ismonesio

I see all this fake ads everywhere. Driving traffic to e.g. adult friend finder with fake ads pretending to be a girl or similar stuff..

I have to admit i'm kinda starting to feel getting into it Not being a girl but just thinking how easy money that would be...

SO: for the question, do you guys actually give a flying f*ck about how unethically you make your bucks or how against some TOS of some poor service your methods are? Or is it just giving the poor buyer/customer a lesson in Internet if he falls for the trap :P

Thoughts? Confessions? More boobs?

invisible777

See what works, then take it from there.

nevele

'ethics' is a term used by holier-than-thou marketers who are either pissed that they didn't think of the method first, or simply choose to leave cash on the table because they're 'better than that'.

if you watch TV, you are exposed are hundreds of examples of 'unethical' marketing practices every single day.
this includes programming that isn't commercial in nature.

you've got the news -- which markets information addiction and oversaturation so you'll stay confused and complacent. on the national level they're usually marketing fear, clique mentality and political propaganda (fox news), business-related decision manipulation (mad money, big idea, pretty much anything on MSNBC), and perky-as-hell, hot-as-hell, and smilin' wide anchors who keep you aroused and entertained (cnn's robin meade) while they tell you that your freedoms are no longer a basic human right. it's for the children. remember the children.

is that ethical?

you've got sitcoms -- which markets escapism from reality or, more often, complacency to living in situation X because you relate with whoever you're watching, who is in your approximate situation, and is perceived to be funny because it's not happening to you. even though the situations described usually happen to you. which makes it funny, because it isn't happening to you. even though it does. if you can follow that logic, you now know why everyone loves raymond, and why bush is still president.

is it ethical?

you've got reality shows -- which are the product of focus groups, selecting the most beautiful people available to portray the average guy or gal, placed into 'real situations' which highlight the most dramatic aspects of human life, and market distraction from the slavery of living a life you don't like or being someone you'd rather not be. it's OK though, they're eating worms or living the good life so you don't have to.

pretty blatant bait-and-switch going on with 'reality' shows.
think it's ethical?

and then you've got commercials. from actors playing doctors, actors playing old people, actors with diabeetus, actors concerned with their life insurance plan, actors dressed in lingerie who want you to call them (most relevant to the topic), actors who make $5000 in their first month, actors who know your pains and have your pains and can show you a better way, if you buy now.

is any of this ethical?

is marketing itself ethical? the core of our business revolves around infringing others' rights to a 'free mind' by persuading them to buy into an idea, product, or service they usually don't need. if they need something specific, we're here to shove the other guy out of the way and control enough of the market so they buy whatever they need from us, or more often convince them that whatever we're promoting is better.

it comes down to what 'ethical' means. it's 100% subjective, and if something deemed 'unethical' is adopted by enough people for common use, it becomes ethical.

/rant

if it's illegal, don't do it.
if it's against TOS, don't do it.

if you wanna act like a chick and talk dirty to horny desperate guys, go for it.
but i wouldn't do it.
it's unethical.

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jryan21

It's not as easy as you think. Maybe 2 or 3 years ago, but not now because everyone is doing it. Have you ever seen To Catch a Predator? If you read what most of the guys trolling the dating sites (a lot of them are married) write, you would not feel so bad for them.

ismonesio

Nevele, I liked your rant indeed. Nice points there. Going against TOS is also made very easy I think.. All they can do is shut down your account - which you can open using fake names, credentials, ip addresses as long as you want.. Anyway, The reason I'm asking coz it's pretty obvious that in the internet, the big money is in adult stuff (porn, dating), gambling, medics etc..and where I'm living and the language I'm natively speaking this stuff is soooooo underdeveloped. So I'm just thinking how to make a move about it and where to start. Trying to find my ethical boundaries, if I have any

a!!!!1

i do it so much i don't even see it as unethical. you're not really hurting anyone, and any time/money they waste on your shit would have been wasted on other stupid shit anyway. so long as you're making money it doesnt really matter how you do it as long as you're not outright scamming people

disinfect

Meh, ethics are relative. Whatever you feel good doing is ethical to you. But who really cares about that when there's money in the picture?

Anarkist

Perfect reply. +rep.

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John

Is it unethical for car companies to sell you cars they made to fall apart in 5 years? Yeah. Is it unethical for banks to give you money you can't afford to pay back? Yeah. What about tobacco companies, is it unethical to sell you a product that kills you? Maybe.

All business is unethical, thats just business, get with the program or hit the fuckin bricks.

ck256

great reply @nevele . .

Seems ethics these days is allowing to pass whatever you want so long as it's not blatantly illegal, and if it is illegal, just wait a while, someone will figure out a way to lobby/legislate around it.

But I suppose it's always been that way and the public in general is fed the impression of civility and ethics to keep unrest to a minimum.

LotsOfZeros

WTF???

You all must drink from the same punchbowl as nevele.

Is it just me or is this place becoming a cesspool of whiny liberalism? Odd considering you all make money promoting the very entrepreneurial spirit that drives capitalism.

BTW nevele, totally agree with you on Robin Meade - she's the best thing that has ever happened to news - Wow!

__________________
"Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty" ~ Ronald Reagan

UltimateJakob

"Ethics" like everything else in our culture is subjective and dependant on perspective. ESPECIALLY when theres money in the picture.

__________________
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Affiliate Manager
www.ultimatecpa.com
[email protected]
Aim: UltimateJakob

a!!!!1

i don't think any of that is unethical. consumers make choices, the companies don't make those choices for them. if someone chooses to buy tobacco and they die, that's their own fault and nobody else's

ldsmedia

Great posts. If you don't lie about your product, I say go for it. However, lying, manipulating and deceiving are extremely common and most of it is perfectly legal. For example a wrinkle cream can say it starts working immediately, but that doesn't mean you see results immediately.

chatmasta

WRONG!!!!!!

