chrystalia

It's regular occurrence with this site. 4th time for me--so I'm not going to bother--especially since me email was NOT bouncing then, I got every email they sent *sigh*

Joined wealthy affiliate as a pro member, and the new website is coming together very well! Made featured member of the day at IBOToolbox yesterday, and my network there is exploding--which is leading to serious signups at leads leap--where I just requested a cash out. So, all in all, a good week other than the abscessed tooth that is making me miserable--going to the dentist to have it pulled first thing tomorrow morning. UGH. And my sound off? Well--not enough people believe in celebrating. I have a new signup at IBOToolbox who was complaining after 3 hours--THREE HOURS-- that she "isn't making money yet". She just doesn't seem to understand IBOToolbox is for networking and exposure for your business *sigh*. I have leads leap members who are the same way--I have explained the best way to use that platform to make money until I am blue in the face, and there are people who STILL don't get it.

coo beans LOL--gotta love the zubees!

I did all you suggested when the hack first happened, and have been doubly careful ever since--because I know how very valuable data can be. I'm not a real fan of cloud storage anyway, because I have seen too many so-called responsible companies over the years that aren't nearly as careful with their security as they should be, and the hackers get smarter every day....

Hmm That's good to know! There are also some programs that turn an apostrophe into a forward slash mark--and add ANOTHER forward slash every time you save, forward, or otherwise change the email. So your nice, neat, casually written email (the one with the contractions) looks like crud *sigh*

THIS IS A FULL SCALE RANT Definitions of scam: informal a dishonest scheme; a fraud: swindle As always, THAT WORD is running around. And frankly I am getting rather annoyed. Why? because this word is being misused and over used far too often. I am sick of seeing people promoting illegitimate and illegal opportunities--HYIP/ blatant pozis/bitcoin doublers etc., "revshare" programs with "shares", "royalty positions" or other illegal instruments, as TRUSTED PROGRAMS, NOT SCAMS. As all of the above are swindles, dishonest schemes and in many cases frauds that are only operating well at the moment because THEY ARE PAYING PEOPLE, and more gullible/hopeful newbies are adding money, those are the real scams. But those who promote illegitimate/unsustainable business models---- that would almost every "rev share" site on the planet, and 100% of sites that "rent referrals", and 100% of ML /Matrix programs that pay everyone 100% commissions PLUS BONUSES say : oh, no, dear friend, it's not a scam BECAUSE THEY ARE PAYING. ATTENTION: EVEN CRIMINALS PAY THEIR OBLIGATIONS for a while, BECAUSE THE CON DOESN'T WORK IF YOU DON'T PAY THE MARKS. But a scam, by any other name, is still a scam. So, newbies to our corner of the internet face a veritable forest full of scammers, aided and abetted by the lazy, the greedy, and the uninformed, and get scammed. And our industry sector gets yet another black mark added against it with payment processors like paypal, like banks, like government agencies--and everyone looks at us even more closely. And we become more and more marginalized. THIS HAPPENS BECAUSE WE ALLOW IT. AND ENCOURAGE IT, BY GIVING THE PROMOTERS OF THESE TRASH PROGRAMS THE ABILITY TO PROMOTE THEM, AND OPERATE THEM. Things like the newest round of industry killing federal regulations and banking laws, and Paypal policy changes that stop us from doing business honestly--came about because we as a marketing community have never bothered to get our collective act together and SELF POLICE THE PTC/TE/Mailer/Advertising industry. So now every yo-yo and feral government on the planet is doing it for us. But there are two sides to this because there are two groups involved--the owners and the members. On one hand, we have the full on scam crowd--the serial HYIP site owners that open their new HYIP/PTC with rental refs, whatever, every chance they get. The scammer members flood in for the big opening referral contest, grab the cash, the program collapses, and the same people who called it an amazing program on Monday are screaming SCAM on Tuesday... But the very next week, when the SAME SCAMMER opens a NEW SITE, or brings the old one back under a different Paypal address claiming the system reset was because of hackers and the not being able to pay is PAYPAL STOLE MY MONEY...The same lazy, greedy, or uninformed people throw them MORE MONEY. It costs less than 125.00 for one of these scam BUX sites to go into business, claiming to be U.S. Registered and all, and there are a forest of marks waiting to hand them money, hoping to get in quick, get the big payout, then leave. IS IT ANY WONDER THE PTC INDUSTRY HAS SUCH A BAD REP??? Or that Paypal doesn't want to risk the hundreds of million of dollars in fines dealing with these businesses? Then there are the TE sites. I own one, of course, and according to some other owners I am "lucky"--because I have had only a tiny handful of cheaters. I reward my members very well--far better than many-and I am a dedicated, ethical owner. Yet this week I had a member who has been paid every single month within our seven day payment window, without fail. This member has also been one of about 5 that always has an issue, a complaint, a demand, whatever--but I guess 5 out of several THOUSAND isn't too bad.. This person emailed me at 12:03 a.m. the first day of the payout period (they are automatic at FortunesTraffic), demanding to know where his money was. I pointed out the terms, and he demanded his payment first, right then--or he would tell everyone I was SCAM OWNER. I waited until the next morning to regain control of my temper, and sent his money, with a note informing him if he was dissatisfied with our policies he could cancel his account, and I would refund him the balance of his upgrade. Sadly, he did neither. BUT THEN THE LAST STRAW--because of the major upgrade sale we're having and a large promotional push this month, we've gotten a larger pile of new members than usual, so this yo-yo had earned another 6.00 or so in commission by yesterday--and pay period ends tomorrow. so he sends me an email last night DEMANDING THOSE COMMISSION BE PAID NOW. Never mind that the amount is less than half the cashout at fortunes. Never mind he already got paid well ahead of every other member (I typically hold pay out until the last day of the period so those who are really close have a chance to make it on the mass payout). It is his contention that if I don't add these commissions--which are technically, under TOS PAYABLE NEXT MONTH, NOT INSTANT (though I pay them in the month they arrive in if they come in before mass payout, no holdovers), I am A SCAM ADMIN/OWNER. AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH. I emailed him back the link to TOS, and told him he was welcome to spam every forum he could find and scream--but he might want to remember I am online and in the forums since the 1990s, I am well known, and I have a heck of a lot of money I could use following him around and advertising, publicly, all his abusive emails over the last 11 months. As of yet, he hasn't replied. But if he shows up here--there WILL be a forum war, (sorry, Capt Kirk and Darren, but I am way annoyed). So scam blackmail is alive and well. It's high time we began actively fighting back against this, starting with stomping, HARD, on people that use this blanket S-Word, thereby diluting its legal power AND also altering the meaning in some highly negative ways. It's time we stopped being part of the problem, and began denying advertising to "true" illegitimate business models, illegal activity, and cons/scams. And it;s time we used our power and reach to EDUCATE OUR MEMBER BASES, so they can get free of scams and get down to making real money, honestly, with honest effort--and helping others do the same. Sorry this was so long, but I was so fundamentally offended by these events I really wanted to get the problem out there. And , as there is a new update to the Fortunes Guide coming out next week, I have decided to become part of a solution (again) as well--clean the site up, change the TOS (I'm figuring tackle one problem per month, so people have time to react) and begin educating my members. Because educated members are happy members. And they are making money. And, they also spend money.

