

Scamworld: 'Get rich quick' schemes mutate into an online monster - NZ_Matt
http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/10/2984893/scamworld-get-rich-quick-schemes-mutate-into-an-online-monster

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petercooper
The biggest pile of biased crap I've read for a long time and confirmation for
me, at least, that The Verge is ultimately no better than any of the outlets
it was trying to replace.

They take some bad apples from a niche and use that to extrapolate a whole
business model and set of practices as being bad. I think it's sloppy, non-
objective, ersatz journalism that merely peddles FUD. And even their choice of
"bad apples" is questionable: <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Frank-
Kern/137568852956377>

I can only speak for Kern and Jenkins but they've both put out some good
products and are essentially info publishers who use certain high exposure and
highly effective marketing techniques.

But if using cheap products to build leads who you then sell bigger ticket
products to is a scam, well, a large amount of HN readers are involved in that
"scam" too (yes, offering a webinar or a PDF to get people to sign up to your
e-mail list is a "scam" supposedly!) Except, it's not a scam.. and this
article is just a badly written pile of crap, all IMHO, of course.

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kitsune_
I disagree. What are these great products you talk about?

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pranaya_ghimire
While I agree with the author that there are so many scam artists out there
and you do need to do your due diligence, I do not think how the following
sentence defines marketing on the internet is correct:

"The term Internet Marketing describes both a particular business model used
to sell fraudulent products and services online, and the community or
subculture that embraces it."

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edwinnathaniel
It's too bad this article didn't make it to the front page.

I've seen a few of these in HackerNews albeit not as complicated as the ones
in the article.

Typically around teaching developers how to get extra income, becoming a
millionaire, running a startup, having your own businesses, etc.

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tdfx
Sorry, but this article was written by an idiot. Please see the line:

    
    
      Raygoza is an Internet Marketer — a 21st century snake oil salesman.
    

or

    
    
      The term Internet Marketing describes both a particular business model used to sell fraudulent products and services online, and the community or subculture that embraces it.
    

Equating get-rich-quick scam artists with the entirety of the internet
marketing spectrum is absolutely ridiculous.

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dantheman
Interesting article, it could've used a little editing - too long, fluffy, and
has unnecessary descriptions that hurt the piece, e.g. "(which, for some
reason is rated “M for mature,” like Grand Theft Auto IV)."

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thedz
scammer on stage: "the economy is crappy, so there's never been a greater need
for contrarian financial advice"

wut

scammer on stage: don't worry i'll explain to you how to make products and
everything; that takes 4 minutes"

facepalm

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gyaresu
Hey, fuck you Verge. I'm reading this heart wrenching story and then suddenly
"Boo Hoo! This video can't be played with your current setup".

Way to fuck up.

