June 19, 2008
Marketing Blogs - Hollywood Tabloid Style
Something really weird is going on with some marketing blog bloggers that seem to have gone tabloid. I think it’s totally cool to disagree with people and you should be a man/woman and have the guts to say who you’re disagreeing with - but what’s with the personal shots?
Next we’ll be seeing photos of our cellulite-covered bathing-suit clad bottom halves saying “You’ll never guess who,” exposing all gurus and their ever-growing computer-planted behinds. Or maybe when that skinny guru (I think there are a couple!) goes to a sushi restaurant and shares one piece of sushi with his/her skinny friend, we’ll hear all about it. 
I jest, but I admit I was kind of surprised by a couple of personal jabs this week.
One of note - came from Rick Butts and his blog post entitled Worst Internet Marketing Advice I’ve Ever Heard. This post was a video response to this post by Ross Goldberg. I got pulled into the whole thing because I commented on Ross’s post as I disagreed with what he said and Rick addressed my comment in his video. Yes, it sounds like a soap opera, I know. Don’t worry if you don’t follow, just watch Rick’s video and you’ll see what I mean.
Now, I realize that Rick likes to use a bit of humor, so I can cut him some slack. But his video alluding to the fact that Ross may fancy himself as a vampire and other comments, made me wriggle in my seat a little. Why not just state your argument and inject humor where it isn’t directed at a particular individual? But hey, if that’s Rick’s thing…it’s Rick’s thing and it looks like Rick and Ross have decided to discuss things on a more even-handed level.
Warms my heart. 
But then I came across this post on Mashable that contained no humor, took comments out of context and was clearly written to take personal shots. The post is entitled, Is Twitter Vulnerable to Marketer Attack? by Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins and he uses bits and pieces of an email from John Reese to illustrate that marketers are taking advantage of Twitter.
He refers to John’s customers as victims and states his concern that “there are a million affiliate marketers with even less scruples” - oh please. If you want to make an argument, make one based on the facts and true issues in front of him. Forget the fact that no marketer, spammer or idiot can actually ruin Twitter because it’s completely permission-based - if you do actually have an argument, just make it.
EDIT: You can read John Reese’s response to Hopkins’ post here.
Sure, I realize these guys do this to bring in traffic - as we know controversy is a great attention-getter (and it works cuz I’m sending these guys traffic). But does controversy need to be so personal?
Free Marketing Course
Thanks for your perspective on this newsie bit - and yes you are right, I couldn’t resist a bit of a “site review” by asking what is up with the name of the Immortal Internet Marketing blog?
I just gave my 2cents on what any first time visitor my think - that’s all - and I do tend to think out loud. Anyone is free to ask the same questions of my whackie header!
JPmicek made a video response to the people who were accusing me of personal attacks and I just posted it so I thought it related well to this post Alice.
Here’s the link http://rickbutts.com/269/tribal-seduction-jp-micek/
Thanks for allowing this to get some light!
Rick Butts
Hey Alice,
Due to your comment and Rick’s (the constructive ones
I put together a report explaining what I meant by my comment. You can find it by clicking on my name (it goes directly to my video response to Rick).
As far as the comments about John, they made him out to be some crack salesman and I was personally infuriated by it. John is great at what he does and it’s amazing how he influences his audience. He says jump and most say “how high?”.
People joining Twitter is what the service is for. John simply sped up the process.
Weird. I wrote a post about this the same time you must have been! And yes, it stemmed from that post but I’ve been thinking about it for weeks since this kind of thing seems to be going on a lot more lately.
Maybe it’s the whole social thing. More marketers are being more social with Facebook, Twitter, etc. so their personal sides are a little more exposed. Maybe we’re gonna start to see the not-so-great side of a lot more people from now on.
Haha, lovely cellulite picture by the way. Glad you found one.
Hi Alice,
I just finished posting a response to one the more ridiculous comments on the Hopkins post.
Someone actually referred to John as an “evil MLM guy”, when judging from their other statements, it appeared they had never heard of John Reese.
That’s the kind of stuff that fans the perpetual flame of name calling.
Sharon Bray-McPherson
@sbraymcpherson
Great article!
Rick is VERY energetic.
Michele Alonso
www.bocanetworks.com
I thought the comments he made regarding Reese and “ebook salesman” were uncalled for.
Unfortunately I stooped to his level in my reply on his blog & felt compelled to make my own blog post.
“Is Twitter Vulnerable to Blogger Attack?”.
If his intention was to link bait with some controversy and drive traffic to his ad farm, ummm I mean blog (there I go again). He did a good job of it.
Next up will be the IM mafia & paparazzi lol.
Geez, when is someone going to slander me?
I’ve been waiting around for it forever. Cmon somebody, throw some dirt at me please.
I love it!
J-Mo
Jason - we prefer to let you do all the work yourself. You don’t need us to throw dirt at you.
I agree Alice. Personal attacks of this kind are never helpful or informative, especially when they are badly written and not researched properly. But then well-researched and constructive blog posts are much harder to pull-off.
I like that you are always the voice of reason (especially at a time when your hormones must be going crazy).
Lisa
P.S. The day they start showing me in my swimming costume and making jibes is the day I leave the Internet forever
P.P.S. Jason, there’s just no fun in throwing dirt at someone who enjoys it so much
Glad to comply, Jason. I’ve been meaning to do this and your comments were a good reminder.
———————————————–
“WARNING: Jason Moffatt Caused My Crops to Fail, My Sex Life to Stop, My Feet to Stink, Gave Me Uncontrollable Gas and Caused Our Family Pet to Pass Out!”
