From the BIO at Integrity Web Marketing:

In 1999, in an effort to fine tune his web marketing techniques, Michael launched a six-month experiment to determine what kind of revenues are possible when combining his proprietary techniques and technologies with a high-awareness topic. The result? In six months, with the help of only one employee, he created a subscriber base of over 50,000 people and sold over $400,000 worth of information products while offering an open-ended, 100% moneyback guarantee ...

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A "six month experiment" on a "high-awareness topic?" (Hmm, I wonder what that might be?)

Can anyone here say, "disingenuity?" "I've been used," or maybe, "exploited?"

Michael Adams apparently expects Business As Usual in the Year 2000; he's taking subscriptions now . .. ... .. .

Wake up and smell the coffee, people.

-- Stephen M. Poole, CET (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), June 02, 1999

Answers

Stephen,

Thanks for the info. It comes over much better without being cynical.

-- R. Wright (blaklodg@hotmail.com), June 02, 1999.

It does give one pause.

I first heard of Y2kNewswire last fall, with an article he wrote pointing out that mainstream coverage of a national poll on Y2k repeatedly left out statistics on people taking money out of banks. Good, interesting observation, it seemed.

When I visited the Y2kNewswire web site and then saw the "Y2kSupply" as well as all the premium services, I was put off. I purposely did not buy anything. Some of his writing I have continued to find quite decent. I have to admit, though, that he is awfully good at sniffing the wind and writing fare that is just what people just what people seem to want to hear at the moment. A little too good.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), June 02, 1999.

Hmmm.. have you ever been charged $250.00 for undercoating at a car dealer? And do you know that the trade-in you gave them is being resold? There was nothing wrong with that car. Don't you people realize that this whole "transportation" thing is a money making scam?

Wake up people - you don't need a car, you can walk!

Sheesh Poole, can you name an industry that doesn't have it's slick, subtle (or not so subtle) marketing ploys? Does that make the entire industry/issue a scam? There have been a ton of magazine subscription scams, but that doesn't mean that Motor Trend is all a lie....

-- joe salesman (buy@ford.now), June 02, 1999.

Steve

For once we a in agreement. I find him inforative but I wouldn't buy the CD if you know what I mean. Selling Y2K info online is a big scam. Specially the prep stuff. Thats garbage. One reason I set up the Prep archive, all for one, one for all.

My opinion

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 02, 1999.

Poole is "just folloving ze ordahs." Der Fuhrer cpr at Der Boonkah has been exhorting his followers to fresh incursions every day, per the campaign outline. Today's exhortation:

Wednesday, 02-Jun-1999 01:44:03

* Remember: sustained, confrontive style, using short, "self-contained" posts is a major component of our campaign. Put your Net access to good use, today and every day!

Found at

http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb237006&MyNum=9 28302243&P=Yes&TL=928289839

-- Boonkah Watcher (Blitzen@achtung.com), June 02, 1999.

Y2KNewswire was an easy scam to spot from the beginning. Anyone who charges $195.00 for information that is otherwise free and easily accessible is an obvious fraud. I recall making a similar statement on this forum the same week his website opened. Hope no one here got burned.

-- David (David@matt6:33.com), June 02, 1999.

Folks:

Get reasonable for a moment. ALL information is readily available and free -- it's called a public library. Those terrible places called Universities are clearly ripoffs (according to your reasoning) because they charge for imparting information.

The key with y2knewswire is the point you all choose to ignore: "100% money back guarantee". Can you get the same from a University?

No one MUST purchase goods from y2knewswire. Anyone who chooses to does so without any arm twisting or illegal pressure.

It's called "advertising".

It's legal. It's moral. It's upfront. It's obvious.

Choice, guys. Personal choice.

Some people actually are willing to pay for the benefit of another's knowledge -- some people don't want to hunt for data, no matter how "easy" you think it may be to find it.

It's not immoral, irresponsible, or underhanded to make money by selling information. Ask any magazine, book, or trade journal publisher.

Anita Evangelista

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), June 02, 1999.

