Hi Folks,

Well, perhaps you all thought I was dead or quit or shaved my head, put on a bright long robe and moved to the Himalayas...  :-)

It's been a very busy summer, both my computers have given me a lot of grief whenever I've had a moment to use them (Got kids?  Get them their own computer!), which means the little time I've had has been spent fixing the darn things!

Ok...  back on subject...

I own a FREE traffic exchange.  Note that the definition of free is...

Wait for it...

NO CHARGE.  Nada.  Keep your wallet in your pocket.  No money required.  It's a gift.  I'm paying for it, doing all the work, fixing all the problems, booting out the losers who want to break the rules on a site I'm paying for, etc., etc.

Now let's see...

I'm paying for the hosting, the software, the upgrades;  I'm putting my time into it, MANUALLY approving every site before it goes into rotation AND handling all the tech requests.

So...  does that or does that not give me the right to make the rules?

Some people don't think so.  I constantly get emails asking me why a site wasn't approved.

Duhhh...  I'm not going to waste my time typing an answer to someone who either can't or won't read.  What's the point?

The next one I really love is the person who signs up for their FREE membership, then turns around and sends me a curt message TELLING me to cancel their membership!   Oh, how I'd love to have that person in the same room with me!! 

Why did he sign up in the first place?  Why doesn't he  cancel his own membership?  Why should I be expected to find his membership among all the others with no more than a first name and the WRONG email address??  Double duhh...  If he accuses me of spamming him in a member update...

My all time favourites, though, have got to be the ones who send me NASTY complaints wondering why I'm not dancing little circles for them around their miserable little lives to make sure that everything on their FREE member site works perfectly for them even though the reason it isn't working perfectly is because they don't read, don't understand computers, don't understand that I have a life, too, AND because they figure the FREE service I'm providing is their licence to put fifty practically identical sites into the rotation at once!  

OK...  perhaps I'm exaggerating a little bit...  I think it was more like forty-nine...

Owning and running free member sites like I do has been a real eye-opener for me.  It has shown me, GRAPHICALLY, why so many people fail in online business.  The sad fact is, they haven't got a CLUE what they're doing, AND they don't WANT a clue.

Free just isn't cheap enough for a LOT of people.  They want to get into business free, advertise free, and have someone hold their lazy little hands while they sit back and let the money pour in.

It just doesn't work that way;  it never has and never will.  The ONLY way to be successful in business is to put a LOT of toil, tears and yes, money, into it.  The less money that goes in, the more toil MUST go in.

Guess how much money I make owning free member sites?  Hint:  If you want to do it to sell anything other than advertising space DON'T own a free member site!  If you have a thin skin, DON'T own a free member site!

And finally, if you really hate people, DON'T even THINK about owning a free member site.  It'll just make your problem worse...  ;-)

God bless,

Dave

Hi Dave, It is nice to hear from you. Your forums are always interesting. I guess some people just like to complain. It is too bad they waste your time with nasty emails or dumb emails when you could be spending your time more productively than reading them! DonnaZ

Hello Dave

I really love the way you have with words...Man, I'm envious.   I agree 110%, actually more than that.  Anyway, I understand exactly where you are coming from, I get the same dumb emails, the same dumb complaints. 

This kind of reminds me of Earl Pitts, who says "Wake up America" in this case "Wake Up Worlds of Dumb A@@ People".

I thank you for this post.  It was very enjoyable, and interesting.

Thanks

Bj

Hi, Dave,

Another great rant but look at the ads you get from Adlanders - how many tell the sucker (sorry, prospect) that they pay nothing, do nothing and the money will simply roll in?

http://community.adlandpro.com/forums/thread/756788.aspx is a forum I started after receiving a biz-op that is so far out in left stream that I just had to comment.

I'm not so much concerned that the programme itself is 'iffy', to put it mildly, but that Adlanders would inflict such appalling dross upon people they call 'a friend'. I have said many times that the Internet Marketing crowd is small and incestuous - it seems it is also canibalistic.

While this sort of advertising takes place and as long as people fall for it, nobody on the web is actually going to learn anything because they will be too busy being introspective - wondering why they aren't making $1,000 a week after paying their $50 (or, in many cases, $0).

If their friend, and we all trust our friends, don't we, says that this is the way to unlimited wealth, won't enough of them sign up to make the advert profitable. When complaints to the 'friend' are made, he/she will simply say "I don't understand - I've been making lots with this - you must have done something wrong. Why don't you look at my latest opportunity and you will soon recoup what you have lost."

Sorry Dave, free is not cheap enough - but get them to pay something and you just might be able to get them to keep paying by promoting anything that you can get into early enough - whatever lies you have to tell.

Like me, though, you probably want to sleep at night.

The Old Coot 

Hey Dave!

You want some cheese with that whine???

LOL

:-)