Everybody luvs a good fight…

…if the fight is evenly matched. But this cat fight made me wet my pants – yes I peed in my pants from laughter.

It reminded me of the movie, “The Mouse that Roared” The world’s smallest nation, the Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. Staring the late, Peter Sellers.

Here is what I am going to do: I am going to paraphrase and reprint some of John Reese’s  ”Pissed off Post,” because it is too long.

So let’s get ready to rumble!

This is not the whole thing. John said, “I was recently called out and attackedby Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins over at the blog Mashable with his latest post, Is Twitter Vulnerable To Marketer Attack?.”

“Mark apparently got his motivation to make such a post after reading blogger Duncan Riley’s recent post (also directed at me and showing a recent email I sent to my list) Pending Sign Of The Twitter Apocalypse: It’s Being Talked About By Internet Marketers.”

Note from Thom: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. This post is something I’ve wanted to express for a long time. So grab some popcorn and your beverage of choice. You’re in for a long one.

“I think it’s about time that someone actually set the record straight and addressed attacks like these against Internet marketers,” continued John. “On the Web, there has always been this massive divide between entrepreneurs using the Net for marketing purposes and those that aren’t.”

“If You’re Going To Call Someone Out And Attack Them At Least Get Your Facts Straight”

“Both Mark and Duncan referred to me as an ‘e-book salesman.’”

“That’s pretty interesting considering I’ve never sold an ebook since I’ve been marketing online for over 15 years.”

“So come on, guys, you’re supposed to be ‘journalists’ so try doing your research first — especially if you’re going to publish something that more or less is a personal attack and tries to put someone down.”

“But even, though, they have this fact wrong about me their implication with this statement is something I’m going to come back to in a moment because it’s important.”

“Both Mark and Duncan attempt to imply that somehow I was encouraging marketers to abuse or spam Twitter in some way.”

“Here’s a tip: Why don’t you actually READ whatever email you’re trying to use as ‘evidence’ to make your case? You may want to reread that email and pay close attention to this sentence:”

Observe how others post and you’ll quickly learn the culture, etiquette, and uses for Twitter.

“I clearly state that there’s an ETIQUETTE to be used on Twitter. I am not in anyway encouraging people to abuse Twitter. It’s clearly stated directly in that email.”

“Even if that sentence wasn’t included, the implication is still that I am notorious for teaching people to be abusive with their marketing or something. Well, if you would have actually done your research on me (before attacking me) you’d know that I don’t support or teach any Internet abuse of any kind.”

“Last Time I Checked Twitter Used A ‘Voluntary’ Messaging System.”

“And completely aside from the points I just made, Twitter works by having users opt to follow other users — and they only see their tweets after they have voluntarily chosen to follow that person.”

“This makes it nearly impossible for someone to abuse the system for evil marketing purposes. Certainly some idiot will probably come up with a way to mass-send ‘direct’ messages to people (and Twitter will squash them) but Twitter’s design does not allow people to just blast anyone.”

“But what do I know. I’m not trying to make a living as an ‘expert’ blogger about Web 2.0 services.”

“Mark also took the ‘attack’ efforts against me quite a bit further than Duncan. Mark makes a statement that I’m a ‘Web 2.0 flopster.’ The word ‘flopster’ implying FAILURE.”

“Back to the lack of research factor…”

“If Mark had done his proper research on me he’d know that I’ve been one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the history of the Internet when it comes to creating online projects that CREATE PROFITS.”

“I was a pioneer of opt-in email marketing when I created one of the first auto-reply email services for businesses in 1994.”

“I am one of the few people in the world that can say they’ve created a web site from scratch and using a tiny marketing budget put that site into the Top 500 most trafficked web sites in the world.”

“And, oh yeah, I’ve done it with THREE different sites and I’m currently working on my 4th.”

“I’ve made millions of dollars in a variety of markets – from golf to hobby markets to B2B. I’ve been one of the top super affiliates in the world for companies like eBay, Chase, and other Fortune 500 companies. I’ve even generated over $1,000,000 in AdSense earnings without paying a penny for advertising or playing the ‘arbitrage’ game — and I did it as a ‘side’ project.”

“And as most online marketers know, in 2004 I released a training course and generated $1,000,000 in sales in the first 18 hours from the marketing campaign I put together — which ended up creating $1M in net profit within the first 7 days.”

“And I did it without risking a single penny on traditional advertising.”

“So Does That Make Me A ‘Flopster’?”

“Again, it’s all about the research.”

