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The following posts have been reprinted in their entirety from posts e-mailed by readers of this website, except that headers, names and locations have been removed. These posts express the opinions and experiences of their authors, and this site publisher makes no representations about them in any way whatsoever. Re: Inquiry We were "pitched" by Big Planet last week. I found volumes of negative press on NU SKIN, but nothing on Big Planet. It appears to me that Big Planet is nothing more than Amway on the Net. Thank you for your response. howdy! I am a distrib in Yager System under R R&M Hughes. couple of questions: I always hear on tapes the quote"It's better than they told me it would be!" Is this because of "system money"? About what % do Daimonds make, system vs amway? Can you tell me who your Diamond was. I am having doubts about this system stuff as well. Does the A-business work w/o the system? or do=A0 you end up knocking yourself out for not much money? Are other MLM's worth a shot?

Dear Sirs,

I have been in the management of a successful MLM company in China for many years. At present, I am doing my Doctor degree in the aspect of Network Marketing. Without luck, I was able to locate only 1 paper that has been researched by others. The one I have is "Network marketing organizations: Compensation plans, retail network growth, and profitability" by Anne T. Coughlan and Kent Grayson. If you have other papers that have been researched by others, kindly send me the details. My time is running out fast and I would appreciate it very much if you have more information. Thank you for your assistance.

Yours truly,

Hello there,

Just spent the last 2 hours reading through your emails, and as a ex-Amway distributor, I must say it was fascinating reading. I remember a conversation that I had with my Ruby early on in my business. I talked about how the money was made through tapes since from past experiences, I knew that the actual costs associated with the tapes were around $1. I made the comment that "Worldwide money" is from the tapes and functions and books. He just looked at me, and repeated the phrase "Worldwide money." I didn't want to upset the gathering of the "plan showers" so I just kept to myself. Looking back, I should have trusted my gut instinct that the money Joe Foglio, Jimmy Head, Brad Duncan, Greg Duncan, Dave Severn, Ron Puryear, et. al. (a.k.a. "my heroes") was from the tapes and not Amway.

Do you have more information on these individuals and World Wide Dream Builders? I'd like more information before I "officially" quit the business. What about the Taylor Lawsuit? From what I gather, is it true then that all of the World Wide Diamonds make around 50-60% of their income/lifestyle from the movitation side of their business? Man, that is wrong! Looking back, I feel terrible for buying the extra tapes, driving the miles, doing what the loswers won't do, and sponsoring people who could ill afford to spend money on tapes and functions into this business. I myself lost around $5,000 on this business. I turned down a terrific job because that would have distracted me. I'm glad that I was able to get my career back on track, and I'm happy to say that I'm doing very well, whole lot better than my sponsor who has been in the business for more than 8 years, and all he has to show for it is an unstable "silvership", much less a "directship."

Any information you can send me regarding World Wide, specially Joe Foglio would be great. Thanks again for doing this great service to the general public.

Thanks.

As a result, I went to a Melaleuca presentation, in the hopes that it would be a better opportunity. As you know, the grass is always greener

What I would like to know is if you have any information, both positive and negative, about both Melaleuca and ACN. I would like to make an educated decision about both opportunities. Thanks

in regards to the "other MLM" question, what i was really asking for was not a particular one, but whether there are ANY that are worth time and effort.

thanks again!

Thanks for the quick response!! I didn't expect you to write so quickly.

I'm looking for information about WWDB regarding the amount of money they (i.e. Ron Puryear, Dave Severn, et. al.) make off of the tools and what kind of money they make off Amway products. Also, what other "interesting" stories can you share about this organization. Jimmy Head, Joe Foglio, Dave Severn, Brad Duncan, Greg Duncan, etc. would help me convince others who are involved in these "organizations" that this is a raw deal.

I can't believe that the Britt system's cost for tapes are only $.55 a tape!! That is a huge markup! Wow! I've shoved a lot of money into these guys' pockets.

