KING - A sore loser who threatened me


S.R. lives in one of those Germanic countries in Central Europe.  

Not long ago, in September 2011, she bought a copy of KING. Two days later she filed a claim with Paypal stating that KING was not a serious product, among other things, even though only a day earlier she was saying the opposite

She lost her claim and the very next day she sent me a nasty email threatening to expose me as a scam person, threatening to sue Paypal as an enabler of scammers like me (good luck with that, genius!) and swearing to fight me till her last breath (it was to become her "lifetime occupation," pretty exciting indeed and for only a measly grand; it makes me wonder if I do not charge too little for the privilege of owning KING).

Why did she lose her Paypal claim? Because she had no case and she lied like a dog. Her claim was quickly rejected by me as based on false, even frivolous allegations. You should know that it is not that often that Paypal rules in seller's favor, which is what she was banking on, but sometimes the seller is so right that Paypal has just no other choice. I was pretty convinced that this was one of those cases. I was right.

What she did by making false statements in the claim was to try and get money from me under false pretenses. That's a pretty serious offense already. But threatening me with "exposure" for what she actually failed totally to prove in her claim was even worse. In this context, it smacks of extortion, to put it mildly.

Why am I talking about it? 

Because you may want to know that there are people out there who can do anything to hurt my business with smears, innuendos, blatant lies, or even threats. The more successful you are, the more they will try to tear you down. Keep this in mind when reading what others have to say because usually you don't know their true agendas. The same applies to virtually everything posted on the Internet. S.R. has just joined their ranks and seems to be quite dedicated to her cause. By her own admission, meaning her threats.

Others include my competitors, other vendors. I am aware that some of them have engaged in slandering my business. You may not even know that they are vendors. Most of them hide behind nicknames, and some do not necessarily advertise their vendor status. I don't enjoy swimming in slime and I think that taking a higher road is often the best solution, so I have remained pat so far. Not to mention that I am simply too busy with my business and other things to care much about it at this point, but that may not last forever, and when I finally start responding, I will be taking no prisoners. I am warming up. Incidentally, S.R. is one of those, too. 

Yes, she is a trading vendor just like me.  

I know her website, but I will not reveal its address. At least not now. As you would expect from someone like her, there is no name associated with that website. She targets only German speaking folks as her site is in German.

She is selling a mighty 500 euro ebook which is supposed to contain a power system. Yes, a single ebook. Only 500 euro. Imagine what you can get from her for 2000 euro. Well, you can get mentoring. Yes, that's right, and she is utterly convinced that she will make you a terrific trader in no time at all. Of course, there is absolutely no evidence her system has ever worked for anyone (there is no track record of any kind on her site), let alone that her 2000 euro deal is worth the price. But these are details that only petty people like me may enjoy bringing up.

I will be in Europe next year and I will handle this issue in a proper manner. This is not about some paltry $1000. This is about the integrity and civility of doing business online. If she believes that she has a legal case against me, then why is she not pursuing it? That's easy. She's got no case. If she had, she would not have had to lie to Paypal and she would not have had to threaten me in any way. She is a loser. A sore, pitiful loser.

But the problem in question is much more widespread

I have been using the Internet for over 20 years now and every year I see it more and more abused by self-serving individuals, usually with their agenda hidden, or malicious, at best misguided, but often unaccountable persons who take to the Internet to smear others basically to improve their own poor self-esteem, as if this really could help, or even to defame if not to threaten others. 

That the issue is serious and that it has diminished the socially desirable usefulness of the Internet while making it a dangerous weapon in the hands of miscreants has been noted on the web on more than one occasion only in the last few years, and even books have already been written about it. 

Here is a pretty recent piece that illustrates what I am saying. It is largely concerned with book reviews, but it paints a broader picture as well. Also relevant to book reviews is this blog post. Well, while trashing your competitor may be of questionable taste to some, at least this reviewer believes in the full disclosure. Too bad, though, he has the habit of using his reviews to pimp his own books, and that's worse than just bad taste, that's cheap, off-putting self-promotion. And here is an example of how far some can go to violate you, your business, or your good name. That's not unlike what S.R. has tried to do to me, and I hope she will end up like this

Want even more examples? Heck, you can easily find them online. Unfortunately. Even companies like Facebook engage in this type of practice, so if you think you can trust anyone out there, don't. Always do your own homework and trust no one unless you know they are accountable, and I don't think you can safely assume that someone hiding behind an Internet handle is.  

The trading forums and the smear and slander they produce is something which I plan to address at some other time here, although I may first need to set the record straight with a few liars and their sponsors out there. 

And that's the memo. From the world of vendor affairs. Or something.