertisers ever attempt to control what I write in this blog. If they did, I’d laugh at them. A lot.
Paid insertions
I’m guessing this means someone would approach me and ask me to insert text into my actual blog posts for pay. Not going to happen. I’m not above inviting guest bloggers on board (though at this point I don’t see how they would fit in, as this is a personal blog as much as a health and diet blog–would you invite a guest writer into your diary?), but somehow I don’t think a paid insertion into a blog post counts as guest blogging. Except for the above-mentioned affiliate links, then, you’re not likely to see paid insertions any time soon. If this policy changes, I’ll write about it here.
Other compensation
If I order a free sample of a product and then review it, I will let you know it was a free sample. Normally I’m just sending off for samples and then stating my opinion unprompted. No one, so far as I’ve seen, checks to see if you are a blogger when you write to them to send you free low-carb bars or whatever. If that changes, I’ll change my disclosure accordingly.
(The one exception to this is that I am a BzzAgent. So far, nothing I have received from BzzAgent has had anything to do with diet or low-carbing. If this ever changes, I’ll let you know. In fact, I’ll probably make a big deal out of it.)
If a company sends me a free product or offers a free service and I review either, I will let you know I was compensated. Ditto if they pay me money for the review on top of sending me the product or service. Nobody is exactly beating down my door right now, but that could change later. No matter what, I will not tell you I like a product if I think it sucks. I trust you know me better than that by now. 
I intend to add in a couple pages to this blog where you can purchase books or products I recommend, if that at all interests you. Also perhaps a link to a Cafe Press store. I’ll update this to reflect those changes as they go live.
Outside influence
The only influence that is relevant to this blog is the influence I get from reading other people’s blogs in the low-carb/Paleo/WAPF blogosphere. That is, if I learn anything from other bloggers, I tend to pass it on here or at my Facebook page.
No one gets to tell me what to write. I hope I made that abundantly clear in the previous section, but in case I didn’t, there you go. If you want to control the content of a blog, go start your own. That shit does not fly here.
Conflict of interest
I’m not employed by anyone (though I may become self-employed at some point), so no one gets to decide what goes into this blog but me. I am not above affiliate-linking to a product that I have tried and like, but no one ever forces me to place an affiliate ad. I do things that are potential money-earners besides writing in blogs so my entire livelihood does not depend on what I write. This helps me avoid conflicts of interest which might affect my readers’ trust in me.
You might shitcan me because I offend you… but you shouldn’t ever want to leave because I’ve betrayed you. That would not be cool, and it will not happen here.
