(Update: this post is starting to have its own life; read the comments below the post.)
My Mozy is a Lifesaver post received a strange comment:

“I’m not arguing the author’s points. He’s nailed it, as far as he goes. However, the Online Backup Advisor has a different take on Mozy. It’s funny and very informative.”

I don’t particularly like anonymous comments and I believe in the common courtesy if signing one’s comment (even with a pseudo-name), but it’s really not the comment itself that’s strange, but the post it points to: a long, elaborate, and yes, sometimes humorous attack-post on Mozy.

(Update (8/26): The “OBA” proved my point about his blog being a one-time attack platform right: the blog no longer exists.  However, he can’t completely disappear, which I’m sure being such an expert he himself realizes, too.  Here’s a copy of his post I saved from Google Cache to a public Zoho Writer document)

The author refers the him/herself as The Online Backup Advisor, or The OBA, in a style that’s meant to establish authority. (more about this later). Now, I don’t consider myself an authority (and am in no way affiliated with Mozy), so won’t attempt the address the detailed issues raised in the article, but the author makes a few generalizations, or simply skips fact-checking, which I certainly would not expect coming from an “expert”:

The referral model: “Mozy gives bloggers goodies in exchange for littering the Web with (fake) glowing reviews. If you click on the Mozy links in these blogs, the blogger gets things like extra storage space and even cash. “

Wow. There is clearly no cash incentive, and as for “fake reviews”, well if the only incentive is extra storage, that’s quite worthless to a blogger who does not actually like the service… so perhaps those reviews are not that fake after all. Disclaimer: I used my referral code in the previous post, and so did Chris Yeh, who led me to signing up for Mozy. We both disclosed it in our post, and, by the way, those who signed up using our referral also received extra storage. Sounds like a deal to me.

The business model: “OK, here’s something you are simply not going to believe, but I swear the OBA would not lie to you few of Mozy’s free backup accounts probably convert to their “Mozy Plus” account, which stores 30GB for $4.95/month.For one thing, $4.95/month for 30GB is far too cheap…”

Perhaps it is too cheap, I really can’t judge that. Perhaps “The OBA“, being such an expert has also heard that there are two major factors on the cost side of the equation: storage and bandwith. Mozy minimizes bandwith consumption by doing incremental backups (even below file-level) and limiting the number of free restores to 4 per month – something “The OBA” vehemently opposes. Why, is beyond me though: Mozy is clearly a “disaster-avoidance” service, and frankly, if you lose your data more than 4 times a month, you may be better off staying offline. For ad-hoc online storage, file-sharing.. etc there are many other services.

Ad-supported business: “Do you like SPAM? Would 30-40 per day be OK with you? Mozy will SPAM you with ads from not just themselves, but also from, “third parties via email.” “

Perhaps “The OBA” has heard about ad-supported businesses before. He seems to be repeatedly conflicting himself: first he makes the case that Mozy does not have a valid business model, than he has a problem with ads; he thinks the price is too low, but condemns bandwith-saving restrictions. I guess our “expert” wants it all free, unlimited, yet with a sustainable business model. And, for the record, I’ve been getting exactly one (1) newsletter per week from Mozy.

Competition: “Why yet ANOTHER inexperienced startup remote backup program?”

Gee, from such a renowned expert I would have expected to hear some recommendation on what I should be using instead of Mozy… but all I find is vicious mud-throwing at Mozy. You know, I am not married to Mozy, if something significantly better comes along, I might as well move. But until than, a less-then perfect but good-enough service is all I need.

There is a lot more in the article, and I certainly hope that someone from Mozy or a more technically-savvy user will pick up the glove and respond in detail. What really bothers me here isn’t so much the actual content, but the blatant attempt to create authority out of nothing, pretending to be an entity/analyst/expert. The funny thing is, the author may really be an industry expert (or not), but how should I know? As long as he stays anonymous (you know, there is that section called “About me” in most blogs), comments anonymously, and his/her one-and-only attack-post is in a brand new blog with no other post – well, I’m sorry, you are NOBODY for me. Credibility, respect needs to be earned, even on the Blogosphere.

Oh, here’s one more gem. Our “expert” finishes by saying:

“That’s it for now. Corrections, comments and hate mail welcome.”

Yeah, right. Commenting is turned off, and there is no email link. Talk back if you can.

Update (9/21):  Although only remotely related, the story of the anonymous but recently “outed” Dead 2.0 is definitely worth reading.

Tags: advisors, blog authority, crediility, ethics, mozy, Zoho Writer