So...I'm a Plant

4
1.5K followers

You just gotta love this one. I'm in chat tonight and someone suggests i'm a plant. Not a tomato plant, but a plant as in 'a paid individual for promotional purposes'. So I start to think that if I'm a plant then;

1) Where's my paycheck?
2) What kind of a plant am I?
3) How much fraud and deceit is there in the world that people come into a place like this and suggest something like that?

Granted, I have been burned by the 'gurus' and was somewhat skeptical when I came into WA. The internet is a wonderful thing and like anything in the world you have to watch yourself. But has the 'interernet guru' replaced the lawyer and the car salesman at the very bottom of the integrity pole?
From what I've seen in life, nothing surprises me, but I think we have a new benchmark. It's a shame that people try to run a respectable business and have to deal with that type of branding. I remember what it was like when I was selling cars. People come in and automatically brand you as a liar and a thief. Not a nice feeling to say the least, especially when you go out of your way to accomodate your customers. It's a sad day for the reputation of 'an online income'. And what does that do for the reputation of the affiliate marketer.

47 dollars a month isn't a heck of a lot of money. We're talking $1.50/day. People pay that much for six cigarettes. What's that compared to a life changing education! Not to mention the abscence of the inevitable and immediate upsell. Well Kyle and Carson, not that we're personal friends, but at this point I think I'll go out on a limb and defend the integrity of WA. It's just too bad you get grouped in with the rest of the snake oil pitchmen in this industry. BTW, where's my paycheck? LOL

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Recent Comments

33

Hi Steve, so you're a plant? lol

I've only been here a few weeks or so. I started out with the 10-Day Free Trial and I for one liked what I seen here at WAU and decided to go for it and get a paid membership. For a few years now I've been looking for a place to help me get started with something online.. I have got to get out of the job I have had for 12 years!

Everything else seemed too good to be true and promised to give "secret" tips on how to make thousands of dollars a day but then you go to join, they ask for money right away... before I know what exactly am I paying for? I don't think so. I work too hard for my money to just give it away for something that I don't even know what it is. So after reviewing these other places I found out that I would definitely not fall for their schemes.

Now, looking up WAU I seen something that was different, no promises to make me rich overnight, I didn't have to pay anything to see what it was about for 10 days either, plus a lot of people saying positive things about WAU. So far, I have learned a lot here and have always gotten help when I've asked. I actually have a website started (still a work in progress though), which is something I thought I'd never be able to do! I should have more accomplished but since my job requires so much of my time, I have to just do as much as I can when I can.

I also have a couple of them that are giving WAU a bad rap...saying that there are "plants" on WAU, following me and saying to get out of WAU. Bah, nope! I've never been one to listen to someone "telling" me what to do anyway. As far as I'm concerned I like it here, especially when I know that if I have questions someone will answer.

Best wishes everyone! :)

the funny thing is that if he knew me he'd know how ludicrous it sounds - this place has lived up to it's reputation as billed - no gimmicks, no upsells, no bs - so if someone takes a poke at wa they take a poke at me - and that's not highly recommended - the other factor is the rap of the industry and what does that make us as reps?

Well said Freedomseekr, Nice to meet your acquaintance.

Unfortunately, the 10-Day Free Trial gives bad elements a chance to get here and cause trouble without knowing what WA truly offers or understanding it. However, the JMJ guy has been here for two years and had no excuse for his actions. I got the feeling that he hasn't really used the resources WA offers properly. I just hope Kyle and Carson don't decide to drop the 10-Day Trial because of people like them who can get in so easily. It's the best thing to have happened for us affiliates.

Admittedly, sometimes I have had to wait for a bit for someone in the know to show up in chat when no one there had an answer for me but even though they couldn't help me, they tried by sending me links they go out and find or telling me who to watch for in chat. They are always as helpful as they can be even when they don't have the answer. Sometimes, it's just a matter of being a little patient but not often. More often that not, I get an answer straight away.

Somewhere, the 'lady' (and I use that term lightly) said she couldn't find real WA reviews because they were buried behind pages (SERPS) of WA member reviews that were all good. Personally my feeling is that that is because there are no bad reviews to be had. IT IS a great community and educational site.

As far as her screen shots go, she and JMJ were the only ones who looked bad in them.

And the 'bots' thing is truly laughable. How could anyone think the responses in chat are given by bots? It's just plain stupid.

And for plants??? I'm not even sure where to go with that one. If there are people monitoring chat and being paid to help, so what? They should be paid for their expertise. If they are not, then they should be commended for their excessive generosity.

