Saturday, December 02, 2006

Heeeeeere's Johnny!

Heeeeeere's Johnny!

Hi everybody out there in sucker - oops - I mean cyber land! 

Well, our dear friend, John McConnell, of Stormpay, Stormpay Racing, NetIBA, and (yes, really) Tymglobal, wants to help you make your fortune! Here's the lead in: "Dear StormPay Member, "If you are looking to change your life and generate a true residual income, then you do not want to miss this opportunity. Here's your opportunity to work closely with John McConnell, the founder and President of StormPay.com. John is working toward Master Affiliate status with GDI, a revolutionary residual income producer. John will work with and mentor his direct downline to help insure the success of all..." 

Yeah. Right. And I have some nice swamp land for sale, cheap... 

If you haven't looked into the background of this guy, it's time you did! For starters - take a look at these customer complaints: http://w3.ripoffreport.com/view.asp?id=77406&view=printer 

You will notice that one of the rebuttals states that Tymglobal and Stormpay are not owned by the same people. WRONG! Whoever put up that rebuttal did not do his homework, and is probably now suffering from it. 

 The address for Tymglobal, Stormpay, Stormpay Racing are all the same, and NetIBA is in the same building. Google Tymglobal. That's an eye-opener! Always do your homework before getting into anything with anyone! So far, this guy's track record has been less than pristine. 

Monday, October 02, 2006

SEC Shutting Down PAS Scam

SEC Shutting Down PAS Scam

The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is finally shutting down yet another popular scam pyramid company, Prosperity Automated System or PAS. With over 25,000 websites are being shut down, the SEC complaint targets the network creator and owner William M. Osterhout of Citrus Heights, CA, in this downline building scam.

According to the SEC statement given on Wednesday, the system, billed as a marketing network, is "destined to collapse and leave the vast majority of investors with substantial losses." When visitors to one of the landing pages fill out the form, they are then contacted by high pressure telemarketers who work to sell them a downline-building membership for up to $3,895, promising to build them a huge downline that will give them a share of the fees from new members who sign up through their websites. (Can anyone spell PONZI?)

To be in profit with PAS, you need to make not one, not two, but three HUGE sales. Can you realistically sell three practically $4,000 packages?

Actually, this particular system is a newer twist on the original Ponzi scheme, commonly called an Aussie 2-up Pay Plan, (also known as in this case, a 1Up Plan) and it is quite illegal. (I have not yet come up with a reasonable explanation for the term other than that it seems to have originated in Australia.)

The way it works is this: while the system usually offers several different "products," their main focus is to get you to just sell the system to others. Initially, you have to pay a fairly large sum ($3895 in this case) for joining the system. The income from your first sale goes to the system sponsor. Furthermore, everyone who pays becomes a representative for the company, so there are basically no sales outside the pyramid. The system makes grand promises of huge returns with no (or very little) work. They promise that they will advertise for you, have a product for you, and even have people to close the sale for you.

An Aussie 2UP takes the first two salse from a person’s warm market and pushes the sales up to his or her sponsor. Since statistics show that most people can only recruit 3 or fewer people in their lifetime, a 2up leaves no market at all for the newbee.

Strong closers are required who can sell valueless, but expensive products and/or services. Most have some kind of service tied to them. Virtually no newcomer can sell a package that for $2000 - $4000. Instead, they usually get close friends and family to back them making more money for the professional closers who get the sales.

Rather than an expensive seminar or training of some kind, PAS offers an incredible "system" that does all the work.

Most of the products or services offered can be acquired for far less or even free, elsewhere.

Eventually, when the majority of the people realize they aren't making any money, they want their money back, which eventually causes the whole system to collapse, leaving virtually all the members suffering a complete loss.

Finally, when enough complaints reach the ears of law enforcement agencies, the system is shut down.

In most cases, law enforcement agencies don't move fast enough to catch the owners of these systems, who make a big, fat killing and then get out of the country with all the money before they're caught. All that they require to succeed is no conscience and great hype skills. Most (not all) of these owners know full well that their system will fail and that it is, in fact, illegal.)

Be warned! Many of our friends have fallen victim to scams of one kind or another, (remember 12DailPro?) and others. A new one is circling the internet right at this moment called the $7 Miracle. Whether those who are promoting it realize it or not, it is, in my studied opinion, another twist on the Ponzi scheme and it is illegal. If you are in it:

1.) YOU are breaking the law - and -

2.) YOU are going to lose.

