This Is A Sad Day For IMers (Updated)

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It's really sad when it comes down to this.

I won't mention any names (against TOS of this forum) but a very well
known GURU (and in this case, I use that word quite negatively) registered
yesterday at a forum where I moderate and made his first post a spam post
promoting his seminar making sure he let people know that tickets were only
$200 a pop.

I have lost every bit of respect I ever had for this person, not that I ever
had that much to begin with.

Just sad...just very sad when people THAT successful have to resort to
spam.

I have nothing else to say I am so disgusted.

** EDIT ** Turns out to be an affiliate using his name. Marketer has been
contacted so he can nuke his ass...the moron. Doesn't he realize that he
can destroy people's reps by pulling sh*t like this?
  • Profile picture of the author King Shiloh
    Banned
    Steven, don't feel so sad because no matter how sad you are you will not stop these fools from displaying their foolishness. It's in them!
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  • Profile picture of the author Sheryl Polomka
    You know I have recently been quite shocked with a 'GURU' too. There is one guru or well known Internet Marketer that I have as a friend on Facebook and just recently he has started to send some very annoying emails to his 'friends' promoting something. I don't even know what it is he is promoting to be honest I didn't bother reading it, I was just quite shocked that someone of his standing in the IM community would spam through Facebook like that.
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    • Profile picture of the author KimW
      Originally Posted by Sheryl Polomka View Post

      You know I have recently been quite shocked with a 'GURU' too. There is one guru or well known Internet Marketer that I have as a friend on Facebook and just recently he has started to send some very annoying emails to his 'friends' promoting something. I don't even know what it is he is promoting to be honest I didn't bother reading it, I was just quite shocked that someone of his standing in the IM community would spam through Facebook like that.
      You shouldn't be surprised at all.Facebook is the new meat market of the century.And since you have to request to be someones friend, then you are making a very highly targeted list with little effort for them.
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      • Profile picture of the author Sheryl Polomka
        Originally Posted by KimW View Post

        You shouldn't be surprised at all.Facebook is the new meat market of the century.And since you have to request to be someones friend, then you are making a very highly targeted list with little effort for them.
        Yes this is true, I think it surprised me because I have a lot of IM people as friends on Facebook and very few of them 'market' on there own walls and I don't think any of them until now have done it through PM's on there. Then when I started to get these PM's (pm's emails I'm not sure what you call them on facebook) I was surprised to see who it was that was sending them.
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    • Profile picture of the author garyv
      Originally Posted by Sheryl Polomka View Post

      You know I have recently been quite shocked with a 'GURU' too. There is one guru or well known Internet Marketer that I have as a friend on Facebook and just recently he has started to send some very annoying emails to his 'friends' promoting something. I don't even know what it is he is promoting to be honest I didn't bother reading it, I was just quite shocked that someone of his standing in the IM community would spam through Facebook like that.
      You may want to ask this guru personally, if they are the one's doing it. There have been several facebook worms out there going around, especially in the IM arena, that will take over your account, and start messaging people on your list: Spammers exploit second Facebook bug in a week - Computerworld

      Also Steven - Do you know for sure that it's the "guru" that made the post? Could it have been an affiliate link from someone posing as said "guru"? Just a thought - it does happen.

      ** EDIT ** - Glad you tracked down the truth. It's a good lesson for all of us to see.
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by garyv View Post

        You may want to ask this guru personally, if they are the one's doing it. There have been several facebook worms out there going around, especially in the IM arena, that will take over your account, and start messaging people on your list: Spammers exploit second Facebook bug in a week - Computerworld

        Also Steven - Do you know for sure that it's the "guru" that made the post? Could it have been an affiliate link from someone posing as said "guru"? Just a thought - it does happen.
        I guess that is possible, but the link did NOT appear to be an affiliate link.

        Of course it could have been cloaked. That's always a possibility.

        But how many seminars have affiliate programs for the seats? I've yet to
        ever see one.

        I'm 98% sure that this was the actual person.

        And since I haven't named any names, I haven't done anything to
        wrongfully hurt the person's name.

        If I can dig the deleted post back up (not sure I can) I'll do more
        research on the domain and see who it is registered to.
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        • Profile picture of the author garyv
          Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

          I guess that is possible, but the link did NOT appear to be an affiliate link.

          Of course it could have been cloaked. That's always a possibility.

          But how many seminars have affiliate programs for the seats? I've yet to
          ever see one.

          I'm 98% sure that this was the actual person.

          And since I haven't named any names, I haven't done anything to
          wrongfully hurt the person's name.