I will defend WA to the hilt. It's easy to see the difference between WA and scammy programs. If people can't see that then they are like those two who seem to me not to be doers but want to blame everyone else for their lack of progress when it's their own fault. You can't make it with such negativity.

I believe in WA and if I am not making the progress I want to as fast as I want to, then the blame is on me not WA.

you got it right sister - too many people look outward and not inward - thanks for the comment

Way to go Renni!

yea come to think of it i was also at the cat site and that dude or lady or whoever it was had screen shots from the the live chat of different conversations saying that they were asking for help and they got kicked out for no reason.

Then they joined again under a different name and was trying to get help and everyone ignored them. Which i know for a fact that is a lie cause i am usually in the chat room most of the time and i haven't ever witnessed this.

I think these people are just trying to give WA a bad name and it pisses me off that people would do this kinda thing.

somehow she ended up following me under a different name complaining about something - wish there was an ejector seat for these people

Well said.

apparently the defenders outnumber the naysayers - let's challenge them to a duel - spitballs at ten paces i say

I want to just say this. you still look like a corn stalk to me, lol. :P
Seriously, I have witnessed several of these conversations lately, and went to the cat site. We all have wasted enough time on this. Best way to deal with it is like David said, back it up with results. Who knows, these people could be plants by the competition. I offered the cat lady help and she never took me up on it. I am happy here.

never thought about the double not spy plant theory - totally good point - thanks for the comment

I also wondered if it wasn't just a rather sad attempt to get some traffic to her site, you know start a fuss-about-nothing here and hope people might come and look at your cat-in-a-hoodie pic. which I must admit was deliciously appropriate.

This is absolutely true, there are PR agencies that exist entirely to LOWER other people's PR, and they can be hired just like any other service. Google "Peter Joseph Merola" and marvel at the number of seemingly random people with seemingly random websites who spend inexorable amounts of time attacking this guy.

Hey Steve.

You're not alone, I've been called a "plant" twice in the last few days, accused of working out of a call centre in India (which would be fine by me as long as it was located in Kochi or Rishikesh!) and many other even more delightful labels. I think I'd be in dire risk of getting my throat cut if it were true, too many Members have spent far too much of their precious time and energy helping, advising and supporting me (for which I'm truly grateful) only to discover that I'm on the WAU payroll just to create "noise".

I've also found that some of these faux "Members" are simply trying to goad people in the chatroom, capture the answers and then post them on other sites. I've seen a site that's ostensibly about cats that has dozens of these screenshots taken in the last few days including a downloadable PDF. I just find that hilarious! I wish I'd that kind of free time to waste, albeit I'd probably find something more productive to do with it.

I'm not sure how or why these individuals want to define WAU as a scam. There's a 10-day-free-trial now, something that wasn't available when I joined up. If you can't work out what's here and whether it's for you or not in that time, you're probably better off elsewhere rather than parting with your money. I've never thought that WAU was for everyone. It just so happens it was absolutely what I was looking for, which is why I signed up for a year-in-advance after my first paid month's trial expired.

Oh, I do have to take issue with one thing about your post that totally infuriates me. $1.50 for six cigarettes? We have to pay $7 for ten here in the UK. I'm definitely off to sulk about that!

Best.

Rich.

sorry about the cost of the cigs but look at what it cost ty! - this gentleman has been around here for quite some time and true he should have it figured out by now - again the issue runs deeper than the actual comment - it groups kyle and carson in with the snake oil salesman and we are the followers of that cult - i just don't cotton to it - there's got to be a modicum of decency and moral fiber left in this world somewhere - thanks for the comment - let's hang out and catch some photosynthesis!

Well I hope he figures out the truth about WA because I really hate to see anyone miss out on what's offered here. It's very hard not to take it a bit personally when someone attacks you or accuses you of something like that but I have to agree with Carson you can't hardly blame people for thinking the worst.

When I started out here I was very hopeful but at the same time I was so worried it would be yet another let down. I kept an open mind and was not disappointed but it does take a bit of time to really understand what this community is all about.

Sometimes I try to put myself in a newbies shoes, I have to ask myself why would all of these people help each other when we don't get paid...well we we do get paid for our recruits but no one here just helps their own recruits.

Then I think why do I personally help people when I get the chance. I don't get paid for it so why do I do it. I can only answer this for myself but I do it because I get the vision and I want to be a part of that, I want to contribute to that.

If you think about it for a min it must be extremely hard for many people to understand that. It goes against everything we have ever encountered and everything we have even been taught.