I don't care if it only costs $7 - cost does not matter - you will NOT fill your matrix, and you will NOT get the value of your time back, NOR will you get your money back. I can guarantee, however, that the owner will make a ton of money if he can take it out of reach of law enforcement officials soon enough.

If you think I'm blowing smoke, you have definitely not done your research, and you ARE going to get fried. People just like you are getting into these things every day and losing tons and tons of money.

A scam is a scam is a scam. Period. I don't care how nice the scammer appears to be.

For further very informative reading (it may save your bank account) go to http://scampas.com and http://www.mlmwatchdog.com/RC_Scam_DownlineBuilder.html http://www.jimrivas.info/PASsite.html

BE SAFE. Do your due diligence, your OWN research. Don't let yourself get robbed.


Friday, September 15, 2006

What's the Difference?

What's the Difference?

Well, what do you know? 

 Recently released "secret" documents reveal that the previous Democrat government, under the guileless leadership of the slippery-but-popular President Bill Clinton, had ample warning about the potential threat from one Mr. Osama Bin Ladin. It seems that the terrorist threat from that particular individual's chosen country club, otherwise known as "El Qaeda," was already well known in the "intelligence" community during the Clinton administration. 

Many sounded the alarm, but most were ignored. During Mr. Clinton's "cigar trial," the administration did begin to make noises suggesting it was taking the situation seriously (Wag the Dog?), but when the president finally decided to launch several cruise missiles to Bin Ladin's known location, he first called Osama's friends in Pakistan to warn them (ostensibly to prevent a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan due to the unexplained presence of missiles flying over their airspace.) 

Of course, when the missiles arrived at their destination, Osama and company were long (at least two hours) gone. 

Since that time, many opportunities to curtail El Qaeda's operations, mainly by taking out their leadership, have been passed over due to a certain hesitancy on the part of the politicians in and over the intelligence community to believe reports from anyone but a red-blooded member of the US intelligence community. 

Virtually all opportunities to destroy the terrorist leadership have been missed due to the inability of the intelligence community to confirm these reports from people on the ground in the areas where the terrorists are residing. 

 Pardon me, but isn't it a little difficult to confirm these reports? Western intel will never even get close to these men! If the West is going to win, the West has to start trusting friends "over there." 

This brings me to the whole point of today's rant: What is the difference between the present US administration and the previous US administration? The Democrats rather loudly decry the present Republican administration for not catching Osama Bin Laden and his friends, but the Democrats are crossing their fingers and hoping everyone has forgotten that THEY had the best opportunity to take out Bin Laden and prevent the 9-11 tragedy than anyone so far, and they blew it! 

 The truth is, the Bush administration has been left with the unenviable task of picking up the pieces dropped by its predecessor.

Friday, June 09, 2006

The Murder of the English Language

The Murder of the English Language


What has happened to the English language? In scarcely a generation, it has been murdered, butchered and nearly forgotten in radio, television and the printed media. 

Our once beautiful language has been reduced to a small handful of monosyllabic grunts, and continues on its dizzying nosedive into oblivion. 

English language Hamlet

Back in 1611, at the time that great literary work was printed, the Authorized King James translation of the Bible into English, our language was complex, powerful, meaningful, expressive, and incredibly beautiful. Today, if a Bible translation is rated at higher than a Grade 5 level, it's considered too complex and difficult for the average reader, and many translations are even simpler than that. 

In the time of King James and Shakespeare, you could tell by the words that were used, for example, if the speaker was speaking to a group or an individual, depending on whether the word, "thou" was used, or the words, "thee" or "ye." (singular and plural) The same rules applied with many other words, making the language clearer than it is today. 

In the 19th century, some of the greatest classics of all time were written by people such as Charles Dickens, James Fenimore Cooper, the Bronte sisters, Robert Louis Stevenson, Louisa May Alcott, and many others. 

In the 20th century, works of such magnitude as those produced in the previous century became far fewer, to the point where it would be both extremely unusual and likely very poor business to produce such a work today. It just wouldn't sell! 

At one time, anyone who could read would find it pure joy to immerse themselves in a book written by a great author, even going back to the time of Homer and Plutarch. The books were vividly and brilliantly written with such descriptive and excellent language as to put the reader completely into the setting! 

Today, most of the words that would create such a setting are too long, too difficult, and too much bother to read. People would rather watch a TV show with people speaking to one another with at most a Grade 3 level of English, and more often than not, with language filled with idioms and colloquialisms that would make a person from a foreign country, who has actually learned English properly, shake his or her head in wonder, having absolutely no idea what the people are saying at all.