———————————————–
Here’s my TRUE STORY:
These past few day I have been reading some of the marketing materials and rantings at Jason Moffett’s blog at
http://www.jasonmoffatt.com/.
From the very first day of doing this, horrible things started to happen.
At first, I did not make the connection to Jason, but as the days went by - with the terrible events getting worse each day, I realized that the source of this curse that has befallen me has somehow come from logging on to Jason’s bewitched site of doom.
* First, my crops - my garden, started to die and turn brown. At first I thought it was the heat wave, lack of rain, and then the big storm with high winds that blew through my town that first day. In fact, the storm knocked my Internet out overnight.
And that’s the proof - since I could not connected to Jason’s site of doom (that somehow sends out the evil, cursing waves of mojo) for about 14 hours, everything seemed to be okay. But how wrong I was.
* Second - When my Internet connection was restored and I went back to Jason’s site (I remember it well because it was the same day that I had a big argument with my wife), my sex life came to a screeching halt. My wife did not want anything to do with me. She even made me sleep on the couch. SEE?? That’s when I started to suspect Jason and his cyber-warlock ways.
* Third - Since I slept on the couch I skipped getting a shower the night before (because our main shower with all my stuff is in the bedroom bathroom). No big deal - or so I thought. That morning, I discovered that my feet stank. I was shocked when things started adding up. You guessed it - Jason’s site.
Just to make sure and prove my theory once and for all, I again went to Jason’s site and read more of his voodoo content. And sure enough - there was even more undeniable proof…
* The final proof - The same day, I made up and apologized to my wife, and we went out for a big Mexican dinner at our favorite Mexican place. Then I again (just to make sure), went back to Jason’s site later that night. Then it happened: Uncontrollable gas. Jason had hexed me once again.
The paint in my computer room started to peel, and my dog fainted during one of these gas outburst. This was the undisputable proof I was looking for…
I was in the computer room (with Jason’s site on the screen), and my beloved dog actually passed out from the gas (that Jason’s site of doom gave me). Now keep this in mind - sometimes we catch this same dog drinking out of the toilet. It was only after the “Moffett Curses” started that this poor animal actually keeled over.
That was all the proof I needed. Jason Moffett is the cause of all of my woes because all of this only happened either on the SAME days I was on his site, or DURING the time I was logged on to his site.
Who can you call about this terrible witchery? You can’t call the BBB, or the police, or even the FBI. This is some supernatural stuff going on.
All I can do is warn anyone who will listen…Visit Jason Moffett’s site at YOUR OWN RISK!!!
Robert
P. S. I forgot to mention that after the gas/dog fainting issue that my wife (even though we made up and I thought all was well) STILL did not want anything to do with me. So curse YOU Jason. When will this evil end?
I find it informative to warn legitimate marketers away from the shady tactics and scam-like business models John Reese promotes. I don’t have a beef with the man personally. He may be a real great guy personally.
On the other hand, his ventures into the Web 2.0 world send up every warning flag I’ve learned to look for with my dealings in affiliate marketing.
Dear previous commenter,
Are you on crack??
John Reese has gotta be one of the most stand-up guys online. He oozes integrity. You should do some research. If you knew anything about him and read any of his blog posts or newsletters you’d understand that.
Do you have proof to back up your ridiculous claims? You are losing the respect of a lot of people here.
Robert - Thank you for sharing that and protecting us from the like of evil-doers like Jason Moffatt. I shall spread the word about this unsavory character!!
Mark - Seriously, I’m having trouble figuring out what your point is. You say it’s not personal, but you started out with and continue to take personal shots. Then you say it’s a discussion about Twitter and affiliate marketing, but at the same time declare that it’s your goal to expose John Reese as the scamming pyramid scheme owner you figure him to be. If you could really make up your mind, it might be easier for the rest of us to follow along.
Hey all - since this all got started between me and Ross Goldberg’s exchange - I thought this may be helpful - and healing…
I just posted it to Cassie’s Blog as a comment…
A woman friend of mine wrote a book about how men and women deal differently with conflict.
Girls are taught to “be nice” “play nice” even with girls they despise, because that’s what nice girls do.
The primary game they play is “house” where conflict is subordinated to peace.
Boys play games where we slam into each other - compete fiercely - win or lose - and then we go to dairy queen for ice cream and “hug it out.”
Her conclusion was that as adults women stifle their anger causing resentment - while men tease each other - and are often very aggressive and critical and then - we have a beer.
So, perhaps, Ross Goldberg, who banged into me by critisizing my blog post on his blog, and me taking it to the next level with a ribbing video, are not unnamed douchebags - or knobs (who’s passive aggressive now? LOL)
But, maybe we rowdy little boys all grown up (well, partially) and when we see each other on the playground we’ll laugh about it.
But, you’ve judged us as bad people whom, even if we had the best source of wealth ever (which we don’t) you won’t listen to us because we knocked each other down on the playground.
Submitted for your consideration and for the WAHM’s who read it in love,
Rick Butts
Oh Rick, you are an angel compared to this other character.
I have heard that analysis of boys/men and women/girls before and I can see some stereotypical truth in it. I got into a few scraps as a child and now tend to fall somewhere in the middle of the stereotypes as an adult.
Rick’s analysis of boys and girls dealing with conflict is spot on in my experience actually.
And yes, he is much nicer than some other people
What a crazy wave this started though. A learning experience for some hopefully.
Excellent response by John Reese in his Income.comBlog (link Alice posted above)
to Hopkin’s allegations.
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