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Nice affiliate link he's got at the bottom of the article. I understand that we've all got to eat, but having an affiliate link in such a praiseful article kin

by swombat 17y ago

Nice affiliate link he's got at the bottom of the article. I understand that we've all got to eat, but having an affiliate link in such a praiseful article kind of demolished one's credibility - even if your name is Giles Bowkett. Considering the number of cranks and scams surrounding this topic, if you want people to take your advice on such matters seriously, at least post a plain link.

gaius 17y ago
You can get all the real weight loss knowledge there is for free at t-nation.com. I think the point he is trying to make tho' is that paying for something motivates him to do it. Which is human nature really; people do not value what they get for free.
- Psyonic 17y ago
  This doesn't work as well as you might think, at least not for everyone. I've paid for programs, and still basically taken the same attitude towards them I would have had I got them for free. Granted, if everything I own was on the line, it'd probably be different, but $97 makes little difference (and I'm not rich, by any stretch of the imagination.) I tend to realize when something is a sunk cost, so regardless of what I've put into it, if I'm not motivated to continue, I don't.
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
calvin 17y ago
Did you read his post, "Blogs Are Godless Communist Bullshit"? http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogs-are-godless-communist-bullshit.html http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogs-are-godless-c... He's not concerned with credibility. He's mocking the system, mocking its methods, but using them to build his own traffic and generate money via affiliate marketing. It's a parody. I'd say the original post and all the followups he's doing along the same lines are incredibly effective at demonstrating his point.
- abstractbill 17y ago
  It's a parody. I thought that too at first, but he is also taking money from people. If the whole thing really is a joke, I would think one of those people would inevitably sue him (or at the very least issue a chargeback and tell the world).
  - giles_goat_boy 17y ago
    It's not a parody. It's funny, but it's real. This diet saved my life. I mean you could spend a lot of time debating what I really mean, or you could just assume I mean what I say, get the book, improve your nutritional habits, lose tons of weight and live longer. Just consider the possibility that maybe it is that simple. What kind of crazy-ass dipshit would kid around when he was talking about having heart surgery three times by the age of 35? Anyway, as far as your other question, there are tons of people making money hand over fist in affiliate marketing. I hate to be a dick but if you want to make money in affiliate marketing, you shouldn't just build some random complicated system in the hopes that maybe it might work, you should PAY FOR ADVICE. Just buy a couple ebooks on affiliate marketing and figure out which systems work. Even if you buy a bad book, you learn a little about how to spot bullshit. $35 or $97 on an ebook costs a lot less than several weeks or months of programmer time at a startup. I mean that's just crazy.
anthonyb 17y ago
Don't forget all of the ads he's pasted up on the right hand side, too. If you follow your argument to it's logical conclusion, you can't trust anyone with affilate links, ads, or any other way of making money from their readers. The main difference here (from watching the video) is that the service he's promoting is from a medical doctor and based on results published in medical journals. That's a pretty high bar of evidence, and I doubt that it would be anywhere close to a "scam".
- swombat 17y ago
  The ads are clearly marked as ads, though, whereas this is presented as a bona fide personal recommendation.
- Psyonic 17y ago
  I do lose at least a bit of trust in anyone with affiliate links or ads, at least as far as their opinion of those products/companies are concerned. Who wants reviews of anything when the review is clouded by money? I'd much rather pay directly for the information. So many forms of reviews are completely worthless because this system has got out of hand. Amateur video game reviewers get the games for free, but if they really rip a game, the publisher cuts them off in the future. Wonder why almost no game gets rated less than 70%? And on, and on, and on. If you want the worst of it, the incestuous world of affiliate marketing is where to look. Say you want to buy a program to learn how to start... ok, you heard of one, now you look it up on google to see if it's legit. EVERY SINGLE RESULT FOR 100 PAGES will be some guy pretending to review it, but really just promoting it. They even use titles like this "Affiliate marketing scam," and the article says, "Is it a scam? Let's investigate... no. Sign up here <aff link>" Basically, within that world, it is impossible for a beginner to separate the wheat from the chaff. Outside of AM, it's not as bad, but it's getting there.
- giles_goat_boy 17y ago
  if you take my argument to its logical conclusion (and there's no apostrophe in a possessive "its", dammit), then you can't trust anyone without affilate links.

by swombat 17y ago

gaius 17y ago

You can get all the real weight loss knowledge there is for free at t-nation.com. I think the point he is trying to make tho' is that paying for something motivates him to do it. Which is human nature really; people do not value what they get for free.