Will it end? It doesn't seem so. The "new" approach to teaching language in the Western World is the "whole language" approach, which teaches children simply to sight read a small handful of "key" words, and to guess the rest by their context. The idea is that children learn to talk by being immersed in language in their home, so they should be able to learn to read by being immersed in words at school.

It seems to me that the people who came up with such an idea have read far too many Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes books! Thankfully, there are still some good teachers who are still trying to squeeze in spelling, grammar, and excellence in reading, but they are swimming against an ever increasing current of opposition. 

Parents MUST spend time with their children encouraging them, helping them and challenging them to read ever more difficult language if there is to be any hope left at all for our once-great language. Otherwise, it will continue to be cut up, cast off, and buried in the refuse it is rapidly becoming. 

That's my rant for today. 

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Hurry! Hurry! Get in at the Top!

Hurry!  Hurry!  Get in at the Top!

How many times have you received an email with a subject line like that? I hope your first reaction is to delete it! 

 As a rule of thumb, if you have to get in at the top, it's because it's probably not going to go anywhere. It has an awful or horribly overpriced product, a hopeless commission structure (usually one that pays out FAR too much to survive), and is designed only to make its owners a whack of cash in a big hurry.

 "Hurry! Hurry!" That's the cry of the huckster trying to grab your cash BEFORE you do your due diligence. 

 "Hurry! Hurry!" Did you notice the date at the top of the page? You only have 23 hours, 9 minutes and 34 seconds to "get in at the top!" 

 Guess what? If you come back a week from now, you'll only have 23 hours, 9 minutes and 34 seconds to "get in at the top!" These hype artists use a simple java script to create a sense of urgency in the hope that you'll shell out your money before you take the time to check them out. 

 Good companies will still be good a year from now. There are billions of people in the world; that's a HUGE market! If the product is good, competitively priced, and tied to a reasonable, workable compensation plan, it will stay good for a long, long time. 

 Be reasonable and use reason when choosing a business. Do not let your emotions rule! The BEST rule to begin with in making any choice is to sleep on it. 

 Beware of those who say you have to "strike while the iron's hot." YOU may be the one who is about to be struck... with another dent in your bank account and another unworkable, worthless, soon-to-disappear "business" opportunity. 

The Da Vinci Code: Pulp Fiction

The Da Vinci Code:  Pulp Fiction

Wow! What a furor The Da Vinci Code is making! You'd think it was a history book that had been made into a documentary the way so many people are carrying on about it! 

 It's a STORY people! It's a work of pure fiction from a man with a very active imagination who's getting richer every day, thanks to its huge popularity. As a student of history with a passion for digging, myself, I find it absolutely incredible that people are even suggesting that it is an 'historical' novel based on 'documented' facts. 

 The fact is, there is precious little factual information in the book at all, and some of the most "astonishing revelations" are either taken from the work of convicted con artists or allegedly stolen from another work of fiction from the 1980s. 

 Note that the author, Brown, himself says on page 8: "In this work of fiction, the characters, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or they are used entirely fictitiously." 

 It is positively astonishing that the news media is wasting so much air time raving about all the 'amazing revelations' in the book, and how it will 'completely change' the way many people think. Have people lost their ability to think for themselves? It's no wonder con artists and their ilk do so well these days - more and more people seem to be ready to believe anything! 

 Question everything! Dig and do due diligence! The real truth will stand up to intense scrutiny, but fiction soon reveals itself for what it really is... simply fiction. What you believe is ultimately your choice, but wouldn't you rather it was the truth? 

 For more reading: The Da Vinci Code: Fiction masquerading as fact 

Monday, May 22, 2006

I Got Mooned on Mainstreet

I Got Mooned on Mainstreet

The other day, as I was returning home near 1 am, a group of young people, probably in their early twenties, were standing on the sidewalk across the street as I turned onto the main drag through our sleepy little coastal town. 

 At first glance, I barely even noticed them, as I was tired after 12 hours and looking forward to relaxing at home. However, just as I began approaching them, a number of young men and woman started out onto the street, laughing and looking my way. Then, without further ado, they turned around and mooned me, a total stranger, taking supreme and giddy glee in the rather cheeky act. 

moon

 So, why would I even mention such an insignificant and childish act? After all, I was driving by, and it was all over in less than a moment. 