Looking back, the opportunity is a decent one: ability to market a product without having to produce/R&D one. But what gets me now is how they talk about serving others on their tapes, and they have these huge markups. They talk about how one needs to keep listening to these tapes so that something, someone might say will "kick" in and move us closer to "freedom." They are selling false hope if 90% of their incomes are derived from selling tapes and not products. That means that 99% of the people in these organizations will never be able to achieve these ultimate "dreams" because these dreams, in reality, are based on tool income. One does not see the real deal until they reach emerald, diamond, etc.

That makes me mad that I put a lot of effort, emotions, miles, finances and trust in these individuals. They played with my desire to help others, my commitment to my Christian spiritual and moral values, and they almost wrecked my career as a tax accountant. I'm glad that I was able to revive my career after listening to these individuals talk so eloquently about how the 40-40 plan does not work. I was good at showing the plan, and I showed the plan, but man, I feel terrible that I sponsored individuals who could hardly afford these tools and in the process convinced them to be "core."

I almost lost a lot of friends in the process of building this business because they were "losers" who didn't want to do more things in life. I almost burned all of my business contact list by almost giving them over to my upline. Good thing I was too scared to contact these individuals.

Once again, thanks for the web page. I appreciate the chance to talk to someone who understands what I went through. This allows me to finally put this deal to rest.

In summary, if you could give me financial as well as personal information regarding Joe Foglio/Jimmy Head/etc. so that I can share this information with people still involved in the business I'd appreciate it.

One last thing, how do you feel about Nutrilite products? Overpriced or good deal? Thanks.

[Unfortunately, as I explained to this individual, there is no way I have access to the kinds of financial information he is looking for. It is very unfortunate that the MLMs are not required to disclose to potential investors the same types of information that franchises are. It would certainly cut through a lot of the hype and bs that prospects are routinely exposed to.]

Part II

Just read your letter to Jerry Falwell and that aroused further curiosity that you might be able to help with.

1) What is the WWDB website? Any anti-WWDB web sites?

2) Debt Free issue: do you know how many WWDB diamonds finance their lifestyle vs. being totally debt free? which other non-WWDB diamonds finance their lifestyle?

3) Breaking Six: what is the usual strategy that higher level diamonds use to break a diamond/the sixth direct? What do they do? Does Amway know that this goes on? Is it illegal? Against the rules? Do you know of any WWDB diamonds who do this?

4) Once-a-diamond-always-a-diamond: how many WWDB diamonds requalify their diamondships "legally" (refer to question #3 for illegal methods) on an annual basis?

5) What happens to those diamonds who don't requalify?

I'll ask more questions when they arise! Thanks again for your help.

Part III

A few last questions:

1) Does sexual abuse/infidelity actually occur within organizations? How many diamonds/emeralds are known for hitting on women/men?

2) Upline diamonds actually counsel downline to divorce their mates if they are not supportive of the business???

3) There was a diamond in Terry Felber's business that went through a divorce, Howie Danzik I believe. Do you know the reason behind the divorce? Was it because she got fed up with what was going on?

Thanks

We are quitting the system (known in our group as "becoming inactive"). I guess we will be considered inactive, even though we are going to remain distributors. I can hear our upline saying "they lost their dream". I know that is what they will say, because I've heard it many times before about other people. How do they know whether or not I'm going to build a retail business?

I thought you would find this interesting - it's from a newsletter that was recently sent out by our upline direct distributor in reference to the upcoming virtual mall (Quixtar). He is basically saying that the internet will create billionaires and that the road to certain financial devastation is working at a job and relying on saving and investing for retirement.

"...the power of the internet to create wealth for those positioned properly seems nearly unlimited. In addition, the time frame to create fortunes has become mind-boggling. Up until a few years ago most billionaires, and there were not that many, worked all their lives to amass wealth. Today on the net or related industries, several people have become billionaires in a matter of one or two years. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft has not yet reached his fiftieth birthday...[Bill Gates' fortune, by the way, is not derived from the internet. Microsoft was a late joiner in the internet game, and Gates was already one of the wealthiest men in America before Microsoft joined the internet craze.] those of us who are Independent Business Owners in the current system will have exclusive access to perhaps the largest consumer web site ever created. Assuming we are willing to do whatever is necessary, I believe we will be in a position to create a great deal of wealth for ourselves and our families and future generations to come. Again, the key to success lies in the system".