“HOWEVER… maybe Mark was simply referring to me as a failure in the ‘Web 2.0′ sense? Referring only to projects that are Web 2.0 services.”

“Fair enough. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“Mark has consistently ‘hated’ on my BlogRush project. He has bashed it in the past and for whatever reason continues to seem all fired up about it.”

“He implies that the service was a dumb idea (without so many words) and that it failed, was overhyped, yadda yadda yadda.”

“Was BlogRush A Total Failure?”

“Even if it was… WHO CARES? I mean, if an entrepreneur comes up with a crazy idea at 4AMand has the guts to ‘go for it’ and it fails, does that make that person a FAILURE? After all, BlogRush is not even the core focus of the company I’m trying to build. But should someone that has a failed project like this just call it quits?”

“If I had taken that attitude about being an entrepreneur I would have been homeless a long time ago. It’s better to have the courage to try something and fail to not try at all. It’s amazing how many people bashed BlogRush yet most of them had never taken a major risk in their entire life.”

“No risk, no reward.”

“But There’s A Much More ‘Poisonous’ Message About Internet Marketers That Needs To Be Addressed”

“I’m so sick and tired of the anti-marketing attitudes of writers, pundits, and others on the Internet. It’s been going on since the Web started to take off in 1994/1995.”

“So many of these people make it out like all Internet-based marketers are only selling scammy, rip-off garbage. And while the Internet is certainly filled with all kinds of jackasses that spam and abuse every known online service and tool there is, not enough ‘credit’ is given to marketers (like me and most of my customers) that have great marketing and success online and do things the RIGHT way.”

“And not enough credit and attention is given to the fact that if it wasn’t for Internet marketers there would be no Internet or Web 2.0 as it is today.”

“MONETIZATION IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF THE INTERNET.”

“Without all of the affiliate marketers, affiliate merchants, small bloggers, advertising networks, marketers buying PPC traffic, and everything else that is a part of the ‘Internet Economy’ 99% of what’s on the Web today would not exist.”

“So for Mark, and any others that seem to take this anti-marketing attitude, the next time you cash your paycheck you should take a moment to realize it wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the very marketers that create and sustain the economy of the Web.”

“Heck, just take a look at many of the ways that the Mashable blog is able to generate revenue — many of those programs and networks only exist because of marketer activity.”

“So if you kill all the Internet marketers, YOU KILL THE INTERNET.”

“As far as the spammy and abusive marketers go, it’s unfortunate and it pollutes the Web. Thankfully, the Internet has this great darwinism effect where those that don’t provide value end up getting destroyed. Junk and scammy crap will always end up in FAILURE. The ‘problem’ is that so many new junk peddlers take the place of the old ones.”

“One more point I want to make… Mark and Duncan’s efforts to call me an ‘ebook salesman’ is being done in a negative light relating towards selling information to teach people how to make money in some way.”

“This is another common anti-marketing attitude that has existed online for ages. So many people are put off by marketing or promotion for anything to do with “making money.” Even, though, there are hundreds if not thousands of fantastic products on the subject that are truly helping people.”

“To realize this, I only have to take a look at the success stories created by my own teachings and what they’ve done for thousands of individuals and their families. ”

“Are there tons of people peddling utter garbage and worthless ‘I’ll show you how to press a big red button and get rich’ crap online? Unfortunately, YES.”

“But to stereotype anyone and everyone that publishes or provides marketing or business advice is PATHETIC. And that is primarily what happens when it comes to the anti-marketing attitude.”

“A Quiet Revolution Is Forming”

“These anti-marketing folks need to realize something…”

“The world is changing quickly. Economies are evolving. More and more people around the globe are realizing the benefits of having their own business online. The ‘marketing’ uses of the Internet are only going to GROW. And it’s actually going to make the Internet even STRONGER and more developed. As the needs to increase monetization are created it will spawn more innovation online.”

“The survival of Ideas, Sites, Services, and Companies on the Web are ALL dependent upon the activity from Internet marketers. I just wish more people would start to realize it.”

“* I would like to encourage my fellow Internet marketers to spread the word about this post. Thank you.”

Right on John, You told them!

BUT The best laid plans of mice and men … In the Movie through a series of unbelievable circumstances (well, it is a comedy) They win.

So look out John, when you start giving this much attention to the mice you will be attacked.

Now, who has to give Aid to Whom?

Be Bop!

Thom McFadden

PS. Great Video, only 5 behavioral mistakes.

PPS Let me know if you can tell me what they are.