The reason is that as I drove home, I thought about what might inspire a group of normal young adults to get their jollies lighting up the cool coastal night for strangers with their gleaming little buttocks. 

The answer is, the act was caused by the same mentality that you hear spoken by young people in communities everywhere these days: "There's nothing to do!" 

I've lived in or visited many communities over the years, and have heard the same expression many times - young people and parents complaining that there's nothing to do in their community. 

We build arenas, skateboard bowls, rec centres, swimming pools, hiking trails, theatres and more, but there's "nothing to do" in our communities. What's wrong with this picture? 

It's simple. The mentality today is that rather than creating entertainment, everyone is saying, "Entertain me!" Laziness is rampant, and young people want everything done for them, including their personal amusement. 

I've personally never been bored. There's more to do in any place I've ever lived than there's time to do! In fact, I've found that people who have lived in a community all their lives often don't even know what's in their area. They don't know where the hiking trails are, where the good campsites are, where the hidden fishing holes are, where that road goes, what's at the top of that big rock, what the inside of their library looks like, who's singing at the community theatre this week, and the list goes on and on.

Unless someone is laying it all out for them and organizing their fun, they're completely lost. Gone, today, is the adventurous spirit of youth, unless it's first sparked by alcohol or drugs (as was most likely the case with those youngsters on the street that night.) 

Imagination in many, if not most young people is dead, and they're completely lost if no one is laying their entertainment right in their laps. 

Perhaps we could begin to help by putting some pressure on our governments to quit experimenting with out kids, and go back to teaching the three R's, promoting healthy competition, and actually rewarding kids for accomplishing something and standing out above their peers. 

Parents, too, can challenge their kids to strive for excellence, to create their own fun, and to look for adventure, rather than sitting for hours with a gamebox or TV in front of them. (What a horrible waste of time!) 

 As I said earlier, I've never been bored. (OK - except for a very short time with a mindless job I once had.) The reason is that my parents strongly encouraged me to succeed, to use my imagination, and to create my own entertainment, and to work. 

My siblings, friends and I spent hours acting out great adventures inspired by books that we actually read ourselves! (what a scary thought for modern kids!) As we got older, we explored the area around us, hiked, camped, canoed, fished and swam, even slogging through the snow in the winter time in search of new areas yet undiscovered by our enthusiastic quests. 

young people

We also enjoyed concerts, plays, music fests, flee markets, parades, our local library, and much, much more. When we weren't out creating our entertainment, we (horror of horrors!) had CHORES to do! Yes, we actually cleaned our own rooms, washed dishes, helped clean the house, mowed the grass, washed the car, chopped firewood, worked in the garden, mended or built fences, and whatever else needed doing that we were capable of doing. We simply didn't have time in between to be bored. 

Where is our modern, Western society headed? What will these young people be like when it's their turn to run things? Will we able to even function as a society? 

Hopefully, the answer is yes, and perhaps, even, our young people will see what a mess the thinking of the latter half of the twentieth century has made of our world and do an about face. That is, if they set the gameboy down long enough to take a look around.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Big Brother AOL

Big Brother AOL

AOL is watching you.... They want you to help them in their noble quest to become richer by quietly and joyfully accepting a whack of spam from advertisers they are giving guaranteed delivery to YOUR email box to, all for a very tiny fee.

It has been with much interest that I've been following the debate over AOL et al. My advice to anyone who is worried about AOL and friends charging advertisers for delivery of commercial email to their members is this - if you want to get your email, don't use AOL or anyone with similar policies. 

 For a long time, now, good lead companies have been excluding certain ISPs - especially AOL, as it has been virtually impossible to send commercial messages to AOL customers for a LONG time. 

 AOL has become so bad that children sending birthday greetings to their aunties are having their email bounce, simply because AOL has blacklisted their local ISP or because several innocuous words in the body of their email, like, perhaps, "Hi," have triggered AOL's draconian spam filters. 

This new pay-to-mail system is NOT the death knoll for email marketing - it opens up a HUGE market to those who want to pay a small fee to guarantee delivery of their mail to practically half the market (yes, AOL is that huge). 

 Remember that it has been virtually impossible for several years now to send commercial email to AOL users. Now, for a small fee, it is guaranteed! 

 However, for AOL users, this means that their spam holiday is over. Now, while Aunty may still not receive that cute e-card from her little nephew, Aunty will DEFINITELY receive plenty of junk mail, AKA AOL-approved spam. 