"...with the dawning of the new industry order we must be willing to change our way of thinking. A college education is good to have and for some of us it has made a difference in our earning power, but it is interesting to note that Bill Gates barely got through high school". [This is not true, by the way. Gates dropped out of college to build a computer company.]

:...the problem with the Defined Contribution plan (401K, Superannuations plans, etc) is that they are subject to market forces. A person could very well have contributed to their retirement plan for several years and find that because of market conditions when they are ready to retire their 401K or whatever has little or possibly no value".

I guess it may be worth something if we had invested in Microsoft (correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the stock market increased overall for the last 70 years?)

Thanks for you website.

The 'bad guy' sites referred to are pornography related as told by my upline diamond.

Distributors with their own web sites must password protect them. Why? Because Amway does its' best to make this opportunity available to everyone. Some people can't create their own web site and letting others do so gives them an unfair advantage and also it takes away the personal contact that we strive hard to maintain. Once Quixtar is up, people will not be shopping at distributors sites, they will shop thru quixtar.com.

Lastly, I don't know your reason for writing all this negative Amway stuff, but at least get credible information and check it with several people who know what's going on. Reporting the facts is fine but please report accurately. Is Amway for everybody? Of course not. Some people just don't have a desire to get ahead. That's OK, the world needs those people too. The Amway opportunity works for those who do the work. This is NOT a get rich quick scheme. For those who put in the effort the rewards are there. I've been in for 6 months and have gotten out of it exactly what I've put in. Not much. Am I upset? Absolutely not! I am reaping what I sow. But I know the business will work, I just haven't put the effort forth yet. Will I? Certainly, because I believe thru what I've PERSONALLY seen and heard that it will work. Everyone CAN do this but not everyone will.

I thought you might be interested in my experience in being recruited for Quixtar, Amway, whatever. These are two emails I sent to a friend. I'm embarrassed I took these guys seriously for a while.

3/22/99

A coupla weeks ago I was in Mocrocenter and this guy approached me kinda out of the blue and started telling me about this new web site that he and his dad and a bunch of wealthy investors are starting. He asked for my name and phone # - I thought it was pretty strange, but I gave him my info. He called tonight and gave me the web address: http://www.countdown9199.com. He asked me if I was interested in making some money working for his dad's company - I said "maybe" and he said to come to an information session at a hotel on Tuesday. I told him I'd go.

The guy I've talked to has used a peculiar technique to talk to me. When he met me at Microcenter, he asked if I knew his brother because I looked familiar. I said "no," and he asked me if I did this or that where he might have seen me. I am not sure I really looked familiar to him or if he just used that as a way to talk to me - he did find out in the conversation some vital details about me (where I've worked, etc.) in trying to find out where he knew me from. Then he walked away and came back and said, "Oh, by the way. . . are you interested in the internet? . . . Do you know a lot about the web? . . . And then he started telling me about this new site, got my contact info, etc.

[This "oh you look familiar, where do I know you from?" ploy is a common Amway contacting deception. I was taught to do it very early in my Amway career.]

Then he called and said who he was and gave me the name of the web site - I thought the conversation was just about over when he said. "Oh, by the way. . . would you be interested in working for my dad and making some extra money. . ."

The guy told me he graduated from ** and studied business - he talked to me using a familiar tone using words like "dude," but he was dressed in a shirt and tie. He looked to be about 25 years old.

What do you think is up? Why did he pick me out of the store? Is this going to be telemarketing? Was he cruising Microcenter looking for computer geeks?

3/30/99

An update. . .

I went to the meeting tonignt and it was a bizzare event. I was greeted by ** - the guy who met me in Microcenter. He was flanked by his beautiful wife, his brother and his beautiful wife, and the father (***) in an expensive-looking suit. The begining was an informal meeting where I had the feeling that they were purposefully dropping hints that they were very rich. There were other people there - some were "guests" like me who had no idea what was going on.

