AdMan
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2010
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- 10,293
Where is that?
MLM Math
- Thread starter pipelineaudio
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- amway
Where is that?
icerat
Philosopher
It appears that anti-mlm critics share another feature - poor reading comprehension (and lousy knowledge of geometry)
But hey, if it entertains you.
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=216462&page=45
Funny stuff. The lengths this guy goes through to defend Amway.
Sad is more the word I would use. Near the same kind of cult defending of Fortune Hi-Tech can be seen and it shows a deeper problem.
MLMs are to business what homeopathy is to medicine - schemes not bore out by reality, actual scientific research, or even logic and kept legal only though constant lobbying.
icerat
Philosopher
Yes, it's incredible how they've managed to stay legal in virtually every country around the world, through both left-wing and right-wing governments, democracies and dictatorships. Independent judiciaries, government committees, academics and universities, all of them part of the vast mlm-conspiracy ....
something should be done!
Something being legal doesn't mean it's a good idea or a good business opportunity.
Gambling is legal in Las Vegas and the vast majority of people who gamble ends up losing money, just like in Herbalife or Amway. The sad thing is that MLM opportunities are not games of chance.
Proof by "it's legal?" What the hell. Gambling is legal almost everywhere now. Punching myself in the face is legal. Giving all my money to the Scientologists is legal.
icerat
Philosopher
Nobody said legality was "proof" of anything, carlitos. Maximara was making the ridiculous assertion that MLM was legal purely because of lobbying, which would require an incredible global conspiracy of more than 5 decades.
Gambling is legal purely because of lobbying. I might be missing your point though.
icerat
Philosopher
Well, if you believe maximara, MLM lobbyists are far far better than gambling lobbyists, since gambling is illegal in many places and it's legal status has changed back and forward often. Legitimate MLM is legal pretty much everywhere and always has been (Sri Lanka may be an exception, I'm still trying to get clarity on that)
It is sad. This icerat chap doesn't even appear to have made anything out of his MLM business.
Some people wonder if he's actually paid somehow for his zealotry in defending Amway and MLM in general.
icerat
Philosopher
Care to point out what part of the discussion you're actually referring to?
Those are indeed common to the "reasoning" of the anti-mlm brigade (many examples on this thread) but for some reason I suspect that's not what you're referencing. If you were, you missed probably the biggest - hasty generalizations.
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Stomatopoda
Muse
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2011
- Messages
- 920
i.e., "everyone but me"
Considering efforts to regulate or outlaw gambling go back as far as the 4th century BCE this is a non sequitor but then you get that a lot with Icerat.
In fact during the 19th century there were literally dozens of books on the evils of gambling that implied every (and I do mean every) form of gambling was fixed against the player. Jonathan Harrington Green's An exposure of the arts and miseries of gambling (1843), Gambling Unmasked! (1845), and Gambling Exposed (1857) and John Philip Quinn's 19th Century Black Art, Or, Gambling Exposed (1891) are somewhat typical of the literature on gambling for the period.
A quick search shows that MLMs are still illegal in China while standard direct sales are legal. Hasn't stopped USANA (a DSA certified company) from doing end runs around that law (the old 'we can't control our distributors' BS).
icerat
Philosopher
Yeah, everyone but me and just about every government and court in the world, the vast majority of business academics, and the tens of millions of people involved in direct selling.
icerat
Philosopher
What are you babbling about now?
Tell me, maximara, which part of MLM do you think is illegal in China, and which part do you think should be illegal elsewhere?
Yeah, everyone but me and just about every government and court in the world, the vast majority of business academics, and the tens of millions of people involved in direct selling.
Just because MLM is legal doesn't mean it's a good business opportunity or a good idea to get involved. MLM is an outdated method of distribution of products with a pyramid like compensation plan. Word of mouth, person to person is a poor way to spread the word in a world of advertising and social media.
It's not illegal to max out your credit cards but it's still not a good idea. Payday loans are legal in some places but it's not a good idea to get one.
As I said before MLMs in today's world is the equivalent to driving a Model-T down the interstate--why would any sane person want to do such a thing.
"Today, and especially with the growth of the internet, it is possible for consumer to get about whatever they want at competitive prices. There is simply no real need for distribution "systems" as there once was, and indeed the focus of all the programs is not on the products they sell -- which are usually either bogus or are available somewhere else to the public at the same or lesser prices."
icerat
Philosopher
Maximara, are you aware that MLM itself is not a "distribution system" and that the vast majority of ordering is done online and fulfilled directly? It's been that way for more than a decade for many MLMs. You seem to be focused on a long dead ghost.
Are you going to answer my question about what you think should be banned?