A long time ago, a fellow slashdotter (CopaceticOpus) offered to send me a book. It has arrived.

Very cool. I look forward to reading it.

Thanks again B.R.

uncreative separatists has a very good explanation on Why are the "freeIpod", "free iPods", "free TVs", "free PCs" schemes scams?

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In summary It's up to you to decide how to spend your time. But you should understand by now that, even if you manage to get your "free" thingy, an awful lot of people are unavoidably going to lose out. Why would anyone want to help this company spread even more marketing misery and woe throughout the world? I can't think of a terribly good reason.

However, it may make a little bit of sense to join if:

• You're 18 or older
• You're sincerely interested in signing up for one of the offered services even without the "free gadget" inducement
• You realize it's going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to convince enough other people to join so that you can get your "free" gadget
• You understand it's a pyramid scheme; few people will ever see a return
• You know it will become increasingly more difficult to sign up new recruits; most people already know about it
• You don't care about spreading more marketing woe throughout the world
• You are willing to explain all this to the people you're trying to enlist
• Very few people will honestly be able to meet all those conditions.

It's entirely possible the company running these scams is merely in the business of collecting names and addresses, and they aren't trying to "rip anyone off". I'm doubtful that is the case, but their actual motives don't matter. If they were truly trying to be honest, they would take the time to explain just how poor the odds were of actually receiving a "free" item... which would, of course, heavily discourage people from signing up in the first place.

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Jan 28: Second time at moderation, new stats:
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