Anita -- of course. This stuff about people making money "off" of Y2K is ludicrous and yet another bizarre phenomenon. As if. Here are some horror stories:

1. Businesses who want to (wow, amazing) sell remediation services for a (sshhhh!) profit. Whoaaa.

2. Consultants and authors who want to sell their expertise about Y2K remediation and/or impacts and/or preparation for a (shoot them!) profit.

I didn't realize that people buying Timebomb2000, for instance, had guns pointed to their heads. Silly me. I thought it was ... a .... book! You know, one of a hundred thousand published this year that makes its way through ... book ... stores ... based on the interest of .... customers.

If Ed wanted to slap book advertisements on each page of this forum, so what? He didn't, but so what?

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of Brian (re free prep archives, etc), I don't "GI" why people who have accumulated 10 or 20 years of hard-won and extremely time-consuming expertise in self-reliant living "shouldn't" offer it on a fee basis IF they want to. More precisely, why doing so is mercenary.

Unless we're saying that our free-market economy is wrong at its wrong. Say that if that's the issue.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), June 02, 1999.

Stephen Poole: If you had taken the time to read Adams's writings, you would know that he is not a doomer and does not expect TEOTWAWKI. But, typical of you polly's, you only see things as "bump" or TEOTW. What an Asshole you are, CET.

-- a (a@a.a), June 02, 1999.

My comments about Y2kNewswire aren't that I have any problem with free enterprise. Plenty of people make a profit with integrity. (I am one!) Long-time authorities in their field deliver value, and should profit well from their services. Usually profit is a motivator to greater integrity - at least to some degree, and is why free enterprise basically works. The majority of work done by everyone in the world is still honest work for an honest dollar (or am I naive?!?) With Y2kNewswire, just because a master marketer is behind it, means no conclusion as to the value of his product, only caveat emptor. Successful salespeople are highly attuned to saying the magic things to win the customer (money-back guarantee is one of them; why not?--it's fair and it sells). A "Newswire" highly suggests the objectivity which I hope to find in the news (but often don't). But if he is selling products, I can expect his news may be slanted to that.... and in fact it is. The only recourse I have as a consumer is to be conscious of my needs and wants, and to realize that not everyone with something to sell me has my needs and wants foremost. Mama did, and she said shop around. The consumer has to weigh it all in the balance. Too obvious? Maybe so. Anyway, this is more a cautionary tale for the consumer than a judgment on entrepreneurship.

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), June 02, 1999.

Mike Adams is a Bullshit artist! And a f@#$#$%ing conman too! Here is his bullshit propaganda time-line before he "revised" it.

Fall of 1998 The Fall will see stockpiling by only the insiders (and "survivalists"). Some food supply companies will begin to run behind schedule (this is already happening), and gold & silver supplies will begin to dwindle as precious coin dealers get backlogged. [UPDATE: This is exactly what happened.]

Winter 1998 Christmas of 1998 will proceed as normal, few people will be thinking about Y2K (still). The wise are busy preparing, learning new skills, and continuing their stockpiling efforts. Food is still plentiful and there is no panic, although the news stories about Y2K continue to increase, especially around the New Year. [UPDATE: This is exactly what happened.]

December 31, 1998 This is the "magic date" when nearly all large companies have promised they will be done with their coding. When this date actually hits, and people begin to realize more than half the Y2K programming projects are behind schedule, it's going to set off "the blame game" where CEOs and government officials start to come under increasing pressure to solve the Y2K problem. [UPDATE: Nearly all companies missed this deadline.]

January 1, 1999 Europe introduces the Euro currency, requiring double-accounting and introducing a variety of time-calculation difficulties. Worldwide, computers that look ahead one year for scheduling will be subject to the "00" problem and may produce bad data.

January 1999 With one year remaining, and most Y2K software projects way behind schedule, a few more people begin to wake up to the reality now only a year away. "Stockpiling" spreads from the fringe survivalist community to more mainstream families, and suppliers nationwide start to get really stretched. Bulk food (for storage) will likely have a 6-8 month wait on orders, and gold & silver prices will be on the rise. [UPDATE: This is exactly what happened.]