          If I can dig the deleted post back up (not sure I can) I'll do more
          research on the domain and see who it is registered to.
          You may be absolutely right. I'd never put it even past the most famous of "gurus". I mean there are several of them that openly admit that they got their start doing things that are now considered spamming - or Ebony Fedora (does the forum still call it "blue fart" - let's test it - black hat) edit - no I guess not.
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          • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
            Originally Posted by garyv View Post

            You may be absolutely right. I'd never put it even past the most famous of "gurus". I mean there are several of them that openly admit that they got their start doing things that are now considered spamming - or Ebony Fedora (does the forum still call it "blue fart" - let's test it - black hat) edit - no I guess not.
            Gary, I just did a Google search. This person spammed other forums as well.

            Unfortunately, they ALL deleted the posts so I can't check the URL from
            them either.

            I have a thread opened at the forum I moderate asking if there is a way to
            get back deleted topics. I'm sure there is and then I'll be able to more
            thoroughly research this.

            I'll let you know what I find.
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    • Profile picture of the author HarveyDanger
      He's probably getting desperate. Maybe he hasn't been doing as well as he let on...:rolleyes:

      Originally Posted by Sheryl Polomka View Post

      You know I have recently been quite shocked with a 'GURU' too. There is one guru or well known Internet Marketer that I have as a friend on Facebook and just recently he has started to send some very annoying emails to his 'friends' promoting something. I don't even know what it is he is promoting to be honest I didn't bother reading it, I was just quite shocked that someone of his standing in the IM community would spam through Facebook like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Patient-X
    Even so called Gurus will use every method under the sun to bring in sales, shame that they feel they have to spam out forums that newbies use to gain valuable experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author King Shiloh
    Banned
    Maybe they have run out of ideas.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      I think there's a big disconnect with reality when it comes to using the term "guru".

      Because it's bandied about, we start thinking of such a person as "above it all" and "better than".

      I've watched the rise of several people who now have "guru" status and a few of them were as spammy as they come. They were out for the bucks and would do anything necessary.

      They were good at it - and now they can bask in "guru" status

      I have a lot of respect for some top marketers - and little respect for others because I know what their methods were years ago. Doesn't matter - all of them are still "gurus" to other marketers. What's in a word? Sometimes, not much.

      kay
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  • Profile picture of the author mattlaclear
    Why would that make us sad Steve? Certainly hasn't brought a tear to my eyes. I think it's a bit too early in the morning for sensationalism. So a guru posted an ad on your forum. Grab a cup of coffee, delete his ass and get on with your day. I think you're a little sad because you probably were excited to see a big name join your forum and were a bit disappointed when you found out he was only there to pitch his deal.
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    • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
      Originally Posted by mattlaclear View Post

      Why would that make us sad Steve? Certainly hasn't brought a tear to my eyes. I think it's a bit too early in the morning for sensationalism. So a guru posted an ad on your forum. Grab a cup of coffee, delete his ass and get on with your day. I think you're a little sad because you probably were excited to see a big name join your forum and were a bit disappointed when you found out he was only there to pitch his deal.
      What makes me sad is that people THAT successful have to resort to
      tactics like that.

      But maybe I'm the only one who is bothered by this stuff.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lauryn
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post


    Just sad...just very sad when people THAT successful have to resort to
    spam.

    I have nothing else to say I am so disgusted.
    I wouldn't say they have to, I would say they openly choose to. If they are managing their money correctly, nobody should have to stoop to such tacky levels. Either that or they are just greedy.
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    I Go Hard = "Slanguage" for putting forth a lot of effort.

    Don't be an arse and try to flip something you clearly have no knowledge of against me.

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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    Another thing that happens, - it's happened to me, is sometimes a competitor will spread spam posts of your site to mess up your search engine rankings. Just another possible scenario.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Steven. I have seen spam advertising NOTHING! You NEVER know what they'll do. Spammers once started mispelling words, and adding stupid nonsense to their emails. Why? well mispelling a word like v*gra or fr*e NOW is clear. The rest was to make the message longer, more unique, and to fool some statistic based routines. Sometimes they advertise NOTHING and it could be to fiddle with statistics, check email addresses, hurt a person, spread nonsense, etc... I once, for example, got a spam talking about nostradamus. It didn't even try to advertise a book.

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
      Maybe it's being outsourced and the actual top marketer is either not aware of these campaigns yet or has no prompt solution yet to get rid of them, revise them, etc.