 In my opinion, it's high time people stopped fighting AOL and others like them, and started looking for smaller, freer, more open and user-friendly services. 

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Scampay - the Saga Continues

 Scampay - the Saga Continues

I have never liked Stormpay, became a member only to make a handful of purchases that were not available any other way at the time, and held my nose every time I used them. 

 During the 12DP debacle, I did a lot of digging into their background and found them to be some of the shadiest characters to ever cloud the sunny shores of cyberspace. How they've been able to survive as long as they have proves that in the online world, at least, crooks and scammers are a lot harder to stop than in the real world. 

 Many have said, "I told you so," regarding 12DP, and rightly so. It was rather obvious from the beginning that they and others like them couldn't possibly legally create the kind of revenue necessary to pay the returns they offered. 

Yet Stormpay was happy to be the payment processor for these ponzi organizations, AND happy to certify them as trustworthy companies through their sister company, NetIBA. 

 Furthermore, they collected even more money by convincing Stormpay members who were involved in paid autosurfs to get certified themselves in order to pay far lower processing fees when they used Stormpay to pay and receive payment from the paid autosurfs. 

 As things heated up with 12DP, Stormpay told its members all manner of tall tales, attempting to paint themselves as the good guys, all the while sitting on a small fortune in collected fees from illegal companies they knowingly supported over the past several years. 

 Now, just when you thought that things might get back to normal with Stormpay as the dust settled and they got back to the business of being a "legitimate" payment processor, they've suddenly locked out even more of their paying customers by making it a requirement to do ALL your Stormpay business through Stormpay auctions. Read their announcement at https://www.stormpay.com/stormpay/handle_gen.php 

 What this means to all the legitimate businesses who have been using Stormpay for recurring subscriptions is that ALL their subscriptions via Stormpay have now been cancelled, leaving them with a greatly reduced or even non-existent cashflow even after following all the rules. 

 It is an absolutely disgusting way to treat hard-working, paying customers and a shame to the business world to think that they are peers in business. I personally hope they fall flat and crawl back under the same rock they crawled out from. 

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Stormpay Innocent? Ha!

Stormpay Innocent?  Ha!

While I suspected 12DP of being a ponzi from the beginning, and warned everyone to watch out, I have also dug into Stormpay's background and believe that while they were very likely acting on instructions from federal investigators, they were also cooperating to try to save their own skins. 

The owners have also been involved in a ponzi (Tymglobal) and are intelligent, educated individuals who knew full well what 12DP was doing and willingly cooperated and reaped the benefits of all the processing fees AND the NetIBA "certifications" that they sold to thousands of members INCLUDING 12DP and many other ponzi organizations. 

I have done my research and can confirm that Stormpay and NetIBA are owned by the same people. NetIBA is supposed to be a company that does a thorough background check and then certifies companies and individuals as being "legitimate and safe to do business with." 

They certified 12DP and MANY other Paid Autosurf and HYIP companies. That in itself puts them right up to their crooked little necks in this whole mess. 

Furthermore, their certification process for NetIBA is a complete joke and a scam on its own. I personally went through the process and can tell you, I could have been Santa Claus and still would have been certified! 

Friday, March 10, 2006

Snarky!

Snarky - are you feeling snarky? Or just tired...?

Feeling snarky? Huh?!

There are a lot of smart copywriters out there today, but only a few really know how to spell or use grammar correctly. Furthermore, bad habits that they have developed in their conversations tend to spill over into their writing.

Incorrect grammar, poor spelling, and improper word usage really bother me. Many times, I have come across a really attractive idea or program, only to click away in disgust because there were too many mistakes.

Confused - what does "snarky" mean?

Maybe I'm lucky. My peeve with errors in written communication has probably saved me a lot of money. I am not going to fork over any of my hard-earned cash to someone who promises me tremendous success with his program, but doesn't take the time or make the effort to ensure that his copy is flawless before publishing it.

I'm sure I'm not unique. Some people would say that I'm too picky.

Let me pose the following question to them: Why, when someone is as successful as they claim to be, are there numerous spelling, grammatical, and usage errors in their copy?

One argument would be to say that not everyone excels in those areas. In fact, some really smart people have difficulty putting their ideas into print.

This argument is flawed. There are a lot of people out there who can't come up with a unique idea to save their lives, but they CAN write well. Hire them!

Poor grammar, spelling and word usage is not professional. It makes an otherwise impressive site look downright amateurish.