Sidenote: *** told me he was a retired executive at TRW. I told him that my dad used to work at TRW - Ross Gear Division (that's about all I know about your job there). He said, "I know Ross." That seemed strange since I'm pretty sure *** was trying to sound important by knowing an important person - and "Ross" is unlikely to be person - a living one at least. I had the feeling that I was being lied to the whole time.

The presentation began with a video that *** said "would in 15 minutes answer about 2 hours worth of questions." Now at this time, I still have no idea what the deal is here. The video was lame and said that e-commerce will revolutionize retailing. Then this special speaker named **** gets up and gives an unintelligible presentation on a whiteboard where he draws lines and circles and scribbles that don't even look like the words he's saying. All the time he's trying to psych us up about geting rich asking the "guests" what they would do with X extra money. He explained how the company came about - dropping names of the "wealthy investors." I wrote them down so I could check on them later. All the time **** is giving his crap presentation the (father and son) are encouraging him like the congregation does at a Southern Babtist church.

At first I was excited to be involved in something that I was supposedly an insider on. But then I remembered that ** had met me at a store and had absolutely no reason to let me in on something supposedly this good, and the presentation seemed purposefully off-topic and misleading. Then they said that a $50 starter pack would get me going.

From what I could gather, there is an online shopping mall and I buy thus "IPO" number (for $50) that is my password into the site. I can buy products for "30% below retail price" But then I recruit other people to use the site and I get "residual income" from their purchaces. All I do is get them to use my IPO#. Sounds hokey.

After the prsentation, I talked to some more people - ones who had recently joined. I asked if they were making money yet and thay said "Yes, but a good way to make money is by saving it" - I guess that means that they were making money because they were buying cheaper stuff, bot that they were actually making money.

Well - here's what's really up. I took the names given in the presentation and checked them out on the internet. Well, Quixtar (that's the name of this whole thing) is really Amway. I didn't know anything about Amway, so I investigated - looks like my gut was right - Amway is a dishonest pyramid scheme - check out http://members.tripod.com/~nomorescams/links.htm for some info. The schemes that I found on the internet were exactly what had happened to me -the wordings they used were even the same.

I told ** that I'd come to the next meeting and if not I'll call. I will call, but I'm debating whether or not to lay into him immediately or wait 'till I tell him I'm not interested and he tries to convince me otherwise.

Yes, the new message board you mention would be of interest to me. Interestingly, my husband agreed to a 3-way conference call with his "upline" during which I questioned the Mannatech products, research, literature, etc. While he felt I was being antagonistic, he did admit that I made several good points that his upline was unable to defend, and in fact got very angry when she realized that she had no defense. He does, however, continue to sell and take the product. By the way, during this conference call, his upline said that "no one can swallow the capsules [mannatech products] without becoming an associate", and that people cannot buy Mannatech products, rather they must become an "associate" to purchase product for themselves. I told her that it sounds like she is selling memberships or sales positions rather than product. Is this pyrammid selling?

Guys: Someone has attempted to recruit me for the Quixtar thing. My boss and her husband (** and ***) and their immediate upline, ****. Thanks to you all, I expect to turn them down. I have composed an email that I will use to rebut their arguments. I've reprinted it below and I'd like you to read it. Let me know if I'm capturing the salient points of why Amway, well, sucks. If some of this sounds familiar, it should -- I took a lot of it from your Web pages. Someday I'd love for you guys to post this on your Web sites to show other people how to reject these offers (but let me change the names and refine the argument first).

Thankfully I find a mlm, Usana, that has integrity and I am very proud to be associated with it. After being in it five months, I AM making money.

Thanks for your time.

Do you know anything about a group called Auster & Auster in Nassau County, New York. The head of the line seems to be a **from Maryland. My wife's friend just got us involved. So far I have invested $49 and they had my long distance changed to MCI. I really don't want to invest further. I knew it was Amway and I really don't believe in the concept. Seven people cannot make a profit on 1 bottle of soap. I appreciate any info you have.