Just my two cents--but "scam" is a word often badly used. Why do we join mailers in the first place--to genuinely advertise a product/service, and look for other products to make money with ourselves? To drive traffic to a site we own, or build our own list with that traffic? THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD BE JOINING A MAILER. A safelist or mailers is a MARKETING TOOL. In other words, they were never meant to be an income generator to begin with--not directly. I use my mailers to drive traffic to offers and gain exposure to my site, as a way to inform my site's users through every means possible when something big is going on, and to attract new members. The zubees and cash I get from the mailers is NOT considered in my "profit" calculations--it's a nice extra. But in the end, if you're using a mailer to "make money" by opening the mails as fast as possible to get to your reward, and not even bothering to consider the ads themselves (and in some cases, never even MAILING an ad of your own), then I suppose a non-paying or slow paying owner is an issue. But a SCAM--for a Mailer--would be either promising payment and then denying it with no reason, or changing the conditions of payment every time you are eligible, or lying about why they are paying slowly or not paying. And MArk Fox has been around a long time. He's goof for the money, outside of paypal issues. The REAL SCAM for a mailer would be promising that real people and interested people are going to get your ads--and then sending them to bots or dead/fake emails addys. Or not sending them at all, and making up fake click through rates (something mailers have been found doing in the past. And the other real SCAM would be the people who join and use auto clicking programs, bots, or aren't even bothering to read an ad, because they didn't join in good faith--they joined to get the zubees and pennies for themselves, and to heck with promotion, gaining traffic and exposure, or keeping their end of the implied (and in some cases stated), Bargain--they you're actually going to use the service as intended. Mark's paying slowly at the moment--but beyond that, SCAM is a poor choice of words, at least on his end--as he is sending out the mails people post, the site is in good working ordr, and my tracking and signups I get daily show me that SOME PEOPLE, at least, are reading mails, looking at my offers, and taking action--which is what they agreed to do.

Ah, Ever the Gentleman

Well, that depends on how you define "behave"...wouldn't you agree?

I'll behave after this, I promise.... .

I am a researcher and an information collector, so I'm well versed in finding out of the ordinary answers :-).....

I would agree--except that Reddit has a huge population of nerds, and the new, improved species of nerd is terribly inferior to nerds of our generation. Some of them have never heard of Heinlein. Or Spider Robinson. Or Harry Harrison, I don't dare ask if they know Issac Assimov--if I got a clueless look or a "who?" I would probably die of a broken heart.