When I read copy that makes fabulous claims about the success of a program, I struggle to believe it when it's full of errors. If the program is as successful as it is claimed to be, hiring an editor to go over the copy is cheap!

Not everyone IS successful enough, yet, to hire an editor. There are ways to write quite well, without hiring an editor, even if writing is not your forte.

1. Use a good word processing program with a spell checker. There simply is NO excuse for spelling errors any more.

2. Write short, complete sentences, with as few connectors as possible. Try to eliminate the word, "and" from your sentences. Most of the time, you can use several sentences, instead. Furthermore, short sentences are easier to read quickly. As an added bonus, tests have shown that people tend to remember more when the sentences are shorter.

3. Use a lot of short paragraphs. Again, people remember more when there are a lot of short paragraphs. Also, short paragraphs are usually correct. Remember, paragraphs are used to break up points into digestible chunks. (It is interesting to note that teachers RARELY penalize anyone for using too many paragraphs, but OFTEN penalize for using too few.)

4. Do not use words unless you are sure of their usage! Look up the meaning of any word you are not one hundred percent sure of! What does "snarky" mean?

5. Have a friend or family member who writes well read your article. Most people would be flattered to be asked for their input. 6.

Do not be afraid to put your ideas into print. Your ideas are unique to you! You may have the angle that everyone else has missed. Your article may be the catalyst that sparks someone else onto greatness. Just make sure to follow the first five rules!

Now, to satisfy your curiosity, "snarky" is not a word in any of my dictionaries. It IS a word I have used for years, but one, thankfully, that I haven't used in my writing until now.

I decided to look up the word finally, only to find it did not exist. This is one example of improper usage of a word that we commonly use (at least that I commonly use). If I had used this word without an explanation, none of you would know what I meant!

Here is the meaning of "snarky" as I have always used it: Snarky: adjective: feeling miserable, especially, feeling tired, run down and irritable while having a sore throat and sore eyes. From English: snarly + English Slang: yucky

Now YOU can use it! 

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Get your Facts Straight!

Get your Facts Straight!



In light of the recent upheaval in the online world with payment processors, paid to surfs and hyips, it's time to take a look at what you're doing.

Any so-called business can make any outrageous claim they want on a website. While some are blatantly obvious thrown-together sites filled with typos, bad copy and erroneous statements, there are thousands of very slick, well-written, professional-looking sites. The crooks and con artists know how to fool people!

Get your facts straight

The common thread between an honest business site and a con artist's site is that BOTH are involved in sales. They are trying to sell you on the idea that YOUR life will improve if you take them up on THEIR offer.

Depending on the skill of the copy writer, they can be very convincing. You, as a reader, need to be aware that one of the key skills in writing good copy is to be able to appeal to the emotions of the reader.

If the copy is properly written, your mind will tell you that if you take the deal, you'll feel better, live longer, make more money, have a happier life, get more visitors, or many other things too numerous to mention.

It doesn't matter if the information you're reading is false. Your mind will believe it, because it wants to believe it. After all, it's going to solve your problems and make your life better.

You, as a savvy business person, need to set your emotions aside and do something you've likely heard of many times before, called DUE DILIGENCE.

What that means is, you immediately start digging to find out all you can about the company behind the website. Use the search engines and whois to find out all you can. Follow the links on forums. (Note that forums are often deceiving in themselves, because the writers will often post links that when followed prove their assertion to be false.)

Look for proper contact information on the website and use it to ask questions about the company. If you get no reply, or can't find the information, stay away from that company!

Don't let a friend's excitement cloud your decision! Just because a company has a history of paying doesn't mean it will continue to pay. One of the classic tricks used in ponzi and pyramid schemes is to start out paying on time and regularly. Then, when a certain point is reached - often right before the company would collapse anyway, the owners take the money and run, leaving YOU broke and mad.

Avoid prelaunches that tell you nothing about the coming business venture like the plague! They are used to hype up the "venture" before it comes on line to drive up the emotions in advance of the launch.

It is a trick that works will with products or services that are basically very boring, difficult to understand, poor quality, or expensive (or all of the above).

By steadily building up excitement during the prelaunch, the sales team is priming you to jump as soon as the PAY NOW button appears. They constantly publish the numbers of people joining during prelaunch and strongly suggest that it's so popular that anyone who jumps in and pays as soon as it launches will be guaranteed to get wealthy.