      You can outsource anything today from signing up at forums, to Facebook marketing and a lot more - anything and about everything. But that's not to say that the actual person seeking and paying for the help knows all the activity that is going at at these levels 24/7 and / or likes it. The actual top person / buyer may, in fact, be on vacation or elsewhere at this time.

      And it could be fraud or other negative activity, as suggested above with affiliates, spammers. Someone signed up here on this forum as me before, and it was surreal.

      So you never know. Yet sometimes you do...

      Just a thought...
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      • Profile picture of the author Steven Wagenheim
        Originally Posted by dbarnum View Post

        Maybe it's being outsourced and the actual top marketer is either not aware of these campaigns yet or has no prompt solution yet to get rid of them, revise them, etc.

        You can outsource anything today from signing up at forums, to Facebook marketing and a lot more - anything and about everything. But that's not to say that the actual person seeking and paying for the help knows all the activity that is going at at these levels 24/7 and / or likes it. The actual top person / buyer may, in fact, be on vacation or elsewhere at this time.

        And it could be fraud or other negative activity, as suggested above with affiliates, spammers. Someone signed up here on this forum as me before, and it was surreal.

        So you never know. Yet sometimes you do...

        Just a thought...

        Yeah, I know. That's why I want to get the thread resurrected and go
        over all the info I can (IP, URL, etc.) with a fine tooth comb so I can
        determine who this actually is.

        If it's NOT the person I think it is, they need to be made aware of what
        somebody is doing in THEIR name.
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  • Profile picture of the author mr2monster
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post

    It's really sad when it comes down to this.

    I won't mention any names (against TOS of this forum) but a very well
    known GURU (and in this case, I use that word quite negatively) registered
    yesterday at a forum where I moderate and made his first post a spam post
    promoting his seminar making sure he let people know that tickets were only
    $200 a pop.

    I have lost every bit of respect I ever had for this person, not that I ever
    had that much to begin with.

    Just sad...just very sad when people THAT successful have to resort to
    spam.

    I have nothing else to say I am so disgusted.


    Is it possible that this GURU is outsourcing his forum posting stuff to someone that doesn't know any better?


    Seems like kind of a rookie mistake for a "guru".
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  • Profile picture of the author sarahberra
    How can you tell the difference between the scams and legit people that want to help?? I have found a few good teachers. Tiffany Dow is very honest and she really wants to help and I really like the guy who promotes info product killer. I have also been scammed a few times but I can never tell when I first buy. What are the red flags to look out for??
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    • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
      Originally Posted by sarahberra View Post

      How can you tell the difference between the scams and legit people that want to help?? ...What are the red flags to look out for??
      - No or very little Contact Us info - you might get an email (free address like an AOL) or P.O Box. Test and see IF someone replies, HOW long it takes (24 - 48 business hours is good) and HOW good the reply is (does the reply help or run you in circles).

      - Check their testimonials / feedback, etc. Does it list any real people or companies, or just Jane Doe, John Smith, etc.?

      - Is there a trial period or low-cost sample you can try first? I.E. unless you really know the marketer and his or her products or services, you won't want to jump in risking a lot of money. Try a smaller project or two together, first, to see if there's a good fit, rapport, etc.

      - Adjust these tips accordingly, too, on my Warrior blog:

      http://www.warriorforum.com/blogs/db...al-period.html

      Hope that helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    I am guilty of this sin. I spammed all sorts of social forums to promote a screenwriting seminar some years back. It involved bringing in a big Hollywood screenwriter to Vancouver. It was a huge success, every seat filled. So, while it is annoying, it works. And advertising costs were: $0.00

    That said, I would do it differently next time, more legitimately, not spammily.
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    Project HERE.

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  • Profile picture of the author doublee
    I am glad I ran into this post today, because I'm always told not to spam like that. And I always tell people I know the same thing. Now, I'm seeing a real discussion about how impolite and rude you think it is. This will always make me think before I post, and think to remind my followers.

    Thank you.
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  • Profile picture of the author dbarnum
    Originally Posted by Steven Wagenheim View Post




    ** EDIT ** Turns out to be an affiliate using his name. Marketer has been
    contacted ...?
    That's good news, Steven! Glad it wasn't the marketer himself / herself.
    Neat to read the update today
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary Pettit
    King Shiloh, thank you for a concise and insightful crystallization of the point: "It's in them."
    Integrity is the most important--and most commonly shared--character trait of the truly successful.
    Without Integrity, one's Vision is faulty, so one's goals are misguided, and even "success" in the venture fails to enrich life and increase peace.
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