I have always said the hardest part of this business is just getting people to trust you. We are programmed to believe that if something seems to good to be true than it is. That's more of a sad commentary on our world and our society than anything else.

if you do anything nice for someone it's construed as an ulterior motive - seems like good old fashioned altruism gets the proverbial boot in the butt

Not from everyone. If you get a bad apple remove it from the basket don't let it corrupt the whole basket. Some of these people just want to make you feel bad an discourage you from helping others but I believe in what we are doing here in this community and I believe if we let others interfere with that we are letting ourselves down and playing right into their hands.

Hey Guys and Gals. The problem with the Internet marketing industry is that people are jaded by all of the Guru's out there selling absolute garbage to people who are genuinely interested in learning about online business. Kyle and I have been battling these people since WA was created back in 2005 and we will continue to battle them.

For many people who come into Wealthy Affiliate for the first time, they have a hard time believing that we actually offer everything that we do. It may take them some time to realize that we are a community of helping people.

Wealthy Affiliate is not a product, it's not a scheme, and it's definitely not a scam. Most everything else in the industry is, but not us. WA is an education platform, not a silly e-book claiming to make you rich overnight.

To anyone who goes out on a limb and defends WA, thank you...you have every right to defend something that is genuine. We will always have people who are skeptics, who knows maybe they are jealous competitors selling e-books on clickbank, it doesn't matter. Everyone who is part of WA has a cutting edge education platform that is the foundation of our community and no one can argue that there is anything else like us out there.

Let's help people understand that WA is an education platform and a community. We do this by focusing on the very core of what WA is...a friendly, helpful, and quality place to learn about online business. The skeptics will quickly change their minds after they give us a chance and hopefully change the way they think about the industry in general.

Carson

thanks carson - nice to know you've got my back - what goes around comes around - you've provided an educational platform with no bs and in return you get a band of loyal troops - like dorothy said 'there's no place like home'!

How about this...Who cares what people think. I know WA is solid and have the business and income to back that up. This is where I learned how to make money online along with so much more. People will always be skeptical about anything in life because they don't know better. Don't take things too personal when people attack you. I didn't see what happened earlier so just commenting off your blog here. I will say, though, I have seen people attack WA that have been here for a while but really I haven't seen them take action to become a better marketer. Why? Because everything you would need to know to be successful is right here.

Well said David. People get ripped off for years over and over again by people in the Internet marketing industry. People claiming that they can teach people how to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from a stupid e-book or website. I know people like this because I've been in the industry since the very beginning of Internet marketing. I know people who claim that they make millions of dollars online but in reality own nothing, have nothing, and are among the worst marketers I've ever met.

I've worked with people here at WA that have re mortgaged their homes to pay 10's of thousands of dollars to companies who claim they will help them start an online business. There is no doubt why people are jaded. Honestly, I do not know of another place online that offers anything remotely close to what we do here at WA. There are a handful of people out there who have great intentions, but just don't have the platform to actually educate people. So, people have trouble succeeding without the full package and they become skeptics.

Anyone who comes to WA being skeptical will hopefully leave with a different mindset and ideally a new outlook on what they can achieve with WA.

it's more the moniker for the industry in general that concerns me and WA gets lumped in with the sheisters

I witnessed the conversation and I gotta say It didn't sound like he was really saying he thought you were a plant, rather he was saying he was hoping the nice things you were saying about WA were in fact true. And that you weren't a plant. I kinda like his open honesty. So many people are so afraid to say what's really bothering them. Make money at home scams are numerous, I think he was definitely leaning on the WA side! After all he wouldn't be here if he wasn't would he? Just my 2 cents. :-)

that may or may not be true - however the fact remains that the rap for online income has been equated with the depths only beforehand reached by whale feces

forgot to mention the fact that the blog doesn't address my feelings about his comment in a personal way but rather as suggestive of the reputation of the industry - btw - did you read the blog or just the title

The funny thing about this whole thing is this dude has been a member of WA for almost a year and he comes in here and says those kinda things.

It's pretty stupid he has been paying for WA for almost a year and he still has those kinda feelings about this place. Some people never cease to amaze me with the kind of stuff that they say.

i agree and thanks for the comment - it's also too bad that there are more horses asses than horses in this business - i think i'll be calling this place home for quite some time

Sense of humor?

hey rj - i had a sense of humor once but i loaned it to an albino pygmy dwarf who was traveling in the circus - he sent it back by steamship and it fell overboard and got eaten by sharks

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