You’re right. It has been going on for quite a while, and naturally people know about it. Cartels aren’t a new thing, that’s why there’s already more than one name for it. What upsets me with this IM-situation is the obvious ignorance, arrogance and “i-don’t-give-a-shit-about-my-customers”-attitude displayed inside this specific syndicate. As you point out, they do believe laws don’t apply them. It’s as if they thought they were a different, much better breed than the rest of us.

Yes, I have promoted some stuff of questionable nature, I step up and admit it. My “mentor” (of sorts) taught me that to get my own offers promoted, I needed to promote others and not ask questions. Promote, promote, promote. I was stupid enough to almost fall in the trap of copying the IM-gang (believing that the only money was in the “make money”-niche), never considering looking for other markets. But I learned, and left the “Make Money Marketing Make Money-frauducts”-niche. Had I known then, what I know now, things had looked a bit different

I should point out that I’m not doing a “Deiss” here, I’m not retiring in any way. I’m just staying away from the “IM”-niche I still prefer writing my own stuff and creating my own tools (whether being active in the IM-niche, or “deep water fishing”, certain tools are needed) – some of which will be released through this blog.

Oh, and thank you for reading

I really don't understand all the hubbub over this. It has been going on for an Internet century, i.e., ~10 years, insofar as I have seen. It has even leaked over to the 'public' side, to some extent ('public' being selling to non-IM consumers, of course). There have always been snake-oil sales folk, and they, along with {syndicates | cartels | put your own designation here} have always chosen the easiest markets they could find or develop. Read any history of marketing and you'll always find reference to some cadre of con-men.

The rottenness to which you refer has been pretty well self-evident for years, at least to anyone not searching for easy money. I suppose, if you're desperate, suspense of disbelief, of critical thought, is easier to manage. Then, once you're in, the money is the lure – assuming you make any. The whole IM thing is little different than dealing drugs: the money is easy, and the market is eager – as long as you don't get caught, it's great [chortle /].

I'm on ~350 mailing lists, of which 150-200 are IM lists. I am – was – on lists you maintained: your name does not stand out in memory, so I never tagged you as a part of the cartel – cartel? that's what I'll call it – although you did promote some stuff that [I considered] was questionable. Not necessarily your fault, if you were following the lead of the highly successful, although a better product review on your part might have been advisable.

Oh, well … 'tis not my intent to excoriate you, but to point out that this really is old news. The only thing new is the current growing uproar – which could come to involve the FTC and other US government agencies involved with such things as truth in advertising, price fixing, monopoly, and a host of other illegal activities that the IM cartel has never seemed to think applied to them. After all, the FTC has already gotten involved, albeit to a limited extent.

At any rate, I applaud your decision to suspend IM activities for the nonce, and look forward to your next post – you've been in my RSS reader for quite a while.