Cryptocurrency is bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, ethereum--to name the ones everyone likes. The actual definition is a decentralized, peer to peer, digital/virtual currency. Decentralized: not controlled by banks or produced by governments. peer to peer: transferred directly from person to person, no banks in between. digital/virtual: exists only as a string of numbers/letters. so not a solid coin or bill. The "crypto" has a double meaning--crypto because it is a specific computer generated algorithm, a "code", and also because it is anonymous and can't be tracked by governments (crypto means "secret", disguised). It can be used just like "real" money at a lot of online businesses and some offline businesses. It has pros and cons, like any fiat currency does. Pros: anonymous, like cash. can't be counterfeited. far more secure than credit cards Cons: some gov'ts are banning and trying to regulate it. not in widespread use offline or online. Hard to convert to conventional currency. Any more questions drop me a private message, or ask here in the forum so everybody can get in on the conversation-- And BTW, not a stupid question at all! A lot of people have heard of "bitcoin", but don't really know what it's about. Ignorance is not knowing something. Stupid is having plenty of time, and ways, to learn something and choosing not to. Anyone who is interested/curious enough to ask a question is not asking a stupid question--quite the opposite. You are not only smart enough to know you are ignorant, you're correcting the ignorance.

These would be the same little darlings that can't seem to understand why they got dinged for spelling when they used spell check/grammar check. I'm sure you can imagine the "homonym" conversation....When I do break down and tutor, I have that conversation at least once a day, regardless of the language the student speaks. Living in Tucson, English speaking and writing students are getting rarer and rarer, of course. Some typical excuses.... I used spellcheck, Windows is stupid. I used Grammar check, Windows is stupid. I saw the movie. I saw the TV show based on the movie. I didn't think he was serious about reading the book! I played the video game based on the movie. Oh, come on. Nobody actually _____________________________ anymore, do they? (fill in the blank with a simple, common sense skill like washing dishes). Isn't there an app for this? There's an app for that.... A side note on this one. I was in the grocery store the other day, and they had rearranged the place. I asked the clerk where an item was, and he didn't know, he literally said : I don't know, but there's an app for that.... And from the kids at Reddit : Do all old people know weird sh*t like this? How do old people KNOW this sh*t???? How come when YOU say it, it makes sense?? How come other old people don't talk to me like this? Wow, dude. You mean moms really used to stay home? Dude, can you red pill me on this? ELI5... (translation--can you tell me the truth about this subject, but explain like I am 5 years old?) I should have stuck with the blue pill, this/that is some f*ed up sh*t.

I like to use the email and folder method for classifying types of bulletin boards--I separate bulletin boards into business, non-profit, gov't, for instance. So the BBs in grocery stores, gyms, and laundromats will get the "business" email, the ones in thrift shops, community food banks, churches get the "non-profit", and the libraries and DES offices get "gov't". It's amazing how many Clixsense refs you can get at the DES office just by trolling the line at 6 in the morning with business cards, you know... same with the line in front of the day labor (kelly temps is the best line for PTCs/affiliate programs). Since I can have unlimited emails with my hosting, I create them at will, they forward to folders on the server, and I grab them from that point. I use postcards around the holidays--as a matter of fact, in mid september I'll often buy a hotlist for postcards and send out about 500. I have a really killer postcard about getting free gift cards for christmas I made probably 15 years ago, and just update with the current hot program. This year's will probably have Clixsense, Swagbucks, and Gifthulk. Since the file is in my Avery Online account, I can do what I wish. Then there's the Christmas Express Funnel---get this: Prep the postcards. Include a "SPECIAL TIME SENSITIVE CODE"-- if they take action before XX-XX-XXXX, then they get 100.00 (or 200.00, or whatever) worth of FREE promotion of their referral links and follow up! So, new ref completes the steps--typically sign up, complete X amount of tasks in Y amount of time. Then I load their link with 9 other peoples' links into a special rotator, and advertise it with my "slush fund" (this huge pile of advertising I hold in reserve) on my highest performing sites, and also use it on the next batch of 100 postcards to go out, and each person also gets fliers and business cards placed around their part of town with their links. It's rare for someone to end up with less than 10 or 12 refs from their free gift--and then, of course, I am the one who emails their refs and provides them with the secret insider reports on making good money with these programs. I DO make sure the referral links in the guides belong to the original person who completed the offer and won the free gift, of course--I also have special training reports for them to use with new refs. Heck, I even have some pretty cool powerpoint presentations my recruits in my core down line can use when they have real life get togethers with their growing core down line. Typically around this time of year I will be sitting in on 2 or 3 get togethers a week, with people I have recruited from a snail mail or from BBs, if I take the time to recruit. I don't generally use a phone--as I seldom answer my cell phone and haven't had a line line for literally 10 years, maybe longer. My son Ryan just gave me a smart phone, and I haven't even added it to my plan yet LOL. When I do it will be used basically for downloading games from Clixsense etc to try them out, and for receipt hog and other receipt programs.... I'm sure between all of us here, we can come up with a ton of programs we could use the old "free month" technique with. As a matter of fact, I just thought of something really cool that *should* work with ICanget2 and local businesses....HMMMM.....Gotta scoot, there's a major brainstorm coming . I'll get it polished up, try it out locally, and if it works, I'll run it by you and Capt. Kirk ......