The Illogic Of Forum Assassination

I am leaving my signature out of this thread for reasons that will become
clear to you as you read this. Please take what I am about to say to heart.

I just had a post to a current WSO that I'm running from a member who had
never gotten anything from me before. He was skeptical of the offer because
of the low price and also we don't always see eye to eye.

Well, long story short, I guess he was surprised by the quality of the
product and posted a nice testimonial.

Now, that in itself means nothing. However, the underlying context is very
important so please pay attention.

I am obviously not a mind reader so I am only now just guessing at this,
but I think my conclusions are sound based on the evidence.

This person simply didn't have a lot of trust in me or my products. Hey,
we're not going to please everybody. Not everybody will like us. I have
plenty of folks here who'd love to see me on the next train out of Dodge.

However, having essentially be straight with the members, having never
run a WSO where somebody came running to the main forum screaming
that I either didn't deliver the product or didn't offer a refund or whatever,
means, at the very least, that I'm playing by the rules, and nothing more.

It doesn't mean my products are great. It doesn't mean that I'm the
best thing since sliced bread. It just means I'm not a crook. So don't read
more into this than what it is.

But...this person, knowing at least that there haven't been any complaints
about me, other than I can be opinionated and tend to ramble on into
the night quite often, decided to take a chance on one of my products,
especially since I do offer a money back guarantee.

As a result, he was pleasantly surprised and who knows, I may have
earned another customer.

All because I didn't commit forum assassination.

It's one thing to be opinionated and have some crazy ideas. People might
say that you're a nut case and all wet. But it's another thing to cheat
people, steal from people and lie to people. Those are things that will get
you more than just some slings and arrows. Those are things that will
get you run out of Dodge.

I'm not going to give everybody a long lecture on how to conduct yourself
at a public forum. Truth is, if you're a mature, intelligent adult, you should
have enough common sense to know how to act.

I have simply been smart enough not to shoot myself in the foot, nothing
more. So don't make me out to be some great Internet marketing hero.
It's as my uncle Bill calls, "doing the bare minimum"

If you can't do that much, then you are in a heap load of trouble.

Forum assassination is stupid. It only hurts you in the long run. Sure, your
customers may have lost a few bucks, but you have lost your reputation.

And that's something that's hard to get back once you've tossed it in
the trash.