Psyonic 17y ago
This doesn't work as well as you might think, at least not for everyone. I've paid for programs, and still basically taken the same attitude towards them I would have had I got them for free. Granted, if everything I own was on the line, it'd probably be different, but $97 makes little difference (and I'm not rich, by any stretch of the imagination.) I tend to realize when something is a sunk cost, so regardless of what I've put into it, if I'm not motivated to continue, I don't.

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

calvin 17y ago

Did you read his post, "Blogs Are Godless Communist Bullshit"? http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogs-are-godless-communist-bullshit.html http://gilesbowkett.blogspot.com/2009/12/blogs-are-godless-c... He's not concerned with credibility. He's mocking the system, mocking its methods, but using them to build his own traffic and generate money via affiliate marketing. It's a parody. I'd say the original post and all the followups he's doing along the same lines are incredibly effective at demonstrating his point.

abstractbill 17y ago
It's a parody. I thought that too at first, but he is also taking money from people. If the whole thing really is a joke, I would think one of those people would inevitably sue him (or at the very least issue a chargeback and tell the world).
- giles_goat_boy 17y ago
  It's not a parody. It's funny, but it's real. This diet saved my life. I mean you could spend a lot of time debating what I really mean, or you could just assume I mean what I say, get the book, improve your nutritional habits, lose tons of weight and live longer. Just consider the possibility that maybe it is that simple. What kind of crazy-ass dipshit would kid around when he was talking about having heart surgery three times by the age of 35? Anyway, as far as your other question, there are tons of people making money hand over fist in affiliate marketing. I hate to be a dick but if you want to make money in affiliate marketing, you shouldn't just build some random complicated system in the hopes that maybe it might work, you should PAY FOR ADVICE. Just buy a couple ebooks on affiliate marketing and figure out which systems work. Even if you buy a bad book, you learn a little about how to spot bullshit. $35 or $97 on an ebook costs a lot less than several weeks or months of programmer time at a startup. I mean that's just crazy.

anthonyb 17y ago

Don't forget all of the ads he's pasted up on the right hand side, too. If you follow your argument to it's logical conclusion, you can't trust anyone with affilate links, ads, or any other way of making money from their readers. The main difference here (from watching the video) is that the service he's promoting is from a medical doctor and based on results published in medical journals. That's a pretty high bar of evidence, and I doubt that it would be anywhere close to a "scam".

swombat 17y ago
The ads are clearly marked as ads, though, whereas this is presented as a bona fide personal recommendation.
Psyonic 17y ago
I do lose at least a bit of trust in anyone with affiliate links or ads, at least as far as their opinion of those products/companies are concerned. Who wants reviews of anything when the review is clouded by money? I'd much rather pay directly for the information. So many forms of reviews are completely worthless because this system has got out of hand. Amateur video game reviewers get the games for free, but if they really rip a game, the publisher cuts them off in the future. Wonder why almost no game gets rated less than 70%? And on, and on, and on. If you want the worst of it, the incestuous world of affiliate marketing is where to look. Say you want to buy a program to learn how to start... ok, you heard of one, now you look it up on google to see if it's legit. EVERY SINGLE RESULT FOR 100 PAGES will be some guy pretending to review it, but really just promoting it. They even use titles like this "Affiliate marketing scam," and the article says, "Is it a scam? Let's investigate... no. Sign up here <aff link>" Basically, within that world, it is impossible for a beginner to separate the wheat from the chaff. Outside of AM, it's not as bad, but it's getting there.
giles_goat_boy 17y ago
if you take my argument to its logical conclusion (and there's no apostrophe in a possessive "its", dammit), then you can't trust anyone without affilate links.