Spring 1999 Sensational news stories continue their impact on the American people, instilling a sense of fear about Y2K. While some companies will announce they are now "compliant," others are secretly way behind schedule. Y2K programmers will be earning up to $500 / hour, yet there still won't be enough.

April 1, 1999 The United States, Canada, New York State and Japan roll into their fiscal 2000. This may create chaos as budget computers refuse to operate. Expect widespread denials that their computers are having any problems whatsoever (but look for clues of new problems as the fiscal year progresses).

April 6, 1999 The government of England rolls into fiscal year 2000.

July 1, 1999

The state governments of 46 states roll into fiscal year 2000. This will be an interesting day to watch.

Summer of 1999 This is when the real panic starts to hit. Banks will notice an increase in cash withdrawals as a small segment of the population begins to withdraw cash out of fear of the bank collapses. The news will be kept quiet in the banking industry, of course, although bank Presidents will be pleading with the Federal Reserve to do something. Quietly, the Treasury Dept. will begin "panic printing" of large-denomination bills. Additional lawsuits will be filed against software companies whose products are non-Y2K compliant. You will also see a barrage of press releases from companies saying they are now Y2K complaint and ready for the rollover.

August 22, 1999 On August 22, the GPS system fails worldwide. (Global Positioning System). This is due to a known bug in the GPS firmware that will unexpectedly subtract 1024 weeks from the transmitted date beginning on August 22, 1999. The U.S. Navy has known about this bug for years and has publicly disclaimed any responsibility for people who might happen to get lost (hikers using GPS devices, etc.). There will be a barrage of news reports on that day, similar to the news when the Galaxy IV satellite went down, and a few ships will get lost at sea. Air traffic will be affected. The military will likely be on full alert (because their guided missiles won't work anymore!) but most regular folks won't notice it. However, the more observant members of society will realize this is a "distant early warning" about things to come. After all, if GPS is that fragile, what about the rest of society's computers? These people will then begin preparations for Y2K, adding to the pressures on the banking system (cash withdrawals) and the supply business (food, medical, ammo, etc.). At this point, a lot of suppliers will be out of stock on some items or simply way too busy to fill orders.

September 9, 1999 On this day, 9/9/99, we will get a small taste of Y2K. This date was used in many mainframe applications as an "end of record" indicator, and as 9/9/99 shuts down a few database systems around the world, we will get another wave of news reports that will add to the groundswell of fear that now clutches the attention of the public. Cash withdrawals will continue, purchasing of supplies will be in a near-panic state. People trying to buy what they need will now be greeted with busy signals or, "sorry, we're out of that."

October 1, 1999 The United States federal government rolls into fiscal 2000.

October, 1999 October will give rise to increased calls for immediate Y2K compliance. Banks, government agencies, and companies will continue to spin the truth. They will say they are compliant even when they aren't, because they know that saying they are "still working on it" amounts to financial suicide. It's possible that serious bank runs begin in October as people pull their funds out of suspected non-compliant banks. The FDIC will be very busy (and worried).

November, 1999 A large meteor shower, already announced by NASA, will likely knock out a few communications satellites, giving the world another small taste of Y2K. Some religious cults will see the shower as a sign from the heavens, and this will unleash another round of panic buying from their members. Cash withdrawals continue and the White House may consider invoking the Emergency Powers Act at this point. If that happens, large cash withdrawals will be made illegal.

December, 1999 Assuming the banks are still solvent, the most unusual Christmas shopping season in history will begin. Instead of buying toys and cosmetics, there will be record sales in the areas of "practical" items such as cooking utensils and camping supplies.

In December, the real panic starts to set in. There will be isolated runs on grocery stores and banks. Y2K programmers, now making over $600 / hour, will be working 18-hour days and asking to be paid in cash. If the stock market hasn't already crashed by December, this will be it. Expect an initial 25% drop, then a second wave of selling that will leave the market at less than half its peak 1998 valuation. The reasons are twofold: people will need cash to buy supplies, so they will sell stocks. And secondly, there will be widespread concern over the actual state of Y2K compliance with companies, and stockholders will likely engage in a mass move to liquidity.