Sir:

I have recently been solicited by representatives of ACN. Their pitch is that there is nothing to sell - you simply have your customers switch their long distance telephone plans to ACN. In future ACN hopes to offer hydro, cablevision, internet services etc. to their list of services. Have you heard of this company? Do you know how many reps are in Canada. I can't help but think it is another scam but would like to see something in black and white which proves it. Please respond.

I believe that Avon cosmetics is a scam. I find no information about this though. But millions of gullible women are recruited as independent sales representatives. You can't sell your products on the net. But Avon will sell it stuff itself on the net. Also they make you pay for your own bags to pack the goodies in and other things. Well the main job I think is to recruit others and basically just buy Avon for yourself. No money in it at all. Check it out.

Thanks for your research and for answering my questions. In Fact "A" corporation's biggest AMO plan presentation is to "sell a little retail, buy from your own business, and share the opportunity"!

As far as the cororation or individual profit from kit-selling, or distributorship-selling, "A" corp counts 50,000  new distributors per month. This is 600,000 in US alone per year. That times $150 per kit is $90 million per year in kits. Another $25 per annual renewal brings the total distibutorship income to about $105 million. At about $6 billion in total sales probably $4Billion in the US, this means only 2 and one half percent of the total sales comes from the kits. So the kit-selling argument against that corporation  doesn't wash.

I did some independent numbers for the "average" Diamond income from the back of the SA-4400. the estimate (because I guessed how many people divvy up the annual sales incentive bonus) was around $190,000 gross (no expenses taken out) from the prod/service distribution business. Using tool flow tables provided by our upline Diamond, my conservative estimate was $120,000 net for the tools business. My guess is that my profit margins on rallies, majors and leaderships are low (I used 35%, 15%, and 25%, respectively) because I can envision scenarios where the net from a rally could be in excess of 100%. I have done the same with my upline Diamond's case, using their worldwide volume, the number of Directs thjat would require, and the tool flow that would support that business. Your estimates of 75-80% of income coming from "system money" is really close to what I estomated for their business. To me, this is where there is misrepresentation of "the plan". The money that is shown is attainable with a lot of hard work, and that is pointed out repeatedly during our presentations. However, I now believe the LIFESTYLES portrayed cannot be attained or maintained on "Diamond" money alone.

My next step is to ask directly both my upline Direct and their sponsors, who are my upline Diamonds under Yager.

I do believe the market for new business grows much (several orders of magnitude) faster than the sponsoring rate, and that new people still have good opportunity to sponsor others. there may be a fallacy in this thinking, so I have to work this one out. I'm a well-educated person and have a math background (geophysics), and my first inclination was that saturation was inevitable. What I'm not sure of is the demographics of population growth versus sponsoring rate (and perhaps more importantly, exposure rate and rejection rate). What I do see is people who do succeed in this "old" business TODAY.

I was in "A" once before (Britt), and quit because I didn't like hiding the name of the corporation. This time there are tools to help with that, and they, I suppose are useful, but I still don't like the "curiosity apporach".

I do plan to get the "Businesses You Can Buy" book, and may stick with Big A (with much less reliance and emphasis on the "system", or may try a different style MLM, or something completely different from MLM. By the way, 7-eleven won't hire someone like me, I tried that once before...they could not believe that at my income level , I wanted to work there part-time! I must tell you that ALL corporations are pyramids. They all recruit "worker bees" to do the work. The organizers and sellers are at the top, and reap benefits from the efforts of those "worker bees". That is fact, and is the reason for the popularity of "Dilbert". I'm a highly-paid worker bee, but I still have to say "how high, boss?". My wife HAS to work outside the home, likes her work, but now sees why I get frustrated with corporate idiocy. And the bad part is that companies truly OWN the employee's time, especially at the beginning and again near retirement. The answer is finding something we can do on our own. As far as the sociological comments seen in one of the websites concerning materialism and the breakdown of social values, at least some of that happens way before we get into an MLM. The disparity in pay between execs and their employees is staggering, and contributes to somehting that is even worse thatn just the materialism: individual debt load. I've got 6 months worth beyond my mortgage payment, and I am not alone. Consumer Credit Counseling Service (in which I now participate) estimates 70% of households have credit card debt they cannot pay off in 6 months, and that if the debt gets beyond $5000, it will NEVER be paid off. There are a lot of people who need to change their spending habits AND generate more income. Thsi "prosperous time" is bogus, and more and more people are looking for SOMETHING.

