"Benjahmin" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
>I could have easily done the whole tinyurl thing to hide the domain,
That won't hide the domain. I would have also sent an abuse report to
TinyURL since they don't abide the use of their services to spam,
either.
> It's technically not even a pyramid scheme
Yes, all scammers using a pyramid scheme will declare that it is not a
pyramid scheme. You haven't thoroughly read or cogitated how the scheme
works. I didn't say it was illegal. It is legal but it is still a
pyramid scheme.
> since there are ways to do the offers without spending money
Wrong. At some point, one of the dupes at some level in the pyramid
hierarchy must spend money or some other valuable resource.
> I mentioned, so no one gets stuck holding the bill.
No. The reason you are abusing the community is so that YOU don't have
to pay the bill.
> The income comes from advertising,
Advertising doesn't survive unless there is more revenue than there are
expenses. Advertisers don't continue advertising at a site if they
never generate revenue.
> commissions,
Explain how commissions are *paid* if no money or other valuable
resource is involved?
> and selling your email to spammers (like you didn't know).
Oh, and you mentioned that fact in your post? Obviously you didn't
because that would turn every reader off from reading the rest of your
post or of ever visiting the URL link. The URL link includes your
affiliate account number. If you were as altruistic as you claim to be,
you would not have included your affiliate number but instead just
provided a URL to the site's home page.
> In that sense, it's sustainable.
As long as you can sucker in enough dupes to support the pyramid scheme
long enough to provide enough hierarchy so you can garner enough points
to use the dupes in getting your iPod. Then you're out and the dupes at
the bottom layers lose.
> I found this link that sums up everything that's been in the news
> about this.
A Google search will find many more, and far more damning than the one
you provided. Gee, I wonder why you didn't provide the pros AND CONS in
your oh-so-wonderfully explanative original post.
It's not
> all good news, they warn against schemes like this rightfully so
> especially when the offers involve buying something, but the bottom
> line in every article is that you do get the free iPod or whatever in
> the end if you get the referrals.
>
> http://referralaccelerated.com/proof.php
>
> About this being spam, it's not. I'm not asking people to buy
> something
> they don't want, I'm being completely up front, and it's not
> unsolicited since this is Usenet- not your personal inbox. I think I
> covered everything you were bytching about so what exactly is your
> problem?
>
- You cross-posted to multiple UNRELATED newsgroups.
- Your post was off-topic in EVERY newsgroup to which you posted.
- You duplicated your post by multi-posting the same message to
deliberately disconnect them (so replies to each are hidden from view to
visitors in other the other groups to which you multi-posted), the same
technique used by spammers and malcontents.
- While you managed to remain under the BI (Briedbardt Index) to score a
[suite of similar] posts for spam based on EMP (excessive multi-posting)
or ECP (excessive cross-posting), this is not the only measure of what
is deemed spam in Usenet.
- You posted in groups where *advertisements* are not allowed.
- You violated the terms already mentioned regarding Gratis' policy.
- Your are promoting a pyramid scheme regardless of your attempt to
claim otherwise.
- The advertising at Gratis cannot be sustained without SOME monies
coming in to the advertisers to qualify their continued contract to
advertise with Gratis.
- Commissions don't exist with some money getting transferred. That
Gratis is running a pyramid scheme does not make it illegal. I didn't
mention legality of their pyramid scheme, but it is still a pyramid
scheme.
- Stop confusing the criteria used to define e-mail spam with the
criteria used to define Usenet spam. They are two distinctly different
communication venues.
- Advertising doesn't require that you post an ad for a product or
service. Advertising for your own profit is also advertising.
- You weren't helping the community or asking for help from the
community. You were advertising.
- While most of us don't want moderation (i.e., censorship), there are
times when it can be useful. You KNOW that your self-serving post
would've never appeared if submitted to a moderated newsgroup.
Have a read at
ftp://ftp.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/advertising/how-to/part1
(notice point #1 under "How *not* to advertise on Usenet"). Also at
http://www.usenetmonster.com/infocenter/articles/usenet_advertising.asp.
I'm not saying the scheme doesn't work. I'm not saying it is illegal.
I'm not even saying that it necessarily a bad scheme provided the dupe,
er, participant understands fully into what they are getting - but then
the scheme is pandering to rocket scientists. The scheme isn't a true
pyramid but then most folks don't see a 2-layer hierarchy as a pyramid.
The scheme flattens out quite fast. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gratis_Internet. Also, whether you want to
argue regarding the merits or detriments of the scheme used by Gratis,
it is YOUR OFF-TOPIC POST CROSS-POSTED TO MULTIPLE *UNRELATED* GROUPS
that has generated the complaints regarding it.