December 31, 1999 As the largest parties in the history of civilization kick off early in the day, another segment of the world population -- the survivalists -- hunker down with their candles and food supplies to see what will happen. The evening news is interrupted with a special briefing that parts of Japan have lost power as they rolled into January 1, 2000. The reports also describe the last-minute cash panic that shut down the country's banks.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, news pours in from the Soviety Union, Australia, the Middle East and Europe: the power grid wasn't 100% compliant after all. Cities are in the dark, and mass panic is starting the spread. But the ill-infomed party on.

January 1, 2000 The President will declare martial law, if he hasn't already, prohibiting people from being on the street after 11pm. He will call in the National Guard to try to control the rioting, but the effort will have little impact. While Guardsmen can easily handle isolated outbreaks of violence (such as the O.J.trial riots in L.A.), they now find themselves spread paper-thin as rioting and looting take over in the worst-hit cities. Fires, started by the rioters, burn well into the weekend, and few people realize why the fire department can't respond: their communications sytems are completely down, and effectiveness is reduced to a third of normal. Even the Department of Defense suffers a communication breakdown as their internal e-mail refuses to work.

December 31, 1999, midnight The fools of America are still in the streets when it hits. Half-drunk from the evening celebration they don't realize why the lights went out. Within an hour, as inner-city populations realize 911 doesn't work, mass looting begins in the worst-hit cities. They start with TVs, VCRs and stereos; ironically, all items that are worthless without electricity. But the smart ones go for the gun shops. When the gun shops are all looted, inspired by a new sense of lawlessness, the gangs start going door to door, shooting first and asking questions later. The police will be helpless, and any family who decided against purchasing a firearm out of concern that "guns are dangerous" now realizes they are lot more dangerous when the criminals have them and you don't.

==========end=========

What a dickhead.

-- mike goodin (newswires@loose.wires), June 02, 1999.

Big Dog, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you go after Mr. Decker for operating under rather questionable motives here on this forum? Yet, when Michael Adams postures himself as a true GI all the while his entire motive is to capitalize on people's fears to turn a profit, he's worth defending? I don't get it.

It's one thing to earn money while providing a fair service, it's an entirely different matter to manipulate people into buying something they don't need at an unfair price. Sure it's buyer beware, but it still stinks up the place.

-- Just Trying (ToBe@Fair.com), June 02, 1999.

I think some of youz guyz missed the point. No, there's nothing wrong with selling information. What I was referring to was Michael Adams' commentary -- his sometimes-incendiary manifestos about Y2K (such as the one which was copied and pasted here recently). :)

-- Stephen M. Poole, CET (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), June 02, 1999.

Just Trying,

Precisely, and well-said. :)

-- Stephen M. Poole, CET (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), June 02, 1999.

I know Ed left this stupidity!

So what if the man makes money!

There's still a Y2K problem, isn't there?

I've gotten loads of info. from Mike Adams for zero, free, zip, zilch, yada.....

I know you've all been to the site and probably get the FREE daily e-mail. Maybe it's all of us that should be forwarding him some cash for his time, web hosting expense, etc.

You too Poole. Your envy overtakes your mind regularly....

-- PJC (paulchri@msn.com), June 02, 1999.

The day that I become envious of Michael Adams will be the day that I register for a Twelve Step Plan SOMEWHERE.

ANYWHERE.

I do like the way you've tugged at this thing madly, trying desperately to pull it into being an issue of "he's just makin' munnie off Y2K!" That's not the issue, and you KNOW it. It's the very real question of how firmly Mikey presses his tongue in cheek when he writes articles like, "Pathetic Y2K Consumers Rip Off Vendors."

You are being played for fools, and don't WANT to see it. Fine.

I tried; there you go.

-- Stephen M. Poole, CET (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), June 02, 1999.