NOT SO!! I've been involved in sales and networking for over 27 years and have never seen someone get rich from taking part in a hyped-up prelaunch. I HAVE seen people make a lot of money from choosing a really good company and working really hard to make it work.

Now let's get back to the so-called companies I started this thread with - the paid autosurfs and hyips. First of all, let's deal with the hyips. Can you spell S-C-A-M? You convince me how they can offer the percentages they offer legally and I'll print a retraction.

Now let's go on to paid to surf. I include any kind of system that pays you to surf, autosurf, click ads, or whatever in this category. This is not the first time these things have shown up.

I can GUARANTEE you that if you make any of these your primary business - no matter how honest they may be - you ARE going to lose. You will lose either all the time you've put in, or all the money you've invested, or both.

Let's assume that you pick a paid to surf company that is running legally (if there is such a thing these days), and you work hard, build a downline, invest your money, and watch sites buzz by till your eyes fall out.

Where do you think the money is coming from if they're legal? The bulk of the money comes from advertising! By their design, these are high traffic sites, which makes them a desirable advertising venue for other businesses.

A banner ad on the sign in page of a paid to surf site costs a lot of money! However, as happened a few years ago (like I said, this is NOT new) so many companies are jumping into the arena that the value of that ad space has been steadily declining and eventually there will be so much competition that these companies will either have to drastically reduce their payouts or stop paying period.

If you think they won't stop, you haven't been around long enough to remember when this happened before AND you haven't read the fine print on the site that states that they DO NOT GUARANTEE PAYMENT! (Does anybody remember AllAdVantage.com and all the others that came after them?)

So, if you're SERIOUS about building a long term, profitable, paying business, start looking for a real business and do your due diligence.

Visit the online forums of people who deal in solid facts and learn from them. Take a serious look before you leap! You'll succeed much faster by slowing down first.




Friday, February 17, 2006

What's all this Nonsense about Global Warming?

What's all this Nonsense about Global Warming?

OK - here it is, February - almost March and we're freezing our buns off! 

 I keep hearing all this stuff about Global Warming, and yet my roses are freezing to death here on the south coast of BC, and they're setting record low temperatures on the prairies! Record LOW temperatures! And not by just a little bit, either. They didn't just break the records - they destroyed them! 

Frozen roses

 Personally, I don't accept everything I see on the news or hear from politicians and government-funded research. Why, the best way to keep getting funded is to create a crisis! 

 Do a little research, yourself. Go to Google and type in, mini ice age. What you'll see is that we've had around 600 years of lower than normal temperatures and if we ever get back up to normal, they'll be able to grow grapes in northern England again, and native grain again in Scotland, plus they might actually be able to use the Northwest Passage for more than a few days a year.  

OK - the ocean levels might rise a bit. Bummer. But think of all the land that is presently unuseable! A few degrees higher temperatures would allow a LOT more food to be grown, and make a LOT more land liveable than at present. 

 So when I'm shivering here in the "temperate zone," don't try to scare me with the "threat" of Global Warming. I'm all for it! And I'm far enough away from the water to appreciate the view without getting my feet wet!

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Stormpay Complaints

Stormpay Complaints

OK - what's next with Stormpay's "sleight-of-hand?" Where's the money now?

First Stormpay told the paid autosurf companies they had to drop all other payment processors and use them only. They said it was because they wanted to protect everybody from fraud. Riiiiight!

Next they told the autosurf companies they highly valued the excellent working relationship they had with them and just wanted to protect the companies and their members... hey, that was really nice of them!!

Then, once everybody complied (and upset a lot of their members in order to do it who used other payment processors), they froze all the autosurf companies' accounts!

Ok - so no one could get their money, but wait - then they started doing chargebacks to all the autosurf members' accounts, bank accounts, etc., but none of the autosurf companies were actually getting any of that money back in their accounts, so now nobody but Stormpay knows where the money is!

Finally, Stormpay posted the official Stormpay statement on their website! It seems they decided to play judge, jury and prosecutor and stated that the paid autosurf companies were a bunch of illegal ponzis and they were just protecting consumers!

Yeah, right! So where did the consumers' money go?? And where do they get off playing the high and mighty on the ponzi idea? Who owned Tymglobal?

Check out the rest of the nonsense at Google+Search+Tymglobal

So what can you do now? Tell somebody! Who? The Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau: StormPay.com Complaints - this is official!

The Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau are accepting complaints regarding accounts with StormPay.com.

