How low can one get? The number of encounters I have had in the few months as a network marketer with liars is astounding. Why do people need to stoop to lying in their attempt to succeed? Do they really believe that they will attract customers by using deceptive means. Hey friends, I've got news for you! You are the ones who have been deceived!

When I placed a single ad with the URL of my newly created autoresponder, I started to receive all sorts of strange emails to that autoresponder address. All of them said they had seen my business ad and bla bla bla. Liars! All I advertised was my autoresponder! So what was going on?

Well, I have a confession to make. About seven years ago, when I first discovered the Internet, and got my first taste of spam, I fell for it, and became a spammer myself. But not for long, as my ISP was quick to disconnect me, before I even knew what "Spam" was. Well I soon woke up.

What I had done, following instructions of course, was to download a program which "harvested" other emails from web pages on the Net. Then I had also downloaded and used a bulk emailer. Apart from getting temporarily disconnected I also received some nasty replies. And guess what? My second attempt, which was an attempt to avoid unsolicited email sending, I used the addresses of people who had spammed me. Some of them even wrote nasty replies complaining. Hypocrites!

That was an end to my early attempts as a Networker. I gave that up quick, especially after reading about Spam and realizing how unwanted it is. I also realized that bulk email is not the way to market. Recently I have come across the term "Safe lists". A Safe List is supposed to be a list of email addresses from people who have requested information on a business opportunity. But just how safe are these lists?

Here is how I imagine it. John requests from Mary information about her business. Mary sells John's email address as part of a safe list to Tom, Dick and Harry. John now gets emails from Mary, Tom, Dick and Harry, three of which he did not request. Hence John was spammed, and Mary gets paid. Tom, Dick and Harry get a nasty spam complaint from their ISP who disconnects their account. Thanks Mary.

Amazingly 90% or more of the email coming into my mailbox is spam from people selling bulk email software, or offering some other get rich scheme. They are still using harvesting software (this is how they got my auto-responder address) and the bulk email software (this is how they emailed me) they just paid for. Sadly these are mostly the victims of the master culprits who get these poor suckers to buy into their program. Guess who gets rich, and who doesn't?

Do you see the untruthfulness in this kind of marketing? Let's not call it that, it is spamming. They first of all steal the email addresses. Next they sent emails to these addresses totally unsolicited. Consequently they get disconnected. But they seem to expect that. I get many emails from the same people using different email addresses to send from each time. Some, I think, even use false addresses. So the criminal intentions are there.

Here is my message to these criminal spammers: Why waste your time and money on these fruitless efforts? Why go to all that trouble just to get a bad reputation? Get into a real profit making program. There are many legitimate companies helping many people make a reasonable income. If you put all the hard work you are wasting on these deceptive programs into one of these legitimate programs, you will not only make for yourself an income, you will also have satisfaction.

If you, dear reader, are contemplating using any of those enticing offers of bulk email or email harvesting - don't do it! Losing money and ISP credibility isn't worth it. How can you build a solid base if your customers don't trust you? Trust is what your customers are putting in you, and trustworthiness is what you should give them. Tell them the truth, be honest and they will love you for it. And they are sure to come back and bring others with them.

About The Author

Jim Murdoch is new to network marketing. Read what he has to say about