Off my soap box, and again, I appreciate your opinion and .research.

If you like , I will keep you up to date on whatever it is WE decide to do.

Regards,

Obviously,you people have a personal vendetta against the Yagers aand Amway.There are a lot of people who do buy an Amway kit and dont make money.That's because they sit it in the corner and expect it to grow money without any effort.My parents have been Amway distributors for 4 years.My mother is now retired(because of a successful AMWAY business) and my Dad has announced his retirement just recently.Without the Amway oppurtunity probably would be still working when they are 80.

The fact is that about 75% of all businesses started today close down within 5 to 10 years.Why? Because they were losing money.Your site doesn't report anything about that.Hmmmmmm.....seems like you would be against all new business ventures because the fact is that the odds are against you no matter what business you try to start.

For your information the bad guys that Mr.. McDonald is referring to in the quote is not about critics on the internet such as yourself. It is referring to a family friendly site.....meaning no pornography!!! You guys are so suspicious of everything its appsolutlely amazing!!

I guess I should never work or be associated with any private company as they keep all there numbers themselves.

You are so off the mark with your comments on Quixtar it's appositely hilarious!

Part II

Had an opportunity to reread your web page on Quixtar. You state that the A.D.A. are involved in the framework of the new Quixtar business that much is true. The A.D.A. is made up of all of these big pins that you say make most of their money from the tool business side. You state that with Quixtar there won't be as big of need for tools for an internet based business, so they will soon be unhappy with the results. Well why would the growth committee, made up of some of the biggest pins in the business, come up with the idea if it would ultimately hurt their own businesses if we assume you theory is correct. The truth is your theory makes no sense. ie. Help create a new business that will ultimately hurt your existing business. [It makes perfect sense if you were around a few years ago to see all the hype -- and see how fast it screeched to a halt -- about "Home Shopping Delivered/HSD/APRS/APR". A few people actually began retailing some product, the diamonds' tape sales dropped, and suddenly nothing more was said about this wonderful automated delivery system in a number of diamond organizations. Also, most of these guys know less than nothing about the internet and how it works. . . ]

P.S. I grow tired of all this negative B.S. If you guys have all the true facts as you say on your sites ie. Amway is an illegal paramid scheme because they don't enforce the ten customer rule. Then all one would have to do is go to the FTC and report them. The FTC has shut down hundreds of illegal paramids and would shut Amway down to if it was true! But it's not so you guys just keep creating all this negative B.S. to put on the web and call it TRUTH.

Part III [For a guy who's "tired of all this negative B.S.," one wonders why he keeps returning to the site. . .]

I have taken a deeper look at your web site and there are some possible truths to which I am investigating. You say you only want the truth to be know. That you are only the messenger that you did not make these people do the things they have done you only report them so people can make an informed choice. You really hurt this position when you chose to post material on your site that you yourself say "have not been able to verify the information contained in the e-mail. In other words you don't know that this information is true yet you post it anyways because it is negative in nature and supports your overall position. This is the equivalent of the trash found in the tabloids. You also state that by Amway asking GeoCity to suspend the web site because it violated Federal Law as well as Geo Cities own policies regarding web page content, that this is Amway acting as an authority of law. How dare they, you say, who gives these guys the right! I could ask you the same. You state that Amway is in major violations of U.S. law. Is operating as an illegal paramid. You ask current as well future distributors to take your word as the truth! Like you are the authority of such matters. How dare you! Who gives you the right? Do the same standards of action not apply to you? GeoCity ultimately looked at the site and made a call based on their authority. There are no legal authorities that I am aware of that is investigating Amway or even alleging that Amway is an illegal paramid. Only Proctor and Gamble in their lawsuit. But again you have pointed out that anyone can allege anything in filing a lawsuit but that it does not make it true. i.e. Amway lawsuit of P&G.