To file a complaint with the Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs, call 1-800-342-8385 or go to the department's Web site. Have an official complaint form sent to you by calling 1-800-342-8385 or by writing to The Division of Consumer Affairs, 500 James Robertson Pkwy., Nashville, TN 37243-0600.

StormPay complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau must be in writing and include the following:

Your name, address, and phone number.

Stormpay's name, address, and phone number.

The problem you are having and the resolution you are seeking.

Any paperwork or additional information you have to go along with the complaint.

Complaints may be filed at the website 

Here are some excerps with links from the Leaf Chronicle of Clarksville, TN, Stormpay's home town.

"Auditors dig into frozen StormPay accounts Auditors were busy at StormPay.com Friday as investigators try to get to the bottom of a dispute between the Clarksville online pay processor and a client who operates an "autosurf" Web site.”

"State agency investigating StormPay complaints The Tennessee Division of Consumer Affairs said Wednesday it is investigating complaints involving StormPay.com, an Internet-based company in Clarksville embroiled in controversy over frozen customer accounts.”

"StormPay trying to resolve problem Clarksville-based StormPay.com issued a statement Tuesday night indicating it and another Internet company are working to resolve business disputes.”

StormPay has history with BBB, Tennessee While the owners of StormPay.com are negotiating a settlement, recent complaints against the Internet-based company on Golf Club Lane are not the first to surface.”

Update on communications With StormPay Attorneys for LifeClicks, LLC (the owner of 12DailyPro.com) and StormPay, Inc. have been communicating to attempt to resolve business disputes between LifeClicks and StormPay. Those discussions have been productive and useful, and are continuing.”

"BBB issues alert on StormPay The Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee today issued an alert regarding StormPay.com, an online payment processing business, in response to over 180 complaints filed since the end of January.”

Where is the money? Show us the money!



Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Wedgies

Wedgies 

Best one I've heard lately in regards to who done what to who with what in this Autosurf/Scam/Payment processor fiasco... 

 "These guys need a couple of wedgies, and have their pockets emptied!" 

 Couldn't have said it better myself!

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Autosurf and Investment PONZI Scams - Beware!

Autosurf and Investment PONZI Scams - Beware!

"New! New! 100DailyPro!!"

If that headline got your attention, please watch out! Paid autosurf and investment programs are very popular, right now, and people are joining them in droves. They promise to pay 1% and up, daily to yearly, on the money you put in. I'm sure you're familiar with them! 

I am quite positive that most of these programs are no more than PONZI schemes that are only able to pay their members as long as their paid membership keeps growing. I am positive that anyone paying over 2% (and even quite a few paying that much) are scams and will soon disappear. 

Ponzi

I have a links file for any company paying 12%+ that I regularly check (and do not join). So far the file isn't very thick, as the sites keep disappearing! 

Furthermore, as happened with similar sites in the past, the competition even among the ones that may be legitimate and that may last will likely eventually kill off the rest, unless a few have wizards at the helm that are able to generate enough ad dollars to keep them going. Be careful!! 

Some of these sites DO pay and run very well. (Note that this DOES NOT mean they're legitimate!) What I have found, though, is that 2% seems to be the line and anything over this becomes increasingly risky. I've joined a few to test them and have started small with all of them. And so far, any over 12% have either not paid me, yet (I'm still waiting for payment from an operating site that has promised to pay - it has been several weeks), or they gone right out of business with no warning and my money! 

As I type this, one of the biggest and most successful autosurf companies is embroiled in an ongoing battle with its payment processor leaving thousands of members financially stranded while federal and state authorities investigate both companies. 

When you go to join any program, ask the person who introduced you to it if they have been paid! If it offers higher than 2%, be afraid.... be VERY afraid!! Even if your friend has been paid, again, if it offers higher than 2%, be afraid.... be VERY afraid!! 

One of the reasons PONZIs work is because the excitement of people getting paid causes them to grow rapidly at first generating a lot of fresh cash and therefore the early ability to pay their members. Once the market is saturated, the funds run out and a lot of members lose all their money. 

Obviously when I created the headline for this rant it was tongue-in-cheek, but with the absolutely ridiculous percentages some of these "companies" offer, it makes you wonder if perhaps they're on drugs or if that's what they're making their money with! 

 Also remember that when it comes to PONZIs, being a part of a PONZI can, legally, land you in hot water even if you're not the owner. It's unlikely that you'd ever get into trouble, but IS likely you'll lose your money. It's something to think about. .... and don't even TALK to me about HYIPs!!