The easiest, quickest, and most money to be made is all in violating TOS. You guys do realize that just by purchasing a link you are violating google's TOS? Every time you post a comment for the sole purpose of getting a link, you're violating google's TOS. Every time you use auto stumble, you're breaking their TOS. Every time you ask for diggs, you're breaking their TOS. Every time you pull a bait and switch on facebook, you're breaking their TOS. Every time you upload a youtube video that you yourself did not film, you're breaking their TOS (and copyright law but nobody gives a fuck).

My point is, anyone can put whatever THE FUCK THEY WANT in a TOS. It's nothing but a bullshit set of rules that gives the site grounds to terminate your account. It has ZERO LEGAL RAMIFICATIONS. So if you don't agree with a rule in a TOS, there are really no sensible obstacles (other than morals if you're a pussy) stopping you from breaking it. I'm sure every one of you have done something from above. EVERYBODY breaks TOS.

You can't be scared to do something just because a company doesn't want you to. The law...well that's different, I'll leave that up to you. But you're missing out on a lot of money if you spend your days trying to stay within a terms of service agreement. It's kind of like card counting in a casino. Does it give you an advantage? Yes. Does the Casino like it? Hell no. But it sure isn't illegal, and all they can do about it is escort you out.

Take the OP's post for example...he's talking about social spamming. Is there a lot of money there? You bet. It's also against the site's TOS...but who gives a fuck? Whether or not you agree with spamming horny males for their email address is up to you...but personally I have no problem with it. If they're enough of a dumbass to fall for that shit then its on them.

But you gotta be careful with social spamming. Because although they can't get you in trouble for making a fake account, they will have a legal leg to stand on when it comes to the fact that you fucking raped their servers while you were scraping all their users and creating your accounts. They can claim monetary damage if you ever hurt their servers. So you better be ready. Ready your bots, proxies, email accounts, captcha crackers, and best of all a bag ready to take all the money. You're gonna need em.

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a!!!!1

whats that?

-Matt-

Marketing is marketing. You find a way to attract people to your product and then make them want to buy it. If pretending to be a hot girl in a chatroom will get you affiliate sales, then exploit it.

I personally don't look at anything in life or business as ethical or non-ethical, right or wrong. I set a goal, and then I find the most efficient way to achieve it.

It's not like pretending to be a girl / using fake ads actually hurts anyone in any serious way. You could argue that they spent money on the chat service thinking they'd get to chat with that one girl you pretended to be, but they still get to chat with hundreds of other hot girls

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-Matt-

I'd also like to say this for noobs to read - even though it is common sense, it might not come to mind at first.

When marketing under your own brand / name keep in mind that if you are caught using unethical marketing techniques you can tarnish your reputation. Always weigh the pros and the cons.

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nickycakes

don't be worried about that

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Jameel

RE: Anyone Cares?

I DONT GIVE A SHIT

audax

There is right and wrong... and a whole shitload of money to be made inbetween.

hazzan

Which begs the question, is it actually possible to get a piece of ass on AFF?

__________________
Make Money. Now.

a!!!!1

oh im worried

Jizzlobber

I think there's a crunchy section .

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beejeebers

Cybering with another dude just for a commission makes you a gay hooker.

Bofu2U

But you'll be a gay hooker with $4.50 from Fling.

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Sawya

lol ethics. It's a race to the bottom and if you aren't doing it then someone else is, why not get a piece of the pie?

"I've always felt that there's far too much hysteria these days about so-called cheating. If you can take advantage of a situation in some way, it's your duty as an American to do it."

- Mr Burns

turbolapp

Ethics should be be line YOU draw in the sand, not someone else.

I happen to draw the line between: TOS|Breaking the law

But after you draw that line, stick with it, otherwise you got no ethics.

chatmasta

TOSBrea|king the law
TOS|Stolen credit cards

thats the way to go!

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Vendzilla

what ever you do, it will be illegal to do tomorrow

__________________
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elime

Fuckin' A.

DanielQ

I disagree. Ethics aren't relative for the majoring of things.

I would say no, with the possible exception of the car situation. The consumer has a choice to choose things like loans and tabacco that may harm them, but it's their choice.

All business? So giving someone what they want is unethical? how so?

Sawya

Google TOS makes no sense anyway. They index you, you don't ask to be indexed, so how can you break something you never signed up to.

Squirrelinabox

Thanks for this great example of a lack of net morality

Obviously I'm in the minority here and am likely to get flamed, but here you go: Net Morality - Fake Profiles Part 2 - Online Dating

Yes, morality is all relative, but that doesn't mean you can't try and hold people responsible for what you may think is right or wrong. I'm sure many murderers thought they didn't do anything wrong, but that doesn't mean we should sit by and watch them kill people now does it?

Creating fake profiles to trick people into signing up for your offers is a scam and you should be held accountable. If only law enforcement and the court system could catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to the internet.

__________________
Net Morality
Just because you're hiding behind a computer screen doesn't mean your actions don't have consequences.

LotsOfZeros

You have no idea how much I love this movie

+rep

__________________
"Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty" ~ Ronald Reagan

Volume10

Just like religion and politics, ethics are a personal choice and should be kept to yourself.

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Squirrelinabox

So if you think a certain politician is corrupt and/or terrible for the country, you shouldn't try and convince your friends of that? Also, like I said previously, a murderer has his/her own ethics, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't force upon that person society's standards that killing is wrong.

Sorry, but I don't believe in ethical relativism. There are universal rights and wrongs out there. Just because many people disagree on something doesn't mean there isn't a right answer.

__________________
Net Morality
Just because you're hiding behind a computer screen doesn't mean your actions don't have consequences.