Then we must also weight the lawsuit that were filed against Amway the same way. You have only posted what the plaintiffs allege happened and ask us to take it as truth. They are only allegations nothing more. As far as I know most lawsuit are settled out of court and sealed as part off the settlement. Again you don't put things in proper context so as to make a fair judgement, but then again how can you, you are not objective are you? Your mission in life is to see the ruin of Amway. You allege that Jerry Falwell receives money's from Amway and other leaders in the business so his words mean nothing. Well you may not be getting money for running this Anti-Amway web site but I would hardly call you objective as well. Your story say you found out that this Diamond (who is nameless???? You don't seem to have a problem giving other Diamonds names why not yours?) that you worked for and were in his organization, made no money from moving Amway products ( I guess the SA - 4400 is wrong) but made all his money from tools. I find it hard to believe that if this was such secret information as well as his own personal business that he would allow you an employee to know the intimate details of his personal finances. I have had many employers and have never been nor would I want to know my employers personal financial information.

Thanks for providing this web site. I have been searching for 3 days trying to get "scoop" on Quixtar. I knew it!!!!

Thanks again

I appreciate the candidness. I have discussed information you have provided with my wife...she is very skeptical, after all, "anything can be on the internet". is there any way for me to corroborate your numbers, etc.

I think I saw the 50,000/month number in the Amagram. If not,  it was at a function.

Do you know what a "binary" MLM is? They seem to be very popular and a "90's" approach. Mannatech in Texas and Usana in Missouri seem to be the biggest. They don't look like they pay out any better, but use the idea that the "average" MLM-er sponsors 2-4 people. So , the most you ever sponsor directly is 2 or 4. Anyone else YOU sponsor goes into your downline somehwhere (you choose). Usana seems to have a much less complicated support system, without huge $ going into it (very online-oriented).

Perhaps one of my other interests, like *, ** or *** would be good choices for additional income ( I do **** as my primary job). What is your business, by the way, since you ARE independent of the corp. rat race?

Again, thanks.

Thank you very much for responding to my e-mail re ACN. If you come across anything interesting on this company can you please pass it along. Many thanks.

Hi,

I read your site with interest; I've been fascinated since reading AUS and following the saga (we had an Ambot at work...)

I'm involved with criticism of the Church of Scientology (CoS) and there are interesting similarities between these organisations. I was especially interested in (from your site, page http://members.tripod.com/~nomorescams/quixtar.htm):

"I believe Amway Corp. is also trying to overwhelm its web-based critics like myself in the deluge of Quixtar hype. Some distributor leaders are apparently admitting at functions that Amway is "out to get" the web critics, especially Sidney Schwartz. Having thousands of new distributor sites will certainly make it more difficult to find sites like this one in the search engines. Amway's recent legal maneuverings also point to its hysterical attempts to silence and intimidate those who criticize. And, buried in Quixtar announcements, is that tantalizing little statement from McDonald: "We're also planning to offer a family-friendly Internet service provider that will filter out all those 'bad-guy' Web sites you want to keep from invading your family's PC."

[end quote]

Scientolgy is practising exactly those tactics. Members must use a CoS-approved CD with an altered version of MS Windows95 to host a website. All websites of members have exactly the same format, an attempt to spam the search engines(?) For an example, try: http://myreligion.scientology.org/clevelandpolite/index.htm or search on "scientolgoy +groups +support" in Altavista for other examples.

This has failed though, as a search on just "scientology" will show. I hope Amway's attempt will fail, too - I think the search engines are too smart.

Even more sinister, the CoS-approved CD has a "NetNanny" type software (hidden and unannounced, of course) included which screens out words, sites and critics - whole chunks of the Net - that Scientology does not want it's members to see. Check out: http://wpxx02.toxi.uni-wuerzburg.de/~krasel/CoS/filter/filter1.html

for how it works... Will Amway do the same? I would be *very* interested to find out.

Keep up the good work; freedom of speech is the great inoculator!

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This page updated Apr-26-99